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Stories by Jonathan Bilyk on Cook County Record

COOK COUNTY RECORD

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Jonathan Bilyk News


Lawsuit: Champaign abortion doc left 'half of pre-born baby' in woman's body post-abortion

By Jonathan Bilyk |
An Ohio doctor, who runs an abortion clinic in Champaign, has been accused of severely injuring a woman during an abortion, by allegedly perforating her uterus and leaving half of the unborn baby lodged in her pelvis, and then ignoring her requests for help amid the complications

Wendy's can't be sued for targeted hit on man waiting at South Side Wendy's drive-thru

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A federal appeals panel has upheld a lower court judge's ruling that a man who suffered severe injuries when his car was shot up by two assailants at a Wendy's restaurant near Englewood in Chicago in 2018 can't sue the restaurant for failing to protect him.

Owner of Waukegan restaurant building can be sued for not stopping car from crashing through front window

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A state appeals panel had earlier agreed the Waukegan Mexican restaurant owners can be sued by a customer who was injured when a car crashed through the front window. Now, the state appeals panel says there is no reason the building owners can't also be sued for failing to install barriers to prevent such crashes

Jewish lawyer can sue Cook Co. Public Defender for making her take down pic featuring Israeli flag, gun

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A federal judge said Debra Gassman has done enough so far to show the Cook County Public Defender's office violated her First Amendment rights by forcing her to take down a photo from her office showing the ex-IDF volunteer holding a rifle in front of the Israeli flag

Appeals court: Chicago can sue out-of-state gun shop over gun crimes in the city

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Chicago and gun control activists can revive their lawsuit against a now-closed Indiana gun shop for allegedly supplying illegal firearms to criminals in the city, a state appeals panel says. The decision overturns a Cook County judge's ruling, which had determined Illinois courts lacked jurisdiction in the dispute

River Forest developer sues ex-attorney, claims conduct violations, malpractice in divorce cost him millions, led to jailing

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Frank "Marty" Paris, who was jailed three times for allegedly failing to pay lawyers in his contentious divorce case, has sued his ex-lawyers Brian Hurst and the firm of Hurst Robin Kay & Miller, claiming they "abandoned" him on the eve of trial and then represented another lawyer against him seeking hundreds of thousands in fees

Lawsuit: IL should pay for releasing man who murdered 11-year-old boy the next day

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The lawsuit was filed vs the Illinois Prisoner Review Board by Laterria Smith, mother of Jayden Perkins, who was stabbed to death defending his mom vs ex-boyfriend, who had been let out of jail the day before, despite known, actual threats against Smith and her family

UIC prof can revive suit vs school for punishing him over 'racially insensitive' exam question, comments to students

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A federal appeals panel agreed the University of Illinois at Chicago law professor had established the university can't use 'qualified immunity' to end his lawsuit claiming the school had trampled his rights to speak freely in class and when talking with students, in response to complaints from offended students

Cook County Public Defender poised to win OK to represent illegal immigrants in deportation cases beyond Chicago

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The Cook County Public Defender's Office has represented 150+ immigrants facing deportation in Chicago Immigration Court since 2022. IL lawmakers are poised to allow the office to expand that mission to immigration courts elsewhere. Critics worry the program will only balloon from here, conflict with feds under Trump

Steris Isomedix reaches $48M deal to end Lake County EtO lawsuits

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The settlement has not yet been approved. However, Steris said the deal would resolve the majority of 275 lawsuits accusing the company over alleged cancer-causing ethylene oxide emissions from a medical device sterilization plant in Waukegan

Justice Department to support effort to strike down IL law pushing 'diverse' nonprofit boards

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The Justice Department under President Trump has moved to intervene in the lawsuit brought against the state by the American Association for Equal Rights, seeking to overturn Illinois' law requiring nonprofits to report on the races and genders of their board members and staff. They say the law promotes intentional discrimination

New filing: Illinois has constitutional authority to ignore immigration law, complicate deportations

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul responded to the Trump administration's lawsuit vs Illinois' 'Sanctuary' laws, arguing the U.S. Constitution and past court decisions allow the state to pass laws forbidding police from cooperating with nearly all federal immigration enforcement 'schemes'

Anti-Israel activists seek end to class action over protest blockade of main O'Hare road entrance

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Lawsuit accuses activists of illegally conspiring to block I-190 and "imprison" people in their vehicles as part of a nationwide campaign to disrupt economic and societal activity to support Hamas in its war with Israel. The activists say the lawsuit is "baseless" and the plaintiffs should be punished by the court

IL high court questions if GOP gerrymandering suit is 'timely;' GOP: 'Unquestionably' so

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Democrats have yet to respond to a Republican lawsuit seeking to toss out Democrats' partisan gerrymandered Illinois state legislative maps. But the Democrat-dominated Illinois Supreme Court moved on its own to ask both sides to present arguments if the challenge to the maps was "timely."

Appeals court: CTA can't be sued over death of woman struck by L train while retrieving dropped phone

By Jonathan Bilyk |
A state appeals panel said the CTA owed no special duty to keep a watch out for or rescue a woman who had dropped down onto the tracks at the 69th Street Red Line station to retrieve the mobile phone she had dropped seconds before she was struck and killed by a train attempting an emergency stop

City Hall curbs class action over cell phone distracted driving tickets

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Plaintiffs have filed to appeal the ruling of a Cook County judge, who said a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision all but demolishes a class action lawsuit claiming the city has for more than a decade wrongly prosecuted distracted driving tickets through city administrative hearings, rather than in court

Triton College seeks to block potential sale of Rosemont Theatre, amid a tiff over taxes

By Jonathan Bilyk |
The trustees of Triton College, a community college district in River Grove, has filed suit against the village of Rosemont, saying the village is violating state law by attempting to sell the Rosemont Theatre and then claim all of its property tax revenue for the next two decades.

No delay for new EtO cancer trial for Lake County woman vs Steris Isomedix

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Medical device sterilizer Steris Isomedix said it should be allowed to attempt to force other companies who used EtO at sterilization plants in Lake County to share the potential payouts, when any of hundreds of lawsuits go to trial blaming emissions from the plant for cancers.

D113 pays $500K to settle ex-Highland Park HS asst principal's suit over record-shredding, sex offender favoritism

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Former Highland Park H.S. Assistant Principal Amy Burnetti had accused Township High School District 113 of illegally demoting her in retaliation for cooperating with prosecutors investigating misconduct claims vs D113 officials

Pritzker donating big money again in hot Wisconsin state Supreme Court race

By Jonathan Bilyk |
Billionaire IL Gov. JB Pritzker has so far donated $500K in the contest, amid a flood of outside money coming in the race to determine control of the key swing state's top court. In 2023, Pritzker also donated more than $1M in Wisconsin, despite also supporting a law prohibiting outside groups from donating in Illinois judicial races