Attorney William Gene Stone Jr.'s Legal Cases

Personal injury

Hadrys v. Morrow Equipment, et al, Case No. 01 L 001279

Dec 12, 2012

OUTCOME: Favorable

Hadrys was a construction injury “arm off” case tried twice. The first trial involved Bill’s client and three other construction company defendants. It ended in a mistrial on Bill’s motion due to the p ... laintiff’s liability expert’s violation of several critical motions in limine. The case was retried 10 months later solely against Bill’s client with the other defendants reaching settlements. The plaintiff’s pretrial demand was $14 million and the plaintiff asked the jury to award damages of approximately $17 million against Bill’s client. Bill successfully persuaded the jury to apportion 40% of the fault against the plaintiff which resulted in a net judgment of approximately $2.7 million. This judgment was quickly satisfied.

Wrongful death

Estate of Komacko v. Central Rent-A-Crane, et al

Jun 01, 2012

OUTCOME: Favorable

The Estate of Komacko was the first case tried in Indiana where the Indiana Supreme Court allowed a video camera in the court room and the delayed web broadcasting of the trial to the general public. K ... omacko was a 14 day jury trial of an ironworker wrongful death case arising from a construction accident. The case received extensive media attention. Witnesses included the past and present presidents of the Ironworkers’ Union Local 395. Bill represented the target defendant. The plaintiff asked the jury to award $16 million in damages and to find Bill’s client 60% at fault. Bill successfully persuaded the jury to apportion only 16% of fault against his client which resulted in a verdict of $1.3 million which was promptly paid by Bill’s client.

Lawsuits and disputes

Yongping Zhou v. John Huang, et al, Case No. 03 L 5438

Jan 01, 2010

OUTCOME: Favorable

This was the trial of an attorney malpractice case where Bill represented the plaintiff who claimed as a result of his immigration attorney’s prior malpractice he was wrongfully incarcerated for 25 mon ... ths. The jury, following 10 days of trial, returned a verdict in favor of Bill’s client for $4 million to compensate him for his loss of liberty, psychological and emotional injuries sustained and likely to be sustained in the future and the reasonable amount of psychological treatment needed stemming from his wrongful detention. The defendant appealed the case. Bill handled the appeal. The appellate court, in a non-published Rule 23 decision, granted the defendant judgment notwithstanding the verdict finding that attorneys (unlike doctors), in Illinois, cannot be held liable for non-economic damages. The appellate court based its decision on orbiter dictum and even held that the jury’s award of economic or money damages to compensate Bill’s client for his needed psychological treatment was also “non-economic damages”. The appellate court refused to publish the opinion and the Illinois Supreme Court denied the petition for leave to appeal.

Trucking accident

National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Dowd & Dowd, P.C., 191 F.R.D. 566, 1999 WL 1249311, N.D. Ill.,

Dec 14, 1999

OUTCOME: Favorable

The Dowd case was an attorney malpractice case where Bill’s client sued the Dowd firm for botching the trial of an underlying catastrophic injury trucking accident case. The case was tried before a jur ... y in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Bill’s client alleged the Dowd firm failed to properly prepare the insured truck driver and also failed to timely disclose expert witnesses. The Dowd firm retained prominent defense attorney, Barry Montgomery, as their liability expert. Bill retained prominent attorney, and now deceased, Richard French. Prior to trial, a $1 million offer was made and rejected. After a two week jury trial, the jury awarded Bill’s client $2 million. The defendants appealed to the United States Circuit Court for the Seventh Circuit and days before their decision was to be issued, the case settled for a confidential but significant amount. This case is significant because it involved the trial within the trial and created new law which allowed an excess carrier not in privity of contract with defense counsel to sue the Dowd firm under principles of equitable subrogation. The case is further significant because it resulted in the publication of two decisions by the then chief judge, Marvin Aspen, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. References to those decisions, which were also briefed and argued by Bill on behalf of his client, are noted below.

William Gene Stone Jr.'s Legal Cases (4)

Hadrys v. Morrow Equipment, et al, Case No. 01 L 001279

Estate of Komacko v. Central Rent-A-Crane, et al

Yongping Zhou v. John Huang, et al, Case No. 03 L 5438

National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Dowd & Dowd, P.C., 191 F.R.D. 566, 1999 WL 1249311, N.D. Ill.,