James Lynch

Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC

James Lynch Personal Injury Lawyer

Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC

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Firm Summary

James P. Lynch is a trial lawyer who represents victims and their families in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases. Prior to joining Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC, Jim practiced commercial litigation at a prominent Chicago law firm, where he defended nationally-recognized insurance providers against personal injury claims across the Midwest, as well as prosecuted antitrust matters on behalf of corporate plaintiffs and represented the City of Chicago in multiple Police Board administrative trials. Specifically, Jim’s experience defending against personal injury and wrongful death claims gives him valuable insight to maximize his clients’ recovery due to the negligence of others.

In the years that Jim has represented the injured and their families throughout Illinois, he has been selected as a Rising Star by the Illinois Super Lawyers publication (2016, 2017), which is limited to fewer than 2.5% of attorneys in Illinois under 40 years old. Jim has also been recognized by Chicago Law Bulletin Media as an Emerging Lawyer (2019, 2020) for his nursing home negligence and general personal injury work, a distinction limited to fewer than 2.0% of the attorneys in Illinois under 40 years old. Jim was recently selected as a Super Lawyer in 2020, 2021, and 2022 by the same Illinois Super Lawyers publication noted above, a distinction given to less than 5% of all attorneys across Illinois, regardless of age. Finally, Jim was extremely honored to have been selected in 2020 as a “Top 40 Under 40 Illinois Attorneys To Watch” by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer Magazine, an award which covers attorneys in all areas of law, across Illinois. Over this same time period, Jim has recovered many millions for injured clients through settlement, mediation, and jury verdicts. As a result, in January 2021, Jim was promoted to Partner here at the firm.

Jim received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2007, where he was a recipient of the Corboy Trial Advocacy Fellowship, a scholarship and intensive trial advocacy training program awarded to the top advocates at Loyola Law as chosen by faculty. As a Corboy Fellow, Jim competed nationally in mock trial competitions across the United States. He further received the CALI Award for the highest grade in Appellate Advocacy and was a member of the Dean’s List. Jim received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. At Miami University, Jim served as a Justice on the faculty-selected Student Court and was a member of the Dean’s List. Jim is a lifelong Chicago area resident, first raised in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood on the south side and later in suburban Western Springs, where he graduated from Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park.

Mr. Lynch is currently admitted to the Illinois Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He has previously been admitted pro hac vice in cases across the Midwest. Jim is married and the father of three young children.

Results

• $15,000,000.00 settlement on behalf of several mattress retailers in In re: Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Ohio), a federal class action lawsuit involving an alleged price-fixing conspiracy by a nationwide group of polyurethane foam manufacturers.
• $5,350,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 45-year-old man who was a passenger in a golf cart rollover incident in Galena, Illinois, due to a steep and unsafe cart path, which caused multiple and permanent leg injuries.
• $1,032,300.79 excess Cook County jury verdict in an automobile case on behalf of a 57-year-old mother and 35-year-old daughter injured in a rear-end crash in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The defendant’s insurance company refused to offer any settlement money until the start of trial, four years following the crash. The insurance company denied our clients’ claims throughout trial, arguing that each woman’s injuries were not related to the crash itself. Following the jury verdict in excess of the defendant’s insurance policy limits, the insurance company settled for a total of $1,045,923.61 to avoid further litigation. (2018 Top 50 Personal Injury Jury Verdict in Illinois)
• $1,000,000.00 settlement on behalf of the estate of a 63-year-old man with developmental disabilities that choked to death while a resident of a Cicero, Illinois non-for-profit group home.
• $1,000,000.00 settlement on behalf of the estate of a 34-year-old man who fell onto the elevated tracks while intoxicated at a CTA train station in Chicago, after security failed to identify him and remove him from the station.
• $800,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 31-year-old man who suffered multiple leg fractures upon striking a Chicago pothole while driving a moped.
• $722,500.00 settlement on behalf of a 90-year-old woman, an 85-year-old woman, and a 63-year-old woman injured when a construction company pickup truck crashed into their parked vehicle at high speed on the west side of Chicago. Approximately 5 minutes earlier, the pickup truck had been stolen in the North Lawndale neighborhood. It was established through police reports and the written discovery process that the construction worker left the truck unlocked and the keys visible in the center console as he performed work down the street, thereby making it foreseeable the truck would be stolen and cause injury to others driving.
• $600,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 63-year-old man who suffered an infection after undergoing total ankle replacement surgery. Defendant Chicago-area hospital and Chicago-area podiatrist failed to recognize and timely treat an infection that developed at the surgical site, leading to additional surgeries and treatment.
• $600,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 52-year-old woman who slipped and fell in a puddle of water at a Streamwood big box retailer, suffering a lumbar spinal injury that required surgery.
• $400,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 70-year-old woman neglected by employees of a Palos Hills nursing home, which caused her to develop severe bedsores that required surgery.
• $350,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 40-year-old construction laborer who suffered torn ligaments in his right knee after stepping into an uncovered manhole left open by another subcontractor on the I-90 renovation project in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.
• $287,000.00 Cook County jury verdict on behalf of a 62-year-old service technician who fell through a negligently-maintained roof hatch at the Lake Forest Tollway Oasis, suffering a concussion and partial tear to his right rotator cuff. The service technician previously notified the defendant’s property manager about the issues with the roof hatch and no repairs were made prior to his fall. This jury verdict was nearly five times the last settlement offer by the defendant’s property manager prior to trial. (2019 Top 50 Personal Injury Jury Verdict in Illinois.)
• $275,000.00 settlement on behalf of the estate of a 73-year-old woman against two Chicago nursing homes in the Norwood Park and North Park neighborhoods for causing multiple pressure ulcers to her sacral area and buttocks.
• $275,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 60-year-old postal worker who was delivering mail to a home in Palos Park when he was attacked by the homeowners’ dog and suffered permanent injury to his wrist.
• $268,500.00 settlement on behalf of 95-year-old woman who suffered an unwitnessed fall at a south suburban nursing home, leading to a hip fracture that required surgery.
• $265,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 42-year-old man who stepped into a pothole filled with water during a Chicago street festival in the Bucktown neighborhood, suffering multiple leg fractures that required surgery. Defendants denied that the area where the man was injured was a part of the festival grounds and also denied the existence of any pothole filled with water. Settled at mediation after fact discovery was completed.
• $145,978.00 Kankakee County jury verdict on behalf of a 53-year-old house painter who suffered a rotator cuff injury in a fall off a ladder. The jury awarded damages in the exact dollar amounts suggested during the closing argument. The insurance company that represented the defendant homeowner did not offer a single dollar for the injuries the housepainter suffered in his fall either prior to or during trial.
• $90,000.00 Cook County jury verdict on behalf of a 43-year-old woman that suffered injuries to her cheek and mouth following a motor vehicle collision in Chicago’s Loop, where she was a passenger in a taxicab. Jury awarded verdict three times the settlement amount offered by the defendant taxicab company prior to trial.
• Served as City of Chicago Special Assistant Corporation Counsel in an administrative trial involving two police officers before the Department’s Police Board. The officers were charged with violating six different Department rules and regulations for the illegal detainment and transport of a civilian against his will. The incident was captured on videotape and the Police Board trial itself was profiled on WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate, in a series of online news articles published in February and May 2013. Successfully secured a guilty finding against both officers for their conduct, which violated CPD rules and regulations.