Federal Court News
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'Centreville Citizens' on raw sewage: We need faster relief than regulators propose
EAST ST. LOUIS - Centreville Citizens for Change, which sued Cahokia Heights four years ago to stop living with raw sewage, find that the city, the state and the U.S. plan to start solving their problem without listening to them.
Federal Court
Treasurers in tax sale lawsuits: Sue the property buyers
EAST ST. LOUIS - Plaintiffs who claim counties took properties from delinquent taxpayers without compensating them should sue those who bought the properties through the counties, treasurers of St. Clair and Madison counties argue at U.S. district court.
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Federal Court
Yandle to decide jurisdiction in dispute between Schlafly brewer and Highland developer
BENTON - U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle gets to decide whether a dispute between brewer David Schlafly and contractor Daniel Werner of O’Fallon over a renovation project in downtown Highland belongs in her court or St. Clair County circuit court.
Federal Court
Judge sets hearing in defamation lawsuit; Target raises anti-SLAPP defense
BELLEVILLE - Circuit Judge Patrick Foley set a Feb. 14 hearing on a motion to dismiss a defamation suit that St. Clair County board member Gerard Scott Junior filed against Brad Van Hoose of Belleville 15 months ago.
Federal Court
Mother opposes doctor's move to stay alleged drugs-for-sex overdose case
EAST ST. LOUIS - Bonnie Lilly of St. Clair County, who claims at U.S. district court that physician Craig Spiegel caused the overdose of her daughter Nicole Laux, opposes a motion to stay the claim until his criminal case in Missouri has ended.
Federal Court
Former IDOT worker settles alleged partisan firing lawsuit
EAST ST. LOUIS - Former Illinois transportation department employee Shelly Shevlin of Freeburg settled a claim that former governor Bruce Rauner terminated her for partisan motives.
Federal Court
EEOC targets New Athens farmers over former employee's transgender discrimination claims
BENTON - Civil rights law that President Johnson signed with Martin Luther King looking over his shoulder now protects a person who has had two genders, two nationalities, three names and two phony social security numbers.
Federal Court
Freight broker not legally responsible in driver's injury crash suit
CHICAGO - U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle correctly ruled that Shawn Montgomery of Missouri can’t sue C.H. Robinson Company of Minnesota for arranging the trip of a truck that hit his truck, Seventh Circuit appellate judges ruled on Jan. 2.
Federal Court
Local assistant AG defending prisoner suits abruptly leaves office
SWANSEA - Jesse Jones Gray, who as an assistant attorney general defended Illinois against civil suits of prisoners and other plaintiffs for 11 months, left his job in December.
Federal Court
Another group of Paraquat plaintiffs face possible dismissal
EAST ST. LOUIS - Paraquat litigation leaders Sarah Doles of Florida and Kahldoun Baghdadi of California invited Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel to order 40 plaintiffs to show why she shouldn’t dismiss their claims.
Federal Court
Defendant Geo Snapshot says it will go broke if not allowed to settle BIPA suit
EAST ST. LOUIS - Global photography platform Geo Snapshot of Australia claims it might not survive if it can’t settle a suit alleging that its facial recognition violates Illinois law.
Federal Court
Insurer dismisses former Caraway law partners from malpractice policy suit
BENTON - Berkley Insurance dismissed Daniel Broombaugh of St. Louis and Cheryl Fisher of Swansea from a suit seeking a declaration that a malpractice policy of their former firm doesn’t cover misappropriation of client funds by their former partner Jason Caraway.
Federal Court
Judge Gilbert rejects proposed $825K police brutality default judgment
BENTON - Senior U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert rejected a recommendation to award $825,035.97 to Dorian Hendricks as default judgment on an excessive force suit against East St. Louis police on Dec. 12.
Federal Court
Fertility clinic, genetic lab settle lawsuit over child born with physical abnormalities
EAST ST. LOUIS - Lindsey Cordes and John Cortes of St. Louis settled a claim that Vios fertility clinic and Advagenix genetic laboratory caused Lindsey to give birth to a daughter with physical anomalies.
Federal Court
Regulators sue East St. Louis over failure to improve sewer system
EAST ST. LOUIS - National and state environmental agencies sued East St. Louis at U. S. district court on Dec. 11, claiming the city didn’t keep commitments it made last year to improve the sewer system.
Federal Court
Lawyer for Cahokia Heights' residents slams sewage settlement: 'They deserve much more'
EAST ST. LOUIS - Water regulators propose a tiny $30,000 penalty for years of sewage violations in Cahokia Heights out of sympathy for the city’s poverty in a consent decree that depends on the city to pay for improvements.
Federal Court
McGlynn dismisses middle car driver from crash suit
EAST ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn dismissed a claim that Zachary Langley of Caseyville contributed to a highway crash without moving.
Federal Court
Defense moves to dismiss another batch of Paraquat suits citing failure to explain exposure
EAST ST. LOUIS - Syngenta and Chevron moved on Dec. 6 to dismiss 47 plaintiffs who alleged that weed killer Paraquat caused Parkinson’s disease, claiming they violated an order to search for proof of exposure.
Federal Court
St. Clair County officials seek to dismiss defamation, termination suit
EAST ST. LOUIS - St. Clair County board chairman Mark Kern and emergency management director Herb Simmons moved on Dec. 5 to dismiss a defamation and wrongful termination suit of former human resources director Frank Bergman.
Federal Court
Doctor charged with distributing illegal drugs seeks stay on civil case
EAST ST. LOUIS - Missouri physician Craig Spiegel moved on Dec. 3 to stay a civil suit about the overdose of his patient Nicole Laux pending resolution of criminal charges.