Illinois

  • December 17, 2025

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2025's Most Memorable Moments

    Federal circuit courts in 2025 strained under a crush of Trump administration lawsuits, as judges directed animated language at litigants and even their fellow judges. And while the president only added a handful of appellate jurists, they had outsize impacts on circuit benches as they joined the cadre of conservatives seated in his first term.

  • December 17, 2025

    The Top Trademark Decisions Of 2025

    The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a trademark infringement award that reached nearly $47 million and found nonparties couldn't be on the hook for the amount, while the Federal Circuit reproached a trademark tribunal for its handling of a man's attempt to register the F-word. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trademark decisions of 2025.

  • December 16, 2025

    States Sue Trump Admin To Restart EV Infrastructure Funds

    Sixteen states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration in Washington federal court on Tuesday in an effort to stop the U.S. government from blocking billions of dollars in congressionally approved funds meant to expand the country's electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

  • December 16, 2025

    Hyundai, Kia Ink $9M Deal With AGs Over Theft-Prone Cars

    Hyundai and Kia have agreed to shell out $9 million and add anti-theft devices to millions of vehicles at no cost to owners as part of a settlement with 36 state attorneys general who accused the carmakers of selling vehicles lacking industry-standard anti-theft technology, according to announcements made Tuesday.

  • December 16, 2025

    The Top Copyright Decisions Of 2025

    In watershed moments for copyright law and artificial intelligence, two California federal judges delivered the first rulings on whether AI developers' reliance on copyrighted works to train their models qualifies as fair use, providing initial guidance on contentious battles between content creators and tech companies. Here are Law360's picks for the top copyright rulings of 2025.

  • December 16, 2025

    United Airlines Kept Shoddy Fund In $11.8B 401(k), Suit Says

    United Airlines shirked federal benefits law by allowing an underperforming investment fund to weigh down its $11.8 billion retirement plan, according to a proposed class action a worker filed in Illinois federal court Tuesday.

  • December 16, 2025

    PVC Pipe Buyers Defend Price-Fix Conspiracy Claims

    Polyvinyl chloride pipe purchasers say they've alleged more than enough to show a Chicago federal judge that certain manufacturers participated in a plausible and illegal price-fixing conspiracy, urging the court to let their consolidated action proceed to discovery.

  • December 16, 2025

    Judge Trims Ziff Davis Copyright Claims In OpenAI MDL

    A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed part of a suit from digital media publisher Ziff Davis Inc. against OpenAI alleging that its chatbot ChatGPT was trained on copyrighted content scraped from the internet and gives re-creations of those works when prompted.

  • December 16, 2025

    CFTC Drops Spoofing Case Against Texas Energy Trader

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has agreed to drop a lawsuit claiming a Houston-based energy trading firm manipulated the crude oil market, an outcome the firm hailed as "full and definitive vindication" on Monday.

  • December 15, 2025

    States Fight Sandoz Bid To Argue Duplication In Generics Row

    Multiple attorneys general have told a Connecticut federal court that Sandoz Inc. and Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc. can't claim the states' grievances over allegations of price fixing are duplicative of claims that were already settled, since there are some claims and forms of relief that only state plaintiffs can seek.

  • December 15, 2025

    Formula Suits An 'Undue Burden' On Cook County, Panel Says

    An Illinois appellate court Friday agreed with Abbott Laboratories that 23 lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn of important risks associated with infant formulas and caused premature babies to develop necrotizing enterocolitis should not have been filed in Cook County, where the infants at the center of those cases were not born and have never lived.

  • December 15, 2025

    Rust-Oleum Settles Misleading Paint Coverage Claims

    Paint manufacturer Rust-Oleum Corp. has agreed to resolve proposed class claims in Illinois federal court that were brought by customers who accused the paint manufacturer of misleading them by advertising its "2x" spray paint line as providing twice the coverage of other general-purpose paints.

  • December 15, 2025

    FTC Joined By 21 States In Accusing Uber Of Deception

    Twenty-one states joined the Federal Trade Commission on Monday in a California federal lawsuit accusing Uber of enrolling consumers into its paid subscription service without consent and keeping them in a "loop" of obstacles that deter or prevent cancellations.

  • December 15, 2025

    Insurer Denies Coverage For Car Shop's Customer Suit

    An insurer told a California federal court it had no duty to defend a car conversion business from a suit alleging it wrongfully used a customer's car in advertisements, explaining that the claims did not fall under the specified ad injury coverage.

  • December 15, 2025

    High Court Won't Hear Illinois County's ADA Back Pay Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined an invitation Monday from Cook County, Illinois, to review a Seventh Circuit ruling that said a former corrections officer can seek back pay after winning a disability discrimination verdict.

  • December 12, 2025

    1st Circ. OKs Barring Medicaid Planned Parenthood Coverage

    A First Circuit panel on Friday upheld the Trump administration's ban on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, vacating a lower court's order that would've kept in place Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood clinics in 22 states.

  • December 12, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Empowering NYC Nonprofit Buyers

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney reactions to a New York City a bill that would give nonprofits the opportunity to buy certain residential buildings.

  • December 12, 2025

    Printing Co. Defends Trial Win In $265M ESOP Sale Dispute

    A printing company's directors and employee stock ownership plan trustee say the Seventh Circuit should back their win over accusations they illegally undersold the company into private equity for $265 million, arguing the trial court correctly decided their interests were "perfectly aligned" with plan participants' interests.

  • December 12, 2025

    Buyers Fight To Save Potency Suit Against Pot Co. Cresco

    A proposed class of consumers urged an Illinois federal judge to reject cannabis giant Cresco Labs' bid to end a lawsuit accusing it and its subsidiaries of mislabeling their products to get around state-mandated THC potency limits, arguing that their claims are not preempted by state law but "reinforce it."

  • December 12, 2025

    7th Circ. Halts Release For Hundreds Of Ill. ICE Detainees

    The Seventh Circuit on Thursday halted a Chicago federal judge's order requiring the release of hundreds of immigrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the Trump administration was likely to succeed in arguing he should have conducted individual determinations about whether their arrest violated a consent decree it had previously entered in the case.

  • December 12, 2025

    20 States Sue Trump Admin Over $100K H-1B Visa Fee

    A coalition of 20 states, led by the California attorney general, sued the Trump administration Friday to challenge a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, saying the fee goes against Congress' intent for the work visa program.

  • December 12, 2025

    Steel Co. Strikes Pollution Deal, Resolving Enforcement Suit

    A Chicago steel forging facility will upgrade its pollution control systems to settle claims it violated its air quality permit and state environmental law, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Friday.

  • December 11, 2025

    Democrats Say DOD Diverts $2B To Immigration Enforcement

    The Pentagon has diverted at least $2 billion in obligated funds to support immigration enforcement efforts across the country instead of the agency's core national security functions, according to a report released by Democratic lawmakers on Thursday. 

  • December 11, 2025

    SEC Must Provide Names To Compliance Chief In Fraud Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to comply with a chief compliance officer's request for the names of agency staffers familiar with his whistleblower claims as he defends allegations that he played a role in a purportedly fraudulent stock offering by a "sham" energy company.

  • December 11, 2025

    Life Insurers Exempt From Ill. Genetic Privacy Law, Court Says

    An Illinois state appeals court affirmed the dismissal of a man's suit claiming two State Farm life insurers violated Illinois' genetic information privacy law, finding a section barring the use of genetic protected health information for underwriting purposes does not apply to life insurance companies.

Expert Analysis

  • A Simple Way Courts Can Help Attys Avoid AI Hallucinations

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    As attorneys increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence for legal research, courts should consider expanding online quality control programs to flag potential hallucinations — permitting counsel to correct mistakes and sparing judges the burden of imposing sanctions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl and Connors.

  • Surveying The Changing Overdraft Fee Landscape

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    Despite recent federal moves that undermine consumer overdraft fee protections, last year’s increase in fee charges suggests banks will face continued scrutiny via litigation and state regulation, says Amanda Kurzendoerfer at Bates White.

  • The Evolving Legal Landscape For THC-Infused Beverages

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    A recent Eighth Circuit ruling, holding that states may restrict the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products without violating federal law, combined with ongoing regulatory uncertainty at both the federal and state levels, could alter the trajectory of the THC-infused beverage market, say attorneys at Pashman Stein.

  • Series

    Creating Botanical Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Pressing and framing plants that I grow has shown me that pursuing an endeavor that brings you joy can lead to surprising benefits for a legal career, including mental clarity, perspective and even a bit of humility, says Douglas Selph at Morris Manning.

  • Supreme Court's Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review

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    Though the U.S. Supreme Court’s criminal law decisions in its recently concluded term proved underwhelming by many measures, their opinions revealed trends in how the justices approach criminal cases and offered reminders for practitioners, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Opinion

    The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable

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    As underscored by the fallout from California’s February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.

  • Previewing State Efforts To Regulate Mental Health Chatbots

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    New York, Nevada and Utah have all recently enacted laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence to deliver mental health services, offering early insights into how other states may regulate this area, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • 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.

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