Liz Felt Wakeman

Liz began her legal career with Williams & Montgomery in Chicago practicing in the area of insurance defense litigation. She defended claims for products liability, contract actions, declaratory judgments, automobile accident, premises liability and medical malpractice through multiple insurance carriers including Allstate, ISMIE, and many others while also handling a variety of litigation for the now defunct Venture Stores.

Seeking a more suburban practice, Liz moved to a firm Vernon Hills and Chicago. While there, in addition to continuing the general insurance defense practice, she served as National Counsel for PST Vans managing their vehicular accident litigation claims across the country. She also handled medical malpractice cases for ISMIE and many Chicagoland hospitals and physicians and served as monitoring counsel for the Illinois Guaranty Fund for malpractice cases across the state.

Liz was a partner at the firm of O’Hagan, Smith & Amundsen/SmithAmundsen in the Woodstock office continuing to handle automobile accident, premises liability (slip and fall), medical malpractice and myriad of other types of insurance defense claims for State Farm, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, American Country Insurance as well as self- insured hospital systems such as Advocate.

Liz was a partner with Crystal Lake firms where she expanded her practice to include family law and injury cases for plaintiffs. With her knowledge and experience of the analysis and process the insurance companies utilize to evaluate and prepare cases for settlement and trial, she has been able to help many plaintiffs recover damages for injuries sustained in a variety of accidents including automobile and motorcycle accidents, injuries from falls and from the negligence of medical care providers.

Significant Cases:

While a partner at SmithAmundsen, Liz tried several cases to juries including the case of Hiscott v. Peters, a case decided by the Second District Appellate Court that was seminal with respect to the issues of when an accident reconstruction expert may testify at trial, when evidence of the use of a cell phone may be admitted at trial, when itemized jury verdict forms are appropriate and its application with respect to loss of normal life or disability, and the ability to assert a claim for emotional distress as a component of damages.

Liz tried a case with a former law partner which involved one of the earliest cases in which a plaintiff was able to recover damages for grief and sorrow. In that case, a young child’s father was killed in a motorcycle accident. Historically, without a history of significant financial contribution, the recovery for this case would have been minimal. Liz and her colleague successfully argued for recovery despite a lack of financial support from the deceased father to the child.

In a recent case, Liz made new law in the area of compensation for lost wages for a plaintiff who owns a corporation and is not able to earn money for the corporation due to injuries. After this case, the law is now clear that an injured person is entitled to recovery of the loss of those earnings and earning potential.

In the area of family law, Liz has had multiple cases heard by the appellate court with success for her clients. In a recent case, the State of Illinois through Lisa Madigan’s office attempted to seek compensation from a father in Illinois who had children living in Mexico. Madigan’s office was trying to have child support set at Illinois standards rather than the standard that would apply in Mexico where the mother and children live. Liz fought against the idea that Illinois state resources would be utilized to send money out of the country inappropriately when the father was already providing financial support. Liz’s argument in this case was affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court.

In another case, the court held that the founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America was in contempt of court which was affirmed by the Appellate Court. Despite this party’s unlimited resources, Liz and her client have defeated him in each appeal on multiple issues thus far. Liz’s client received the largest court ordered maintenance award reported in Illinois.