The next case, Venture-Newberg Perini Stone and Webster v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation et al, had that spare simplicity that makes some legal cases sound almost like Bible stories. A workman heading to a plant was hurt. Is he exempt from compensation because of the “coming and going” exclusion that keeps workers from being covered if hurt on their commutes? Or did the job of Ronald Daugherty require him to be near the plant? Did his job begin when he got there? 

“The employer didn’t send him, he was not hired until he had gone through the screening at the plant,” argued Michael Resis. “He was not on call that day and there was no emergency . . . he chose to travel to pursue a job opportunity.”

Jonathan Nessler represented the compensation commission. “Ronald Daugherty testified he was to be within a half hour of the plant for emergencies,” Nessler said, deploying a gesture I immediately dubbed in my mind “the spider”— his right hand open, as if holding a ball from above, tapping his fingertips on one spot on the table, then another. The hopping spider then became a bouncing cup. Tap, tap, then swish to drive his point home. 

The families of two men who died in a plane crash west of Springfield last December have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the estate of the pilot, who also was killed in the crash.

Attorneys for the families of Richard Hohimer and John Crabtree filed the suit Oct. 8 against the estate of Rayford Wright, accusing him of failing to properly control the plane. 

The families are seeking damages for their loss and grief, as well as specific amounts to cover funeral costs for Hohimer and Crabtree . 

His Internet name was "poppa bear," a chubby, sprawled-out-naked-on-the-couch elderly man attracted to slim, muscular males, ages 20 to 40. In the real world, his name was Father Francis Gera, a priest at Holy Dormition Byzantine Catholic Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. 

Gera was bold, or dumb--most likely both. The e-mail address he used at gayvill.porncity.net was the same he gave out to parishioners. Last winter one of them performed an Internet search of Gera's e-mail address and up popped poppa bear's personal ad. 

The parishioner alerted Gera's bishop. When the bishop didn't respond, the church member contacted Stephen Brady of Petersburg.

LINCOLN — Lawsuits involving child sex abuse allegations against a former Catholic monsignor from Lincoln may be reinstated after being thrown out by a judge in 2007.

A new appellate court ruling involves legal complaints by individuals who claim that Norman Goodman sexually abused them from 1975 to 1979 while a priest at Holy Family Catholic Church in Lincoln.

In 2007, about 10 similar cases filed against various clergy — including the Goodman cases — were thrown out when Peoria County Circuit Judge Kevin Galley ruled the victims had waited too long to file charges.

A Litchfield man has filed suit in Montgomery County alleging he was sexually abused as a youth by Paul Kincaid, a 67-year-old Litchfield man currently serving a 30-year federal prison sentence for manufacture and possession of child pornography.

The suit was filed May 4 on behalf of “John Doe” by Frederic W. Nessler & Associates of Springfield.

The suit alleges that Kincaid sexually abused the victim, now 21, from 2000 to 2006. The plaintiff was a member of a church Kincaid was active in and worked at The Hair Clinic, which was operated by Kincaid and Steve Collins, Kincaid’s housemate, the suit said.