U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Recent News About U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
-
United Continental pilots' class action suit vs their union should survive, judge says
A federal judge has grounded an airline pilots’ union’s efforts to dodge a class-action lawsuit by arguing the claims brought by the suit expired while the case was on appeal, and the class action over pay owed to pilot instructors will continue. -
Judge: Makers of '85 Chicago Bears documentary didn't violate 'Shuffle' copyright
A federal judge has determined the use of “Super Bowl Shuffle” snippets in a documentary film doesn’t violate copyright protections. -
High rise manager Jones Lang LaSalle can't toss tenant's racketeering class action over 'union-only rule'
An ex-tenant in a Loop office building run by Jones Lang LaSalle has won the chance to continue its class action lawsuit against the property management company, accusing JLL of illegally conspiring with unions to run a racket forcing tenants to use union labor, rather than less expensive non-union contractors, for renovations and other work. -
SCOTUS gives win to GSK in appeal of $3M verdict over Chicago lawyer's suicide, Paxil drug labeling
The widow of a lawyer who took his own life, allegedly after taking the generic equivalent of widely prescribed antidepressant drug, Paxil, will not get a chance to undo a federal appeals court’s decision to toss out a federal jury’s findings that GSK, the maker of Paxil, owes her $3 million because it allegedly didn’t push federal regulators hard enough to revise the drug’s warning label. -
Man OK'd promo texts, but got more than company said would send, so lawsuit OK, judge says
Plaintiffs' lawyers may have found a new avenue to sue businesses over marketing texts, now that a federal judge gave the green light to a class action from a man who said he received more text messages than he agreed to. -
Northwestern Hospital says law doesn't support 'nonsensical' privacy suit over fingerprint scans to dispense meds
A group of Northwestern Memorial Hospital have sued the hospital for requiring workers to scan fingerprints when entering a secured area in which medication was stored. Northwestern Hospital and the vendors who supplied the technology for the entrance security system are asking a federal judge to dismiss the workers' lawsuit, because state biometric privacy law does not cover the healthcare field. -
Judge OKs Spanish instructor's age discrimination lawsuit vs Loyola University
A federal judge is allowing a Spanish instructor to continue her age discrimination lawsuit against Loyola University for refusing to allow her to interview for a tenure track position, allegedly because she was more than 50 years old. -
Judge punctures Local 150 union's try to sue NLRB for moving to limit 150's use of inflatable rats to protest
A federal judge has deflated a legal action accusing the National Labor Relations Board of violating a union’s rights to free speech by moving to stop the union from using inflatable rats and banners to continuosly protest "rat contractors." -
Appeals court: Plaintiff snubbed settlement from debt collector, gets stuck with big legal bill
A Chicago federal appeals court has refused to upend a lower court that ordered a collection agency pay only $11,000 of a plaintiff's $190,000 legal tab in a credit report lawsuit, saying the plaintiff doesn't deserve more, because he snubbed a reasonable settlement offer, then went to trial and won less than he would have collected in the proposed settlement. -
Pet insurance companies to settle robocall suit for $5.5 million, lawyers get $2 million
A Florida man is seeking judicial approval of a $5.5 million settlement in a putative class action against a pair of suburban Chicago pet insurance companies, who allegedly sent unlawful robocalls to pet adopters, which would give almost $2 million to plaintiff's attorneys and less than $100 to each class member. -
Mariano's managers can continue with OT pay lawsuit vs supermarket chain
Employees of supermarket chain Mariano's, owned by Kroger, can move forward with their collective action over claims they were misclassified under fair labor laws and not paid owed overtime. -
Rink operator Black Bear loses bid to sue AHAI for allegedly blocking for-profit rink owners from IL youth hockey
A federal judge has dismissed an ice rink operator's attempt to put the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois in the penalty box over alleged antritrust violations, saying the rink operator can't sue is the AHAI never denied an application for a new youth hockey club for one of its rinks. -
Appeals panel: Peer review doesn't let female Russian Jewish doctor sue Northwest Comm. Hospital for discrimination
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said a doctor isn’t allowed to bring a discrimination lawsuit against Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights because she’s an independent contractor, not an employee. -
Judge: Dispute over whether Pritzker broke law in shutting down Sterigenics belongs in state, not federal, court
Medical device sterilizer Sterigenics will not find any relief from federal courts, after a federal judge ruled its dispute over Gov. JB Pritzker’s order closing Sterigenics’ Willowbrook facility belongs in state court. -
Appellate panel: 'Defamatory' American Bar Association journal article was actually protected speech
CHICAGO – A certifying agency for forensic document examiners failed to convince a federal appellate court that the American Bar Association libeled it by publishing an article that suggested another agency’s graduates were better trained. -
Group of seven Jewel store managers can jointly press age discrimination lawsuits, judge says
A federal judge will allow current and former Jewel Food store managers to pursue their age discrimination suit against the supermarket chain as a group, rather than individually, saying the plaintiffs' claims are similar enough to proceed together. -
Court says Hispanic ex-manager can continue discrimination suit vs Studio Move Grill over dating policies
A federal judge says a Hispanic former movie theater manager can continue his discrimination lawsuit against theater chain Studio Movie Grill, accusing the chain of not equally enforcing its policies forbidding managers from dating staff. -
Judge: Cook officials must tell when learned they could sue Bank of America; could undermine discrimination suit
A Chicago federal magistrate judge has ordered Cook County officials who are suing Bank of America for allegedly discriminatory lending to tell the bank when they learned of a similar suit by the State of Illinois, which the bank believes will show some of the county's claims are barred by the statute of limitations. -
Builders Bank's appeal of FDIC rating deemed waste of 'a judge's valuable time'
A federal appeals panel has denied a former bank’s attempt to sue the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and upbraided the plaintiffs for legal maneuvering that "wasted a judge’s valuable time.” -
Class action: Union must refund millions in unconstitutional fees taken from non-union IL state workers
A group of non-union Illinois state employees say their union illegally forced them to continue paying fees to the union, even when the union knew the fees were likely to be declared unconstitutional. Now, those workers have asked a federal judge to order the union to refund the money.