From Our Clients

And all I could think was, ‘I have to make sure the car doesn’t hit my granddaughter!’”

Sherry was pushing her 1-year-old granddaughter in a stroller, with her 3-year-old grandson nearby on his bike. They had just started to take a walk when her neighbor backed his Cadillac down the driveway without looking. Sherry was knocked from the sidewalk and into the street, and her granddaughter’s stroller was tipped over. The girl was shaken up but fine. Sherry was not as lucky.

“Nothing like this had ever happened to me before,” Sherry explains. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Fortunately, her son-in-law put her in touch with Richard Gordon.

Richard contacted Sherry and insisted that she get all the tests needed to diagnose her condition. “He told me, ‘You don’t want something showing up six months or two years later because of this,” she remembers.

Sherry had a torn rotator cuff that required surgery. Her arm had been so badly damaged that she needed a second surgery three months later. This time she also developed an embolism in one of her lungs. The hospital bills were rising.

The minimal insurance coverage Sherry’s neighbor had would not cover all of her medical costs. Richard told her not to worry. He also made sure that Sherry’s insurance carrier did its part.

“Rich handled everything,” Sherry says. “He answered our calls, and he always kept in touch so we knew what was going on. In the end, he worked hard, got us an excellent settlement that more than covered our bills – and he did it quickly.

“I can’t say enough good things about Rich,” she adds. “He is like our adopted son! I would go to him for any kind of legal issue and recommend him to anyone.”

another patient was coding nearby, and there was no one else to help!”

Eliya went to three different neurosurgeons. Each told her that she needed a spinal laminectomy. When Eliya applied for workers’ compensation, the insurance company told her that this injury was a preexisting condition, related to a surgery she had four years ago, and she would not be covered.

Eliya loved being a nurse. After this injury, she could no longer do bedside care at the hospital. There was permanent damage to one of her legs. She was in and out of a wheelchair. She started taking other part-time jobs to make ends meet.

On one of these jobs, she met a Chicago Blackhawks player. After hearing Eliya’s story, he referred her to Richard Gordon, who had helped him with a similar injury.

“Richard asked me what my goals were: to get my health back or get money,” Eliya remembers. “I appreciated how direct he was – and how everything he did related to what I wanted, which was my health.

“There was a time when we could have gotten a settlement, and his firm could have made a lot of money from it,” Eliya says. “But Richard told me, ‘Let’s put your ongoing medical needs for rehab ahead of settling for money. If the situation changes, we can evaluate your best options at that time.’ So that’s what we did.”

He also kept abreast of changes in the health care laws. When the Affordable Care Act altered Eliya’s situation, he told her that settling now made more sense to meet her goals.

“Richard always made it clear that he cared about me and my case, kept me informed, and answered all my questions during the time we worked on this,” Eliya explains. “The settlement was more than enough to pay my medical bills, go back to school, get out of debt, and put me back on my feet again.”

At spring training, this major league catcher was moved to first base during the ninth inning.

“When I dove for the ball, my elbow hit the ground and my shoulder went in the other direction,” he recalls.

After deciding against surgery and going through rehab, he was out of the game for five months. When his shoulder popped out again the next year, he went through rehab once more and tried to play through the injury. After being released from his contract, he had the surgery, then signed with a minor league team. But his injury didn’t allow him to play to his original potential.

“You make good money and realize that you can get hurt,” he says. “I didn’t want to go after anything I didn’t deserve. But then I stopped getting disability checks and had plenty of medical bills to pay.”

His sports agent – who knew Richard had helped with other professionals in hockey and football –referred him to Gordon Gordon & Centracchio. “Richard explained that things would have been different if I hadn’t been injured and that it made sense to get my rehab and related expenses covered,” he remembered.

“Richard knew how to communicate with the organization,” he states. “Over the time we worked together, Richard and I never met face-to-face. But the times we spoke on the phone made me feel so comfortable with him that this wasn’t an issue – and he made everything very easy.”

His case was settled, covering all of his rehab costs and any long-term disability.

“Richard knows the process, keeps you informed, and is one of the best at getting the job done,” he says. “I’d recommend him to any athlete who faces a serious injury.”

has our best interests at heart.”

Lee is a senior vice president of sales for a company that makes protective gloves, clothing and other safety gear. “We have no in-house counsel, so have turned to Richard for years to handle most of our business-related matters – from litigation on down,” he explains.

Sometimes Richard spots an issue before someone inside the company notices.

“Because of his background in working with insurance companies, Richard is really smart about liability and risk,” Lee says.

“We offer some of our safety products through vending machines, located in our clients’ facilities. One day, while we were having a discussion on something else, Richard asked me about our vending machine contracts with clients,” Lee remembers. “So I sent him one, which had the usual boilerplate in it.”

Richard reviewed it and called Lee. “He asked how much a vending machine weighs. I told him about 1,000 pounds. Richard said, ‘There’s nothing in here that will protect you if one of these falls on someone – or if someone gets a hand stuck in it.’ He was right. We’d never thought about that!”

Richard updated the contracts, protecting the company from these problems.

“We work with Richard because he is very personable – and can explain the law in language we understand, as well as being detail-oriented, methodical and level-headed,” Lee says. “He has effectively defended us in a number of situations, made recommendations that kept us out of trouble, and has saved us lots of time and money. Richard is a great partner for our company!”