Trial Guides is thrilled to report another groundbreaking decision for injured workers. The Chicago-based firm of Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates recently received a $32 million verdict against ExxonMobil Oil Corporation in an Illinois workplace slip-and-fall case. This is the largest verdict in Illinois history for a case involving complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a debilitating chronic pain disorder for which there is no known cure.
Case Summary
Plaintiff: 52-year-old female
Defendant: ExxonMobil Oil Corporation
Original Offer: $100,000 the day before trial
Final Settlement/Verdict: $32,000,000
Verdict Breakdown: No punitives, no comparative negligence
Case Details
The case was filed on behalf of a truck driver who suffered a life-altering injury after slipping on oil at an ExxonMobil facility. Exxon set forth a pathway for truck drivers to receive oil and report to a particular transaction room; that pathway would frequently have spilled oil on the floor, produced by the defendant.
The plaintiff fell on her left hand and subsequently developed CRPS, a condition that typically develops after a serious injury. The accident left her with severe, permanent pain. She maintained that her pain was caused by the injury, and that the injury resulted directly from ExxonMobil’s failure to maintain safe working conditions.
“When the plaintiff slipped and fell, they tried to deny that the incident even happened,” explains lead attorney Clifford Horwitz. Then they tried to claim that oil on concrete isn't slippery in small amounts. Finally, they tried to claim that the plaintiff didn't have CRPS, but rather that her being beaten as a younger woman resulted in psychological problems. “That was their main defense,” Horwitz says: “because the plaintiff had suffered physical abuse in her first marriage, the root of her pain was not CRPS but somatoform disorder (malingering).”
Trial and Verdict
Horwitz, David Starshak, and Gabriel Drury brought the case, with Elise Blandin as co-counsel. After intense courtroom proceedings, the jury found ExxonMobil entirely at fault, awarding damages that reflect both Johnson’s devastating condition and the full extent of ExxonMobil’s negligence. The jury fully rejected the defense’s malingering defense and awarded $32,000,000 in past and future damages.
Trial Guides Titles in Action
Horwitz worked closely with Jesse Wilson, jury consultant and author of Witness Preparation and The Most Important Juror. “Jesse truly cares about these cases,” says Horwitz. “He draws attention to the emotional character of witnesses, and brings out ways that the jury can connect better with the plaintiff. Everybody who's worked with Jesse knows how he can bring out parts of the plaintiff’s story that can be inspiring.”
In the firm’s announcement of the verdict, Horwitz emphasizes that this outcome reaffirms corporate accountability in worker safety: “This verdict sends a powerful message: that no corporation is above accountability when it puts workers at risk.”
About the Attorney
Clifford W. Horwitz is a highly successful and respected trial lawyer based in Chicago, with a thirty-year career devoted to personal injury law and justice for those harmed by corporate negligence. He is the principal partner and lead personal injury attorney at Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates, having won hundreds of millions of dollars in client awards, including a record-setting personal injury verdict in Illinois.
