Illinois

  • August 01, 2025

    7th Circ. Tosses Rehab's Zoning Row With Ind. Town

    The Seventh Circuit affirmed an Indiana town's win on Friday in an Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act suit lodged by companies that wanted to convert a local nursing home into a rehab facility.

  • August 01, 2025

    Village Ordinance Wrongly Bans Wind Farms, Ill. Panel Says

    An Illinois state appellate court majority on Friday reversed a village's summary judgment win in a lawsuit targeting an ordinance purportedly setting wind power generation limits, saying the ordinance effectively bans commercial wind farms without statutory authority.

  • August 01, 2025

    1st Circ. Doubtful Of Trump's Stance On Birthright Citizenship

    The First Circuit on Friday seemed inclined to say that the children of unauthorized immigrants are citizens if they were born on U.S. soil, citing both the 14th Amendment and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and pushing back on an argument by President Donald Trump's administration.

  • August 01, 2025

    Mich Cos. Can't Get Atty Fees In Withdrawal Liability Spat

    A Michigan furniture manufacturer and its shipping partner cannot get interest and attorney fees in a dispute with a Teamsters-affiliated pension fund, an Illinois federal judge ruled, finding the fund's bid to increase the amount of money the companies owed was not made in bad faith.

  • August 01, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Prison Warden's Firing Over Facebook Memes

    The Seventh Circuit has refused to revive a deputy prison warden's suit claiming he was terminated in retaliation for sharing memes online denigrating Muslims, Black people, liberals and the LGBTQ community and calling the Confederate flag "our flag," saying the corrections department's interest as a public employer outweighs his speech interests.

  • August 01, 2025

    Ill. Court Finds Labor Board Erred In Supervisor Status Case

    An Illinois appeals court has reversed a state labor panel's decision adding workers at Illinois State University to an existing bargaining unit represented by an American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees council, saying the panel ignored precedent on which workers are union-ineligible supervisors. 

  • August 01, 2025

    Feds Won't Retry Madigan Co-Defendant After Mistrial

    Prosecutors asked an Illinois federal judge on Friday to dismiss charges against ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's longtime confidant Michael McClain after a jury was unable to reach a decision on the counts against McClain when the pair were tried together.

  • August 01, 2025

    NY Bill Could Reshape Juvenile Investigations, If It Works

    A bill that would keep minors out of police interrogation rooms until they've spoken with an attorney is one step closer to becoming law in New York after passing in the state Assembly, in what could be a chance to transform how juvenile crimes are investigated.

  • July 31, 2025

    State Regulators Push FERC To Nix $22B Grid Projects Plan

    Several state utility regulators have urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject a regional grid operator's $21.8 billion transmission development plan, saying the plan's benefits are overstated and wrongly forces them to subsidize the clean energy goals of other states.

  • July 31, 2025

    7th Circ. Says Chemical Co. OK To Stop Paying Union Fund

    A chemical distributor was allowed to stop paying into a Teamsters pension fund in 2021, and an Illinois federal judge was wrong to conclude otherwise, the Seventh Circuit said Thursday, reversing a ruling that ordered the company to pay the fund over $365,000.

  • July 31, 2025

    Tyson Says Interference Claim 'Lays Bare' Burford's Greed

    Tyson Foods urged an Illinois federal judge on Thursday to reject Burford Capital's bid to ditch allegations that the litigation funder improperly thwarted a near-final price-fixing settlement with Sysco Corp., arguing the counterclaim "lays bare" Burford's systematic effort to obtain a greater investment return.

  • July 31, 2025

    Robotic Surgery Co.'s Antitrust Appeal Backed At 9th Circ.

    Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. has received backing at the Ninth Circuit from a trade association and others groups as it looks to revive its case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot.

  • July 31, 2025

    Insurer Avoids Businesses' COVID-19 Coverage Claims

    A property insurer for numerous restaurants, bars and other small businesses owes no coverage for their consolidated business interruption claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Illinois federal court ruled, looking to the laws of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Tennessee.

  • July 31, 2025

    Vistra Pays $38M To End FERC Market Manipulation Case

    Vistra Corp. has agreed to pay $38 million to end long-running Federal Energy Regulatory Commission litigation alleging that affiliate Dynegy Inc. manipulated electricity capacity auction rules in 2015, which led to consumers being unjustly overcharged.

  • July 31, 2025

    ABA Seeks To Toss Race Bias Suit Over Scholarship Program

    The American Bar Association urged an Illinois federal court to throw out a lawsuit from The American Alliance for Equal Rights alleging the association's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund constitutes race-based discrimination, arguing that the claims are simply a "'desire to vindicate' a particular 'view of the law.'"

  • July 31, 2025

    Judge Questions Gov't Objection To Shielding FEMA Funds

    A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday questioned the Trump administration's assertion that it has not redirected funds allocated by Congress for natural disaster mitigation efforts toward other Federal Emergency Management Agency programs, even as the government was objecting to states' narrow request to protect the funds for now.

  • July 31, 2025

    Immigration Board Raises Bar To Fight State Drug Convictions

    The Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that an individual fighting removal after being convicted on state drug charges has the burden of proving the law they were convicted under is broader than federal law to avoid deportation.

  • July 31, 2025

    Ill. Jury Convicts Forex Trader In $230K Fraud Scheme

    A Chicago federal jury on Thursday convicted an Illinois man of duping investors with promises to deliver considerable profits by trading their money on the foreign exchange market, when he really spent most of their investments on himself and was barred from trading securities in the state.

  • July 31, 2025

    Mercedes-Benz Can't Escape All Of Wood Veneer Crack Suit

    A Georgia federal judge won't dismiss the bulk of a proposed class action alleging that Mercedes-Benz Group AG sold vehicles with defective wooden trim veneer that cracked after extended use, leaving 11 of the 18 counts in the amended complaint alive.

  • July 30, 2025

    Hytera Ordered To Immediately Escrow Subsidiary Sale Funds

    Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. must immediately place $69 million of proceeds of a subsidiary sale in escrow in light of the Chinese company's outstanding judgment and asset citation obligations in Motorola Solutions Inc.'s mobile radio trade theft case, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

  • July 30, 2025

    State Farm Ordered To Pay $54.6M Over Vehicle Valuations

    State Farm must pay more than $54.6 million across two class actions for underpaying the value of totaled vehicles via a "typical negotiation" deduction, a Washington federal court ruled, noting the plaintiffs provided "undisputed" evidence that State Farm violated the state's Consumer Protection Act.

  • July 30, 2025

    8th Circ. Tosses Ruling Striking Binding NEPA Regulations

    The Eighth Circuit has granted blue states' bid to vacate a ruling that faulted the White House Council on Environmental Quality for issuing binding regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act, following the Trump administration's decision to withdraw those regulations.

  • July 30, 2025

    Ill. Forex Trader Spent Investors' Money On Himself, Jury Told

    An Illinois man fraudulently obtained at least $230,000 from investors with promises to return or even double their investments by trading on the foreign exchange market, but instead spent most of their money on personal expenses like designer clothes, restaurant meals, gym membership fees and credit card bills, prosecutors told a Chicago federal jury Wednesday.

  • July 30, 2025

    Justices Urged To OK Bankruptcy Courts As Tax Debt Venues

    Bankruptcy courts are authorized to decide the amount and legality of nondischargeable tax claims, an Indiana couple told the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling to the contrary.

  • July 30, 2025

    GTCR Denied Rival's Old Sales Prospects Data In FTC Case

    An Illinois federal judge refused Tuesday to force a rival medical device coatings company to cough up old sales projections data so private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings can defend against a Federal Trade Commission challenge to its $627 million purchase of Surmodics.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • Midyear Rewind: How Courts Are Reshaping VPPA Standards

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    The first half of 2025 saw a series of cases interpreting the Video Privacy Protection Act as applied to website tracking technologies, including three appellate rulings deepening circuit splits on what qualifies as personally identifiable information and who qualifies as a consumer under the statute, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Trans Bias Suits Will Persist Despite EEOC's Shifting Priorities

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    In U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sis-Bro, an Illinois federal court let a transgender worker intervene in a bias suit that the EEOC moved to dismiss, signaling that the agency's pending gender identity-related actions will carry on even as its priorities shift to align with the new administration, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • 4 In-Flux Employment Law Issues Banks Should Note

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    Attorneys at Ogletree provide a midyear update on employment law changes that could significantly affect banks and other financial service institutions — including federal diversity equity and inclusion updates, and new and developing state and local artificial intelligence laws.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Influencer Marketing Partnerships Face Rising Litigation Risk

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    In light of recent class actions claiming that brands and influencers are misleading consumers with deceptive marketing practices — largely premised on the Federal Trade Commission's endorsements guidance — proactive compliance measures are becoming more important, say attorneys at Olshan Frome.

  • 7 Ways Employers Can Avoid Labor Friction Over AI

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    As artificial intelligence use in the workplace emerges as a key labor relations topic in the U.S. and Europe, employers looking to reduce reputational risk and prevent costly disputes should consider proactive strategies to engage with unions, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Trump Air Emissions Carveouts Cloud The Regulatory Picture

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    President Donald Trump's new proclamations temporarily exempting key U.S. industries from air toxics standards, issued under a narrow, rarely-used provision of the Clean Air Act, will likely lead to legal challenges and tighter standards in some states, contributing to further regulatory uncertainty, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

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