A distinguished business leader and consultant with a decade-long career as a trial attorney, Edward Reicin served as president and managing director of Gordon, Reicin, West, and Rosenbloom. The president of MPC Containment International, Edward Reicin has also published several articles on wrongful death statutes in Illinois.

In Illinois, wrongful death is characterized by the death of a party as a result of another party's negligence (such as a car accident), default (such as medical malpractice), or wrongful act (such as a violent crime). A wrongful death claim is considered a personal injury claim, and the litigation process is identical, albeit the injured party has died in a wrongful death case.

In Illinois, personal representatives (executors) of an injured party's estate can file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of their client. Unlike in other states, spouses can't file wrongful death lawsuits in Illinois. If a deceased person had no personal representative before their death, the court may appoint a personal representative who can pursue wrongful death claims on their behalf.

A wrongful death lawsuit aims to ensure that the faulty party (defendant) pays damages for the loss. Spouses and next of kin of deceased victims will be awarded damages for their losses. The amount of damages, which the courts will decide, depends on tangible needs that would otherwise be fulfilled by the deceased, barring their death, and intangible losses, such as a spouse's loss of consortium and a child's loss of parental support.