Wasznicky, Diane E.

Born in Chatham, Illinois , Mr. Walton was the youngest of three children to Ronald and Karen Walton.  As a young boy, Mr. Walton learned the importance of hard work and family values from his father, a night shift postal worker, and his mother, a bank teller/administrative assistant.  At age twelve, Mr. Walton experienced first-hand the challenges faced by working class families that suffer a debilitating injury or illness to a family member, when, at age 44, his father died of lung cancer.  Due in great part to his strong, supportive mother and his desire to succeed, Mr. Walton graduated from high school with honors and enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In so doing, Mr. Walton fulfilled his father's wish that he be the first member of his family to attend college following high school. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Mr. Walton attended St. Louis University School of Law where he graduated, cum laude, in 2000.

After law school, Mr. Walton worked for a short period of time handling real estate and construction litigation matters for large corporations and insurance companies.  In 2001, Mr. Walton left corporate America behind and returned to his working class roots by accepting an associate position with renowned plaintiff's personal injury attorney Rex Carr. While working along side Mr. Carr, Mr. Walton gained extensive experience representing working class individuals and families in a wide variety of cases involving serious personal injury and wrongful death. In 2003, at only age 27, Mr. Walton was named partner with The Rex Carr Law Firm.

In the past few years alone, Mr. Walton has successfully resolved a number of plaintiff's personal injury cases resulting in significant recoveries to his clients.  Such cases include a $7 million settlement to a woman who was seriously burned, and whose husband was killed, in a fire caused by a defective refrigerator; a significant settlement for a truck driver whose semi-truck was struck by an uninsured driver; a substantial settlement for a five-year-old boy who sustained second and third degree burns to over 20% of his body as a result of a defective shirt.

In recognition of these results and others, in 2007, Mr. Walton was inducted into the Million Dollar Advocate's Forum, an organization whose members include many of the top trial lawyers in the United States.

In January, 2009, Mr. Walton formed Schoen Walton Telken & Foster, LLC.  Mr. Walton continues to focus his practice exclusively on plaintiff's personal injury litigation including trucking and motor vehicle accidents, products liability claims, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse and neglect cases, class actions, complex civil litigation, and all claims involving serious personal injury or wrongful death. For example, currently, Mr. Walton's clients include: two young U.S. Army soldiers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom who were seriously injured when the engine in their helicopter failed causing it to unexpectedly crash; the family of a woman who was tragically killed in an apartment fire as a result of the failure of the landlord to install a smoke detector; a young man who was crushed while working in unsafe conditions at a coal mine in Southern, Illinois; and a young husband and wife who were seriously injured in a motor vehicle collision when an Illinois State Trooper lost control of his cruiser while traveling over 100 mph.

Mr. Walton has lectured on a variety of topics regarding personal injury litigation and civil trial techniques and has tried cases to verdict in both Illinois and Missouri.

Mr. Walton resides in Edwardsville, Illinois with his wife, Anne. Mr. Walton is an Edwardsville Township Democratic Precinct Committeeman and is currently serving as Vice-President of the Edwardsville Democratic Club.