Jonathan Bilyk News
Palatine H.S. teacher was fired for her Facebook posts, not defamation, says school board member, BLM activist
A Cook County judge is again deciding whether to dismiss the lawsuit brought by an ex-Palatine High School teacher who says a Black Lives Matter activist, who has since been elected to the Palatine school board, wrongly accused her of racism, leading to her being fired.
Appeals panel says Chicago owes $1M verdict to burglar shot to death by cops while fleeing electronics store burglary
The appellate court also ruled the slain man's two accomplices should also get the chance to sue the city, too.
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Six Flags to give members more free months at its parks; Lawyers could get $1.2M, to settle COVID closure class action
The class action lawsuit accused Six Flags of improperly continuing to collect monthly fees from members, even while their parks were closed by COVID and state health orders.
O'Hare aviation security officers can't sue city for stripping police powers after 2017 passenger dragging video, judge says
The judge said the Chicago Department of Aviation, which employed the aviation security officers, wasn't really a law enforcement agency, so the ASOs weren't really cops.
Appeals panel: Unionized workers can't press individual biometric legal claims vs employers over punch clock fingerprint scans
A federal appeals court says people who belong to a union can't sue their employers individually under Illinois' biometric privacy law, and can't press their claims in arbitration, either.
Naperville Fire paramedics sue city, Pritzker over vax mandates
The paramedics argue the vaccination and testing mandates take no account for natural immunity, violate their rights to "bodily autonomy" and due process, and are unconstitutional.
Does IL workers' comp trump biometric privacy law? IL Supreme Court considers, with 'financial fate of IL employers at stake'
Employers argue "injuries" suffered by workers whose privacy rights may have been violated in the workplace should be sent to Illinois' workers' comp system. Plaintiffs say the cases belong in court, with potentially billions of dollars on the line.
Rosebud can't sue insurer for losses suffered amid Pritzker-ordered COVID closures
A federal judge says the Italian restaurant chain's insurance policy doesn't cover the large losses it suffered when it closed to comply with Gov. JB Pritzker's closure orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Ex-Morton College Inspector General says was wrongly fired after complaining of misconduct by college leaders
In a lawsuit, the former inspector general at Morton College in Cicero accused the college's president and others of allegedly conspiring to spend college funds for personal use and of allegedly improperly installing the college's athletic director.
'Pro-Constitution, not anti-vaccine:' Geneva, St. Charles educators sue to block Pritzker vaccine mandate
A new lawsuit asks a Kane County judge to block suburban school districts in St. Charles and Geneva from enforcing Gov. JB Pritzker's vaccine mandate, saying the order tramples educators' due process rights.
Class action: Samsung smartphones, tablets scan faces of people in photos, violating IL biometrics law
The lawsuit in Chicago court says users can't turn off facial recognition tech in the Samsung Gallery photo app, and Samsung doesn't tell users its app is creating facial templates for everyone whose image is captured in the photos on Samsung phones and tablets.
IL biometrics class actions over worker fingerprint scans can have 5-year statute of limitations, appeals court rules
Illinois employers seeking to limit the reach of the law that has spawned thousands of potentially ruinous class action lawsuits had sought to restrict class actions under the state's biometrics law to a one year time limit for reckoning violations. Justices said that limit only applies to certain sections of the law.
$181M chicken price fixing settlements could net lawyers $60M+, uncertain payout for consumers
The settlement administrators began accepting consumer claims on Sept. 11 from anyone in the U.S. who says they bought chicken from 2009-2020, and wants a share of the approximately $111 million left after the lawyers get paid.
Pritzker must show corrupt hiring has stopped, can't easily restart, to end feds' oversight of IL govt jobs, reformers say
Two longtime reform advocates told a federal appeals court that Gov. JB Pritzker has not yet met the burden needed to win release from federal court orders imposing federal oversight of state hiring practices, despite Pritzker's claims to the contrary
White Castle: IL biometrics law not designed to 'bankrupt employers,' should be limited; Judges could punt to IL Supreme Court
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh CIrcuit Court of Appeals expressed doubt during oral arguments over whether they are the court that should address a key legal question over how to decide how much money employers may owe in lawsuit payouts under the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act.
Class action accuses law firm Tressler of allegedly improperly sharing info for delinquent condo owners
Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit say Chicago-based Tressler and Georgia-based AssociationReady share too much information with third-party collection vendors when attempting to collect unpaid fees on behalf of condo associations.
Judge: Moody Bible used religion as 'pretext' to hide alleged discrimination vs fired female teacher; Moody appeals
Chicago's Moody Bible Institute says a federal judge improperly ignored Supreme Court rulings on whether the First Amendment protects them from a discrimination lawsuit brought by a female instructor allegedly fired over doctrinal clashes.
22 new judges selected to serve on Cook County Court bench
Roster of new judges includes five former Cook County judges and six lawyers serving in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office
Bribes to Madigan not enough to force ComEd to pay back money earned from beneficial state laws, federal judge says
A federal judge says the plaintiffs can't show Madigan exerted "improper" influence on state lawmakers to pass new state laws beneficial to ComEd, so their racketeering case over ComEd's alleged bribes can't continue.
Judge: COVID gathering limits not likely to return, so IL GOP can't sue Pritzker over earlier shutdowns
Republicans had argued Gov. JB Pritzker's COVID-related limits on the size of political gatherings were unconstitutional, because he selectively enforced them, allowing huge Black Lives Matter protests, while shutting down GOP gatherings in 2020.