Former shareholders who owned minority positions in a commodity trading firm have no malpractice case against their onetime attorneys, because the case is based on the incongruity of pursuing individual claims on behalf of a corporation, the state’s high court has ruled. On Sept. 24, the Illinois State Supreme Court ended the latest round in a legal battle that dates back to 2005, when several minority shareholders in Beeland Management LLC hired the law firm of McGuireWoods to sue Beeland.
Brookfield Zoo sits on publicly owned land. And every year, it receives a large amount of tax dollars to help fund operations. But the zoo should not enjoy the same protections from lawsuits given to governmental organizations and their offshoots in Illinois, the state’s high court has ruled.
An appellate court has upheld a lower court’s ruling against the granddaughter of business luminary Harold C. Price, rejecting the woman's suit against her attorney and the Katten Muchin Rosenman law firm for legal malpractice based on claims his legal advice caused her to lose $14 million of an $18 million inheritance.
A union lawyer who helped lead the litigation against Indiana’s Right to Work law has sued a leading anti-union advocacy organization, claiming the National Institute for Labor Relations Research should be made to pay for saying the lawyer “flat-out lied” while representing the labor unions opposed to the law before the Indiana Supreme Court in 2014.
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 dog owner has claimed the Chicago Animal Care and Control Commission overreacted when it classified her pet a dangerous creature for mauling a smaller dog, but a state appellate panel has sided with the city commission.
The increase of wage and hour lawsuits being filed in Chicago federal courts in the last 25 years is reflective of a national trend. And with two new notifications from the U.S. Department of Labor regarding revised Fair Labor Standards Act regulations and an updated interpretation of worker classification, area litigators not only expect to see FLSA suits on the rise again, but to see businesses overhaul their structures.
A state appellate panel has ruled the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion, and not that of the state’s highest court, should hold sway in a case in which a group of Chicago area homeowners have argued a decision by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to release flood waters, resulting in backed-up sewers, flooded creeks and extensive damages to surrounding homes, constitutes an illegal taking of their property under the Illinois Constitution.
Amid the rising tide of wage and overtime lawsuits brought in the last 25 years under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers of all sizes have faced a series of questions. Foremost for many, however, is the question of how to classify their workers. As the economy has shifted, many have attempted to turn to the use of so-called independent contractors, raising concerns and litigation over whether those contractors are independent enough to pass legal muster.
An Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission’s hearing board has recommended the Supreme Court of Illinois strip the license of an imprisoned lawyer, who the regulators assert showed no remorse for committing a multi-million dollar fraud.
A fourth attempt by a pair of airline travelers to sue United for reducing their perks under a seniors program fell flat on Aug. 10, when a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court upheld the Cook County Circuit Court’s dismissal of the case.
An Illinois attorney disciplinary review board has agreed to recommend a 30-month suspension for a Chicago area lawyer accused of sexually harassing five former female employees, a neighbor and a stranger on the street. Late last month, a Review Board of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission upheld the recommendation of an Illinois ARDC hearing board, which had sought to suspend the law license of attorney Highland Park attorney Paul M. Weiss.
After pointing a finger in the direction of his former associate in previous lawsuits over the alleged theft of his firm’s proprietary computer system, prominent Chicago area bankruptcy attorney Peter Francis Geraci has leveled a formal complaint against rival bankruptcy attorney Kevin Chern, demanding more than $1 million from Chern for his alleged role in the alleged conspiracy to use Geraci’s software to help build a rival business.
A federal judge in Rockford has dismissed the lawsuit of a former Northern Illinois University police officer whose termination continues to embroil the DeKalb school in legal battles. Andrew Rifkin lost his job as an NIU police officer after being charged with felony criminal sexual assault in connection with an October 2011 incident involving an NIU freshman.
Herbalife, a national purveyor of nutritional supplements and other products for weight management, energy and fitness, has asked a judge for permission to nail down the identity of a Twitter troll they allege has posted a series of “defamatory, disparaging and deceptive” social media posts about the company and its management.
CHICAGO -- A local research institute is being compelled to testify about the relative dangers of cigarette smoke and asbestos-containing products for ongoing asbestos litigation before the New York Supreme Court.
A federal prosecutor who assisted with the prosecution of imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been appointed to the Cook County bench, along with a longtime Chicago lawyer who was tapped to fill the vacancy left after the retirement of the presiding judge over the county’s criminal courts.
The parents of a child, who died because of medical malpractice, are suing the insurance company of some of the doctors involved, alleging the company owes the parents more than $1 million in an unpaid judgment and should pay another $10 million for allegedly pulling the wool over the eyes of the doctors as to how much coverage was available to pay the parents.
