U.S. Supreme Court
Recent News About U.S. Supreme Court
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Judge: One unsolicited phone call on cell phone enough to allow class action lawsuit vs Allstate
A federal judge has denied a request to dismiss a class-action suit against Allstate for allegedly placing unsolicited sales calls to customers’ cell phones, even though the lead plaintiff received only one such phone call. -
SCOTUS says auto service advisors are exempt from fed OT rules, but lawyer warns state law may differ
Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that auto service advisers are exempt from federal overtime pay rules, an Illinois attorney is advising dealerships in Illinois to be careful about requirements under state law. -
Court weighs if IL home rule powers allowing stricter employer rules also can extend to local right-to-work
A federal appeals panel is mulling over the thorny issue of whether Illinois "home rule" municipalities, already empowered to impose a host of labor and employment-related regulations on businesses, should also be allowed to buck the state government and create local right-to-work zones within their boundaries. -
Appeals court: Indiana law barring abortions on basis of race, sex, disability unconstitutional; Dissent: Abortion now 'super-right'
A federal appeals court in Chicago has struck down an Indiana state law supporters argued was needed to extend anti-discrimination protections to unborn children, making it illegal for women and practitioners to perform an abortion strictly on the basis of the race, sex or potential disability of a fetus. -
Federal appeals panel echoes state court: No right to vote for elected Chicago school board
Echoing a state appeals court’s ruling, a federal appellate panel says the right to vote doesn’t entitle Chicago voters to the right to vote for the members of the Chicago school board. -
Judge: Class action can continue vs Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, Ironwood, others, over recorded calls
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a class action alleging telemarketers illegally recorded phone conversations among its banking clients’ business customers. -
Judge nixes nationwide class-action claims in junk fax suit against Cirque du Soleil
Applying a new standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court, a Chicago federal judge has ruled that a junk fax suit against Cirque du Soleil can continue, but limited the class action claims only to Illinois residents. -
Report: Asbestos litigation declines nationwide, slightly in Cook Co., still pervasive in three IL counties
As the number of new asbestos lawsuits declined nationally, activity in Illinois’ three hotbeds for asbestos litigation showed few signs of ebbing in 2017, even though the distribution of filing activity has shifted slightly. -
Citing ministerial exception, appellate court rules Hebrew teacher wasn't discriminated against
A federal appeals panel in Chicago has barred an employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Hebrew teacher at a Milwaukee Jewish school, saying the teacher held a "ministerial role." The decision could help shed light on which employees of religious organizations should be considered exempt from federal anti-discrimination laws. -
Tweets containing embedded pics could be copyright violation, NY judge says; decision an 'outlier,' for now
A New York federal judge has given media companies and other businesses cause to worry a bit more about embedding tweets and other social media posts with photos on their own content, as the judge said political site Breitbart could be held liabe for violating the copyright of a photographer who had originally uploaded a photo of quarterback Tom Brady included by Breitbart with a social media post. -
Lawyer says SCOTUS decision encourages whistleblowers to report to SEC, not to employers internally
A recent Supreme Court ruling may lead to more whistleblowers reporting alleged infractions within their companies to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), rather than beginning the process first in-house, according to one legal expert -
Judge short-circuits nationwide class action vs Logitech over its home video security systems
A Chicago federal judge has deactivated a nationwide class action against Logitech concerning its home video security systems. -
California judge says GrubHub delivery drivers are contractors, not employees, under the law
A California judge has shed some light on the perils of the "gig economy" by ruling on the case of a former GrubHub delivery driver who the court concluded should be classified as an independent contractor. -
Attorneys say debt collection agencies must watch language after federal court ruling
A recent federal court decision underscores the importance of minding the verbs used in communications from debt collectors. -
'It's more possible now' - Penn Supreme Court ruling could open gerrymander reform avenue in IL, via courts
A recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on the question of partisan gerrymandering could introduce a new avenue for reformers to pursue in breaking the hammerlock on the legislative redistricting process currently held by legislative leaders in the Illinois General Assembly, and other states. -
Wheaton College wins order vs Obamacare contraceptive mandate; Judge: Violates religious freedom
In the wake of a decision by the administration of President Donald Trump to reinterpret federal health regulations requiring religious employers to pay for contraceptive health insurance coverage, a federal judge has granted Wheaton College a permanent injunction barring the federal government from forcing the prominent evangelical Christian college in Chicago’s western suburbs from having to pay for its employees’ contraception, which the college had argued would violate its religious rights. -
Union lawsuit: If union can't force non-union workers to pay, also can't be forced to represent them
In advance of what they expect to be a stinging defeat for labor unions at the U.S. Supreme Court, a prominent Illinois union has countered with a suit of its own, claiming, if the court finds unions can be barred from forcing non-union workers to pay fees to the union for collective bargaining, so, too, the unions can’t be forced to include those workers in the deals they cut with government officials. -
Union member sues Lincolnshire, says village can't support group that lobbied for Rauner reform agenda
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to hear arguments on the question of whether state rules requiring non-union workers pay fees to unions violate the Constitution, a union member in suburban Lincolnshire has sued his village government, demanding the court declare the rights of union members have been similarly violated by local governments which use taxpayer money to fund lobbyists to seek reforms opposed by unions. -
Appeals court pauses judge's order forcing Cook courts clerk to let public immediately access lawsuits
A federal appeals court in Chicago has slapped a hold on a federal judge’s order to force Cook County’s courts clerk to begin providing the press and public immediate access to publicly filed court documents, at least until the appellate judges can rule on the court clerk’s claims that the federal judge had no business issuing the order, on the grounds of protecting the public’s First Amendment rights to public information. -
Cook Courts Clerk appeal: Federal judge wrongly stepped into dispute over public access to court files
Moments after a Chicago federal judge chided her for creating a system designed to take an “end-run” around the First Amendment’s guarantee of public access to public information, the clerk of Cook County’s courts has asked a federal appeals court to put a hold on the judge's order and further remove the matter from the judge’s consideration entirely.