Rader v. City of Chicago

Case Number 84 L 1937
Circuit Court of Cook County, IL
$1.9 Million Award

Wheaton Press March 1, 1990 According to legal experts, the success of the model is expected to have a tremendous impact on the legal world. The use of the model will open the door for personal-injury cases where the damage is primarily internal.

Ed Walsh and Jim Knippen secured a $1.9 million settlement against the City of Chicago on behalf of a 30-year-old construction worker, for internal injuries he suffered when he fell 9 feet impaling himself onto a concrete reinforcement bar.

The case was settled out-of-court mainly due to Walsh, Knippen, Knight & Diamond employing an anatomically correct model of their client's lower torso. The injuries to their client were all internal and could not be visualized. In fact, at the time of trial the firm's client appeared uninjured and in very good health. In order to assist the jury in understanding the nature and extent of their client's injuries, Ed Walsh and Jim Knippen retained an anatomical model maker to construct the model.

The model was used in pretrial hearings to demonstrate the construction worker's agonizing fall and the injuries he suffered when the scaffolding he was working on collapsed and he fell.

The reenactment of the fall was the first time such a model was used in a personal injury lawsuit and set a precedent for future use of such medical testimonial exhibits.

The creation of this demonstrative evidence/model is, again, another example of the creativity used by the attorneys at Walsh, Knippen, Knight & Diamond in their specialty area of assisting catastrophically injured clients. The lawyers at the firm pride themselves as being leaders in innovative and creative pre-trial and trial technique and technology. As they constantly strive to improve their trial lawyer skills, they do so knowing that their efforts will positively affect the lives of their needy clients.