Kate Crouch and Steve Schuetz Earn Dismissal with Prejudice in a Catastrophic Workplace Injury Case

Persistence pays, and making counsel keep their promises does, too.  Partner Kate Crouch and senior counsel Steve Schuetz recently secured dismissal with prejudice of a Cook County action alleging negligence against a mechanical contractor following a degloving incident at Plaintiff’s workplace.  LPP conducted a quick but thorough investigation of the case facts and our client’s history of work at the subject factory.  Believing that the allegations in Plaintiff’s complaint were demonstrably untrue, we sought a voluntary dismissal.  While counsel initially agreed to dismiss, he eventually reneged on that commitment.

Undeterred and unwilling to wait for the conclusion of discovery, Crouch and Schuetz moved for dismissal.  After deposing our affiant, Plaintiff’s counsel agreed to voluntarily dismiss our client.  Illinois statute, however, provides that a plaintiff cannot voluntarily dismiss an action if a dispositive motion is pending. We refused to agree to any result other than dismissal with prejudice.  Counsel eventually agreed, reluctantly, to a full dismissal with prejudice as to our client.  This action allows our client to avoid a high-exposure case in Cook County, as well as the substantial litigation cost that would have been incurred had the case proceeded through written discovery, oral discovery, and disclosure of experts.