Re: Michael Gray was shot and killed while in a taxi cab leased to him.
I've read this 30 page case pretty carefully, and I am convinced that the result was a terrible one in large part because the lawyer for the driver didn't handle the case right before the arbitrator or before the Appellate Court.
Worse yet, he failed to appeal it to the Supreme Court of Illinois. By failing to appeal it, the decision against the cab driver's survivors became final. They walked away with a fist full of air rather than a fist full of money: benefits under the Illinois Workers Compensation Act.
This decision turns on the nine factors that go into having control over drivers. The driver's survivors only proved two of the nine. They failed to present evidence of several others that they courd have and should have: i.e. how the cab owner provides repairs to the vehicles and provides tow services when the cabs break down.
This decision could easily have gone the other way, and there was a strong dissent that reflects that fact.
I do believe that a good lawyer presenting the facts of this case more carefully would have won the opposite result - full death benefits for Gray's surviving children.
