Practice Areas
Midwest
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February 22, 2012
8th Circ. Mostly OKs Toss Of EEOC’s Trucker Sex Bias Suit
The Eighth Circuit on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of almost all of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit on behalf female drivers at CRST Van Expedited Inc. but vacated a $4.5 million attorneys' fee award to the trucking company.
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February 22, 2012
Union Sues Indiana Gov. Daniels Over Right-To-Work Law
Indiana union members on Wednesday sought to invalidate the state’s new right-work-law with a suit against Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, claiming the bill is unconstitutional for interfering with union security and that it treats different groups of workers differently.
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February 22, 2012
Ex-Army Major's Wife Sentenced For Role In Bribe Plot
An Illinois federal judge sentenced the wife of a former U.S. Army National Guard major to probation and home detention Wednesday for concealing cash that her husband, previously sentenced to five years in prison, received through a government contracts bribery scheme in Afghanistan.
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February 22, 2012
6th Circ. Revives GM Workers' ERISA Suit Against State Street
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a lower court's dismissal of a putative class action alleging State Street Bank & Trust Co. violated federal employment law by allowing General Motors employees to invest in the company's stock even after GM's impending bankruptcy became public knowledge.
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February 22, 2012
Perkins Coie Lures Loeb & Loeb IP Team
Perkins Coie has expanded its Chicago intellectual property practice with the addition of a three-attorney team from Loeb & Loeb, the firm announced Tuesday.
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February 22, 2012
Ariz. Law Firm Can't Be Dragged Into Ill. Court: Judge
An Illinois federal judge on Friday dismissed an Arizona-based law firm from a suit accusing it and two former Macey Bankruptcy Law PC attorneys of stealing clients from Macey's Phoenix office, ruling the court did not have personal jurisdiction over the firm.
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February 22, 2012
Sony Owns ‘King Of The Road,’ Other Songs: 6th Circ.
Sony/ATV Publishing LLC owns the renewal copyrights to the hit “King of the Road” and other songs by country singer Roger Miller, the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday, reversing a district court win for Miller's widow and striking down a damages award of almost $1 million.
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February 22, 2012
GE Trust Puts 2 Chicago Office Towers Up For Sale
A pension trust managed by GE Asset Management Inc. is looking to sell its ownership interest of more than 1.1 million square feet in two Class B office towers in downtown Chicago, the broker running the sale said Wednesday.
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February 21, 2012
Ex-Freed & Weiss Atty Says Former Partner Betrayed Firm
A former Freed & Weiss LLC attorney sued one of the firm's former name partners for breach of contract in Illinois court Tuesday, claiming Paul Weiss tried to take over the firm and fired the plaintiff after he “refused to help [Weiss] accomplish his schemes.”
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February 21, 2012
8th Circ. Revives Best Buy Suit Over DDR Mall Leases
The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a ruling that Developers Diversified Realty Corp. affiliates violated leases with Best Buy Stores LP by self-insuring part of their shopping centers' liability coverage, but said further litigation is needed to determine their exact liability.
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February 21, 2012
High Court Won't Review Ill. Ruling On Telephone Act Suits
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires no stamp of approval from state legislatures before private actions can be brought in state courts.
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February 21, 2012
Dukes Dooms Class Claims In Race Bias Suit, Walgreen Says
Ex-Walgreen Co. workers who allege the company discriminated against Latinos are not only short on facts, but their putative class claims are at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Dukes, the drugstore giant told an Illinois federal court Tuesday.
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February 21, 2012
SNR Denton Defamation Claims Revived In Secrets Row
An Illinois appeals court last week revived SNR Denton’s defamation and tortious interference counterclaims in a consulting company’s trade secrets suit that claims a former executive violated her noncompete agreement by joining the law firm and helping it poach employees for the firm's health care group.
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February 21, 2012
Edwards Wildman Adds Employment Defense Pro
The newly minted Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP said earlier this month it had ramped up its labor and employment expertise with the addition of a seasoned defense partner and former National Labor Relations Board litigator to its Chicago office.
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February 21, 2012
Justices Want US View On Supervisor Liability Under Title VII
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asked for the federal government's input on a racial discrimination suit brought by a former Ball State University employee who is urging the high court to take her case to clarify the supervisor liability rule.
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February 21, 2012
Supreme Court Remands GPS Surveillance Rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court told the Seventh and Ninth circuits on Tuesday to reconsider findings that authorities acted constitutionally when they tracked a suspected criminal's vehicle using GPS technology, considering the high court's recent decision to the contrary in a similar case.
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February 21, 2012
Aetna Fires Back At Blue Cross Over Mich. Antitrust Suit
Aetna Inc. on Friday fired back at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's attempt to dismiss an antitrust suit claiming that Blue Cross has dominated Michigan's insurance market through exclusionary hospital agreements that have driven up prices and hurt competition.
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February 21, 2012
2nd Circ. Sends Parmalat Fraud Suit Back To Ill.
The Second Circuit on Tuesday resolved a jurisdiction dispute in bankrupt Italian dairy giant Parmalat SpA's securities fraud suit against Grant Thornton LLP, remanding the case to Illinois state court and vacating a New York federal court ruling.
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February 17, 2012
Ind. Workers' $18M Award Slashed In Wage-And-Hour Case
The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday said that the $18 million back pay recovery of nonmerit employees in a long-running class action over hourly wages with the state should be cut because of their “unreasonable” delay in seeking recovery.
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February 17, 2012
$7.9B Exelon-Constellation Merger Wins Md.'s OK
Maryland regulators on Friday approved Exelon Corp.'s proposed $7.9 billion merger with Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group Inc., finding concessions the companies accepted in a deal with the governor in December will help protect consumers from their increased market power.
Expert Analysis
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A Tale Of 2 Statutes: Parsing Preference Litigation
Though similar in concept, preference litigation under Chapter 128 of the Wisconsin Statutes varies in some important ways from preference litigation under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, says Katie Mason of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren SC.
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Law School, Meet Litigation PR ...
The single most important thing law schools can do to manage their reputations in the face of litigation is apply the lessons learned from Wall Street during the recent financial crisis and strive for transparency in all communications. One need only look to Goldman Sachs’ woes or the struggles of Jon Corzine’s MF Global as examples of the catastrophic results of a campaign based on anything but complete honesty, says Spencer Baretz of Hellerman Baretz Communications.
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Case Study: In Re Brooke Corp.
In Northern Capital Inc. v. The Stockton National Bank — In re Brooke Corp. — the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas addressed a conduit defense in the context of a participated loan. While Brooke would appear to be good news for lead lenders in participated loans, two cautionary notes are appropriate, says Robert Lapowsky of Stevens & Lee.
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Has LaSalle Delayed Economic Recovery?
Bankruptcy filings — especially Chapter 11s — significantly underrepresent the amount of distress in the market, especially in the mid-market. Why is that? Here’s one theory: The U.S. Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association v. 203 North LaSalle Street Partnership has dramatically changed Chapter 11 practice, says Bobby Guy of Frost Brown Todd LLC.
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Revised Removal Statutes — Possibilities, Pitfalls: Part 2
The Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011 has brought about substantial clarification in the federal removal, jurisdiction and venue statutes. But the act still leaves substantial ambiguity in place when it comes to the scope of these statutes, say Colin Wrabley and Douglas Allen of Reed Smith LLP.
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Case Study: Messner V. Northshore
Following Dukes, the Seventh Circuit decision in Messner v. Northshore University HealthSystem approves intensive examination of merits issues at the class certification stage, and highlights the critical role that reliable expert testimony plays by mandating Daubert review at the class certification stage when expert opinions are material to the decision, say attorneys with Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.
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Business Associates Beware: Accretive's HIPAA Suit
The Minnesota attorney general’s request for Accretive Health Inc. to affirmatively disclose to patients its collection of health information could represent a fundamental shift in the relationship between business associates and patients, and may create substantial additional notification obligations and costs, say Rebecca Williams and Adam Greene of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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Confirming Joint Plans For Multidebtors — Post Tribune
In the wake of the In re Tribune Company decision — which may be followed by other bankruptcy judges and in other jurisdictions — parties in interest in complex multidebtor Chapter 11 cases should not assume that "joint" administration of affiliated debtor cases means that a single joint plan for all debtors will succeed, say Jack Butler, John Lyons and George Panagakis of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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Case Study: SEC V. Koss
Eastern District of Wisconsin Judge Rudolph Randa’s inquiry in SEC v. Koss Corp. has drawn attention because he cited New York District Judge Jed Rakoff’s widely publicized rejection of the proposed settlement in the SEC v. Citigroup case. Judge Randa’s concerns, however, were not the same as those of Judge Rakoff, and the anticlimactic result in the Koss case bears this out, says Bryan House of Foley & Lardner LLP.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle E-Waste In Ill.
While many states prohibit the disposal of e-waste and impose similar civil penalties and administrative citations for violations, the Illinois Electronic Products Recycling and Reuse Act casts one of the widest nets in including electronic devices beyond television and computer peripherals, say Theresa Duckett and Elizabeth Mack of Locke Lord LLP.