Jonathan Bilyk News
IL Supreme Court questions whether mom must prove 'harm' to sue over teen's Six Flags fingerprint scan
Illinois Supreme Court justices appeared to take a dim view of assertions by a lawyer for Six Flags that a mother can't sue the theme park operator after the company required him to scan his fingerprints to use his park season pass, even though she had not provided consent.
Report: Surging securities class actions over corporate M&A, 'adverse events,' a growing 'litigation racket'
Saying the trend carries substantial costs for investors and the entire economy, a new report is calling for reforms to tamp down on the growing surge in the number of so-called securities class action lawsuits filed against companies over mergers, acquisitions or stock price drops - a phenomenon the report author called a "litigation racket."
How much do lawsuits cost you? $3,300 per household, $429B nationwide, study says
Across the U.S., Americans pay hefty costs for lawsuits, with the price tag stretching from the courthouses to the most basic levels of American life, adding thousands of dollars each year to Americans’ household budget costs, according to a new study of tort litigation costs.
Customers should read insurance policies, not wait to sue til denied coverage, high court rules
Saying customers have an obligation to read and understand the terms of their insurance policies, the Illinois state Supreme Court has rejected the try by a couple to make their American Family Insurance agent pay for providing them with a policy that didn’t protect them against a defamation lawsuit, even though they had specifically asked the agent to obtain that coverage for them.
Pritzker campaign accused in lawsuit of discrimination, harassment against black, Latino campaign staffers
Saying the Illinois gubernatorial frontrunner’s campaign has routinely “herded” and “marginalized” its workers of color, a group of African American and Latino workers for Illinois Democratic gubernatorial nominee JB Pritzker has sued Pritzker’s campaign organization for discrimination and harassment.
Choosing a hat: Proposal seeks to ease home closing costs by rewriting rules for IL lawyers who sell title insurance
A new legislative proposal would force real estate lawyers in Illinois who also serve as title insurance agents to 'choose which hat they will wear' in a home sale transaction, in a bid to reduce the typical closing costs paid by Illinois homeowners, and bring those costs more in line with the national average. But the proposal has drawn fire from lawyers and their associations, accusing supporters of the bill of unfairly 'scapegoating' lawyers for Illinois' relatively more expensive title insurance costs.
Post-Janus Landscape: Decision will impact union coffers, membership; more litigation on its way, say lawyers
In the wake of the U.S Supreme Court’s landmark decision to declare unconstitutional forced union fees, the legal and political landscape will undoubtedly change. But precisely what will change, and how and when those changes will roll out, remains anybody’s guess.
US Supreme Court: Forced collection of 'fair share' union fees unconstitutional, violates workers' free speech rights
Compelling non-union government workers to pay so-called “fair share fees” to unions they do not wish to join violates the First Amendment speech rights of non-union workers and is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, finding in favor of an Illinois state worker who had sued to end the fees, also known as agency fees, in Illinois and across the country.
Appeals judges: Chicago not right court for John Crane's asbestos fraud RICO claims vs Simon Greenstone, Shein Law
A federal appeals panel in Chicago has agreed industrial seals and couplings maker John Crane Inc. should be afforded the chance to air its claims two law firms allegedly engaged in racketeering and fraud in the way they pressed asbestos-related personal injury claims against the company in the past. However, the judges also agreed with lower court judges that Chicago federal court is not the right place for John Crane can pursue its claims.
IL Bar Assn: State overreach threatens ability of property tax lawyers to work; State: Lawyers can't be appraisers
A Cook County judge could soon weigh in on a legal fight between Illinois’ largest association of lawyers and a state regulatory agency, over the question of whether that state agency has the authority to effectively bar Illinois property tax lawyers from offering estimates of a property’s value when representing property owners before a state or county property tax appeal board.
Trial lawyer panel: Plaintiffs' lawyers adapting strategies to fit post-BristolMyersSquibb legal landscape
While the U.S. Supreme Court's Bristol Myers Squibb ruling has resulted in some big wins for businesses targeted by the plaintiffs' bar, new strategies and theories deployed by plaintiffs' lawyers may be blunting the further impact of that decision, despite high hopes from some it would largely thwart the ability of out-of-state plaintiffs to sue out-of-state defendants in a favorable court forum.
Charles Freeman, first African-American IL Sup Ct justice, retires; Appellate justice Neville appointed to replace
After nearly three decades on Illinois’ high court, Justice Charles Freeman, the first black justice to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court and a former chief justice of the court, has retired. Illinois First District Appellate Court P. Scott Neville has been appointed to serve the remainder of Freeman's term through 2020.
Fair Maps Amendment not called for vote, deadline passes to place it on November 2018 ballot
Illinois voters will not get a chance to weigh in on the question of whether Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and other legislative leaders in the Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly should continue to hold the keys to drawing the state's legislative district maps, after the leaders of the state House and Senate refused to call a vote for a constitutional amendment designed to curtail their influence over the process.
IL appeals court upholds dismissal of class action challenging Chicago red light camera program law
Saying state law designates Chicago’s red light and speed camera enforcement programs as something different from ordinary traffic laws, a state appeals court has again handed a defeat to a class action attempting to overthrow the city’s automated traffic citation program, which annually adds millions of dollars in fines from ticketed motorists to the city’s coffers.
Man suing Madigan asks court to order release of inspector general's 2014 report detailing Speaker's clout
A former candidate who is suing Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and some of his supporters for allegedly using political tricks to sabotage his campaign, is now locked in a fight in Chicago federal court to secure the release of a 2014 inspector general’s report his lawyer says is needed to shed light on how the longest serving state house speaker in U.S. history and his political organization work, to help substantiate the candidate’s claims.
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.
Simmons among firms chosen to represent Cook County in opioid litigation; Partner Hanly selected to lead plaintiffs in MDL
CHICAGO - Cook County, the second largest county in the U.S., has added its name to the ever-growing list of local governments demanding the makers of some of the most prescribed opioid painkillers pay out, saying the companies owe big money for costs the county has incurred in treating painkiller addiction and dealing with its aftermath at the county’s hospitals and other institutions.
Cook County repeals 'pop tax,' but lawsuits it spurred are still pending - though perhaps not for long
CHICAGO - The Cook County “pop tax” will soon be a thing of the past, after the Cook County Board buckled to public pressure and repealed the widely panned and unpopular penny-per-ounce tax on soda and a wide range of other sweetened drinks.
SCOTUS to take up Illinois case challenging power of unions to collect fees from non-union state workers
The U.S. Supreme Court will again wade into the question of whether public sector worker unions can force government employees who don’t wish to join their union to still pay fees, ostensibly for collective bargaining representation.
Posner departure sets stage for potential political fight over future of Seventh Circuit
After decades of relative stability, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago could soon undergo an extensive makeover, making the court potentially the next battleground in the fight for the future of the nation’s judiciary.