U.S. Supreme Court
Recent News About U.S. Supreme Court
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Recent ruling in glutamine powder case could have far-reaching implications for class action cases, lawyer says
A recent ruling by a federal judge that non-Illinois residents cannot participate in a class-action suit has far-reaching implications, according to a local attorney. The ruling came in the case of Joshua DeBernardis v. NBTY and United States Nutrition, the makers of the supplement Body Fortress 100 percent Glutamine Powder. -
Appeals panel says Chicago investments firm can't sue FL rival in IL to protect its trademark 'Ariel'
While a Chicago federal judge had determined a Florida investment firm had trespassed the trademark of a more established Chicago company, a federal appeals court has said the Chicago firm can’t sue to protect its rights in Illinois, because the Sunshine State firm doesn’t do business in the Land of Lincoln. -
Calif. AG fears possible effects of union fees case at U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – An amicus brief filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra argues public employees should have to pay union fees even if they fell that it contributes to political pandering. -
Plaintiff: Baking company Aryzta owes dough for clunky fight over locale for lawsuit over worker fingerprints
The plaintiff in a putative class action suit accusing the bakery company which puts out the Otis Spunkmeyer and La Brea Bakery brands of violating an Illinois biometric privacy law by not telling workers how their fingerprints were handled, is now claiming the company is refusing to pay a portion of the plaintiff's legal costs, as ordered by a federal judge. -
State AGs speak up in Janus case to preserve collection of union fees from non-union workers
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – Several friend-of-the-court briefs have now been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the lawsuit brought by Mark Janus, an Illinois state government employee who feels union dues should not be taken from his paycheck since he is not a member of a union. -
Judge cites SCOTUS' Bristol-Myers decision to gut class action over Body Fortress dietary supplement
A Chicago federal judge has relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Bristol Myers Squibb decision to gut a suit against the makers of a dietary supplement, who allegedly made bogus claims about its effectiveness, saying non-Illinois claimants can't participate in a suit in Illinois. -
GOP state lawmakers join Supreme Court brief asking to reject challenge to compulsory union fees
A group of nine Republicans currently serving in the Illinois General Assembly, including two rookie state lawmakers, have signed their names to a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to uphold the state’s ability to allow unions to extract fees from government employees who don’t wish to join a union, arguing the country’s founding federalist principles should allow the 50 states to decide such policy questions for themselves. -
Chicago chief federal judge: Local federal courts can maintain full functions til Feb. 8, despite shutdown
Should partisan politicial fighting lead to a shutdown of the federal government, as many expect, Chicago’s chief federal district judge says the courts will remain open – for now. -
Cook Sheriff: Backpage's fraud accusations vs Dart merely deflection from 'damning' sex trafficking ad evidence
Saying the online classifieds site is merely trying to “deflect” a judge’s attention from its “own fraudulent acts,” the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has asked a federal judge to put a quick end to an attempt by Backpage.com to pin the sheriff for allegedly lying about a CCSO staffer’s job status to protect thousands of documents from disclosure under the auspices of a nonexistent attorney-client relationship. -
Judge OKs $29M deal to end class action vs Ascension Health over Wheaton Franciscan pension claims
In the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that religiously-affiliated hospitals can qualify for exemption from certain federal pension rules, a Chicago federal judge has signed off on a $29 million settlement, designed to end class action litigations against Ascension Health, in which the country’s largest Catholic hospital system was accused of attempting to use the religious exemption improperly to underfund its employees’ retirement plans. -
Six Flags case could clarify requirements for biometric claims used in class actions
CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – A closely watched Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case could have bearing on Illinois' one-of-a-kind biometric privacy law after an appeals court ruled last month the plaintiff alleged no actual harm, an attorney who defends businesses against such cases said during a recent interview. -
Petition: SCOTUS should undo rulings letting union keep $32M collected from caregivers unconstitutionally
Saying a union’s unconstitutional seizure of $32 million in fees from non-union home care providers via the state of Illinois was legally not much different than picking a pocket on the street, a group of those personal assistants have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and overturn lower courts’ decisions allowing the union to keep the money, even the high court had determined the union had no right to collect the money in the first place. -
Ex-Rauner communications chief sues governor, demands emails about abortion law, other topics
The woman who briefly served as one of the heads of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's communications team is suing his office, demanding the release of emails relating to controversial abortion legislation and other politically-charged topics. -
Judge: Fed labor law grounds lawsuit vs American Airlines over shut down of mechanics' hiring incentive program
A federal judge has dismissed an American Airlines worker’s class action over the removal of a special training and advancement program. -
Seventh Circuit: Defendants can use plaintiffs own estimate of class size to take class action to federal court
A recent federal appellate court decision has shed some light on how courts may interpret a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on class action damages, and whether defendants can use plaintiffs own class size estimates to transfer a case from state court to federal jurisdiction. -
Supreme Court refuses to hear home care providers' lawsuit vs SEIU over compelled representation
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a group of Illinois child care providers and in-home care assistants for those with disabilities the chance to argue their constitutional rights were violated by an Illinois state law forcing the care providers to accept the Service Employees International Union as their bargaining representative. -
Divided federal appeals panel says Chicago can bar women from baring breasts
A divided U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling that the city of Chicago is within its rights to ban women from going topless in public, even if a woman is trying to use the First Amendment to get a gripe off her chest about how the law allegedly treats women unfairly. -
Judge: Chicago courts wrong place to try patent dispute over medical billing software
Invoking a recent Supreme Court decision addressing some of the litigation behaviors of so-called “patent trolls,” a federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a patent infringement lawsuit, saying plaintiffs’ assertions some people employed by a company accused of infringing a patent work from home in Illinois isn’t enough for him to allow the case to be tried in Chicago. -
New York court considers Illinois biometrics data case against Take-Two Interactive Software
A New York federal appeals court will consider the reach and scope of an Illinois privacy law now being used by many plaintiff attorneys to target many different businesses with class action lawsuits alleging technical violations. -
Judge: Iowa couple's suit vs Apple Vacations over Mexico airport shuttle crash doesn't belong in IL court
A Chicago federal judge has tossed an Iowa couple’s lawsuit against Apple Vacations and related travel agencies over injuries they suffered in a car crash while on vacation in Mexico, saying the case has no business being in a courtroom in Chicago.