John L. Steele, a Chicago lawyer already indicted for his role in the Prenda Law shakedown scheme targeting downloaders of online porn, has been disbarred. On May 19, the Illinois Supreme Court announced its action against Steele, as well as six others who were disbarred by the court in attorney disciplinary orders handed down May 18. The court also suspended nine other attorneys and censured or reprimanded six more.
In an unanimous opinion, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed the Illinois High School Association – the organization which partners with high schools to oversee high school athletics across the state – does not need to share its documents with the public under the Freedom of Information Act.
Lawyers in Illinois who benefit from clients sent their way under referral agreements with other lawyers will still need to pay the referring attorneys, even if the referral agreements don’t include language explicitly declaring the lawyers agree to share “joint financial responsibility” for the case, the Illinois Supreme Court has declared.
A state appeals court said a woman who fell in her hospital room is entitled to know the identity of her roommate and a visitor, despite a hospital’s contention that information should be shielded by HIPAA.
A federal judge has denied class certification to Whirlpool customers who said the company sold them defective, overheating ovens, saying their expert witness couldn’t help them establish that all of their oven problems arose from the same source.
Sybaris Clubs, the company that owns and operates a chain of romantic getaway resorts and hotels in and around the Chicago area, can’t yet shake a lawsuit brought by the family of a man killed in a 2006 airplane crash that also claimed the life of the company’s founder, as a state appeals court said courts have not yet determined how much business the Sybaris founder was doing on the ill-fated trip aboard the aircraft he – and not Sybaris - co-owned.
A former longtime music director for a Chicago Catholic church, who alleged he was demoted and fired for being ethnic Polish and a senior citizen, might be able to sue for discrimination after reworking his complaint to prevent the church from exercising its ministerial exception rights.
Illinois state regulators can use a state law shielding certain public records from disclosure to prevent a business owner from obtaining public records related to a regulatory complaint filed against his business, even though the state law was enacted after the business owner had tried, failed and then sued to force the regulators to give him the documents.
Cook County Judge Jessica Arong O'Brien has been indicted for her alleged role in a mortgage fraud scheme, which took place a few years before she was elected to the Cook County bench.
In the wake of a recent decision by a federal appeals court in Chicago, employers will no longer be able to necessarily be able to seek refuge in existing federal civil rights law against discrimination claims brought by gay, lesbian or transgendered employees, as the federal appeals judges said federal prohibitions against sex discrimination should be stretched to include those who fall under the LGBT banner, upsetting decades of established precedent on that question.
Chicago Police say they are continuing to investigate “around the clock” to find and “bring to justice” a man they believe responsible for gunning down a Cook County criminal court judge outside his home early Monday morning. Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles died after he was shot multiple times in what police said could have been robbery attempt gone bad – though they are not ruling out the possibility the murder was a targeted hit on the judge
A Chicago law firm recently conducted a study on the amount of time it takes the Illinois Supreme Court to decide a case, finding litigation moves relatively quickly through the state's high court, particularly when compared to other appellate courts elsewhere in the country.
A Chicago federal judge has cleared the way for a man to continue his lawsuit against a Chicago lawyer he has accused of buying traffic crash reports to improperly obtain his personal information to then offer to represent him in any legal actions involving his auto accident.
The U.S. Supreme Court will get the chance to decide how much fees public-worker unions in Illinois can take from non-union workers. And if it decides to hear arguments on a challenge to the fees originally introduced by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, it could mean the court is poised to overturn the longstanding legal precedent allowing the unions to exact the payments from non-members.
Libertarian political candidates won a free speech victory in federal court as a Chicago judge declared unconstitutional an Illinois campaign law barring medical marijuana businesses from making campaign contributions.
The Illinois Supreme Court has reversed an appellate ruling, saying a Cook County judge was right to toss a suburban high school student’s suit, because the suit did not show a gym teacher was at fault for failing to make students wear goggles during a floor hockey game, which left the student with an injured eye.
A Forest Park lawyer accused of skipping out on his client's trial and costing his client $33,000 in opponent attorney fees was among six lawyers disbarred in March by the Illinois Supreme Court, which also suspended 11 others and censured three.
Hospital operators in Illinois have won a battle in the fight over a state law blocking local governments from making them pay property taxes, as the Illinois Supreme Court determined an appellate court had erred on procedural grounds in using the case to strike down the state law as unconstitutional.
However, the high court did not go so far as to declare the 2012 law to be constitutional, setting the stage for more legal tussles to come on the question.
