U.S. Supreme Court
Recent News About U.S. Supreme Court
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IL Supreme Court: Flooding can be private property 'taking,' but maybe not in NW suburban case
The lllinois Supreme Court has thrown cold water on a lawsuit brought by a group of northwest suburban Cook County homeowners who claimed the state’s largest stormwater management agency unconstitutionally violated their property rights when the agency, taking action to prevent flooding elsewhere during a heavy rainfall six years ago, diverted water into creeks near the plaintiffs’ homes, flooding their neighborhoods in the process. -
Georgia negligent animal death case on value of killed pets not likely to make huge impact in Illinois
CHICAGO - Area pet owners who saw a recent Georgia Supreme Court ruling on the value of pets in negligent death cases might be wondering what impact the ruling will have in regards to their animal friends; however, an area attorney is saying that the impact of the ruling should be rather limited. -
Suburban city OK to refer health insurance provision to arbitrator during firefighter contract talks: Panel
A DuPage County city was justified in referring a health insurance provision to an arbitrator during difficult negotiations with its firefighters union, according to a ruling recently affirmed by a state appellate panel. -
Logging In: California judge's ruling could queue up more lawsuits under IL biometric privacy law
While technological privacy advocates cheered, a California federal judge this spring sent shockwaves through the tech world and many other industries, determining an Illinois law that has spawned a wave of litigation already could be applied to businesses based virtually anywhere, so long as they did business in Illinois. -
SCOTUS ruling may increase patent infringement lawsuits, settlements for fear of 'enhanced damages'
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision discarding strict standards for awarding enhanced damages in patent infringement cases could increase the number of patent cases filed in the U.S., a Chicago intellectual property attorney believes. -
US Supreme Court refuses to revive overturned $10 billion tobacco verdict vs Philip Morris
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of an Illinois Supreme Court decision that cleared tobacco company Philip Morris of a $10 billion judgment. On June 20, the justices rejected a petition from plaintiff Sharon Price, who won the judgment in the court of former Madison County circuit judge Nicholas Byron in 2003. The Supreme Court had denied review of the same case in 2006, after the Illinois Supreme Court reversed Byron. -
Employers should let SCOTUS resolve divided circuits before altering arbitration policies
Since a broad decision issued by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in May, employers have become wary of enforcing the arbitration agreements they may have pressured employees to sign, waiving their rights to bring class actions over wage and employment issues. But that isn't the half of it, employment and labor attorneys said. -
ESPN: Stephen A. Smith's rant on Jackie Robinson West protected from lawsuit by 1st Amendment, IL law
Cable TV sports network ESPN and the network’s prominent on-air pundit Stephen A. Smith have responded to a lawsuit brought by the parents of players of controversy-plagued Chicago Little League baseball team, Jackie Robinson West, asking a Cook County judge to dismiss the litigation because the parents’ lawsuit does little more than attempt to punish ESPN and Smith for reporting news and expressing opinion on prominent events, simply because the parents found the news and Smith’s opinion “upset -
State can force IL child care, home care workers to be represented by union, federal judge says
While the U.S. Supreme Court declared two years ago that the state cannot compel independent home care and child care workers from paying money to public employees unions out of the checks they receive for their work from the state, a Chicago federal judge said the Constitution does not similarly forbid the state from requiring those same workers to be represented by a union. -
Federal appeals court: PF Chang's can be sued over potential ID theft from data breach
A Chicago federal appeals panel has given the P.F. Chang’s restaurant chain a case of legal indigestion, by reversing a district court’s dismissal of a class action suit brought by two diners, who claimed they were vulnerable to identity theft, because the chain’s allegedly poor data security allowed hackers to obtain diners’ debit and credit card information. -
Pharmaceutical `take-back' ordinance may be on horizon, creating programs funded by drug companies, consumers
Cook County is among several highly populated counties nationwide considering "take-back" programs that would require manufacturers to develop programs to dispose of unneeded medications and unwanted hazardous medical products, such as needles and syringes. -
Appeals panel: Families of medical malpractice plaintiffs who die while case pending can add wrongful death claims to lawsuit
Unraveling what it called a “classic clash of apparently conflicting statutes,” an Illinois appeals panel has ruled the family of a woman who died while her medical negligence lawsuit was pending against a doctor, the University of Chicago Medical Center and affiliates is not blocked by a statute of repose from adding wrongful death claims to the preexisting lawsuit. -
WTTW wins copyright suit vs FilmOn; judge says online TV retransmitter can't be considered cable TV system
A judge has switched off a court challenge by an Internet company that wants to retransmit the programming of WTTW – Chicago's PBS station – to online users, saying the company isn’t authorized to do so, because it doesn’t meet the required federal definition of a "cable system" and thus is infringing on WTTW's copyright. -
Challenge to Chicago affordable housing ordinance not affected by SCOTUS decision to not hear similar California case
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month to not hear a California case challenging the constitutionality of an inclusionary housing ordinance should not have any impact on a similar lawsuit pending in Cook County. -
Appeals panel puts debt collector back on hook for class action over potentially illegal lawsuits
A man who claimed someone had fraudulently run up more than $2,500 in debt on a credit card opened in his name without his knowledge has secured another chance to press a lawsuit against a suburban debt collection agency, after a state appeals panel found the agency may have broken federal debt collection laws by suing the man over the contested debt after the statute of limitations had expired. -
Ex-church music director sues Catholic Archdiocese for firing him after announcing same-sex marriage engagement
A gay man who claims he was fired as music director at a northwest suburban Catholic church after publicly announcing his engagement has asked a federal court to order the Chicago Archdiocese to give him his job back, asserting federal, state and Cook County non-discrimination laws and past employment decisions by the Archdiocese trump the Roman Catholic Church’s prerogative under the so-called “ministerial exception” to fire church workers whose same-sex marriages may violate the Catholic churc -
Judge says Walgreen, Rite Aid must show numbers to push allegations Opana drugmakers cheated them
A Chicago federal judge has kicked drug retailers Walgreen and Rite Aid from an antitrust lawsuit against the maker of prescription pain killer Opana, saying the retailers must provide hard dollar figures to back up their allegations that the drugmaker improperly paid off another pharmaceutical company to delay the release of the generic version of its pain killer, and keep the price of its name brand drug high. -
Judge tosses false claims class action vs makers of 'wonder drug' supplement Anatabloc
A class action lawsuit targeting the maker of a “wonder drug” nutritional supplement has been shelved after a federal judge tossed the complaint of two men who claimed they had been misled by the supplement makers’ claims regarding the product’s effectiveness at treating arthritis and other inflammation. -
US Supreme Court's move to freeze Obama Clean Power Plan win for 30 states fighting new carbon regulations
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with nearly 30 states in granting a stay of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. -
Judges disagree if county can sue, but appeal won't slow Cook's predatory lending suit vs HSBC
A Chicago federal judge will not slow down Cook County’s predatory lawsuit against HSBC, denying a request from HSBC to place the county’s legal action on hold to allow a federal appeals court to iron out differing opinions among local federal judges as to whether the county actually has standing under federal law to sue HSBC and other banks over allegations the banks discriminated against borrowers based on race and worsened local housing markets.