Scott D. Stephenson

Representative Experience

• Obtained jury verdict for our HVAC subcontractor client in a complex, high-exposure case wherein our client’s employee and foreman was injured while performing pipefitting work and filed suit against a contractor and two subcontractors, each of whom filed third-party complaints against our client; the jury found that our client was not liable for Plaintiff’s injuries, and as a result is entitled to recover the full amount of its net workers’ compensation lien.
• Obtained favorable jury verdict in a case wherein our masonry contractor client’s employee was driving our client’s dump truck and collided with the rear of a vehicle occupied by Plaintiffs, who claimed they sustained permanent injuries that will require treatment for the remainder of their lives; the jury awarded a verdict that was 25 percent less than our client’s final pre-trial settlement offer, and more than 90 percent less than the amount requested by Plaintiffs’ counsel.
• Received a defense finding in arbitration for an underinsured motorist claim on behalf of our insurer client wherein Claimant/Insured was operating a motorcycle in a construction zone and rear-ended an SUV that had stopped due to traffic; Claimant/Insured made a demand for arbitration pursuant to his insurance policy in order to obtain underinsured motorist benefits arising from a prior collision.
• Obtained dismissal for outdoor canopy supplier client on the grounds of jurisdiction in a strict product liability case after Plaintiff sued our defendant/third-party Plaintiff event company alleging a negligently erected an outdoor canopy, and event company filed a third-party complaint for contribution to bring in our client as a third-party defendant; our attorneys filed a motion to dismiss our client from both suits arguing lack of jurisdiction over our client, and though the Court permitted written and oral discovery related to the jurisdictional issues in the case, the Court issued a written opinion granting our attorneys’ motion to dismiss, ruling in our client’s favor.
• Obtained summary judgment in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois against Plaintiff and in favor of our rough framing carpentry contractor client who allegedly failed to install a safety railing on a second floor loft and wherein Plaintiff fell from an unprotected loft ledge and sustained severe injuries; the Circuit Court ruled against Plaintiff and in favor of our client.
• Prevailed on a summary judgment motion represented our client in a premises liability claim based on a slip and fall on ice wherein Plaintiff suffered numerous fractures; Plaintiff relied on photographs and her own testimony that she assumed the ice was caused by the thawing of a snow pile more than 10 feet away, but our attorneys argued that Plaintiff failed to meet her burden to establish that her fall was caused by an unnatural accumulation of snow and ice, and the Judge granted summary judgment in our client’s favor.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a construction equipment manufacturer client against Plaintiff, an employee of our client’s contractor, who was operating an order picker lift that had water on the rear steer tire allegedly causing Plaintiff to lose control and crash into shelving units, sustain comminuted tibia/fibula fracture, and later complications; Plaintiff alleged our client breached its duty of reasonable care to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition and our defense contending that Plaintiff failed to establish that 1) our client knew or should have known of the presence of water on the floor; and that, 2) the lift supplied by our client was unreasonably dangerous, and the Court agreed with arguments raised by our attorneys and granted summary judgment.

Representative Matters

• Strahs v. Tovar’s Snowplowing, Inc., 349 Ill.App.3d 634, 812 N.E.2d 441 Ill.App. (1 Dist. 2004)
• Silverman v. Economy Fire and Cas. Co., 272 Ill.App.3d 490, 650 N.E.2d 603 (1st Dist.1995)
• Marchese v. Vincelette, 261 Ill.App.3d 520, 633 N.E.2d 877 (1st Dist.1994)