Insurance Defense Litigation – Call 312.346.4700

Practice Areas

Business and Chancery Litigation [Top]

Actions for declaratory judgment, breach of contract, tortious interference with contract or prospective economic advantage, enforcement or defense of restrictive covenants, actions for accountings, specific performance, for or in defense of injunctive relief and actions for fraud are just a few of the areas in which the attorneys at Tucker Merker can provide representation and recommendations.


Commercial and Personal Liability [Top]

Our defense of liquor liability and other suits against entertainment facilities encompasses claims against sports arenas, bowling alleys, restaurants, bars and others.

Major hotel chains, real estate management firms, trucking and bus companies have engaged our services to defend claims of third party criminal and sexual assaults upon guests and passengers as well as claims of excessive use of force or malicious prosecution. Your business and public relations needs are always considered in the defense of these matters.

Automobile and premises liability personal injury claims are defended aggressively to obtain resolution promptly whether by trial, arbitration or mediation.


Community Association Directors and Officers Liability [Top]

Directors, officers and boards of directors, primarily for community associations, are often named as defendants in a variety of claims ranging from shareholders' derivative actions, to suits alleging voting improprieties, to conflicts over parking space assignments in condominium buildings. These claims, by their nature, often involve neighbors or individuals with personal relationships. Keeping this in mind, we work closely with you in working to diffuse potential personal acrimony.


Construction Liability [Top]

Our attorneys have developed strategies to defeat or limit exposure in construction liability claims. We represent architects, engineers, general contractors, builders, owners and sub-contractors in construction litigation including personal injury, and claims range from small injuries or defects to wrongful death and multi-million dollar claims.


Insurance Coverage [Top]

When a policyholder tenders a claim to the insurer, occasionally issues arise regarding whether the claim is covered under the policy. The answer can often vary, dependent upon choice-of-law determination, rules of contract interpretation within the insurance setting, and the applicability of relevant case law. We have broad experience in evaluating coverage and providing opinions, regarding both coverage and strategy.

We regularly provide written coverage opinions, and have extensive experience in litigating declaratory judgment matters ranging from huge environmental coverage and other "long-tail" claims to issues involving coverage for automobile accidents and matters potentially involving intentional acts.


Medical Malpractice and Licensure [Top]

Our medical malpractice attorneys defend physicians, surgeons, nurses, allied health professionals, dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, hospitals, emergency rooms, clinics and physician groups. Our experience extends to virtually every medical specialty. We have attorneys with nursing and pharmacology degrees. We have successfully defended substantial claims involving brain-damaged infants, wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, as well as complications arising from various surgeries, failures to diagnose, improper radiology interpretation and claims of overtreatment. Our attorneys have substantial trial experience in both single defendant and multi-defendant cases lasting from one week to several months.

We defend health professionals in disciplinary hearings. We frequently serve as guest lecturers to physicians, health care providers, risk managers and claims analysts in the professional liability area on a variety of topics including defensive products, deposition and trial presentation, federal privacy regulations, and case-specific defense.


Product Liability and Toxic Torts [Top]

Our attorneys have defended cases involving commercial, consumer, construction and medical products. Some of these products include punch presses, casting machines, conveyers and conveyer systems, elevators, cleaning products and dog repellent.

We have handled cases involving alleged carcinogens and a host of other toxic fibers, chemicals and drugs. We have represented manufacturers of industrial paints and solvents, pesticides, silica flour and asbestos-containing products. We have represented landlords in lead poisoning claims.


Professional Negligence [Top]

We represent non-medical professionals such as insurance brokers and agents, real estate brokers and agents and attorneys in cases where professional negligence is alleged. We work with the professional involved, helping to establish a concentrated effort to promptly evaluate whether any negligence occurred and whether the negligence had an adverse impact in the underlying matter.


Transportation Liability [Top]

We have represented railroads, interstate and intrastate carriers, interstate and international freight forwarders, warehousemen and bailees, and insurers in a variety of litigation arising out of the various modes of transportation and storage of freight throughout our nation. We also represent over-the-road interstate and intrastate carriers in personal injury, automobile collision and cargo damage cases.


Workers' Compensation [Top]

Our workers' compensation attorneys are experienced and aggressive in defending workers' compensation and other employment and labor related claims. Our attorneys regularly practice in Cook County and all neighboring and outlying counties. We regularly try all forms of complex workers' compensation cases including reflex sympathetic dystrophy, heart attack, stress, hearing loss, and psychological or occupational disease claims. Our attorneys have tried cases and successfully argued workers' compensation issues before the appellate courts. We regularly present seminars on workers' compensation and employment related issues including ADA, drug testing, AIDS and alcohol in the work place.