Jonathan Bilyk News
Appeals panel slashes $2.5M from award for woman 'tormented' by Ocwen, despite completing bankruptcy
A woman who suffered “torment” at the hands of loan servicer Ocwen in its attempt to collect debts from her, despite her successful completion of bankruptcy, will collect $2.5 million less than a jury said she should.
Ex-Madigan staffer settles sex harassment, retaliation lawsuit vs IL Dems, Madigan political orgs
Alaina Hampton, a woman who has claimed Illinois Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, blackballed her in retaliation for complaining a Madigan operative sexually harassed her, has settled her case with Madigan, the state Democratic Party and other Madigan-controlled political organizations.
Feud rages among Edelson, McGuire firms for control of BIPA class actions vs timeclock vendors
Feud rages among Edelson, McGuire firms for control of BIPA class actions vs timeclock vendors
Judge: Cook County demands Bank of America pay for 'discriminatory lending,' but did county actually lose tax money?
A federal judge says Cook County will need to show why Bank of America should be made to pay the county for lost tax revenue amid the foreclosure crisis, when the county didn't actually lose any tax money.
Chicago could get new chance to take city lawsuit vs opioid makers to trial
As courts grapple with the bundle of litigation that has sprung up against the makers and distributors of opioid painkillers, the city of Chicago could yet secure its day in court, as an Ohio federal judge has ruled the city’s lawsuit against opioid makers should be sent back to federal court in Chicago for trial to help work toward a "global settlement."
Smollett demands Chicago cops, Nigerian brothers, others, pay him for allegedly making up, spreading 'hoax' attack story
Actor Jussie Smollett has doubled down on his claim he was attacked by racist white supporters of President Donald Trump, and has now demanded the city of Chicago and others be made to pay him for allegedly concocting and promoting the story Smollett had staged the January attack to advance his career.
Amazon Web Services targeted in latest biometrics class action for storing fingerprint scans uploaded by others
An Illinois biometrics privacy law, which has been used to target employers across the state who require workers to scan fingerprints when punching the clock, has now been turned against a subsidiary of ecommerce giant Amazon, which provides cloud data hosting services for those employers and many other companies
Judge: Housing groups can keep suing Deutsche Bank over foreclosure home repair discrimination
The collective action vs Deutsche Bank and others over its maintenance of bank-owned homes in minority neighborhoods has been give new life.
Rizza Auto Group, Keytrak hit by class action over fingerprint scans to secure, track car keys
The Rizza Auto Group and Keytrak, a company that makes and supports technology car dealers use to secure their cars’ keys, have become the latest targets of a class action lawsuit under an Illinois biometrics privacy law.
Judge: Supreme Court decision barring forced union fees doesn't rid unions of responsibility to represent all workers
Unions can’t use a recent anti-union Supreme Court decision to rid themselves of their responsibility under the law to represent all workers in a collective bargaining unit, whether or not those workers pay union dues, a federal judge has ruled.
Appeals panel: Chapter 13 bankruptcy debtors must pay traffic, parking tickets, 'promptly, in full'
A federal appeals panel has again ruled people can’t use federal bankruptcy protection as a shield against paying traffic tickets, parking tickets and other government fines.
Class actions targeting more timeclock, software vendors under IL biometrics law for fingerprint scans
More vendors who supply punchclocks and other payroll tracking technology for businesses of all sizes and types, throughout Illinois, have been targeted in class action lawsuits, asserting the vendors should be held liable for potentially millions of violations every day of Illinois’ biometrics privacy law.
Class action: Careerbuilder changed pay rules, stripped sales reps of commissions owed
A new class action lawsuit has accused Careerbuilder of underpaying its sales representatives, allegedly stripping those workers of commissions they had earned.
Judge: Melrose Park can keep trying to punish Pipeline for filing Westlake Hospital bankruptcy
A federal bankruptcy judge has cleared the way for the village of Melrose Park to resume its effort to punish the owners of Westlake Hospital for using bankruptcy to close the hospital.
Chicago housing groups, new Assessor settle lawsuit over ex-assessor's 'discriminatory' practices
With a new county assessor now in office, a group of Chicago neighborhood-based housing assistance organizations have settled the lawsuit they filed against the assessor’s office over past property tax assessment practices, conducted under former Assessor Joseph Berrios, they claim discriminated against black and Hispanic homeowners.
Appeals court: Supreme Court declared union fees unconstitutional, but union collected in 'good faith,' so no refunds
Illinois public worker unions get to keep unconstitutional fees, because they collected the fees in “good faith,” relying on “good luck” in having state law and a later-overturned Supreme Court decision on their side for 40 years.
Nerium lawsuit: Block FTC from 'rewriting' law to shut down legal companies as 'pyramid schemes'
"Multi-level marketing" business Nerium is suing the FTC, claiming the federal agency is rewriting federal laws to relabel and shut down all MLMs as "pyramid schemes."
Cook County judge: Walmart, other employers can't look to IL constitution for protection from biometrics class actions
Illinois’ state constitution offers no escape valve for employers facing a blizzard of class action lawsuits under the state's biometrics privacy law, a Cook County judge ruled, rejecting an attempt by Walmart to sidestep one of those lawsuits.
IL ethylene oxide ban advances, over warnings of 'ripple effect' fueling medical device shortages, 'true health care crisis'
Brushing aside warnings of shortages of properly sterilized health care tools, Illinois lawmakers are moving forward with new legislation to all but force the state’s medical device sterilization plants to close, over concerns emissions from the plants may be linked to an increased risk of cancer in those living nearby.
Class action: City Hall must refund Central Biz District parking tickets issued to people not parked in CBD
A new class action lawsuit will seek to force Chicago City Hall to cough up the money it collected from people the lawsuit claims wrongly paid parking tickets issued an ordinance placing restrictions on parking inside the city’s Central Business District, when their cars weren’t parked in the CBD.