ATTORNEY LETTER IN REGARD TO ATTORNEY REFERRALS
(This is a copy of a letter which has been updated from time to time which summarizes certain verdicts and settlements which have been obtained by
William J. Meacham, Attorney at Law . This document was prepared to introduce the author to attorneys who may be in need of assistance with complex personal injury or Workers Compensation cases. Illinois law allows an attorney to associate with another attorney, refer cases to another attorney and split fees with another attorney with the client's knowledge and consent. PAST RESULTS ARE NOT A GARUENNTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS EACH CASE HAS ITS OWN MERITS AND DIFFICULTIES. A LAWYER CAN ONLY PROMISE TO DO HIS OR HER BEST AND TO DO ALL THAT IS POSSSIBLE WITHIN THE LAW TO OBTAIN THE BEST POSSIBLE RESULT IN ANY GIVEN CASE. William J. Meacham, Attorney at Law.
Dear Attorney:
It was a pleasure meeting you last year at an IICLE Seminar on Estate Planning in Champaign. I have had your card for a long time, and had intended to send you a referral letter last year. How time slips away!
I am interested in
Personal Injury and
Workers Compensation referrals.
I offer to split the fee on personal injury or wrongful death cases referred to me on a 50-50 basis. In medical malpractice, product liability, and workers compensation cases I offer a 60-40 percent fee division.
In 1998 Mr. Michael D. Cok, of Bozeman, Montana, extended the above generous terms to me in a closed head injury case. I believe what goes around comes around. We settled that case for $850,000.00.
I was admitted to practice in Illinois on November 9, 1989. I initially worked for the firm of Smith, Larson and Pitts, in East Alton Illinois. Mr. Smith retired several years ago, Robert Larson and Rod Pitts practice individually in Alton and Wood River, respectively. I opened my own office on October 01, 1992, in Edwardsville. I have appeared in the Circuit Courts of 23 Illinois counties. I am admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court.
I have often appeared on the Benton, (now Rend Lake) Decatur and Alton (formerly Wood River), Belleville and Collinsville Workers Compensation dockets.
I have unlimited access to Lexis for Illinois, (including Workers Compensation Commission decisions printed in full), Missouri, the Circuit United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth, the United States Supreme Court, and the Lexis Medical Library databases.
I worked in the construction and coal mining industries for several years prior to entering law school in 1986. I served in the United States Army where I was trained as a combat engineer, 1970-1972. I received my undergraduate degree in 1976. I then returned to the construction industry a carpenter. I started building coal mine preparation plants in 1977, initially as a carpenter, and later, after attending welding school at night, I worked as a welder on coal mine construction in 1980 and 1981. I helped build coal preparation plants at the Inland Steel No. 2 mine near McCleansboro, IL, the Freeman United Coal Mining Co. Crown 3 mine near Farmersville, IL, and a Freeman strip mine near Industry, IL. I obtained a position as a coal load out operator on November 12, 1981 at the Amax Coal Company Leahy Mine near Willisville, IL. I bid, and was awarded, a position as a welder at the mine in February 1982. I worked as a welder, with occasional temporary assignments to other jobs until March 1986 when the mine was purchased by Arch of Illinois, resulting in a reduction in the workforce on a seniority basis. I entered law school in the fall semester, August, 1986.
I believe my experience in the workplace is a valuable asset. I have first hand experience with railroad operations, industrial and agricultural machinery, and construction equipment. I find that many of my clients have a high comfort level with me because of my experience. Such experience is an aid to understanding the mechanics of many injuries; as well as the steps that could have been taken to prevent injury.
My biggest Workers Compensation settlements have been $185,000.00, 1998, truck driver closed head injury, $105,000 for a Perry County coal miner, lumbar spine surgery, $90,000.00, (Liberty Mutual) 1993, my client was a Nascote Industries, Nashville IL, production worker, $70,000.00 (Liberty Mutual 1995), my client was a construction electrician with two broken wrists. He refused to settle for $85,000.000, Arbitrator Ruth White awarded just over $32,000.00 on the Macon County docket; I told the defense attorney I would appeal. Liberty Mutual offered, and my client accepted $70,000.00. I settled a cervical fusion with return to work with no restrictions for $61,294.75. My client was a Laidlaw Waste Management Systems truck driver. (2003) I have obtained several settlements in the $50,000.00 range for Perry County coal miners. On February 17, 2009, I received the approved settlement contracts on a total permanent disability workers compensation claim for a client who crushed his right hand in a press brake. A claimant who is totally disabled under the Illinois Workers Compensation Act is entitled to be paid 2/3's of his or her average weekly wage rate excluding overtime, for the 52 weeks preceding the injury for life. ( In cases involving mandatory overtime it is calculated at a straight time rate and factored into the average weekly wage rate)
I obtained an award of nearly $70,000.00 on the Benton Docket for a coal miner on his second cervical fusion in 1992. I do not recall the exact amount of the award.
My biggest
personal injury settlements have been $3,500,000.00, Perry County, Illinois 1999, semi truck/auto accident, $850,000, (closed head injury, Montana , with co-counsel from Bozeman, Montana , closed head injury) 1998, $350,000.00 partial settlement, medical malpractice, Jackson County 2003.
Representative smaller recoveries include: $130,000.00 (eight year old boy, broken leg, complete recovery 1994) Perry County $107,000.00, 1996, construction electrician, broken wrists, Macon County, Illinois, Defendant Archer Daniels Midland Company.$100,000.00; Perry County, Illinois auto accident, State Farm, $50,000.00 from defendant, $50,000.00 from plaintiff's underinsured motorist carrier, also State Farm. A Bond County auto accident settled in March 2001 for $50,00.00 with State Farm without filing suit. My client was 16 years of age at time of injury. He suffered a broken ankle with internal fixation, subsequently removed.
I was able to settle a State Farm auto accident claim for the $50,000.00 policy limits on the primary claim and an additional $50,000.00 on the underinsured motorist claim in June 2001. No suit filed. This was a referral from another attorney. Our client was a postal worker. I have settled several auto accidents with underinsured claims for $100,000.00.
In July 2004 I settled a disputed auto accident claim for $30,000.000 plus costs. The plaintiff claimed inability to function at her previous intellectual level due to a closed head injury. She lied about having graduated from the University of Illinois with a 5.0 average and a degree in Business Administration, in fact she had never attended the University of Illinois; and had never graduated from any college. The defense knew this prior to my involvement. Her lawyer fired her. I, of course, did not know this little wrinkle when I took the case.
I obtained a verdict (and collected it) in the amount of $100,000.00 in a jury trial in a Clinton County negligent entrustment of a firearm case. The defendants allowed a 19 year old estranged husband to possess a firearm which they had "given" him on his 13th birthday. The young man, who did not possess an Illinois Firearms Owner Identification Card, after at least two threats to shoot his estranged 18 year old wife, used the rifle to kill his 17 month old daughter and himself at the home of the defendants. The defendants, a retired school teacher, and a retired school counselor, were at Church on Sunday morning at the time. The trial was in October 2002 before the Honorable Kathleen Moran, Circuit Judge. .
In April 2003, I settled a truck accident case which involved a husband and wife who owned a semi truck which was leased to Dart Transit Company. At the time of injury the wife was a passenger in the truck. The husband lost control of the truck and struck a bridge abutment. I sued Dart Transit. The wife sustained a burst fracture of the thoracic spine at T-6 and a cracked vertebrae at C-5 . The case settled for $130,000.00. There were no lost wages, she was not employed outside the home. Venue was Clinton County.
I had the privilege of trying a railroad private crossing death case before the Honorable Michael Reagan, United States District Judge, in April 2004. The decedent was struck by an Amtrak train while backing across a private crossing in a rural area south of Carlinville, near Plainview, in Macoupin County. Just prior to the jury deliberation my client accepted a settlement which was $5,000.00 short of being six times as much as Amtrak had ever paid to settle a driver's wrongful death claim.
The largest verdict I have collected is $303, 832. (Macon County, Illinois) Defendant: Archer- Daniels- Midland Company.
2006 has started well. I settled a rotator cuff tear injury resulting from a fall on a deck in Jersey County for $85,000.00. The client slipped and fell on ice on July 3rd. The defendant home owner had chipped ice to cool beer on the deck while the injured party was inside.
I settled an auto case for the policy limits of $100,000.00 without filing suit. A drunk driver struck my client's truck. My client was ejected from the truck and was hospitalized at Saint Louis University Hospital. He made a complete recovery. He was unemployed at the time of the collision, and accordingly had no lost wage claim. (2006)
I settled a minor injury case involving a backhoe operator who stated that the emergency brake had activated and caused him to brace himself, which caused him to push forward on the lever which drops the front bucket on the backhoe as he was driving down the road. The front bucket dropped to the roadway and caused the backhoe to stop abruptly, throwing the operator forward. He suffered a laceration on his head. I obtained a $35,000.00 settlement and a waiver of the workers compensation lien. (2006) The Workers Compensation act provides that the employer, or insurance carrier has a lien against any third party recovery obtained by an employee to the extent of the amount paid by the Workers Compensation carrier. This lien is subject to a reduction in the amount of 25% for attorney fees to be paid to the attorney who obtained the third party recovery which created the fund from which the employer (actually the employer's insurance carrier) is repaid. The employer is also responsible for its pro rata share of the costs of the third party claim. The Workers compensation lien in the above cause was approximately $18,000.00.
In 2007 I settled a case in which my client suffered 5 broken ribs in a Kendall County auto accident for $90,000.00. I settled a case against a Southern Illinois School District involving improper sexual conduct by a teacher. The Settlement amount is confidential. I was told by the adjuster and defense counsel that the Company had never paid such an amount to settle such a claim. The victim was 17 years of age, which is, of course, the normal age of consent in Illinois. Due to the teacher/student relationship the matter was a felony.
A spinal fusion auto case in Madison County, was settled after Mediation on January 21, 2008 for the sum of $155,000.00. A Madison County automobile case was settled for $100,000.00 representing the policy limits in 2008. .
Current pending cases include an interesting case involving a tractor that was locked in gear. My client, brother to the owner of the tractor, was attempting to repair the tractor when the hand clutch, which was disengaged in order to prevent the tractor from moving while the gears were locked, was somehow disengaged. The tractor of course moved forward and the rear wheel partially overran my client causing severe injuries. There is a question of comparative negligence. The homeowner's policy has a $100,000.00 per person limit, and the medical bills are astronomical. .
I have a case which arose out of a work related fall in Arkansas at a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant. My client has an Illinois Workers Compensation Claim and I have filed personal injury suit in Mississippi County, Arkansas. My client, a truck driver, is permanently disabled due to a knee injury. We are in the process of discovery at present.
I also have an interesting case involving a fall through a trap door in Lees Summit Missouri, where my client was tuning an organ in a church. (Settled , amount is confidential by agreement).
I would appreciate the opportunity to work with you on any personal injury, wrongful death, or work comp cases you may wish to refer
Thank you for your anticipated consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
William J. Meacham