Jonathan Bilyk News
Unvaxxed lawyer OK to argue before Seventh Circuit in religious liberty case: Judges
A federal appeals court in Chicago gave prominent religious liberty lawyer Luke Goodrich permission to argue in court, despite not having received a Covid shot. The plaintiffs representing a woman suing a Catholic Archdiocese for discrimination had objected
Civil rights atty Stroth calls for 'full, transparent investigation' of 'brutal' Lyons Township H.S. attack
National civil rights lawyer says Lyons Township High School was "on notice" about video recorded attack vs white freshman girl by Black sophomore girl after class, yet "took no action" to stop it
Judicial Inquiry Board: Appeals judge Sheldon Harris talked with other judges about nephew's case, testified falsely
The Illinois state board tasked with investigating misconduct accusations against judges has asked the Illinois Courts Commission to discipline First District Appellate Justice Sheldon A. Harris, who has announced he is retiring later this year
Judge: 'Distracting' Sephora window ads didn't cause woman to fall down stairs at Woodfield Mall
The plaintiff claimed a window display at the mall's Sephora cosmetics store caused her not to see a flight of four stairs in front of her, causing her to fall and break multiple bones
Lawsuit: School districts have no legal authority to keep kids out of school over Covid exposure
Parents are asking a Cook County judge to declare Flossmoor District 161 overstepped its authority in ordering an elementary school student to stay away from school for 10 days after administrators said they believed the child had been exposed to Covid at school
Class action accuses Cook County Sheriff of overcharging people to serve court papers
The lawsuit alleges the Cook County Sheriff's Office charges $60 to serve court papers, even though state law allegedly caps the fees they can charge at $35
Embattled Dolton mayor says recall effort against her is unconstitutional
Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard says her political opponents improperly placed a referendum to recall her from office on the same June 28 ballot with a referendum to create a legal mechanism by which she can be removed from office
Google to pay $100M to end biometrics class action over Photos face scans; Class members could get $200-$400
The deal would end litigation dating back to 2016. Lawyers could be in line for potentially more than $30 million
Class action: 7-Eleven uses facial recognition tech on customers in stores, violates IL biometrics law
The class action lawsuit centers on 7-Eleven's alleged use of facial recognition video surveillance technology from vendor Clickit
Ex-HR director sues Cook Clerk Yarbrough, says was fired for drawing attention to clerk's office payroll problems
The federal lawsuit says the plaintiff was "shut out" of the clerk's payroll system when she raised concerns, and then was blocked from reinstatement by politically influential employees within the office of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough
Cook County can't use $250M transportation taxes, fees, to fund county operations: IL Supreme Court
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled the Illinois state constitution's transportation lockbox amendment applies to local governments, just as to the state
Lawsuit: Pro-union IL constitutional amendment would clash with federal law, U.S. Constitution, must be struck down
A group of Cook County taxpayers, with lawyers from the Liberty Justice Center and Illinois Policy Institute, say the measure, known as Amendment 1, would unconstitutionally give unions expansive new powers that exceed the limits on union organizing and bargaining set by federal law
Appeals panel tosses court order blocking CPS from enforcing COVID vax mandate vs workers
For second time in less than a week, Springfield appeals court says COVID vaccine-or-test mandates are "workplace safety rules," not illegal public health orders that violate workers' rights
Lawsuit: 'Cartel' of politically connected, wealthy Chicago families, including Pritzkers, dominate IL marijuana market
True Social Equity in Cannabis accuses the Pritzker, Wrigley and Kovler families of using political connections and influence to monopolize the state's regulated marijuana dispensary markets
Father sues Villa Park school district, says conspired against him with ex-wife to 'promote' child's gender transition
The man's complaint accuses School District 45 of violating his constitutional parental rights in assisting and promoting the 12-year-old's gender transition, over the father's objections
Lawsuit accuses Smithfield Fresh Meats of shorting OT pay for thousands of wokers amid pandemic
The plaintiffs say Smithfield paid workers a $5 per hour "Responsibility Bonus" during the early days of the COVID pandemic, but did not include that bonus when calculating workers' OT pay
Judge reprimands feds, says Obama-era bad-faith actions in case vs Kraft 'troubling for future' settlement talks
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission violated a confidentiality provision in its settlement with Kraft and Mondelez to end a regulatory action over alleged wheat market manipulation, to score political PR points. The agency says its commissioners aren't bound by any such deals
Appeals court: No state law blocks Pritzker from ordering public workers to get vaxxed or get fired
Dissenting Fourth District Appellate Court justice says his colleagues ignored Illinois Supreme Court precedent and other legal precedents in declaring the state's Right of Conscience law only forbids discrimination against conscientous objectors in an "unconventional sense"
Dolton mayor accused of illegally using cops as personal security, directing staff to ignore public info requests
Two lawsuits were filed against Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard by Dolton's elected village trustees and village clerk asking the courts to order Henyard to comply with the law
DeVore lawsuit: Pritzker, IL Dept of Corrections COVID vax or test mandate illegally tramples workers' rights
The lawsuit argues neither state law or any union-related negotiation or arbitration should allow Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections to ignore due process rights afforded to IDOC workers under the state's public health laws