A divided 10-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Appeals Court said the former music minister can't use hostile work environment claims to sidestep the Catholic Church's First Amendment protection in church ministerial employment decisions.
A federal appeals panel in Chicago said a fired gay Catholic church music director should be allowed to proceed with his lawsuit against the Chicago Archdiocese, because the First Amendment isn't an absolute shield for churches' employment decisions.
A man who fell while leaving a Chicago food pantry is not entitled to damages from the pantry or its Catholic church landlord for his injuries, a state appellate court has ruled.
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that a church can claim the ministerial exception to protect it from a discrimination lawsuit brought by a fired organist.
The Chicago Archdiocese is asking a federal judge for permission to take straight to a federal appeals court the question of whether a Calumet City church music director, who has accused the local Catholic Church of firing him for being gay, can sidestep the legal latitude afforded churches under the Constitution by repackaging his lawsuit to instead argue the church subjected him to a hostile work environment.
A federal appeals panel has reversed a lower court ruling that said tax-free housing allowances for clergy breached the separation between church and state, finding the long history of such exemptions in the United States allows churches, not government, to properly "advance religion."
Two insurance companies allege they have no duty to indemnify a general contractor in a claim filed against it over allegedly defective construction at a Chicago Catholic church.
Accusing Illinois’ Catholic churches of a decades-long cover up, three men and a woman who claim they were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Illinois Roman Catholic priests have joined together to sue all of the state’s Catholic dioceses, asking a judge to order the dioceses to release the names of priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse since 1950.
A gay former church music director has failed again to persuade a judge to let him sue the Catholic church for discrimination over his sexual orientation. But the man will be allowed to press forward with claims the church’s pastor allegedly harassed him about a medical condition.
A woman, fired by the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese allegedly in retaliation for reporting contractor watching porn on church computer, has asked a federal judge to reconsider the decision to slice her $700,000 jury award, saying the church needs to be punished for allegedly wrongly painting her as "deranged."
A federal judge has closed the book on age and nationality discrimination allegations brought against the Catholic Bishop of Chicago by a Polish former parish music director, as the judge said the music director and organist should be considered a "ministerial" employee, and thus exempt from certain anti-discrimination employment rules.
A religious organization is suing the Lakeview Pantry, John J. Matsock & Associates Inc., Covington Specialty Insurance Company and Jake Graham for alleged breach of contract.
A federal judge has rejected a former Catholic school teacher's age discrimination lawsuit, saying she failed to provide evidence suggesting she was fired because of her age, and noting she was replaced by teacher only seven years younger.
A woman is suing Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Lawrence Manor Organization for allegedly taking insufficient measures to prevent injuries.
A man who lost his federal lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Chicago, which claimed the church wrongly fired him from his music director job at a suburban church for marrying another man, is back in court for another try, arguing the church's ministerial exception defense doesn't apply, because the harassment he allegedly suffered was not ecclesiastical in nature.
A man fired from his job at a suburban church after marrying another man lost the federal discrimination lawsuit he filed against the church and the Archdiocese of Chicago.
A woman is suing All Around Amusement Inc., the Catholic Bishop of Chicago and St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church for allegedly taking insufficient measures to prevent injuries.
