U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Recent News About U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
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Pritzker court filing: Natural immunity doesn't excuse Naperville firefighters from COVID vax, testing mandates
The filing comes in response to a legal challenge brought in September by Naperville firefighters, who assert state and local COVID vaccine and testing mandates violate their rights. -
Chicago school board, teachers union ask SCOTUS to toss suit claiming union dues unconstitutionally choke teachers' free speech
The Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse a request for a hearing by two teachers, who claim the union violated their free speech by deducting dues to subsidize political positions without their consent. -
State can't end discrimination lawsuit vs Pritzker over COVID closures of programs for people with disabilities
Plaintiffs allege the Illinois Department of Public Health didn't do enough to accommodate the ability of certain people with disabilities to safely return to work amid the pandemic. -
Appeals panel: Unionized workers can't press individual biometric legal claims vs employers over punch clock fingerprint scans
A federal appeals court says people who belong to a union can't sue their employers individually under Illinois' biometric privacy law, and can't press their claims in arbitration, either. -
Federal appeals panel agrees past Chicago Public Schools layoffs weren't racist, dealing another blow to CTU
Union said Black workers were disproportionately laid off in 2011, while CPS blamed declining enrollment. -
Northwestern students can't sue after school closed campus over COVID, but charged full price tuition, judge says
A federal judge in Chicago said the students failed to provide a contract showing Northwestern University ever guaranteed in-person learning -
Judge allows feds to reimpose $5M fines vs credit monitoring firm under different law, after SCOTUS said original fines illegal
A federal judge said the FTC can modify its fraud complaint vs Credit Bureau Center to press for fines under a different section of federal law, after the Supreme Court said the law under which it had pressed the original complaint didn't allow them to levy fines - a move the company called unfair. -
IL biometrics class actions over worker fingerprint scans can have 5-year statute of limitations, appeals court rules
Illinois employers seeking to limit the reach of the law that has spawned thousands of potentially ruinous class action lawsuits had sought to restrict class actions under the state's biometrics law to a one year time limit for reckoning violations. Justices said that limit only applies to certain sections of the law. -
Pritzker must show corrupt hiring has stopped, can't easily restart, to end feds' oversight of IL govt jobs, reformers say
Two longtime reform advocates told a federal appeals court that Gov. JB Pritzker has not yet met the burden needed to win release from federal court orders imposing federal oversight of state hiring practices, despite Pritzker's claims to the contrary -
White Castle: IL biometrics law not designed to 'bankrupt employers,' should be limited; Judges could punt to IL Supreme Court
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh CIrcuit Court of Appeals expressed doubt during oral arguments over whether they are the court that should address a key legal question over how to decide how much money employers may owe in lawsuit payouts under the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act. -
Ban on concealed carry on Cook County Forest Preserve lands unconstitutional, judge rules
A federal judge in Chicago struck down a state law that prohibits concealed carry on Cook County Forest Preserve District sites. The judge gave Illinois state lawmakers six months to try to fix the law. -
Arbitration clause doesn't let furniture maker Triad escape shareholder lawsuit over retirement plan, appeals panel rules
The appellate judges found the plaintiffs' demand to replace the trustee overseeing the retirement plan meant the arbitration clause could not be applied the claims over the alleged mishandling of the retirement plan for people who worked for furniture maker Triad Manufacturing. -
Judge: Moody Bible used religion as 'pretext' to hide alleged discrimination vs fired female teacher; Moody appeals
Chicago's Moody Bible Institute says a federal judge improperly ignored Supreme Court rulings on whether the First Amendment protects them from a discrimination lawsuit brought by a female instructor allegedly fired over doctrinal clashes. -
Appeals panel says no evidence of political retaliation vs hookah bar in Worth
Hookah lounge owners alleged their political support of an opponent of the village's mayor led to a campaign of police and village harassment, and a stream of citations not issued to other businesses over similar alleged offenses. -
Appeals panel: Woman couldn't have known about faulty pelvic mesh, so she didn't wait too long to sue J&J
7th Circuit judges said a federal judge was wrong to find the woman's lawsuit vs Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Ethicon over the failure of her pelvic mesh implantation fell outside a two-year limit on filing suit. -
Judges pause redistricting lawsuits vs Dems, give Dems til Sept. 1 to approve new maps using Census data
Republicans had asked the court to not give Democrats a "do over" on drawing new legislative district maps, when Democrats had not used Census data on their first attempt, resulting in unbalanced districts.. -
Appeals panel says Chicago cops break no laws by junking jail detainees' unclaimed property after 30 days
Men argued city gives insufficient notice of how to reclaim items surrendered during arrest -
Supreme Court won't stop construction of Obama Center, alleged destruction of Chicago's Jackson Park
A petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asserted judges have allowed federal regulatory agencies to gloss over potential extensive damage to Jackson Park's nature and historical character from the planned Obama Presidential Center, "at the beck and call of powerful political forces." -
Parents of terrorism victim may resume suit vs Palestinian group they accuse of supporting Hamas
A federal appeals panel says a Chicago federal judge was wrong to conclude the case doesn't belong in federal court, because she didn't believe the lawsuit against a suburban Palestinian organization could succeed. -
Judge Ann Claire Williams (Ret.) appointed Chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary
Judge Ann Claire Williams (Ret.) appointed Chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.