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Eric J. Carlson

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Biography

Eric Carlson is resident of Edwardsville, Illinois.  He was born in Belleville, Illinois and then moved to the Edwardsville Glen-Carbon area in 1977.  He earned a bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences cum laude from the University of Illinois. He received his juris doctor, magna cum laude from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1995.

During law school, he served on the Board of Editors for the Southern Illinois University law review and published a case note titled, "Premises Liability: The Exception that Swallowed the Rule, Lee v. CTA," 19 S.Ill.L.J. 217. He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi legal fraternity, the Order of Barristers and the Southern Illinois American Inn of Court. He served on and was later captain of the national Products Liability Moot Court Team. Mr. Carlson also clerked for John P. Womick & Associates in Carbondale, Illinois.

Following law school, Mr. Carlson began working as an associate for Jon G. Carlson in 1995. He became a shareholder of the firm in 1998 and a named partner in 1999. Carlson & Carlson, P.C. concentrated its practice in products liability, medical malpractice, vehicular and trucking accident litigation and has secured multiple substantial verdicts and settlements. The firm also represented injured railroad workers under the Federal Employer's Liability Act.  In July 2010, Carlson & Carlson, P.C., and Byron, Gerber, Petri & Kalb, LLC merged to form Byron, Carlson, Petri & Kalb, LLC. 

Mr. Carlson was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1995 and the Missouri Bar in 1996. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Illinois (1996), the Central District of Illinois (1996) and the Eastern District of Missouri (1996). He is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1996), the Eighth Circuit (1998) and the Sixth Circuit (2001).

Mr. Carlson is a member of the American, Illinois and Missouri Bar Associations. He is a past president of the Madison County Bar Association. He is, also, a member of the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the American Trial Lawyers Association. He belongs to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association where he served on the Board of Managers for 18 years. He has also previously served on the Board of Advocates and the Executive Committee for the Illinois Trial Lawyers, and was a co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. Mr. Carlson was recently named to the Board of Directors for ISBA Mutual Insurance Company in 2021.  Also, in 2021 Mr. Carlson was named as an approved mediator in the recently approved Mandatory Mediation Program for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. 
Notably, Mr. Carlson was intricately involved in the cases that successfully challenged the Illinois Tort Reform Act of 1995 in the landmark decision of Best v. Taylor Machine Works, Inc., 179 Ill.2d 367, 689 N.E.2d 1057 (Ill. 1997). As a result of the work performed in Best, Mr. Eric Carlson was recognized by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice as a 1998 Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist. Another reported case of interest is Isbell v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 318 Ill.App.3d 1011 (Ill. App. 5th Dist. 2001).

Mr. Eric Carlson has successful trial experience in cases involving wrongful death, medical malpractice, products liability, trucking and automobile accidents and FELA matters. He has tried cases in State and Federal Courts in Illinois and Missouri.  In September and November 2010, Eric Carlson and Jon Carlson, received verdicts of $2.5 million, and $3.3 million in back to back catastrophic injury cases at the Madison County, Illinois courthouse. 

Eric J. Carlson was raised in the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Area, and graduated from Edwardsville High School in 1988. After undergraduate and law school, Mr. Carlson returned to the Edwardsville area, where he currently resides with his wife and three children.

Education

  • Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale, Illinois
    • J.D.
    • Honors: magna cum laude
    • Honors: Phi Kappa Phi
    • Honors: Order of Barristers
    • Honors: National Product Liability Moot Court Team (1993-1995)
  • University of Illinois
    • B.A. - 1992
    • Honors: cum laude

Published Works

  • Consulting Editor, "Enforcement of Judgments / Costs.", Nichols Illinois Civil Practice, Vol. 5, 2004
  • Consulting Editor, "General Considerations / Summons and Appearance", Nichols Illinois Civil Practice, Vol. 1A, 2001
  • “Testimonial Evidence”, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2004
  • "Offensive Use of Supreme Court Rule 237(b)", Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2002
  • "Premises Liability: The Exception that Swallowed the Rule, Lee v. CTA,", 19 S.Ill.L.J. 217
  • Work Effectively with Subrogations, Reimbursements, Liens and Privileges and Plan Your Strategy for Effective Settlement Drafting, National Business Institute, Obtaining the Best Settlement for Personal Injury Clients, 2010
  • “Case Selection: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff”, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2016

Professional Associations

  • Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Executive Committee, 2006
  • Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Managers, 2001 to Present
  • Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Advocates, 2000
  • The Association of Trial Lawyers of America
  • American Association of Justice, 05/1996 to Present
  • American Bar Association, 01/2000 to Present
  • Illinois State Bar Association, 11/1995 to Present
  • Madison County Bar Association, Executive Committee / Secretary, 2012 to 2013
  • Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
  • Bar Association of the Central and Southern Federal Districts of Illinois
  • Southern Illinois Inn of Court, Member
  • Madison County Bar Association, Executive Committee , Treasurer, 2013 to 2014
  • Madison County Bar Association, Executive Committee , 2nd Vice President, 2014 to 2015
  • Madison County Bar Association, Executive Committee , 1st Vice President , 2015 to 2016
  • Madison County Bar Association, Executive Committee , President, 2016 to 2017
  • ISBA Mutual Insurance, Board of Directors, 2021 to Present

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois, 1995
  • Missouri, 1996
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois, 1996
  • U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois, 1996
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri, 1996
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1996
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit, 1998

Representative Cases

  • $985,000.00 settlement in a product liability claim for the failure of a boom lift in a lead mine, 2016
  • $4,700,000.00 settlement following a week of trial after a construction worker was run over by a dump truck backing up without a spotter, 2015
  • $275,000.00 settlement for a student struck by a car in a crosswalk, 2015
  • $180,000.00 settlement in 2015 for a woman rear-ended by a tractor trailer requiring shoulder arthroscopy, 2015
  • $175,000.00 settlement for a man pulled off a ladder at a car dealership, 2015
  • $1,000,000.00 settlement for the family of a man killed due to bounce house that was not properly secured, 2015
  • $950,000.00 settlement & arbitration award for a worker exposed to dangerous glue fumes, 2014
  • $140,000.00 settlement for a man knocked off a trailer by a forklift operator, 2014
  • $930,000.00 malpractice settlement for a man injured during cataract surgery, 2014
  • $135,0000.00 settlement for a fractured ankle suffered by a pizza delivery man injured when a staircase collapsed, 2013
  • $180,000.00 to a woman injured by a defective kitchen appliance, 2013
  • $1,250,000.00 settlement for a man burned due to a defective fuel system, 2012
  • $6,000,000.00 settlement (policy limits) days before a trial for injuries suffered when a crane tipped over onto scaffolding at a construction site, 2012
  • $750,000.00 malpractice settlement for radiology misdiagnosis, 2011
  • $220,000.00 settlement for a fractured elbow from a motorcycle collision, 2011
  • $180,000.00 settlement for a truck driver that had an industrial garage door close on him, 2010
  • $120,000.00 for a woman that slipped on an unmarked wet floor at a restaurant, 2010
  • $700,000.00 settlement for diet supplements that damaged liver, 2010
  • $3,300,000.00 verdict in a trucking accident case in Madison County, Illinois for a man that sustained catastrophic injuries when a tractor trailer crossed the median, 2010
  • $2,500,000.00 verdict in 2010 (reduced for 50% contributory negligence) in a railroad crossing case for a man that suffered a brain injury at a rural railroad crossing where the railroad did not cut back its vegetation or sound its horn, 2010
  • $2,200,000.00 settlement in a medical malpractice case for failure to timely diagnose the cause of partial paralysis, 2009
  • $1,200,000 recovery in 2008 in a product liability and premises liability claim for a man that suffered a closed head injury after falling off a tanker trailer that lacked fall protection at a loading dock, 2008
  • $150,000 settlement in a claim against a home inspector that failed to identify mold that caused a woman to suffer from fungal sinusitis, 2008
  • $575,000 settlement for a man struck by a car inside a convenience store that lacked protective balusters, 2008
  • $925,000 settlement in a products liability claim in 2006 for a man that had a partial arm amputation from a conveyor at work that lacked proper guards, 2006
  • $750,000 settlement in a legal malpractice claim in 2006 for a business injured by an attorney’s failure to vigorously defend and investigate a claim, 2006
  • $825,000 settlement in a product liability suit in 2005 for a man that lost the use of an eye because of an inadequate guard, 2005
  • $1 million settlement in a product liability claim in 2003 for a man that sustained a fractured heel and severe nerve damage resulting from a fall caused by a design defect in road construction equipment that made it inherently unstable, 2003
  • $4 million settlement in 2003 for a woman that sustained catastrophic lower leg injuries when she was struck by a bus in a crosswalk, 2003
  • $6 million settlement in 2002 for a wrongful death products liability claim, 2002
  • $225,000 verdict in 2002 for a man that fell into an uncovered manhole at a racetrack with inadequate lighting and fractured his leg, 2002
  • $2.5 million verdict (reduced by 50% contributory negligence) in 1999 for the family of a 19 year old man killed in Madison County, Illinois because of an extra-hazardous railroad crossing with only cross bucks and no flashers or gates. Subsequent to the accident and the filing of the lawsuit, flashers and gates were added. This verdict was affirmed on appeal in 2001, 1999
  • $600,000 settlement in 1999 for a man injured that was unable to return to work after a head-on collision between 18-wheelers where he fractured his femur and lost his spleen, 1999
  • $2.3 million settlement in 1998 for a man that received third degree burns and broken ankles at a steel mill in Madison County, Illinois when the mast of a forklift carrying hot steel bars failed causing the rupture of the hydraulic lines and a fire ball of ignited hydraulic fluid, 1998
  • $375,000.00 to a woman in a medical malpractice claim for a wrong level laminectomy, 2021
  • $446,000.00 products liability, 2021
  • $175,000.00 concussion syndrome for a store patron hit by forklift, , 2021
  • $200,000.00 torn rotator cuff, motor vehicle accident, 2020, 2020
  • $210,000.00 torn rotator cuff, construction site fall, 2020
  • $1,000,000.00 product liability, anhydrous ammonia pressure vessel explosion, 2019
  • $750,000.00 cervical fusion, underinsured motorist claim, 2019
  • $900,000.00 medical malpractice failure to diagnose infection, 2019
  • $675,000.00 medical malpractice, radiology misdiagnosis, 2019
  • $750,000.00 medical malpractice, failure to properly access port-a-cath, , 2019
  • $225,000.00 head on collision, ankle fracture (excess of policy limits) , 2019
  • $1,250,000.00 head on collision, delivery van crossed center line, multiple fractures, 2018
  • $615,000.00 rotator cuff, frozen shoulder, trucking accident , 2018
  • $250,000.00 lumbar injury, bus driver hit by truck , 2018
  • $225,000.00 cervical disc injury, failure to yield , 2017
  • $165,000.00 fractured ribs, illegal left turn into , 2017

Current Employment Position

  • Partner

Practice Areas

  • Personal Injury
  • Business & Estate Law
  • General Litigation
  • Criminal Defense