Recently in Negligence / Other Torts Category

Nursing home residents can feel vulnerable. They may be dependent on nursing home staff for everything from medical care to being properly fed.

As a result, there are strict laws that apply to nursing homes which spell out residents' rights. These laws are contained in both state statutes and federal Medicare laws.

Here are five rights that every nursing home patient should know:

Getting your car fixed should not be an unhappy experience. Too many consumers expect to be fleeced when they bring their cars in for repairs. However, the Illinois Auto Repair Act provides some protections to consumers.

Generally, the Illinois Auto Repair Act requires that auto shops make certain disclosures and prohibits certain unlawful practices, according to the Illinois Attorney General.

Home repair fraud is one of the most common ways individuals are scammed.

This type of fraud is especially stressful and troublesome as it often impacts not only your finances, but where you live as well. You may find yourself with an uninhabitable home, unfinished repairs, and just the hassle of having your home held hostage by unscrupulous contractors.

Fortunately, with some due diligence, you can take steps to minimize the chances of falling for home repair fraud. Here are several tips to avoid fraud provided by the Illinois Attorney General:

If you have been injured in an accident that was the fault of someone else, you will want to know how to calculate damages in a potential personal injury lawsuit.

There are many different types of damage amounts that you will want to consider. These can include much more than damage caused to any of your personal property or even your medical bills.

By properly calculating your injuries, you will be better prepared as you take steps to file a lawsuit and possibly collect for the harm caused.

When you think of dangers in your home, you may think of gas leaks and deteriorating stairs. However, one of the greatest safety risks in your home may be furniture tip-over accidents involving bookcases, shelves, and television stands.

According to the CPSC, one child dies in a furniture tip-over accident every two weeks. This can include children who climb on top of shelves or television stands and knock these objects over. An old television or bookshelf can weigh 40 to 50 pounds, and can easily crush a small child.

Furniture tip-over accidents are tragic both because they have the potential to be so deadly and also because they are usually preventable.

You may have been tempted to give money to charity, but stopped because you were not too sure where your money would end up. However, by following some tips for donating money to charity, you can better ensure that your money will be used for good.

Following tragedies like Hurricane Sandy or the school shooting in Connecticut, there are many legitimate groups that need money and other types of support. Unfortunately, there are almost as many fraudulent groups that are just looking to make a quick buck.

Here are five tips to keep in mind when you open your pocketbook, as provided by the Illinois Attorney General:

Attorney generals from several states reached a historic bank foreclosure settlement in 2012 with the largest banks in the nation. But are you eligible to collect?

The settlement resulted in a $25 billion award being made available to victims for fraudulent and misleading mortgage and foreclosure practices by lenders like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, CitiGroup, and GMAC.

But while billions were made available, you may be wondering how you can make your claim if you have been harmed by deceptive banking practices.

You may be thinking about joining the Do Not Call list in Illinois, but are not sure how to do so.

Telemarketing calls are annoying. Unscrupulous telemarketing calls can also lead to potential crimes like identity theft and fraud. The Do Not Call Registry offers you a way to opt out.

Fortunately for you, the State of Illinois makes it relatively easy to put your name on the registry, and there are several ways to do it. Here's how:

If you have fallen victim to fraud, deception, or unfair methods of competition in Illinois, you may want to file a consumer complaint with the state Attorney General's office.

So let's say you brought a defective product from a Chicago store, or the product did not do what was advertised. Or let's say that you fell for an online scam and paid for a product that didn't exist or that you didn't want.

By filing a complaint with the state, the state's attorneys may be able to help you resolve your dispute. The state will also be alerted to the disreputable business and can help ensure that other consumers are not similarly harmed.

Here are the steps to file a consumer complaint with the state:

Last year, Jitka Vesel was tragically murdered by a stalker in Chicago. Vesel met her murderer, Demetry Smirnov, online - three years before she was murdered. The two dated for mere weeks before she broke it off. Two-and-a-half years later, he showed up to her workplace and murdered her in cold blood, reports the Daily Beast.

Smirinov used a .40 caliber handgun which purchased from a private seller, also found online, via Armslist, a firearms classified site.  Much like Craigslist, Armslist is a completely neutral online marketplace. All ads, transactions, and purchases are done through the users. The website even has a disclaimer that must be agreed to before entering that requires all users to comply with the law when dealing between themselves.