Jonathan Bilyk News
IL Supreme Court rejects bid by DuPage Clerk to overturn judge's order to follow law when counting mail-in ballots
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek had argued a DuPage County judge overstepped his authority by granting a court order sought by a DuPage County state lawmaker seeking to force her office to verify mail-in ballots as Illinois election law requires
Lawsuits: Medline discriminated against people fired after denied religious, medical exemptions from Covid vax mandate
The lawsuits say Medline used an "illusory" religious and medical exemption request process to identify and "mass terminate" people who objected to the company's Covid vaccine mandate.
Jury says Sterigenics not liable for woman's cancer, in second trial over Willowbrook EtO emissions
The verdict comes two months after a different jury ordered Sterigenics to pay $363 million to a different woman, also over claims Sterigenics' emissions allegedly caused her cancer. Sterigenics still faces hundreds of other similar lawsuits.
DuPage Clerk asks IL Supreme Court to toss DuPage judge's order to follow law when verifying mail-in ballots
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek argues a DuPage County judge improperly entered a court order requiring her office to exclusively use voter registration records to verify voter signatures on mail-in ballots. She says judges must wait until after she has finished counting votes to ensure votes were legally counted
Villa Park school district: Illinois law overrides parental rights if they object to transgender child's transition
Villa Park School District 45 is asking a judge to toss a lawsuit brought by a father who claims the school district is trampling his constitutional parental rights by refusing to respect his wishes concerning his child's gender transition from male to female, which he says is being driven by his ex-wife
Judge: Procedures used by DuPage Clerk to count mail-in ballots 'obvious way to commit ballot fraud'
A DuPage County judge has ordered DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek to rely exclusively on voter registration records when verifying signatures on mail-in ballots, as the law requires, in a win for Elmhurst Republican State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi in her lawsuit over vote counting in her race for a new term in office
DuPage County Clerk not properly verifying mail-in ballots, Mazzochi says in lawsuit
State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, filed suit against DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, accusing the Democratic Clerk of not verifying mail-in ballot signatures as required by law. Mazzochi trails her Democratic opponent by about 200 votes, as of Monday evening.
State's attorneys: IL Dems rewrote IL constitution by eliminating bail; IL A/G: SAFE-T Act protects constitutional rights
Legal teams representing 62 Illinois county prosecutors and the Illinois state officials have squared off with opposing filings in Kankakee County court, with the fate of the so-called SAFE-T Act at stake
Sterigenics: Judge erred in combining EtO emissions cases, should be handled more like asbestos cases
Sterigenics, facing about 830 lawsuits worth potentially billions of dollars altogether, says a Cook County judge's decision to allow plaintiffs to consolidate their cases into groups for trial clashes with how the courts have handled other kinds of lawsuits over industrial toxins, like asbestos
Rochford wins big, O'Brien declares victory, giving Dems 5-2 majority on IL Supreme Court
Democrats Lake County Judge Elizabeth Rochford and Appellate Justice Mary K. O'Brien have prevailed in the races for two open seats on the Illinois Supreme Court, in their respective contests vs Republicans former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran and incumbent Illinois Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke
Cook County voters hand easy wins to Democratic judges seeking retention, including Chief Judge Evans
Voters also elected Cook County Assistant Public Defender Joe Gump to a seat on the bench in the 13th Subcircuit, in the only contested partisan election for judge in Cook County.
No ruling on lawsuit vs IL vote-by-mail rules; Judge schedules Dec. 5 hearing over two-week mail-in ballot window
A federal judge said he needed more time and another hearing to determine if a group of Republicans should be allowed to continue suing the state over a law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted 14 days after Election Day
Class action: Sysco improperly uses dash cams to scan faces of truck drivers, violates Illinois biometrics' law
The class action against food distributor Sysco is similar to a federal legal action against tech firm Samsara, which allegedly supplies Sysco with its truck dash cameras, which are installed to monitor drivers for fatigue and other distractions and increase roadway safety.
Filing: Raoul violating legal rules, law by giving 'conflicted' trial lawyers state power to help investigate insulin prices
Caremark and other pharmacy benefit managers have asked a Cook County judge to disqualify out-of-state trial lawyers hired by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to assist with an investigation into insulin pricing practices. The companies say the lawyers could use the power of Raoul's office to help them in other lawsuits vs the companies
State's attorneys' lawsuits to strike down SAFE-T Act head to court soon in Kankakee County
The Illinois Supreme Court consolidated 57 lawsuits challenging the SAFE-T Act, the law that will eliminate cash bail in Illinois and presumes nearly all criminal defendants cannot be held in jail before trial. The lawsuits will be led by Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe, with assistance from six other state's attorneys, including prosecutors in Will and McHenry counties
Cook County Treasurer, Circuit Clerk ask federal court to lift oversight of patronage hiring
The motions to lift the so-called Shakman Decrees are supported by reform advocates who had filed suit to impose the court ordered monitoring decades ago
Lawsuit: Loyola Chicago blocked student from Covid testing, then expelled her for not taking Covid tests
A lawsuit in federal court says a freshman student was expelled in the fall of 2021 for failing to comply with Loyola University Chicago's Covid testing program, even though they wouldn't let her enter the testing program, because she was still a month away from turning 18
Teacher: Suit vs Evanston D65 not to silence speech, but to end 'hostile environment' vs white students, educators
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 says allowing the white middle school teacher's lawsuit to proceed would violate the school district's speech rights. The teacher says the district's 'anti-racist' priorities are illegally hostile toward white students and educators
State Rep. Carroll, who clashed with Edelson over big TikTok settlement, faces more public misconduct accusations
State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, was accused last year of using his office to allegedly threaten a prominent class action law firm engaged in a court fight with a legal team that included his now-estranged wife over the fate of $30 million in attorney fees from a $92 million settlement with TikTok. He is now accused of firing a female staffer after she allegedly refused requests to terminate her pregnancy
Appeal filing: IL A/G Raoul 'suppressing' lawsuit to recover $500K allegedly pilfered by ex-state worker connected to Pritzkers
The director of the Illinois State Police Merit Board says Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is blocking her attempt to recover $500,000 allegedly stolen by a former Merit Board employee and friend of the family of Gov. JB Pritzker, whose administration has allegedly aided the ex-worker