Horwitz Horwitz & Associates

On June 28, 2011, Governor Quinn signed into law Public Act 94-0018, which made a number of significant changes to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act that will affects the rights of injured workers across Illinois in a number of ways. This article is meant to provide you with the basic information regarding these changes in your rights. Of course, there are many details each of these issues that we do not have room to cover...

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the William J. Harte Amicus Volunteer Award for 2011. These individuals are recognized for their dedicated volunteer service and professional efforts on behalf of the ITLA Amicus Curiae Committee in preparing legal briefs before the Illinois Supreme and Appellate Courts during the past twelve months.

This year’s recipients include: Michael F. Bonamarte, IV, Chicago; Devon C. Bruce, Chicago; Katharine C. Bryne, Chicago; ...

Michael T. Wierzbicki

Mike Wierzbicki is an aggressive trial lawyer who is passionate about helping people who have been seriously injured. Although fair and just out-of-court settlements have many merits, Mike is especially interested in – and successful at prevailing in – complex litigation involving difficult-to-prove cases of serious injury. 

Since joining Horwitz, Horwitz &Associates in 2002, Mike has become a force with distinction, obtaining many millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for...

Private portfolio monitoring and private shareholder class actions, however, do not present the same obstacles as those associated with suits brought by the SEC.

Through private portfolio monitoring, a union pension fund has the ability to pro-actively monitor against loss and investigate potential corporate wrongdoing.  Unlike an SECinvestigation, which leaves investors in the dark until the investigation has significantly progressed, a union’s private investigation may bring the wrongful conduct to light in a timely...

After fighting the employer and their insurance carrier at every level, Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates has won a solid victory for working people throughout the State of Illinois.

The employer, Interstate Scaffolding, fired the injured worker, Jeff Urban, and then refused to pay benefits, claiming that Mr. Urban had been fired “for cause.”

Horwitz attorney Marc A. Perper convinced the Illinois Supreme Court to reverse this decision and force the employer to pay the injured...

Workers’ Compensation law is under attack. False claims of “rampant fraud” are being used as a Trojan Horse to sneak in “reforms” that would eliminate significant workers’ rights. It is essential that we join together to fight for and protect the Workers’ Compensation Act. Illinois workers fought long and hard for the rights we enjoy, we can’t sit back and let greedy insurance companies steal those rights merely to increase their own profits.

The following letter...

Union pension funds have continued to suffer unnecessary losses due to corporate fraud and mismanagement. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose job it is to monitor publicly traded companies and, when necessary, prosecute actions for fraud, has proven less than effective at being able to recover maximum losses on behalf of defrauded investors, including pension funds, in public companies and deter future fraud. For example:

• Birmingham Amalgamated Transit Authority Local 725, a union pension fund...

Three years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, reports still swirl about homeowners across the region with viable claims for destroyed homes battling denied insurance payments based on fraudulent tactics of delay, deny and dispute.Yes, we all watch the reports with a sense of irritated, albeit comfortable detachment that comes from living miles away from such a legal nightmare, many of us thinking silently to ourselves, “Poor Bastards”.  

What most consumers don’t realize is...

It’s interesting to note the number of federal agency insiders stepping up to the plate during these final Bush hours, all wanting to spill the beans to President Elect Obama about the corruption and mismanagement found within the their agencies under the Bush Administration.

For some, their actions would be gallant, heroic even, if not for the fact that their silence over the last eight shameful years often caused unimaginable pain, suffering and in many...

Most people see the popular and sporty Yamaha Rhino, a UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle) with its supped up bucket seats, a steering wheel instead of handlebars and sturdy roll cage, and instantly get visions of off-road family fun. 

But for hundreds of individuals and families across the country, the Rhino is a stark reminder of corporate negligence, allegedly responsible for catastrophic crush injuries, amputations and tragic deaths …all preventable.

In fact, all but fifteen states...