Steven A. Berman

Steve Berman has over fifteen years of experience in the area of personal injury litigation, including trying as first chair attorney over 50 personal injury jury trials throughout the state of Illinois, including Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Lake, McHenry, McLean, Winnebago, and Whiteside counties. Three of these trials resulted in jury verdicts in excess of insurance policy limits when insurers had refused to settle prior to trial. With Anesi Ozmon since 1998, he has also briefed and argued before the First, Second, and Third District, Illinois Appellate Courts. Steve is a dedicated litigator who stops at nothing to achieve success and significant awards for his clients.

Steve has an impressive track record of achievements. He has obtained many significant settlements and verdicts for his clients, including:

      Construction Negligence:

• $2,500,000 jury verdict for a union electrician who injured his knee requiring arthroscopic surgery after he twisted his knee coming down from a ladder while working at a UPS packaging facility, when the UPS package cart bumped into his ladder;
• Over $1,740,000 total package settlement for a union ironworker who injured his back in a slip and fall on ice at a jobsite in Vermillion County;
• Over $1,539,000 total package settlement for a union painter who injured his knee while climbing an old wooden affixed ladder on a jobsite in Chicago;
• $725,000 settlement for a union laborer who suffered a crushed hand while moving materials at the Exelon Power Station in LaSalle County;
• $615,000 settlement for a union ironworker apprentice who was injured when he twisted his back in a fall on a jobsite in Chicago;
          

      SLIP AND FALL/MOTOR VEHICLE:         

• $440,000 settlement for a union ironworker apprentice who injured her back requiring an IDET procedure when she slipped and fell on water on the floor at a Jewel food store in DuPage County;
• Over $437,000 total package settlement for a union painter who suffered a torn rotator cuff of his shoulder in a fall from an improperly placed ladder on a job site;
• Over $415,000 total package settlement for a union ironworker who twisted his back when he slipped while carrying rebar on slick decking on a Will County job site;
• $375,000 total package settlement for a union painter who cut his leg when he tripped and fell at a job site, resulting in a MRSE infection of the cut;
• $365,250 settlement for a woman who injured her wrist resulting in CRPS/RSD  in a slip and fall on a City of Chicago sidewalk;
• $300,000 settlement for a low back and neck injury due to a motor vehicle collision at an intersection with a FedEx truck;
• Over $277,000 total package settlement for a laborer who sustained an electric shock on a job site when the underground utility wires on site were negligently located and marked and he struck an underground power line while digging;
• $255,000 settlement for a woman who slipped and fell on ice in a parking lot and broke her ankle;

In addition, Steve has successfully appeared before the Appellate Court in the state of Illinois in a significant case upholding the rights of all injured victims who slip and fall on ice.  In the case Russell v. the Village of Lake Villa, the trial court dismissed the Plaintiff's case because it found that the Plaintiff's injury was caused by ice that was considered to be a natural accumulation under previous case law. Steve appealed and the Appellate Court reversed and found that where unsafe plowing procedures cause ice to form, that ice is not a natural accumulation.