Clifford's Corner

Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Robert A. Clifford as the “Chicago Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year” for 2012. Only a single lawyer in each speciality in each community is honored. Bob Clifford has been asked to serve on the Best Lawyers Advisory Board.

Bob and Joan Clifford are serving as Co-Chairs of the Naples Winter Wine Festival in January. The annual event has raised millions of dollars at an auction with all of the proceeds going to help the poor and underprivileged children of Southwest Florida.

Bob Clifford spoke to Roe Conn and Richard Roeper on WGN radio about the liability of airlines for injuries of passengers during turbulence in flight.

Clifford Law Offices is sponsoring its fifth annual continuing legal education program entitled “Ethical Issues in Mediation.” The free webinar offers two hours of professional responsibility credit for Illinois lawyers. To register for the Thursday, Feb. 16 program that is being held 2:30-4:30 p.m., visit

www.cliffordlaw.com/continuing-legal-education/2012-webinar-ethics-of-mediation/

“Justice and Law Weekly”

As President of the Chicago Bar Association, Robert Clifford hosts a show on Sunday at noon, “Justice and Law Weekly.” The program features various prominent lawyers and judges who explain the workings of the justice system and the branches of government. Since he was inducted, Bob has interviewed many guests who have appeared on WYCC, the public television station of the Chicago City Colleges. Clifford Law Offices is sponsoring closed captioning of these shows for the hearing impaired.

1 Bob Clifford interviewed 2 Governor James Thompson on a one-hour special on Terrorism and the Law on WYCC’s “Justice and Law Weekly.” The program aired on Sept. 11, marking 10 years after the tragedy of 9/11. Bob Clifford spoke to 3 Governor Pat Quinn on the state of the state, the economy and various issues impacting the legal justice system and consumers in Illinois. Clifford and 4 Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride discussed many issues including how the supreme court works. Bob Clifford interviews 5 Newton Minow, former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a one-hour special on WYCC. Clifford and 6 Illinois State Senate President John J. Cullerton. 7 Chief Justice of the Canada Supreme Court, Right Hon. Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to hold this position in Canada, spoke to Bob Clifford. 8 Mexico Supreme Court Justice Jose Fernando Franco Gonzalez Salas spoke to Bob Clifford. Joining them was Salvador A. Cicero, President of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois. 9 Chicago Superintendent of Schools Jean-Claude Brizard (center) and Jesse H. Ruiz, former Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, spoke with Bob Clifford on how to improve schools. 10 Steve Patton, Chicago Corporation Counsel appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, spoke of the legal challenges facing the city. 11 Ald. Brendan Reilly talked about important issues in Chicago’s 11th Ward. 12 State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) talked to Bob Clifford about his long history in state government and his concerns today for Illinois.

Bill of Particulars

Child Booster Seat Risks

A recent article in USA Today detailed a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) which concluded that half of children’s car booster seats can’t ensure a proper fit with all safety belts.
The Institute reported that six were so bad they issued a recommendation to avoid them.

The study reportedly rated the booster seats based on their fit of 4 to 8 years olds across a range of vehicles. According to the article, the report stated that children aged 4 to 8 in booster seats are 45 percent less likely to be injured in a crash than children using seat belts alone.

Joseph Colella, a child safety advocate, characterized the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s absence of booster seat evaluations based on seat belt position a “very significant regulatory shortfall.”

If seat belts are not positioned properly, children can be injured by the belts or hit parts of the vehicle in
a crash, according to the article.

The IIHS found that states where booster seats are required to cover children up through eight years old experienced 17 percent fewer fatal or debilitating injuries to those children.

Defective Hip Replacements

Some 3,500 lawsuits have been filed against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., and its parent company Johnson & Johnson over its ASR implants which were recalled Aug. 24, 2010, according to a story in the Oct. 31, 2011 National Law Journal. About 93,000 patients have had the devices implanted despite allegations that the defendant manufacturer knew of its defective design.

Patients have suffered from toxic levels of cobalt, chromium and other alloys that are released into a person’s body, which acts as an autoimmune attack killing the tissue around the joint. Hundreds, if not thousands, of patients will require revision surgeries, which may not even be able to help their situation, according to attorneys quoted in the story.

Pam Zekman, investigative reporter for Chicago’s CBS Channel 2, interviewed Clifford Law Offices’ Managing Partner Thomas Prindable on the terrible tragedy that is unfolding for many unsuspecting recipients of the defective device. Clifford Law Offices has several defective hip cases as well as cases involving other defective products including transvaginal mesh devices that have been found to cause serious complications and may experience as high as a 50 percent failure rate.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates medical devices, ordered 21 manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip implants to conduct surveillance of their products and to assess the safety of these devices.

Vitamins and Labor Risks

A study of nearly 36,000 Danish pregnant women showed that those who regularly took a multi-vitamin around the time they got pregnant appear to have a lower risk of going into labor prematurely or having
a smaller than normal baby.

The study asked the women about their diet, weight and vitamin use. Poor nutrition is thought to play
a role in pregnancy complications and the study examined that link.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reported that of those who had taken multi-vitamins, 4.3 percent delivered a preterm baby (before 37 weeks) whereas those who did not,
5.3 percent delivered pre-term. Statistics also showed in the study that those who took vitamins were
less likely to have a smaller than normal baby.

New Illinois Website Lists Doctors Named in Malpractice Suits

Governor Pat Quinn signed the Patient Right to Know Act (HB 105) at a Chicago hospital Tuesday,
Aug. 9, 2011, calling it “our best bill this year when it comes to empowering consumers.”

The law allows for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) listing of online information on Illinois doctors, including judgments and settlements in malpractice cases. Patients can review a searchable database on more than 46,000 licensed, practicing doctors online. Doctors have 60 days to review the information before it goes live on the website. The physician profile will include the number of years the doctor has been in practice, hospital privileges, educational information, Medicaid information, journal articles and translation services offered. The law was effective immediately.

Consumers also will be able to see if a doctor has been disciplined in Illinois or another state going back five years. If a case is on appeal, the doctor’s profile will note the case is on appeal. The state medical society took a neutral stance on the Act.

Sponsor of the bill, Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), said the database will protect the public from “dangerous doctors.” Rep. Flowers said, “This is important information, and we wanted to make it as accessible and transparent as possible. Today, you can do your banking online, take a virtual tour of a home, and it’s important that we bring that technology to bear on one of the most important decisions you can make – who to choose as your doctor.” Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago), a sponsor of the bill, said that similar websites are hosted in California, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

Search the Physician Profile database at www.idfpr.com

Wrong-Site Surgery

Wrong-site surgery, which is surgery on the wrong body part or the wrong procedure, is reported to occur up to 40 times per week. This number persists despite a protocol designed to prevent these mistakes issued by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, an Oakbrook Terrace-
based organization.

Preliminary results from a project by the Joint Commission involving eight hospitals and surgery centers identified 29 specific areas where errors can creep into the process, increasing the risk for wrong-site surgeries.

In addition to process errors, an additional complication for integrating the protocol is that since wrong site surgeries are reported to be relatively uncommon, individual hospitals or surgeons may not recognize the importance of following standardized safety procedures in all cases.
According to reports, the frequency of wrong-site surgeries in Illinois hospitals is not known because the state health department does not report these statistics.

Approach the Bench
Sean P. Driscoll

Successful people have mentors in their lives who teach them the ropes, right from wrong, the road to success. With Sean Driscoll, his mentor was his father, James F. Driscoll.

Sean considers himself lucky that he was able to follow in his dad’s footsteps. He, too, was a lawyer who handled personal injury cases in the Chicago area.

Sean recalls at the age of 18 being a process server for his father in the northwest suburbs. His dad often appeared in the Cook County Circuit courthouse in Rolling Meadows, recovering for clients what many thought no one else could, Sean said. That is where Sean learned about civil litigation.

Like his dad, Sean does what he loves most – “helping people.” His dad taught him, “There are some people who have a hard time taking care of themselves and some people who take care of others. You will be one of those who takes care of others.” Sean remembers that as a “profound moment” in his life.

Sean’s dream was to one day join his dad’s law firm, but, sadly, his father passed away when Sean was attending DePaul University School of Law. But Sean is not one to feel sorry for himself. He decided to build his own career, just as his dad did.

He interned for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and worked on Melissa Bean’s campaign for the House of Representatives. “Politics teach life lessons. It teaches you how to work with people and ideally conduct yourself in an honorable way. Hopefully, it teaches you how to stand your ground,” Sean said.

Sean clerked for Illinois Appellate Court Justice Michael Murphy when Justice Murphy was a Circuit Court Judge. He was in college when the $29.6 million verdict came down in the high-profile case of Rachel Barton, the internationally acclaimed violinist Bob Clifford represented in a month-long trial. After the verdict, Sean told his best friend over a beer, “One day I’m going to work for that man.”

With the help of his aunt, attorney Joanne Driscoll, Sean contacted Mr. Clifford while in law school and they talked over pizza one afternoon. He continued to remain in contact with Mr. Clifford sending him writing samples in the hope of one day clerking at Clifford Law Offices. Finally, in 2004, Bob Clifford hired Sean as a clerk at the firm during his final year of law school.

Upon being sworn in as an attorney, Sean immediately gravitated toward the complex, difficult cases. His hard work already has been demonstrated in his being named among the Top 40 Attorneys Under Forty by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

He has handled cases involving industrial explosions, electrocutions and aviation crashes. He has worked on CTA derailments and is now busy with the tragic case of a young boy suffocated in a grain bin.

Specifically, Sean worked on a case against Metra that led to a $2 million settlement on behalf of a Cook County worker who was injured when the train derailed. He secured a $1.25 million settlement on behalf of a lubricant worker who was severely burned in an industrial accident. Sean also worked side by side with Bob Clifford in a trial that resulted in a $15.8 million verdict on behalf of a young girl struck by a YMCA van and left permanently brain damaged.

“Ten years from now I hope to be at the forefront of plaintiffs’ litigation,” Sean says. “The best part is working on different types of cases – an explosion one day and medical malpractice the next. I am
able to learn about all types of industries and professions that I wouldn’t learn anywhere else. You never stop learning in this profession.”

And the lessons of his father live on – “I like being the person that someone can turn to when they need help. That’s why I decided to be a trial lawyer.”