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Chicago Attorney Obtains Summary Judgment in Wrongful Death Matter

On February 19, 2016, James E. Abbott obtained summary judgment in the Circuit Court of Cook County on behalf of an event promotion and planning company in a wrongful death action. Abbott’s client produced and promoted a large Halloween ballroom party at a hotel in Chicago, which the plaintiffs’ decedent attended with several of her friends. While the Halloween event was ongoing, the decedent fell from a four story staircase on the premises and died.

In granting the summary judgment motion, the circuit court rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that the promotion company negligently failed to provide a safe means of egress from the event and that it voluntarily undertook a duty of care to protect event patrons from hazardous conditions on the premises. Plaintiffs’ have appealed the circuit court’s ruling, and the appeal is still pending.

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