Despres Schwartz & Geoghegan Ltd.
Recent News About Despres Schwartz & Geoghegan Ltd.
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Ex-building security director says Chicago city officials canned her for refusing to go along with false security billing scheme
A former director of security for the City of Chicago, Pamela Harris, has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging wrongful termination after she alerted superiors to the alleged false invoices submitted by private security vendors and unearned OT paid to watchmen. -
Federal judge says Chicago woman, backed by anti-gun groups, can't use courts to force changes to state gun laws
The lawsuit, led in part by the Brady Center for Gun Violence, alleged failure to use existing policy causing PTSD in children of Black city neighborhoods with elevated violence rates -
Appeals panel: Bad deal or not, Chicago parking meter lease isn't illegal monopoly over public street parking
Federal appeals judges have tossed a class action lawsuit asserting the company that owns the rights to thousands of metered parking spaces in Chicago violated federal antitrust law by cutting City Hall out of control of on-street parking, forcing motorists in the city to pay among highest costs to park in U.S. -
Judge says it's 'premature' to dump suit alleging CPS got Northwestern employee fired for criticizing Chicago public schools
A federal judge has decided it is too early for the Chicago Board of Education to try to toss a lawsuit by a former Northwestern University student teacher placement officer, who claims she was fired for criticizing the city's public schools. -
DESPRES SCHWARTZ & GEOGHEGAN LTD.: Twenty-two school districts sue the State of Illinois for funding
Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan, Ltd. filed a complaint on behalf of 22 school districts, suing for full funding they are entitled to under the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act, signed into law on August 31, 2017. -
Appeals court: CTA must negotiate with union before imposing rules to prevent repeat of O'Hare Blue Line derailment
A state appeals court has upheld a ruling forbidding the Chicago Transit Authority from unilaterally imposing new work rules without first negotiating with its workers’ union, even if the new rules are intended to protect public safety – such as rules the CTA implemented to prevent another train derailment similar to the one that resulted in an L train climbing an escalator at O’Hare International Airport. -
Federal appeals panel echoes state court: No right to vote for elected Chicago school board
Echoing a state appeals court’s ruling, a federal appellate panel says the right to vote doesn’t entitle Chicago voters to the right to vote for the members of the Chicago school board. -
Appeals court: Chicagoans don't have constitutional right to school board elections
Chicago residents could have the right to vote in a school board election. But under Illinois’ state constitution, Chicago residents do not necessarily have the right to a school board election, a state appeals court has ruled. -
Chicago Male Lakeview LLC accuses former employees of breach of contract
A Boystown hair salon is suing Ric Ramirez, Nathan Allen and Jesse Harbaugh for alleged breach of contract and unfair comepetition. -
Judge tosses Chicago Board of Ed's attempt to secure right to limit CTU speech at meetings, says suit premature
Chicago's public schools leaders jumped the gun in filing suit against its teachers union, a Chicago federal judge has ruled, saying he can't give the Chicago Board of Education the court opinion it seeks declaring the board has the right to restrict the speech of certain members of the Chicago Teachers Union school officials accused of being "vulgar and intimidating" at school administration meetings. -
Appeals panel: Social service agencies can't be paid without state appropriations
Noting the contracts they signed made their payments contingent on the availability of legally appropriated state funds, an Illinois appellate court has found a coalition of social service providers have no legal or constitutional leg to stand on to demand the state pay them without first securing the proper appropriations from the state’s legislature and governor. -
Judge rejects ex-Gov. Quinn's lawsuit challenging power of Chicago mayor to appoint school board
Saying nothing in federal law entitles Chicago residents to a right to an elected school board, a federal judge has tossed a lawsuit from a group of plaintiffs, including parents of Chicago Public Schools students and former Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn, who had asked the court to side with their contentions that a state law granting the mayor of Chicago the power to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education was discriminatory and violated their voting rights. -
Ex-Gov. Quinn joins legal actions to overturn state law letting mayor choose Chicago school board
Former Gov. Pat Quinn has joined state and federal lawsuits aiming to change the way Chicago Public Schools Board members are selected, saying state law giving the mayor of Chicago, and not voters, the power to select the Chicago Board of Education violates voters’ and taxpayers’ rights under the U.S. and Illinois constitutions. -
Social service providers sue Rauner for vetoing appropriations, demand state pay $100 million
A group of more than five dozen Illinois social service agencies have sued Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and a collection of state agencies, alleging the governor’s decision to veto three appropriation bills in June 2015 has provided cover for the state to unconstitutionally refuse to pay them more than $100 million they are collectively owed for services rendered under contracts with the state of Illinois. -
Cook County judge tosses lawsuit brought by Pfleger, other activists vs suburbs over gun shop regulation
A Cook County judge has abruptly ended an attempt by a coalition of Chicago community activists, including Fr. Michael Pfleger and others, to use an Illinois civil rights law to force suburban communities to more stringently regulate gun shops operating within their borders, who the activists say are responsible for a disproportionate share of the firearms used by criminals and gangbangers to terrorize Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. -
George Lucas Museum foes score win in latest episode of saga over fate of lakefront site
Opponents of the George Lucas museum proposed for Chicago’s lakefront have won the latest episode in the long running legal wars over the planned attraction, after a federal judge refused to dismiss their lawsuit against the city and park district. -
Teamsters member says ex-Local 710 CEO removed amid embezzlement probe must repay $1.3 million in salaries
A member of a Teamsters union local representing thousands of workers in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa has asked a judge for permission to sue former local union officials who were removed last year amid accusations of embezzlement and corruption, and to force those former officials to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries the potential lawsuit says were wrongly paid at a time the organization was otherwise financially insolvent.