David R. Butzen

Email: [email protected]

BIOGRAPHY:

David Butzen is the owner and principal attorney at Ambrose Butzen Law Group. Mr. Butzen began his career as a lawyer in 1986 by having the distinct honor of serving as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Daniel P. Ward, then Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. From there, he was employed as a prosecutor at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office where he was supervisor in the Criminal Appeals Division for two years. During that time Mr. Butzen had the opportunity to handle numerous precedent setting cases, including several high-profile capital cases, before the United States Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Illinois Appellate Courts and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He was later handpicked to join the elite Federal Litigation Unit as a trial lawyer where he specialized in civil rights defense, while continuing to handle various criminal and civil appeals for the State’s Attorney’s Office.

In 1992, Mr. Butzen entered private practice as a trial and appellate lawyer representing injured victims from all over the country, concentrating primarily in claims involving wrongful death, medical malpractice, nursing home care, products liability, construction accidents and train and motor vehicle collisions. He has handled hundreds of cases at both the trial and appellate levels and his efforts have resulted in over $30 million in verdicts and settlements for the clients he has represented that have suffered personal injury. The following are examples of some of the notable settlement and verdicts that the clients Mr. Butzen has personally represented have recovered over the years:

$4,000,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a young man decapitated in a construction accident.

$1,300,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a bicyclist struck by a semi-trailer truck.

$1,250,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for the death of a two year old child who fell out of a defectively designed window .

$1,250,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for the death of a father of three killed by a defective elevator.

$1,100,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained against the City of Chicago for the wrongful death of a man involved in a high speed police chase.

$975,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a man injured in a fall down an elevator shaft.

$900,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a man who broke both ankles from a fall at a construction site.

$638,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a man injured in a collision with a semi-trailer truck.

$250,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for an elderly woman neglected in a nursing home.

$350,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a woman who slipped and fell in a restaurant, causing a back injury.

$250,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached with Great America where an amusement ride struck a young woman, resulting in a knee injury.

$250,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for an 80-year-old woman who fractured her hip in a nursing home.

$250,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for an individual whose hip was fractured during a dog attack.

$228,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a woman injured at work.

$204,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a family involved in an automobile collision.

$175,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a family struck by a City of Chicago truck.

$150,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a woman who was the victim of medical malpractice during cosmetic surgery.

$150,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a woman struck by a City of Chicago tow truck.

$110,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a woman injured on a cruise ship when she fell through a port hole.

$100,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a family whose father/husband committed suicide after ingesting the medication Paxil.

$75,000 Settlement – A settlement was reached for a family whose mother was wrongfully cremated by an employee of Leak & Sons Funeral Home.

$35,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a man denied proper medical treatment while at the Cook County Jail.

$20,000 Settlement – A settlement was obtained for a man assaulted outside a tavern.

Mr. Butzen also has extensive experience in representing individuals and companies that have sustained property damage and seek to recover their damages from their insurance company or those responsible for causing the damage. Most recently, he tried a case in federal court in St. Louis involving an $8 million dollar claim arising out of the collapse of a large commercial building. Mr. Butzen also represented the owners of a casino outside of Las Vegas who suffered over $25 million in property damage as a result of a fire.

In addition to his extensive trial and appellate practice, Mr. Butzen has also served as an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University in the paralegal program, and served as an Arbitrator for the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration program since 2000.

PRACTICE AREAS:

EDUCATION:

  • Western Michigan University, B.A., 1983; Loyola University School of Law, J.D. 1986.

BAR ADMISSIONS:

  • Illinois Bar, 1986; United States Supreme Court, 1989; Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals,
  • 1989; U.S. District Court the Northern District of Illinois, 1989; U.S. District Court for
  • Northern District of Wisconsin, 1996.

MEMBERSHIPS:

  • Illinois State Bar Association

If you have been injured as a result of another’s wrongful conduct and seek compensation for your injuries, the Ambrose Butzen Law Group would be happy to meet with you and discuss your case at no cost to you and put our legal team to work for you. Just contact us at (312) 726-1470, or toll free at (866) 696-1381. You can also E-mail us or complete our web form.