The courts could risk a flood of new litigation, which could chill efforts to object to future class action settlements, if a judge allows prominent Chicago class action trial law firm Edelson P.C. to continue with a class action lawsuit accusing rival Bandas Law Firm and others, of racketeering for acting as “professional objectors,” bent on extorting payoffs, according to a motion filed by Bandas.
Illinois’ attorney general has become the latest official to take automaker Volkswagen to court over the installation of devices designed to deceive government emissions tests, filing suit in Chicago to demand Volkswagen pay for the deception, which regulators said allowed vehicles to emit more pollution than allowed by law.
One of the owners of the Motor Werks Auto Group has parked an internal power struggle with his business partners in Cook County court, asking a judge to place the northwest suburban collection of luxury car dealerships into receivership to force the other two owners, including Motor Werks’ founder, to sell the dealerships and split the proceeds according to the terms of a purported deal struck a decade ago.
The village of Lombard will reap a $459,000 payday from the operators of six of the biggest online travel websites – the only Illinois municipality allowed to do so - after a federal judge signed off on a deal to end a years-long court fight over claims the travel sites had stiffed Lombard and other suburban Chicago communities of hotel taxes.
Fiat Chrysler still faces a legal challenge from owners of a network of auto dealerships in the Chicago area and elsewhere, though it succeeded in removing federal racketeering accusations.
Catholic Charities has asked a Cook County judge to overrule the Chicago Zoning Board’s permission for a medical marijuana dispensary to open near a Lakeview shelter for women and children it operates, saying the Zoning Board improperly overlooked the shelter’s unlicensed child care service when determining there were no day care centers or schools within 1,000 feet of the planned dispensary site.
The blizzard of litigation filed against Volkswagen in the wake of revelations the automaker allegedly installed devices on diesel cars to fool emissions testing equipment has been redirected to federal court in San Francisco. Across the country, more than 500 lawsuits - primarily class action complaints - have been lodged in federal district courts against Volkswagen. In the Northern District of Illinois, for instance, 19 such lawsuits have been filed against VW.
Prominent Chicago bankruptcy lawyer Peter Francis Geraci and his wife have beaten back a Mexican mining magnate’s right-of-first-refusal suit, which tried to stop Geraci from buying a Magnificent Mile penthouse above the magnate’s floor. The First District Appellate Court of Illinois ruled in the Geraci couple’s favor Nov. 30, overturning a Cook County Circuit Court decision that had gone against them.
The class action lawsuits continue to pile up against Volkswagen over allegations it installed devices to fool government emissions testing equipment, both in Chicago’s courtrooms and in courts across the country. As of Oct. 8, more than 400 class actions have been filed in federal district courts in states throughout the U.S. against the automaker, and more continue to be added.
Fitbit and Fitbug, two leading competing manufacturers of activity-tracking electronic devices, might be headed for trial after a federal judge rejected Fitbug’s request for summary judgment in a pending patent lawsuit. The matter dates to Feb. 20, 2014, when Fitbit sued Fitbug alleging a single count of patent infringement.
A California banking institution has sued a Northbrook company, which does business as the Great Steak and Potato in Aurora, and its president, citing an unpaid debt.Hanmi Bank, filed suit April 13 in Cook County Circuit Court against Premier Food Inc. and Moonhie Oh, the president and secretary of Premier.According to the complaint, on Nov. 9, 2007, Premier took out a promissory note with Hanmi Bank
