U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Recent News About U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
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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. -
Appeals court: Ex-Baker & McKenzie paralegal must pay firm's bill for discrimination suit defense
A Chicago federal appellate court has upheld a $35,000 sanction ordered by a lower court against a former paralegal at a Chicago law firm, who sued the firm for alleged discrimination, then withdrew the suit and then repeatedly refused to satisfy the firm's discovery requests for copies of records and emails. -
Appeals panel decides Chicago surgical center wanted malpractice trial, can't sue insurer for $1.3M
A Chicago federal appeals court says a Chicago surgical center is just as responsible as its insurer for the decision to take a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settle, meaning it can't now sue the insurer over the decision, which cost the surgical center $1.3 million. -
Appeals panel: Widow doesn't get to collect $60K insurance for man who hanged himself while masturbating
The widow of a man who died when he allegedly accidentally hanged himself when an apparent act of autoerotic asphyxiation went wrong, should not be able to collect an additional $60,000 in insurance coverage from his death, a federal appeals panel has ruled. -
Federal court grants default judgment against 'prophet' who's made millions from millions of robocalls
A federal judge has entered a default judgment against a self-identified "prophet" who is accused of profiting mightily from his use of robocalls, in violation of federal telecommunications laws. -
Seventh Circuit tosses suit over inflatable beach mat, chides plaintiffs for 'luring' defendants into IL court
A Chicago federal appeals panel has deflated a lawsuit by the designers of an inflatable beach mat, who alleged two companies rooked them out of royalties, finding the case does not belong in an Illinois federal court, because the out-of-state companies do not have any substantial presence in Illinois. -
Class action: KraftHeinz allowed investors on board to insider trade, dodge billions in stock losses
KraftHeinz has been hit with a class action brought by a group of investors who accuse the company of allowing one of its leading investors to engage in insider trading, using information not available to other investors to avoid billions of dollars in losses to the value of the company’s stock. -
Ranchers lawsuit: Meat packers squeezed cattle prices, even as consumers paid record retail beef prices
A group of cattle ranchers have filed suit in Chicago federal court, accusing four of the largest meat processors in the U.S. of squeezing ranchers by manipulating the market to drive down the price they paid for beef cattle, even as consumer beef prices remained near their peak. -
Nigerian brothers: Smollett's lawyers smeared them after charges vs Smollett dropped, endangered their family
The Nigerian brothers at the heart of the alleged hate crime hoax involving actor Jussie Smollett have sued Smollett’s attorneys, asserting the lawyers’ statements to the press about the fake attack and the brothers following the decision to drop charges against Smollett have destroyed the brothers’ reputation, cost them career opportunities and even endangered their lives and the lives of their families in Nigeria. -
Cook Sheriff asks judge for new try to punish Backpage's lawyers, says helped Backpage lie about sex trafficking
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has asked a federal judge to reconsider his decision to not order sanctions against the lawyers who represented Backpage.com in litigation against the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, saying new testimony from Backpage’s indicted CEO showed lawyers from the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine knew more than they said about the online classified site’s success at using cryptocurrency and other alternative routes to evade the sheriff’s try to shut Backpage down over sex trafficking. -
Surveys: Class action lawsuits up again in 2018; Settlements down $1B, but businesses spent $2.4B to defend
Businesses in Illinois and elsewhere in the U.S. faced a growing challenge from class action lawsuits in 2018, and that number is only expected to grow, as plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to open new avenues to bring potentially massive legal actions, two recent surveys have found. -
SCOTUS weighs competing briefs in widow's appeal in case vs GSK over suicide of lawyer taking generic Paxil
The U.S. Supreme Court is tackling the question of whether drug companies can be sued for not making their warning labels strong enough, even though the FDA controls the labels. But whether a forthcoming Supreme Court decision will affect a decision denying a $3 million judgment to the widow of a Chicago lawyer who committed suicide after taking the generic equivalent of Paxil remains unclear. -
Judge: Evanston's 'actions speak louder than words'; Lack of action dooms pollution suit vs Nicor, ComEd
A Chicago federal judge has refused to allow the city of Evanston to continue with a three-year-old lawsuit demanding Nicor and ComEd be forced to pay to clean up water pollution and replace sections of city water main because the city asserted the utilities' predecessors operated a long-shuttered gas manufacturing plant near the north suburb. -
Sterigenics shutdown crimps supply of medical devices, as courts mull next steps, procedural motions
As state and federal courts grapple with the legal questions of what comes next, a state-imposed shutdown of a Willowbrook medical device sterilization facility has begun to have ripple effects for health care facilities and patients far from the suburbs of Chicago.