EDITORIAL REVIEW

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Demetrio demonstrated his mastery again by landing a $29.6M verdict for a young Chicago woman who suffered grave injuries when a Rock Island Metra train derailed and hit her.



The lion of Chicago's trial bar is challenging security failures at the Grand Hyatt in Amman, Jordan, which allegedly allowed Al-Qaeda members to detonate a bomb, killing a renowned Hollywood film director and his daughter.


Stands alone atop the Chicago trial bar for 100 million reasons, including the biggest injury verdict upheld by Illinois supremes.


Chicago’s top trial lawyer is holding the White Sox’s feet to the fire over their treatment of Frank Thomas.


The powerhouse of aviation and medmal owns the largest compensatory award for an individual ever upheld by the state high court.


Thomas Demetrio has earned his reputation as one of the best personal-injury lawyers in the country with a consistent string of multimillion recoveries for clients during three decades in practice. The star of the Chicago plaintiffs' bar is adept at securing big settlements and taking cases all the way to a jury verdict. The $22 million verdict he won on a behalf of a woman rendered quadriplegic from a car accident is the largest of its kind upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court. Demetrio has continued his winning ways since that landmark 1997 decision, nailing down a $25.2 million settlement for the family of a man who perished in a USAir crash outside Pittsburgh. In September 2005, he reached a $16 million settlement for the family of a Northwestern University football player who died of an asthma attack during practice. This attorney is a member of the prestigious International Academy of Trial Lawyers.


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Thomas A. Demetrio is a trial lawyer with an emphasis on medical negligence, airplane crash, product liability and commercial litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. He is Past President of the Chicago Bar Association and Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

He is a fellow of: The American College of Trial Lawyers, The International Academy of Trial Lawyers and The Inner Circle of Advocates.

Tom has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since its inception in 1987; and, in 1990, was named by the National Law Journal as one of the Nation's Top Ten Trial Lawyers. In 1999, Tom was listed first by the National Law Journal in its list of the top ten trial lawyers in Illinois. Since 2003, Tom has been voted by his peers in the top ten of the top 5% of all lawyers in Illinois, and in 2007 and 2008, he was named in the top five of the state's 80,000 lawyers.

Since its inception in 2005, Tom has been named by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America and the "powerhouse" of aviation and medical negligence law. In 2006, Lawdragon said of Tom, "In the windy city, he's the name for everything from medical malpractice claims to aviation disasters. When tragedy strikes, the families of plane crash victims have no greater ally." Lawdragon concluded that Tom was "Chicago's top trial lawyer," and in 2007, stated that Tom "stands alone atop the Chicago trial bar."

He has done extensive teaching and lecturing worldwide in the field of trial techniques and has authored numerous continuing legal education articles in the field of civil litigation.

Tom has acquired over $100 million in jury verdicts, including the largest personal injury verdict ever upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Practice Areas

• Aviation Negligence
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Negligence
• Medical Negligence
• Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
• Premises Liability
• Product Liability
• Railroad Negligence & FELA
• Vehicular Negligence

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by Thomas Demetrio

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In The News

• Corboy & Demetrio Wins $29.6 Million Record-Setting Verdict for Chicago Metra Train Crash Passenger
  2009
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio - The Leader in Aviation Litigation
  
  
• Named Partner Tom Demetrio Featured on Bulletproof Blog
  June 2009
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio - Leaders in Bridge and Structural Collapse and Defect Litigation
  
  
• Attorney Thomas Demetrio Featured in Illinois Super Lawyer Magazine
  March 2009
  
  
• Thomas Demetrio and William Gibbs Featured in Article "Becoming a Trial Lawyer"
  March 2009
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio Chicago Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Lawyers Named to Illinois Super Lawyers
  January 2009
  
  
• "Thomas A. Demetrio Award of Excellence" Given to Jewish Child & Family Services
  December 2008
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio Attorneys Thomas Demetrio and Francis Patrick Murphy Named to Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America
  October 2008
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio Continuing Legal Education Center Dedicated at Center for Disability & Elder Law
  September 2008
  
  
• Corboy & Demetrio Named One of Chicago's Top Law Firms
  August 2008
  
  
• All Twelve Partners at Corboy & Demetrio Recognized as 2008 Illinois Super Lawyers
  January 2008
  
  
• Thomas Demetrio "Lion of Chicago's Trial Bar"
  2008
  
  
• Appellate Court Affirms $16 Million Wheeler Settlement
  December 2007
  
  
• Court Grants Injunctive Relief in Organ Donor Transplant Case
  November 2007
  
  
• Tom Demetrio Files Lawsuit Against Hyatt Corporation for Death of Internationally Renowned Hollywood Director Moustapha Akkad by Suicide Bomber in Jordan
  September 10, 2007
  
  
• Thomas A. Demetrio Profiled
  March 2007
  
  
• Thomas A. Demetrio Named One of the Top Plaintiff’s Lawyers in Nation
  February 2007
  
  
• Tom Demetrio "Stands Alone Atop the Chicago Trial Bar for 100 Million Reasons"
  2007
  
  
• $75 Million Global Settlement for Injured and Killed Victims in Hancock Scaffolding Accident
  2006
  
  
• "The Powerhouse of Aviation and Medical Malpractice," Thomas Demetrio
  2006
  
  
• Tom Demetrio "Chicago’s Top Trial Lawyer"
  2006
  
  
• Thomas Demetrio "The Star of the Chicago Plaintiffs' Bar"
  2005
  
  
• "Lawyers Hunt For Foreign Defendants Here and Leave"
  August 2004
  
  
• Tom Demetrio Discusses Medical Malpractice Caps in "Jury Awards Not a Panacea"
  August 1, 2004
  
  
• "Lawyers to See Remains of Porch"
  July 2003
  
  
• Tom Demetrio and Barry Chafetz Discuss Illinois Supreme Court Ruling
  May 23, 2002
  
  
• C&D Again Atop Chicago Lawyer Magazine Settlement Survey
  October 2000
  
  
• "Settling Up: How Lawyers Build A Case To Make Corporations Pay When People Die In An Air Disaster"
  January 2000
  
  
• "Accords In '94 USAir Crash Top $48 Million"
  November 1999
  
  
• "Birth-Negligence Case Yields Record $16.5 Million Verdict"
  September 25, 1997
  
  
• "$110 Million Accord Told in American Eagle Plane Crash"
  
  
• "$8.5 Million Settlement Approved for Brain Damage at Birth"
  August 6, 1997
  
  
• "Chem-Plant Blast Yields $7.6 Million Settlement - Finally"
  
  
• "Elements of a $12 Million Personal Injury Case"
  June 1986

Publications

• Beyond the Thunder
  
  
• The Everyman's Lawyer - Thomas Demetrio Studied the Masters, Then Became One
  March 2009
  
  
• Your Witness: Lessons on Cross-Examination and Life from Great Chicago Trial Lawyers: Cross-Examination and Its Impact on Credibility
  2008
  
  
• Powerful Persuasion
  April 2006
  
  
• Medical Malpractice Discovery, Illinois Civil Discovery Practice
  
  
• Principles of Illinois Discovery: An Overview, Illinois Civil Discovery Practice
  2002
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Daubert: Its Early Years
  April 2001
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Attorney-Client Privilege - Oh, Really?
  October 2000
  
  
• Loss of Consortium - A Continuing Evolution
  September 2000
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Offers of Proof, Why, When & How
  2000
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Striving for Excellence
  December 1999
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Opening Statement: Some Initial Thoughts and Bullet Points
  November 1999
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Motions In Limine: Why, When and How to Use Them
  October 1999
  
  
• Demetrio on Trial Practice - Batson: A Black and White Issue - Or Is It?
  1999
  
  
• Look for the Silver Lining - An Analysis of Weather-Related Air Crash Disasters
  August 1998
  
  
• But Compared to What? Comparative Fault, Contribution, and Joint and Several Liability in Illinois
  April 1998
  
  
• The Key to Final Argument? - Persuasion
  March 1998
  
  
• A Practical Guide to Discovery in Medical Negligence Litigation
  1998
  
  
• A Practical Guide to Discovery in Medical Negligence Litigation
  1996
  
  
• "Wrongful Death - A Medical Tragedy" Book Review
  October 1995
  
  
• A Practical Guide to Discovery in Medical Negligence Litigation
  1989
  
  
• The Practical Application of Illinois Discovery Rules
  1989
  
  
• Finding and Using Experts
  1988
  
  
• A Practical Guide to Discovery in Medical Negligence Litigation
  
  
• The Practical Application of Illinois Discovery Rules
  1987
  
  
• Video Depositions: How and When to Use Them
  1987
  
  
• Should Juries Decide Complex Cases?
  August 1985
  
  
• The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment Mandates that the Right to Trial by Jury, Guaranteed by the Seventh Amendmen, be Preserved
  August 1985
  
  
• Comparative Fault in Illinois: Its Past, Present and Future
  1983