Joel D. Groenewold’s practice includes commercial litigation, transportation litigation, premises liability, product liability, medical malpractice defense, municipal liability, general insurance defense, railroad litigation, home insurance claims, and real estate litigation, among others. His clients include retail and restaurant companies, including grocery stores and shopping centers, as well as construction, and multiple national transportation and railroad companies. He has tried well over 60 jury trials in counties throughout Illinois and has handled cases in both state and federal court in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kansas. He has a strong record of obtaining defense or favorable verdicts in most of the cases he has tried.
Joel represents multiple national transportation and trucking companies, as well as various regional trucking companies through various insurers. He has tried numerous complex and high-profile transportation, railroad, and general negligence cases. Joel also represents several Midwestern retail establishments and has taken many premises liability cases to trial.
Throughout his career, Joel has represented large commercial clients, including office buildings, malls, commercial landlords, construction companies, national restaurant chains and national automobile auction houses, in a myriad of issues including premises liability, business practices, and general commercial liability. He counsels his clients not only on litigated matters and personal injury claims, but on employment matters, commercial disputes, contractual issues, compliance with rules and regulations and safety/risk management in transportation, retail, and commercial establishments. Joel has been assigned multiple transferred cases, last-minute trial assignments, and cases from excess insurance carriers.
- American Bar Association
- Illinois State Bar Association
- Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
- Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA)
- Defense Research Institute
- National Retail and Restaurant Defense Association (NRRDA)
- Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)
- Obtained defense verdict in trucking case including a head-on collision with severe injuries to the plaintiff, more than $120,000 in special damages, and a demand to the jury of more than $3,000,000.
- Obtained defense verdict in railroad case including significant injuries and multiple surgeries to the plaintiff, in which plaintiff’s demand was $2,200,000.
- Jury verdict of $64,000 in favor of the plaintiff in a premises liability case where the plaintiff claimed more than $150,000 in medical special damages and over $1,000,000 in lost wages, after alleging permanent injuries to her back. Joel called three of the plaintiff’s own treating physicians during the defense case to support his argument that plaintiff’s alleged injuries were simply on aggravation of a pre-existing condition. Plaintiff asked the jury for more than $5,000,000.
- In 2013, Joel tried seven jury trials; six of these trials resulted in defense verdicts or verdicts for less than the last pre-trial offers.