Law Office of James A. Kamide, Top Cook County lawyer, Top DuPage County lawyer, top personal injury lawyer, top workers compensation lawyer, top occupational disease lawyer, other practice areas are criminal, bankruptcy, real estate, probate, workers compensation, occupational diseases, contruction accidents, car or truck accidents, dog bites, and other cases on request Law Office of James A. Kamide, Top Cook County lawyer, Top DuPage County lawyer, top personal injury lawyer, top workers compensation lawyer, top occupational disease lawyer, other practice areas are criminal, bankruptcy, real estate, probate, workers compensation, occupational diseases, contruction accidents, car or truck accidents, dog bites, and other cases on request  

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 Practice Areas 

Workers Compensation

Physical and psychological Injuries related to work are considered workers compensation cases.  Typically these are trauma type injuries including repetitive trauma.  All Illinois employers are required to have insurance to cover work related injuries.  It is the workers' legal right to make a claim for work injury without retaliation by the employer.  The claim covers wages, medical, and lump sum settlements for the nature and extent of the disability. 

Occupational Disease

Occupational disease is very similar to workers compensation except that it applies to diseases related in some way to work such as heart attacks, strokes, exposure to chemicals, dust, noise, radiation, drugs, and any other substance that causes a condition of illness or ill-being in the worker.  If a client is not sure whether their illness is work-related, our office can help make that determination.

Personal Injury

Personal injury is a general term that includes almost any type of case involving bodily injury or defamation of character.  This category of cases includes car and truck accidents, train accidents, dog bites, construction accidents, premises cases, malpractice, products liability and any other type of injury case except workers compensation and occupational disease cases.

Auto Accidents

Auto crashes involve the crashes between cars or other vehicles on the road, and can include uninsured and underinsured motorist claims against our client's own insurance company.  Fault is usually an issue and the principal of comparative fault of each driver is usually an issue.

Dog Bites

Dog bite (or attack in some cases) can be compelling cases because of the horror of dog attacks especially involving children.  Interestingly, homeowners insurance covers dog bites so its important to know who the owner of the dog is in order to make the claim against the proper person's insurance company.

Construction

Construction accidents are usually called "third-party" cases because initially the injured worker files a workers compensation case.  Secondly, if the injury was caused by the fault of someone other than our client, then a "third-party" case can be filed against the person (or company) who was at fault for causing the injury.  Sometimes, construction injury cases involve two cases: the workers compensation case and the third-party case.

Premises Liability

Premises liability cases arise when a person is injured as the result of a condition or activity on someone's premises.  Trip on a hole, slip on a wet floor, slip on improperly shoveled parking lot, or fall as the result of some activity on the premises are examples of injuries on a premises.  The condition or activity must have been created by the negligent act or omission of the owner, possessor, or manager of the premises.

Products Liability

Products liability cases arise when a person is injured as the result of a product that is defective or unreasonably dangerous at the time the product left the manufacturer.  These cases are considered "strict liability" which means that the injured person does not have to prove "fault" on the part of the defendant but only that the product was defective or unreasonably dangerous at the time it left the manufacturer.  At times, negligence is also alleged in a products liability case.

Nursing Home Injuries

Nursing home injures happen when patients in the nursing home are mistreated and injured through the negligence of the nursing home employees.  This is not necessarily medical malpractice but could be  ordinary negligence if a patient falls out of bed or some other accident and failure to properly care for the patient. 

Wrongful Death

Wrongful death case arises when a person dies as the result of the negligence of another person or corporation.  A survival action usually accompanies this type of case if the deceased person experienced conscious pain and suffering before the death.

Criminal

There are many type of criminal cases including felony, misdemeanor and ordinance violation matters.  When a person is arrested for allegedly committing a crime, hiring an attorney to represent the arrested person in court is very important to protect the accused constitutional rights.  Everyone arrested is presumed innocent and deserves a legal defense.  It is important to protect the constitutional rights of the accused and hiring a lawyer to do this is imperative.

Juvenile

Juvenile cases generally involve kids under 17 years of age who are arrested and accused of a crime.  The juvenile court proceeding is separate from the adult criminal court and remains confidential to protect the juvenile.  Special rules apply to the juveniles accused of crimes.  Sometimes juveniles make mistakes and they should be given a second chance in most cases.  Also, kids are not experienced in legalities and often confess to crimes that they did not commit when pressured by police or school officials and having a lawyer advising the juvenile is very important.  Juveniles accused of a crime should not speak to police or school officials without an attorney present because of the risk of a mistaken confession.

DUI and Traffic

DUI stands for "driving under the influence" of drugs and/or alcohol and is typically a misdemeanor but sometimes it is a felony.  There are many defenses to a DUI and hiring an experienced lawyer is the best way to defend the case.  Traffic offenses also have defenses, rules, and procedures in court that an experienced lawyer can negotiate on behalf of a client to minimize the impact of a traffic ticket or successfully defend the ticket.

Zero Tolerance For Minors

A special rule called "zero tolerance" applies to people under 21 years of age when it comes to drinking alcohol.  Zero tolerance means that anyone under 21 years old must have 0.00% alcohol in their system if they are tested by a police officer.  There are two defenses to zero tolerance drivers license suspension: (1) the drinking alcoholic beverage as part of a religious service, or (2) taking the regular dosage of medicine that contains alcohol.  These two exceptions do not apply to drivers 21 years old or older.

Ordinance Violations

Sometimes the police charge drivers with violations of a local ordinance and these charges can also be defended like other traffic offenses and should be aggressively defended.

Real Estate

Real estate practice involves many different aspects such as real estate closings, real estate title examinations, mortgage loans, drafting contracts, drafting leases, and sometimes litigation such as foreclosures and defense of foreclosures.

Wills and Trusts

This area of practice involves drafting wills and trusts to dispose of the client's personal and real property at the time of the client's death.

Probate

Probate involves a court proceeding to administer the last will and testament of the deceased person.  Estates valued under $100,000 need not be probated in court but a lawyer must evaluate the value of the estate and the evaluate the heirs of the estate to avoid probate.   Only a lawyer may prepare a small estate affidavit.  Probate administration of an estate is helpful because it bars of claims of creditors against the estate after a six-month waiting period.  The executor marshals the assets of the estate, inventories those assets, pay the final expenses of the decedent, makes a final account, and then distributes the money remaining to the beneficiaries of the estate.

Bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and 13)

Bankruptcy is a federal law that allows people to discharge their debts when they can no longer afford to pay their bills.  The filing of a bankruptcy triggers the "automatic stay" which immediately stops the creditors from contacting the debtor/client to collect any debts.  A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is considered a "liquidation"; this means that all non-exempt assets of value are sold and distributed among the unsecured creditors.  A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is considered a "pay-back plan" that allows the debtor/client to pay-back a small portion of the unsecured debts over a three to five year plan and also allows the debtor/client to keep their home, save it from foreclosure, keep their cars by saving them from repossession.  The bankruptcy laws are complex but very helpful to a person experiencing too much debt.  The new bankruptcy law requires that each client be evaluated with the "means test" to determine if they earn too much money to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  This rule was lobbied by the credit card companies to prevent people from discharging credit card debt in some circumstances.  A discussion with a lawyer will help determine whether the means test has an impact on each client.

Evictions (for landlords)

If a tenant fails to pay rent, the landlord has a right to file an eviction action against the tenant and ask the court to evict the tenant and to award the landlord damages for rent and attorney fees if the lease provides for attorney fees.  This process can take anywhere between three to six weeks depending on the court docket.  A five-day notice must be served upon the tenant.

General Litigation

There are many other disputes that arise between people and businesses and sometimes these disputes cannot be resolved without a lawsuit.  The lawsuit is the best method for having a judge or jury decide how to resolve a dispute.  If someone has a case that is not specifically listed here, then talk to an attorney about the details of the case.

Social Security Disability

If a person is unable to work and applies for Social Security Disability and is denied benefits there is a right to appeal.  The appeal can be handled on a contingency basis depending on the case and back benefits can be awarded. 

School Law

Discipline.  In schools, from kindergarten through high school, many issues arise in the context of student discipline such as suspensions and expulsions.  A public school education is right of every child through high school and therefore carries U.S. Constitutional protections of due process.  There is procedural due process right of "notice and opportunity to be heard" even for a one day suspension.  There is substantive due process to protect students from "arbitrary and capricious" action by a school.

Criminal.  If a school official or police liaison initiates a criminal investigation of a student, students are guaranteed the protections of  the United States Constitutional under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.  However, schools are given greater latitude to keep the schools safe including (1) use of drug sniffing dogs, (2) locker searches, (3) outer clothing searches of students, and (4) interrogation of students.  The confiscation of cell phones is probably constitutionally allowed, but the viewing of text messages, emails, and phone numbers in the student's cell phone is probably a violation of the 4th Amendment without a proper search warrant or otherwise probable cause.  A student can, and should, ask for a lawyer AND a parent prior to interrogation related to a criminal activity and refuse to answer such questions to avoid self-incrimination if the student is the target of the investigation.

Other areas upon request

If there are any cases not explicitly stated in this website, please feel free to call the office to inquire about whether our office can represent you in that case.