U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
Recent News About U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
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IL state teacher scholarship program unconstitutionally excludes white applicants, lawsuit says
The American Alliance for Equal Rights filed the lawsuit in Springfield federal court, accusing the state of unconstitutionally discriminating against applicants who aren't racial minorities from participating in a state-funded scholarship program intended to increase the number of minority teachers in Illinois -
Judge tosses civil rights suit vs Quincy bar owners over attack on Quincy U. women's basketball player
A Springfield federal judge said plaintiff Jazzpher Evans, who was brutally assaulted by the white male former owner of The Barn of Quincy in 2021, did not follow rules laid out in federal and state civil rights laws before filing suit against the owners of the establishment -
Judge trashes Peoria class action vs HungerRush, says POS supplier never scanned restaurant worker fingerprints
HungerRush, which supplies equipment to restaurants to help them process sales and track employee work hours, insists the fingerprint scanners used with its POS systems are third-party devices and all data is stored locally, so they can't be sued under Illinois' biometrics privacy law -
White ex-city worker, passed over for promotion, can resume racial discrimination suit vs city of Springfield
An appeals panel says conflicting explanations from Springfield city officials raise many questions over whether they only wanted to promote a Black person to reflect the city's commitment to "reflect the city's demographics." -
Appeals court: Pritzker 2020 biz closure orders, alone, not enough to allow biz owners to sue for illegal takings
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected yet another challenge to Pritzker's long-running use of emergency executive powers amid the Covid pandemic, saying plaintiffs didn't provide enough to back their sprawling claims that Pritzker trampled their rights -
Appeals panel reinstates lawsuit vs Fiat Chrysler over airbag failure in rollover crash
Front airbag failed to deploy in a Chrysler vehicle in a 2015 rollover in western Illinois. An expert testified the vehicle was traveling fast enough to trip system, but a judge ruled in favor of Fiat Chrysler. -
Judge says Illinois voter registration list is public, state broke law by refusing access to conservative group
A judge has ruled Illinois must turn over the state's list of registered voters to a politically conservative watchdog group, saying the list needs to be public to make sure the electoral process is on the up and up. -
Appeals panel squashes enviro group's lawsuit over Vermilion River coal ash pollution
Prairie Rivers Network can't prove it has standing to sue concerning groundwater coal ash discharge, appeals panel said -
Appeals panel says 'copyright troll' firm's housing designs are too generic to warrant protection
Judge: 'Copyright troll' attempting to control nearly entire market with thousands of similar plans -
Appeals court says SCOTUS decision on union fees only applies to fees extracted from non-union workers, not dues paid by union members
A federal appeals panel has said an ex-union member has no claim for dues voluntarily paid while a member, because the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus ruling only pertained to fees forcibly paid to unions by nonunion workers for represention. -
Dish Network settles telemarketing lawsuit for $210 million
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Dish Network agreed to pay the U.S. government and four states, including Illinois, $210 million to settle a 2009 lawsuit alleging it engaged in millions of telemarketing violations. -
Lawsuit: Pritzker's treatment of, participation in protests undercuts rationale for continued COVID restrictions
The complaint filed in Central Illinois federal court accuses Gov. JB Pritzker of trampling constitutional rights, illegally destroying property, and picking "winners" and "losers." -
Springfield federal judge avoids question of whether Pritzker's stay home order is constitutional
Judge refused to let a pro-marijuana group skip signature rules to put a referendum on the ballot in Decatur, but did not address questions raised in Macon County Clerk's brief that Pritzker's COVID-19 powers may be illegal. -
County clerk to federal judge: Pritzker stay home orders should be presumed unconstitutional, unenforceable
Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner, defending against a lawsuit over ballot access, said Pritzker exceeded his power in extending stay at home orders, so the orders should be considered illegal and void. -
Appeals judges: Dish Network on hook for 66M telemarketing calls, but judge shouldn't have used Dish's 'wealth' to set $280M penalties
The judges said 'harm' not 'depth of the wrongdoer's pocket' would be better guide for setting damages over government's telemarketing claims vs satellite TV provider Dish Network. -
US appeals court shuts down try by asbestos plaintiffs to skip state court for key legal question in mesothelioma suit
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an effort by plaintiffs in an asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit to accelerate their case by using the federal courts to answer a legal question already posed in the state court hearing their personal injury case. -
Appeals court flattens shareholders' suit vs Caterpillar execs for misbegotten Chinese deal
A Chicago federal appeals panel has upheld a decision by a downstate federal judge, who gave no traction to a lawsuit brought by a pair of Caterpillar shareholders over Caterpillar executives' allegedly ill-advised decision to buy a Chinese company, saying the company officers acted in what they believed to be Caterpillar's best interests. -
Appeals panel: IL can deny concealed-carry permits to citizens of states with less stringent monitoring
In a 2-1 decision, a Chicago federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's ruling that said Illinois is within its rights to bar residents of most other states from seeking concealed gun permits in Illinois, on grounds those states do not make their gun-carrying citizens provide criminal and mental health information to databases Illinois can access and monitor. -
Appeals panel: Ameren wrong to fire worker for lawfully having concealed firearm in car at work
A federal appeals panel in Chicago has said a federal judge in central Illinois was wrong to rule against an Ameren employee who the company says was fired for violating a workplace violence policy, after he allegedly made threats and kept a concealed firearm in his vehicle while at work. -
Appeals panel: Taxpayers' rights not violated by county assessments raising property taxes in only one township
A federal appeals panel has shelved an attempt by a group of downstate landowners to sue their county for setting property tax bills after only reassessing the properties in their township, effectively raising their tax bills by 25 percent, allegedly violating their constitutional rights to equal protection.