Charles Candiano

• Free Consultation
  You and I will discuss your claim until I am satisfied that I can help and your questions are answered, WITHOUT cost or obligation.
• Contingent Fees
  Our fee on Personal Injury cases is 1/3 of the recovery and costs. Our fee on Workers' Compensation cases is set by statute at 20% of Settlement or Award and costs

Illinois

Since 1995

Indiana

Since 1996

Federal Circuit

Since 1995

Owner

Candiano Law Office

2013 - Current

Trial Attorney

The Margolis Firm, PC

2004 - 2013

Trial Attorney

Margolis & Velasco

2001 - 2004

Trial Attorney

Rusin, Patton, Maciorowski & Friedman

2000 - 2001

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney

Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Lake County Indiana

1996 - 1999

The John Marshall Law School

J.D. (1995)

Chicago Bar Association

Chair Professional Fees Committee

2017 - Current

Indiana State Bar

Member

2006 - Current

Illinois Trial Lawyers Association

2001 - Current

Q. Loaned my vehicle, now they refuse to return it. How can I get it back?

July 10, 2025

A: When you asked for the card to be returned, you terminated your "permission" for your friend to possess the vehicle. Failure to return a vehicle is no different from stealing a vehicle. They are two ways of explaining conversion. I simply don't believe that your local police department refuses to take a report of a stolen vehicle, especially where you know the name and contact information of the individual who has stolen your vehicle. Your situation is no different from someone refusing to return a vehicle to Hertz or any other car rental beyond the fact that Hertz would have a written agreement and you had a verbal agreement. Both situations constitute a bailment which means that the vehicle must be returned to you (or to Hertz) in substantially the same condition it was received. If you do not have photographs of the vehicle before you allowed your friend to use it, forget about claiming any damages. If the police cannot or will not recover your vehicle, you can give the police report to your insurance company and demand payment. It all starts with the police Report. ... Read More

Q. Can I force landlord to fix HVAC due to high humidity in Chicago apartment?

July 10, 2025

A: Exactly what you can or cannot compel your landlordTo do is spelled out in your lease. I have never seen the lease in Chicago that recited a minimum or maximum relative humidity that needed to be achieved or maintained. There are literally dozens of possible reasons why one room would be more humid than another in the summer, without necessarily being warmer. Before there is any possibility of compelling your landlord to do any thing, you must have some evidence that something is wrong, beyond "black spots on your air vent." If there are black spots on your air vent, you should have removed the vent cover and cleaned the vent cover with bleach. You cannot even allege any problem with the HVAC system unless you hire a reputable HVAC contractor your to evaluate the system, tell you exactly what is causing elevated humidity in the bedroom, provide you with options for reducing humidity, and providing you with an estimate for necessary repairs or revisions to the HVAC system. Until you do that, you have no idea what you are "demanding" your landlord to do. I have no idea what an "in just real dehumidifier" looks like. That said, if the HVAC system was poorly designed with inadequate airflow to the bedroom in question, a small, quiet, and inconspicuous portable dehumidifier may be an excellent option. Better still if the bedroom has an en suite bath as you would be able to run a drain line rather than needing to empty the dehumidifier every day. Good luck. ... Read More

Q. Neighbor violating privacy causes damage and harassment, seeking legal actions.

July 9, 2025

A: You claim that your next-door neighbor is:

1.) "accessing my home without my permission" - You have heard of locks. They are cheap and you can put them on doors and windows.

2.) " blowing something up from the crawl space that irritates my eyes and throat" - How do you know it is from the crawlspace? If there are toxic chemicals in the crawlspace, why not complain to the landlord? How do you know that your neighbor is "doing" anything? What is your neighbor's motive?

3.) "Stole your mail" - if the mail was unopened, this is a federal crime that carries stiff penalties. Again, you need to provide a motive. Why would your neighbor risk years in federal or state prison to take a piece of your mail?

4.)"manipulated false income documents" - Why do you have false income documents? Why does anyone care? How does "manipulating" those documents benefit your neighbor? Generally, people aren't motivated to do ANYTHING that doesn't benefit them or someone they care about.

Nobody is going to do anything without evidence. If you had electronic evidence, you could store a copy of that evidence in the cloud through services offered by Microsoft, Apple, and Google for little or no cost where nobody can "take" It or tamper with it.

You can buy a wireless video camera on Amazon or elsewhere for $20 or less. When you leave your apartment, simply hide the camera while it is aimed at your door or whatever other access point you believe your neighbor is using. Once you have video of your neighbor entering your apartment without permission, the authorities will take you seriously.

Nothing that you say makes any sense. Without video or an eyewitness, you understand that there is NOTHING that anyone can do. Moreover, if you had evidence of your neighbor breaking into your apartment and tampering with your things, why would you leave that evidence in the apartment that you claim they are breaking into? You wouldn't. That's why nobody believes you. ... Read More

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