A charitable fund associated with Evanston-based NorthShore University Health System will not be able to continue much of its legal action against Niles’ high school district over the district’s decision to close some health clinics in the suburban high schools, after a Cook County judge declared the foundation should have sued someone else over the alleged waste of the foundation’s grant to fund the clinics.
NorthShore University Health System will need to continue to defend itself against a class action antitrust lawsuit, after a federal judge ruled a group of patients and health insurers were not years too late in bringing their legal action over NorthShore’s decision to allegedly jack up its rates nearly 16 years ago following its acquisition of Highland Park Hospital.
The Illinois Supreme Court has strengthened the hand of hospitals in a ruling that took a physician’s suit off life support, because he failed to allege a north suburban hospital system inflicted “physical” harm upon him when it terminated his hospital privileges – which the court said is the necessary standard under state law for the hospital group to enjoy immunity from liability.
In the wake of an Illinois appellate court decision striking down as unconstitutional the state law allowing Illinois’ nonprofit hospitals to avoid property taxes, a Chicago real estate investment group has filed a class action lawsuit against all every hospital in Illinois, alleging property owners in Cook County and elsewhere have been forced to pay higher real estate taxes than they otherwise should have to make up for what the plaintiffs allege the hospitals should have been paying.
