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Stories by Jonathan Bilyk on Cook County Record

COOK COUNTY RECORD

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Jonathan Bilyk News


Class action: Subaru DriverFocus system improperly scans driver's faces, eyes

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A new class action lawsuit has accused Subaru of violating Illinois' biometrics privacy law by failing to notify drivers and get their consent before scanning their faces and eyes using its DriverFocus anti-distracted driving system

Cook County judge suspended from hearing cases after charged with DUI in traffic crash

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Hinsdale Police filed a DUI complaint against Associate Judge Mohammed Ghouse on Nov. 23

Judge nixes bid from Griffith Foods to toss Willowbrook EtO suits; Hundreds of identical lawsuits filed since

By Jonathan Bilyk |
More than 460 lawsuits have been filed in Cook County court against Griffith Foods since a judge refused Griffith's attempt to dismiss claims asserting they should be liable for ethylene oxide emissions from the former Sterigenics medical sterilization plant in Willowbrook

FoxFire: Pritzker admin engaged in legal 'gymnastics' in bid to close out challenge to last year's indoor dining ban

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Gov. JB Pritzker continues to fight in court against a Geneva restaurant owner, who is seeking a court order declaring Pritzker violated the law in issuing a pandemic-related indoor dining ban last fall

Dems: Legislative maps drawn using politics, not race, so no need to alter maps just to boost Black, Latino districts

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Illinois' top Democratic lawmakers asked a panel of federal judges to ignore 'remedial maps' filed by Latino and Black advocacy organizations, with Republican lawmakers, even though the challengers' maps appear to significantly boost the number of majority-minority legislative districts.

Unions sue Amtrak over COVID vax mandate; Rail workers continue vax court fight vs UP, Norfolk Southern

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The unions representing Amtrak workers have sued the national passenger rail carrier, asserting, as they have in similar actions vs freight carriers Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, that the rail companies don't have the power under federal law to simply force union workers to get vaccinated or face termination

City Hall: No need for more court orders on COVID vax mandate; Arbitrator to rule on worker grievances by New Year

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Chicago City Hall has told a Cook County judge it expects to have resolved its ongoing dispute with labor unions over its COVID vaccine mandates before the Dec. 31 deadline for city workers to get the vaccine or risk getting fired.

Shoreline Sightseeing targeted by class action lawsuit over worker fingerprint scans

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The lawsuit accuses Chicago's largest operator of river tours and other charter excursions of improperly requiring workers to scan their fingerprints to track their work hours, under Illinois' biometrics law

IL Supreme Court deadlocks over Deerfield assault weapons ban, meaning ban stands

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The state high court's inability to rule on the hotly contested gun rights question means the ruling of two justices on a state appeals court will decide whether Deerfield's assault weapons ban was legally enacted

Stone Park red light cameras wrongly ticketing drivers who stop past line turning right on red, class action says

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A new class action lawsuit demands the village of Stone Park refund $100 tickets paid by people who received red light camera tickets for stopping beyond the white stop line when they were turning right on red, even though state law says such tickets can't be issued

Judge slaps restraining order on Cicero's try to force BNSF to pay steep sewer rate hike, says BNSF likely to win

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A federal judge said it appeared BNSF Railway was poised to prevail in its claims Cicero officials violated federal law in targeting it with a massive sewer rate increase for BNSF's Cicero railyard.

Class action: Salvation Army allegedly coerces free labor from participants in work-therapy adult rehab program

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Lawsuit accuses the Salvation Army of using its adult rehabilitation programs to secure essentially free labor from people ordered into the program by the courts or who opted into the program out of need, allegedly in violation of federal human trafficking law

Class action accuses Liberty Mutual of discriminating vs Black, Latino LGBTQ policy holders

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A new class action lawsuit filed by an Evanston female queer Black and Latino couple asserts Liberty Mutual Insurance engages in a pattern of discrimination when processing claims submitted by LGBTQ racial minorities.

Chicago firefighters union sues Chicago over Lightfoot COVID vax mandate

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The Firefighters Union Local No. 2 says the city has refused to bargain over the mandate, imposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, jeopardizing the jobs of over 20% of Chicago's firefighters

Ex-Highland Park asst HS principal tries to continue suit vs D113 over alleged retaliation for aiding investigation

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Amy Burnetti, a former Highland Park High School assistant principal, claims she was demoted as part of a campaign of alleged retaliation for her role in helping bring in Lake County prosecutors to investigate past alleged misdeeds by former HPHS administrators

Republicans, Latino advocates file proposed map to 'correct constitutional defects' of Dems' state districts

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The proposed new map, filed with federal judges, would nearly triple the number of majority Latino state House and Senate districts, compared to plan approved by Democrats and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in September

Devore sues Pritzker for defamation for calling him a 'grifter' for suing Pritzker over COVID mandates

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Attorney Tom Devore has represented clients in a string of lawsuits vs Gov. JB Pritzker since May 2020 over Pritzker's use of executive powers and COVID-related mandates

IL biometrics class action: OnlyFans improperly scanned faces of content creators to verify ID, age

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A new class action lawsuit vs the parent company of OnlyFans says they violated Illinois' biometrics privacy law in the way it scanned and stored face IDs of content creators

Two dozen unions ask Cook County judge to block Lightfoot's Chicago city worker COVID vax mandate

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The unions are seeking a court order similar to one granted to Chicago's police union, ordering the city to halt enforcement of the vaccine mandate until arbitration between the city and union can be completed over Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Dec. 31 COVID vaccine mandate.

Challenges incoming to Dems' COVID vax-related changes to IL Right of Conscience Law?

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Unusual bid by the current Democratic majority in Springfield to not only strip away conscience protections from COVID vaccine mandate objectors, but declare what lawmakers meant decades earlier when the IL Conscience Act was approved, may open those changes to the law up to legal challenges.