Since 1996, the Zimmerman Law Offices, P.C. has represented clients accused of professional misconduct, causing car accidents, and medical malpractice, as well as commercial real estate and business law clients in lawsuit defense throughout Chicago.
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Automobile Service Contract Provider Sued for Breach of Contract — An automobile service contract company was sued for an alleged violation of a service contract in denying a claim for payment for repairs to car. We successfully defended on the basis that the service contract does not cover any damages caused by a non-covered item, and, even if a covered item fails, the service contract does not cover the failure if the failure was caused by a non-covered item.
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Cardiologist Accused of Killing a Patient — A cardiologist's license was summarily suspended by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for alleged gross negligence and unprofessional conduct arising out of his injection of potassium chloride to a patient who was suffocating to death. We successfully appealed the ruling to the circuit court, which reversed and vacated the IDFPR's suspension based on the medical examiner's destruction of evidence which violated the doctor's constitutional due process rights.
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Chinese Man Sued in the USA for Orchestrating a Labor Strife in China — A Chinese man was sued in the United States for allegedly orchestrating a violent "coup" at a factory in China wherein the factory was shut down for seven days, and the company's managers were held hostage and forced to sign a compensation agreement providing millions of dollars in severance payments to the man. The man was also accused of causing the company to pay unauthorized bonuses through his alleged use of the company's official seal. We filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit arguing that the company should not be allowed to bring its claims against the man in the United States, as the witnesses and documents are located in China and the citizens of the United States have no public interest in deciding this controversy. As a result, the court dismissed the lawsuit.
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Clinical Laboratory Director Barred From Operating a Laboratory — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) entered a suspension that barred a person from operating any clinical laboratories. We challenged the decision and won a trial before an HHS administrative law judge. This was the first decision in the nation that ruled that the sanction applies only to the person who directed the lab at the time of the infractions, and that it does not apply to any former or subsequent director who did not bear ultimate responsibility for the misconduct that gave rise to the sanction. When HHS refused to honor the administrative law judge's ruling, we successfully sued the federal government in federal court to hold unlawful and set aside the sanction against the lab director. As a result, HHS removed its ban on the person and approved his application for directorship of clinical laboratories.
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Clinical Psychologist Had Patient Records Stolen — The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) was in possession of a clinical psychologist's confidential patient records, which had been stolen. We sued the IDFPR in the circuit court, and obtained a restraining order compelling the IDFPR to return the stolen records to the clinical psychologist. Dentist Accused of Improper Billing - The Illinois Department of Financial of Professional Regulation (IDFPR) accused a dentist of overcharging patients for services. We represented the dentist, and demonstrated that his unbundling of charges for certain dental services was proper. We convinced the IDFPR to close their file with no disciplinary action taken against the dentist's license.
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Dentist Sued by Laboratory for Nonpayment — A dentist was sued for not paying a laboratory for porcelain crowns he ordered for a patient. We defended the dentist on the basis that the laboratory failed to provide crowns that conformed to the dentist's specifications in the final impression and shading and color map. We also counter-sued for damages, such as lost chair time and fees from another laboratory to make new crowns. The laboratory eventually dropped its lawsuit.
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Dentist Accused of Patient Abandonment — A dentist was accused by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) of abandoning a patient prior to completing a pre-paid dental treatment plan. We represented the dentist, who was in the process of moving to a different office during the alleged "abandonment" of her patients. We proved that the dentist gave her patients proper notification of the office move, and the IDFPR dropped the case with no disciplinary action taken against the dentist's license.
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Doctor Accused by Health Insurance Company of Fraudulent Billing — A dispute arose regarding payments made by a health insurance company to a doctor for the doctor's billings as a provider of health care to persons covered by certain health insurance policies or health and welfare benefit plans. The company claimed that the doctor was incorrectly applying CPT codes to treatments for the purpose of fraudulently receiving $500,000 in insurance payments. In representing the doctor, we analyzed over 1,200 office visits and re-coded all of the treatment with different CPT codes, and we demonstrated that the company actually owed the doctor money using the revised CPT code analysis.
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Insurance Agency Accused of Converting Premium Trust Money — An insurance agency was accused by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) of using its insured's premium payments to pay the agency's overhead instead of remitting the money to the insurance carrier to pay premiums for the insured's insurance policies. We successfully demonstrated to the IDFPR that a former partner of the agency had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars (for which he went to prison), and that the agency was not at fault for the temporary misuse of funds. No insurance policies were canceled and the agency eventually repaid the money. The IDFPR dropped the case with no disciplinary action taken against the agency's license.
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Insurance Broker Sued for Negligence and Breach of Fiduciary Duty — An insurance broker was sued for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty arising out of an alleged failure to procure appropriate worker's compensation insurance coverage. We successfully defended the broker in the action, based on the insured's error in failing to provide accurate employee classification and wage information.
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Jewelry Store Sued for Lost Jewelry Shipment — A supplier of jewelry threatened to sue a jewelry store for the value of the jewelry that the store shipped back to the supplier, but which was lost in transit. Before the supplier was able to file a lawsuit in another state, we filed a declaratory judgment action for the court to declare that the jewelry store properly packed all of the jewelry and shipped it back to the supplier.
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Landlord's Refusal to Consent to the Assignment of a Tenant's Lease — A tenant in a building sought to sell its business and the tenant requested that the landlord consent to the assignment of the lease to the proposed purchaser of the business. The landlord refused, claiming that the proposed purchaser would not be able to perform its obligations under the lease. Following a bench trial, the court ruled in our favor and ordered the landlord to consent to the lease assignment. The trial court denied our request for attorney's fees and court costs, but we appealed and the appellate court reversed that ruling and ordered the landlord to pay our fees and costs.
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Landlord Tries to Force Health Club Tenant Out of Business — A company purchased a high-rise building from a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding, and the company sought to terminate all of the tenants' leases as a condition of the sale under the Bankruptcy Code. After the sale, the bankruptcy judge did not allow the company to terminate the lease of a single tenant in the building, a health club, due to the company's failure to provide the required notice to that tenant. Thereafter, the building owner sued the health club in the circuit court seeking a declaratory judgment that the owner had no duty to provide water, heat, elevators or other building services to the tenant. Representing the health club, we successfully persuaded the court to enter an injunction ordering the owner to continue to provide all necessary building services. The interplay between the Bankruptcy Code and landlord-tenant law was a novel legal issue that had not previously been decided by any court in the nation. We also counter-sued the building owner for its intentional misconduct, fraud and breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, as the owner was attempting to force the health club to go out of business without compensating the health club for the value of its leasehold. The tenant agreed to vacate the premises, after we convinced the building owner to essentially purchase the health club.
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Landscaper Sued for Failure to Pay Overtime Wages — A landscaping company was sued by a former employee for alleged failure to pay "time and a half" for overtime wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). We successfully defended the landscaper by showing that the employees were not engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce; thus, the FLSA did not apply to the employer.
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Locksmith Agency Accused of False Advertising — The City of Chicago Department of Consumer Services filed an administrative complaint against a locksmith agency for allegedly advertising business addresses at locations within the City where the agency did not actually maintain a physical place of business. We successfully represented the locksmith agency by negotiating a deal whereby the City dropped the charge in exchange for the locksmith agency agreeing to request the removal of all addresses situated within the City at which the agency did not maintain a physical place of business from all publications listing such an address.
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Mother Loses Child Custody and Visitation — Following a lengthy trial to determine the best interests of the children, a mother going through a divorce lost custody of her children to her husband and she was also denied any visitation with her minor children. We were retained after the trial to appeal the decision. We successfully appealed the trial court's decision denying visitation by demonstrating that visitation would not endanger the children's physical, mental, moral or emotional health, and the appellate court ordered the trial court to fashion appropriate visitation. In this matter, we also filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of whether a state court rule violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment where the rule precludes the court from exercising its discretion, in the interest of fundamental fairness, to allow an untimely appeal from a court order terminating a parent's liberty interest to the care and custody of her children.
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Nurse Accused of Improper Delegation of Duties and Improper Charting — The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) accused a registered professional nurse of improperly delegating her duties by allowing an emergency medical technician (EMT) to administer a shot of morphine to an emergency room patient. The IDFPR further accused of the nurse of improperly charting that she administered the drug. In representing the nurse, we explained that the EMT was permitted to administer that drug to patients outside of the hospital, the nurse was allowed to delegate that duty to an EMT in an out-of-state hospital where she formerly practiced, the nurse had recently come to Illinois and she mistakenly thought it was proper for her to delegate that duty to an EMT in Illinois, and there was no harm to the patient. The IDFPR closed the file with no disciplinary action taken against the nurse.
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Pharmacist Application Denied to Russian Woman — The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) denied a Russian woman's application to become a licensed pharmacist. We obtained documents and sworn statements from her pharmacy school in Russia, and represented the woman in a formal administrative hearing at the IDFPR. The IDFPR administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld the denial of her license application. We appealed the ALJ's ruling to the circuit court and won. The circuit court reversed and vacated the ALJ's decision, and the court allowed the person to become licensed. As a result, this was the first time that a graduate of a Russian pharmacy school was granted a pharmacist license in Illinois.
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Real Estate Agent Denied License Renewal — The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) denied the renewal of a real estate agent's license, because the agent had not fulfilled the pre-renewal continuing education requirements mandated by the IDFPR. We advised the agent to take the required continuing education courses, and we appealed the IDFPR's decision based on the administrative regulation that allows post-renewal continuing education to be applied to the pre-renewal period. We won the appeal, and the IDFPR renewed the agent's license.
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Real Estate Appraiser Accused of Fraudulent Appraisal — At the request of a mortgage lender, a real estate appraiser excluded a coach-house that was on the property from his appraisal report. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) accused the appraiser of acting as an advocate for the lender by allowing the lender to select what would and would not be given consideration on the property. The IDFPR's complaint alleged that the appraiser violated the Conduct Section of the Ethics Rule in USPAP. We successfully represented the appraiser by demonstrating that the appraisal report was complete and accurate, considering his client's intended use of the appraisal, the client's direction that he include only the two-flat building in the appraisal valuation such that the "scope of work" was that physical segment only, and the appraisal report disclosed that there was a separate coach house that was not considered in the valuation. The IDFPR closed the file on the condition that the appraiser completes two continuing education classes.
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Real Estate Broker Accused of Failing to Provide Required Documents — A real estate agent filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) alleging that a broker failed to provide the agent with a signed copy of the agent's Independent Contractor Agreement, as required by the Illinois Administrative Code. Prior to filing his complaint with the IDFPR, the agent had breached the Agreement by surreptitiously having his real estate license transferred to another broker under false pretenses and without providing any advance notice to the broker, and the broker had lodged a complaint with the IDFPR arising out of the agent's professional misconduct. We demonstrated to the IDFPR that the agent had been given a signed copy of the Agreement, and the agent's complaint was merely an attempt to exact vengeance on the broker for previously lodging a complaint against the agent. The IDFPR closed the file with no discipline taken against the real estate broker.
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Real Estate Broker Files Lawsuit Over Disputed Earnest Money — After a real estate transaction was canceled, the buyer and seller both claimed that they were entitled to the full amount of earnest money being held in escrow by a real estate broker. We filed a lawsuit on behalf of the broker, and convinced the court that the broker should not have to make a determination as to the rights of the buyer and seller to the earnest money. The court allowed the broker to deposit the earnest money with the clerk of the court, dismissed the broker from the lawsuit (leaving the buyer and seller as the remaining parties in the case), precluded the buyer and seller from bringing any legal action against the broker arising out of the disputed earnest money, and awarded the broker its costs incurred in bringing the lawsuit.
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Real Estate Brokerage Firm Accused of Causing a Delay in Closing on a Property — During a real estate transaction in which a buyer wanted to close on a property in a very short period of time, the buyer's bank erroneously reported to the listing brokerage firm that the buyer had insufficient funds to process the earnest money check. Based on this information, the brokerage firm postponed the closing and requested certified funds from the buyer to ensure that the earnest money would be available for the closing. The buyer complained to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), alleging that the brokerage firm acted unethically and improperly by failing to promptly deposit the earnest money check in its premium trust fund account and by causing a delay in the closing. We successfully demonstrated to the IDFPR that the brokerage firm was an innocent victim of faulty information provided by the buyer's bank, and the IDFPR closed the file with no disciplinary action taken against the broker or the brokerage firm. Television Company Sues for Misappropriation of Satellite TV Signals - An individual was sued by a satellite television company for allegedly intercepting satellite TV signals with a piracy device, without subscribing and paying for the service. We mounted a successful defense, as the company could not provide any evidence that the person actually installed the piracy device and intercepted satellite signals.
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Tenant Sued Because a Man Fell Off a Wooden Porch — A woman was sued by her former landlord after a man fell off the second floor porch of her former apartment during a party. The landlord alleged that the woman, as a "tenant," owed various duties to him as landlord, including the duty to maintain the premises, to not over serve the guests at the party, to require other persons at the party to conduct themselves in a reasonably safe manner, and to refrain from inviting or encouraging guests from gathering on the rear porch. We successfully got the woman dismissed from the lawsuit, by demonstrating that she had assigned all of her rights and liabilities under the lease to someone else prior to the accident, she did not host the party, and she in no way managed or was responsible for the party or its guests.
Mr. Zimmerman has an extensive background defending clients in complicated cases. Contact us by e-mail or call 1-877-440-0020 to schedule a free initial consultation.
