Death has not ended the legal battle over the lives and last minutes of bank robbery suspects Jeffrey and Jill Erickson.
The latest dispute, punctuated by an exchange of rhetoric from both sides, involves an attempt by survivors to subpoena all FBI reports about the couple and their alleged crime-spree lifestyle in connection with a civil lawsuit. The U.S. attorney`s office opposes the efforts and suggests that the survivors want the documents and audio tapes only because they intend to write a screenplay about the couple`s violent end.
The Ericksons need little introduction.
While on trial for multiple bank robberies, Jeffrey Erickson killed two law officers and himself July 20 in an attempt to escape from custody at the Dirksen Federal Building.
Eight months earlier, on Dec. 16, Jill Erickson took her own life after leading police and FBI agents on a chase through Schaumburg and Hanover Park, according to the authorities.
Attorney Nancy Albert-Goldberg insists the FBI documents are needed to substantiate a wrongful-death action brought on behalf of Jill Erickson`s estate by her mother, Frances Cohen.
Ridiculous, replies Michele S. Schroeder, an assistant U.S. attorney. In a motion to quash the subpoena, she chides Albert-Goldberg for bringing what she says is perhaps ”the most frivolous lawsuit ever filed.”
The court files portray Jill Erickson as every bit her husband`s equal in violence, from shoulder holsters worn under her left arm to ammunition pouches affixed to her belt.
Albert-Goldberg contends in support of her subpoena that Jill Erickson, rather than being a public enemy, was something of a model motorist during the police chase, ”lawfully on the roadway (exercising) caution for her safety” and that of other motorists.
Retorts Schroeder: Jill Erickson was ”armed to the teeth,” driving a stolen van and exchanging pistol shots with her pursuers.
A hearing before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber is scheduled for Aug. 18.
Warning to team doctors
With another pro football season about to get under way, there has been a timely verdict by a Cook County Circuit Court jury in a sports-injury case that ought to be of interest to owners, players and those who tend the wounded.
Fourteen years ago this summer, a defensive tackle for the Bears, Roger Stillwell, abruptly retired, citing a left knee pulervized by pounding physical contact, surgery and steroid injections.
Now, Stillwell has been awarded $4.1 million in damages from former Bears team physician Dr. Ted Fox-a malpractice verdict that affirms the liability of physicians who vouch for an athlete`s ability to play. Stillwell`s lawyer, John B. Kralovec of Kralovec Jambois & Schwartz, said Stillwell was ”cleared to play while shot up with steroids, and his knee wasn`t put in a brace.”
Before returning to California, where he assists handicapped children in physical therapy, Stillwell proved he can still make a hit. Ten of the jurors asked him to sign their jury-service certificates.
– DAMAGED GOODS. The federal appeals court in Chicago turns thumbs down on a plea by professional photographers S. Donald Valenti and Patricia Valenti who had sought reinstatement of their 1989 lawsuit against film processor Qualex Inc.
The two were seeking $2.4 million in damages from North Carolina-based Qualex for improperly processing 43 of 427 rolls of film shot on a trip to Spain.
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The appeals court decision upholds an earlier ruling in favor of Qualex by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, who noted that the film had been dropped off at a camera shop in La Grange, so there was no contract-implied or otherwise-between the processor and the photographers. Qualex had offered the two replacement film.
– LAW BRIEFS. Supporters of U.S. District Judge Ilana D. Rovner take issue with an item in last week`s column. They contend that unclear language in an earlier opinion by the federal appeals court in Chicago, rather than Rovner`s legal rulings, was the reason her soon-to-be colleagues on the court sent back for a second time complicated litigation involving the proceeds of a breach-of-contract judgment. . . . Lawyer Manuel Sanchez of Sanchez & Daniels has been elected to the board of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., the trash-to- energy subsidiary of Waste Management Inc. of Oak Brook. . . . Gottlieb & Schwartz is the new general counsel for the Chicago-based Latin American Chamber of Commerce. . . . Intellectual property law specialists Willian Brinks Olds Hofer Gilson & Lione celebrate the 75th anniversary of the firm with a 1 1/2-day seminar Sept. 10 and 11 on patent, trade secret and trademark litigation in the next century.