By:  Kal Issa

Governor Pritzker, who has long touted marijuana reform as one of his concerns when running for the gubernatorial seat, will finally have the opportunity to enact a law long desired by a large number of Illinois citizens. The Illinois General Assembly has passed House Bill 1438 and it now awaits Governor Pritzker’s signature.

House Bill, known as The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act set out a guideline of how marijuana sales and marijuana possession will be regulated.  It also completely decriminalizes the possession of certain amounts of Cannabis. Prior to the effective date of the new law, which is January 1, 2020, possession of less than 10 grams of Cannabis is a civil offense punishable by fine only, more than 10 grams but less than 30 grams is a Class B Misdemeanor and more than 30 grams could be charged as Class A Misdemeanor or a Felony depending on the amount actually possessed.

Although injuries to the spinal cord can be caused by violence, disease, and falls, auto accidents account for half of all new spinal cord injuries. An injury to the spinal cord can have lasting effects, including permanent paralyzation. Advances in technology have allowed people with nervous system damage to live comfortable and productive lives, but there is still no cure for spinal cord injuries. If a person is injured severely due to the negligence of another driver, they deserve compensation for their pain and suffering.

Damage to any part of the spinal cord, or nerve ends of the spinal canal, will impact functionality or sensation based on the location and severity of the injury. Depending on the injury caused by the car, truck, or motorcycle accident, a victim of spinal cord damage may experience the following:

• Loss or lack of feeling,
• Complete loss of or limited mobility,
• Spasms,
• Loss of bladder or bowel control,
• Loss of fertility and sexual function,
• Pain from nerve damage.

The classification of spinal cord injuries calls into two categories - complete and incomplete. A complete spinal cord injury is the loss of feeling and function of the body below the injury. An incomplete injury leaves the victim with some motor and/or sensory functions remaining after the trauma. A victim who loses the use of their lower body/limbs is a paraplegic. A victim who loses the use of their arms and legs is a quadriplegic.

In today’s society, social media has made it easy for anyone that has internet access to find out personal information with just a few clicks of a mouse. Once you post, comment, or send something on any social platform, it is out there for the world to see. Most of the time, the only people that are paying close attention to what you share online are your friends and family. However, there may come a time when you choose to share important information about a personal injury case and the wrong person sees it and makes comments that can affect the outcome of your case.

The Evolution of Social Networks

Over the last decade, a lot of changes have happened regarding social networks. They have created policies and procedures that are made to validate certain comments and disclose confidential information. If necessary, in court, the judge may rule that a claimant or plaintiff must disclose their social media login information if a specific request is made. Because of this, most social channels have created methods for people to download their full profile history. According to the Snapchat transparency report, between the dates of November 1, 2014, and February 28, 2015, the company received 375 requests for data on 666 user accounts in the United States. This just further shows that publishing this type of personal information on social media does not offer much help to a claim.

The next time you are driving down the road and a tractor-trailer passes you by, you may wonder just how qualified the person driving that truck actually is, especially if they are driving with a Florida commercial driver's license (CDL).

The FBI and Florida state law enforcement officials recently announced they had busted a commercial driving license scheme which was based in that state. Three people have been indicted for conspiracy to aid and abet the unlawful production of Florida CDLs, as well as several other federal charges. The defendants targeted Russian-speaking immigrants from California, Illinois, New York, and Virginia. At least 600 people were given CDLs without receiving the proper training.

According to the FBI, the three were running a truck driving school, which ran an online campaign marketing to people who spoke Russian offering Florida CDLs for $2,000. Potential students would pay the fee and travel to Florida, where the defendants would then provide them with false residency documents in order for the student to obtain a regular Florida’s driver’s license – which is a requirement in order to obtain a CDL.

Richard Madison, 54, of Palos Hills “was pulled over by authorities after driving [under the influence] nearly two dozen students to a prom site for Oswego East High School,” according to the Chicago Tribune. The incident has led to a proposal in the Illinois state legislature to toughen punishment for DUI. “Under the measure,” according to the Tribune, “drivers could be charged with a felony for driving under the influence and carrying one or more passengers of any age while on duty as a driver.” As it currently stands, the state law only cites bus drivers with an aggravated DUI if the passengers are under 18.

According to the Tribune, aggravated DUI is a Class 4 felony, “punishable by up to three years in prison.” Any random drunk driving charge can carry a sentence of up to a year in jail, but House Republican leader Tom Cross told the Tribune that that punishment wasn’t strong enough for someone who was hired to safely deliver children, and who was putting those kids at risk.

This area of Chicago is no stranger to teen tragedy—in 2007, an alcohol-related car crash killed five teenagers who would have graduated form the same high school these prom-goers attend. The introduction of Cross’s measure, according to the Tribune, “came on the same day the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington called on authorities to reduce the legal limit to 0.05 percent from the 0.08 standard used in all 50 states.”