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Midwest
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November 2, 2012
Marriott Sued Over Another Death Linked To Legionnaires'
Marriott International Inc. was sued Thursday by the special administrator for another man who died after allegedly inhaling water vapor contaminated with Legionella bacteria from a fountain in the lobby of the company's Chicago hotel.
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October 30, 2012
Japanese Co. To Pay $18M For Auto Parts Price-Fixing
Japanese auto parts manufacturer Tokai Rika Co. Ltd. has agreed to pay $17.7 million to settle criminal charges that it conspired to fix rates for heater control panels and obstruct justice, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.
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October 29, 2012
Barnes & Noble Hit With Suit Over PIN Pad Data Breach
An Illinois consumer targeted Barnes & Noble Inc. with a putative class action Saturday over a security breach affecting PIN pad devices in 63 of its stores, alleging the chain bookseller failed to protect customers' credit and debit card information.
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October 26, 2012
Merge Attys' Fees Not Covered By Policy, Insurer Tells 7th Circ.
Fighting full payment to Merge Healthcare Solutions Inc. of a $3.15 million attorneys' fee award in securities litigation, Carolina Casualty Insurance Co. told the Seventh Circuit Friday that most of that amount qualified as damages excluded by the policy that a lower court incorrectly found was ambiguous.
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October 26, 2012
Ex-Deloitte Partner Gets 21 Months For Insider Trading
A former partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP's Chicago office was sentenced Friday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to illegally trading on inside information about Deloitte audit clients including Best Buy Co. and Walgreen Co.
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October 24, 2012
Fox Loses Bid To Ax Chicago Judge's $28M Privacy Suit
Fox Television Stations Inc. lost its bid to ditch a $28 million invasion of privacy suit Tuesday, when an Illinois appeals court ruled Fox had failed to show that claims about the accuracy of its report on Chicago judges' working hours lacked merit.
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October 23, 2012
Michael Jordan Shoots To Revive Publicity Row In 7th Circ.
Aiming to revive Michael Jordan's right of publicity suit against Supervalu Inc., an attorney for the basketball star told the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday that the grocery store giant's magazine spread referencing Jordan alongside its own trademarks constitutes commercial speech and is not protected by the First Amendment.
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October 18, 2012
Ohio State Sens. Seek To Overhaul Employment Bias Laws
Legislation introduced Wednesday in the Ohio state Senate aimed at a comprehensive reform of the state's employment discrimination laws has drawn both praise from business groups and sharp criticism from plaintiffs attorneys.
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October 18, 2012
Purported Consultant Cops To School District Kickback Plot
An Illinois man who once posed as a consultant pled guilty Thursday to acting as a middleman in a nearly 10-year scheme to steer student bus contracts and millions in profits by funneling kickback payments to North Chicago school district employees.
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October 18, 2012
Marketing Co.'s Liability Upheld In Ex-Worker's Privacy Suit
Illinois' highest court on Thursday upheld a jury finding that marketing firm North American Corp. of Illinois is liable for the invasion of a former employee's privacy by two investigative firms she said deceptively obtained her phone records, but trimmed the worker's $1.75 million punitive damages award.
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October 17, 2012
Kelley Drye OK'd To Rep Ciba, Ex-Workers In Injury Row
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday shot down an Illinois man's bid to have Kelley Drye & Warren LLP disqualified from representing former employees of Novartis AG affiliate Ciba Vision Corp. in his suit alleging Ciba contact lenses injured his eyes.
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October 16, 2012
3 USA Retirement Employees Charged In $28M Ponzi Scheme
Two principals and a salesman for USA Retirement Management Services are facing criminal charges that they fraudulently raked in more than $28 million from roughly 120 investors in a Ponzi scheme that targeted Illinois and California retirees, prosecutors said Tuesday.
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October 11, 2012
Ohio Court Revisits Ruling On Noncompetes' Post-Merger Fate
The Ohio Supreme Court said Thursday it had been mistaken when it ruled in May that mergers could set the clock running on noncompete pacts' time limits, issuing a new decision that said a merged insurance services company could enforce noncompetes as if it had stepped into the absorbed company's shoes.
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October 11, 2012
Bus Contractor Admits To School District Kickback Scheme
The one-time owner of a student transportation company pled guilty Thursday to taking part in a nearly 10-year scheme to secure student bus contracts and millions in profits by funneling kickback payments to North Chicago school district employees.
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October 11, 2012
Peregrine Forex, Metals Clients To Sue Over Funds, Atty Says
Foreign exchange and metals customers of Peregrine Financial Group Inc. said Thursday they planned to launch an adversary proceeding in Illinois to force the firm's bankruptcy trustee to turn over their funds or reclassify them as secured interests in the estate.
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October 10, 2012
No Coverage Owed In Tax Co.'s Lancer Fraud Deal: Interstate
Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. hit American Express Tax & Business Services Inc. with a lawsuit in Illinois state court Tuesday, alleging it owes no coverage for the tax firm's settlement with the receiver of asset management company Lancer Management Group II LLC.
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October 4, 2012
Ill. Political Insider Gets 1 Year In Shakedown Conspiracy
Real estate investor and political insider William Cellini was sentenced to one year and one day in prison Thursday on charges tied to an alleged conspiracy aimed at shaking down a Hollywood film producer to get a campaign contribution for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
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October 4, 2012
Insurer Must Cover Debt Collector's $4M TCPA Deal, Suit Says
Illinois Union Insurance Co. was hit with a suit Wednesday demanding that it pay the $4 million settlement that National Action Financial Services Inc. struck in a class action accusing it of making automated debt collection phone calls.
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October 2, 2012
Final 2 Ex-Krahl Employees Plead Guilty In Billing Fraud Case
The former executive vice president and an ex-project manager assistant of now-defunct general contractor Krahl Construction became the final defendants to plead guilty in a billing fraud scheme that allegedly cost two real estate clients nearly $11 million total and also involved kickbacks.
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October 2, 2012
DirecTV Hit With Class Action Over Billing Practices
DirecTV LLC was hit with a putative class action Monday in Illinois accusing it of violating the state's consumer fraud law by using the credit card information of noncustomers without their permission.
Expert Analysis
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Noncompetition Covenants In The M&A Context
A recent decision by the Ohio Supreme Court in In Acordia of Ohio LLC v. Fishel presents another challenge to the widely understood rule of corporate law that in a merger of corporations or other business entities, the existing rights and obligations of the constituent or target companies continue in force, especially their valuable contract rights and obligations, says Frank Chaiken of Thompson Hine LLP.
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Wide-Ranging Impact Of NTSB Kalamazoo River Spill Report
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued harsh criticism in its findings on the cause of the Enbridge Line 6B spill in Marshall, Mich., which affected the Kalamazoo River. The board's recommendations have the potential for a much broader impact in the regulatory community, and have already sparked public action in Canada, says Charlene Wright of Lathrop & Gage LLP.
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For Policyholders, Communication With Carriers Is Key
Two recent Wisconsin decisions, one from the Supreme Court and the other from the Court of Appeals, District IV, highlight the need for communication between policyholders and insurers early in the claims-handling process, which can prevent future disputes, unexpected costs and conflicts of interest, say attorneys with Quarles & Brady LLP.
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Case Study: Sunbeam V. Chicago American Manufacturing
The Seventh Circuit's decision in Sunbeam Products Inc. v. Chicago American Manufacturing LLC — the first circuit court opinion directly considering and rejecting the decades-old holding of the Fourth Circuit in Lubrizol Enterprises Inc. v. Richmond Metal Finishers Inc. — has the potential to inject significant uncertainty into the Bankruptcy Code’s treatment of trademark licenses. And its reach may extend well beyond that, say attorneys with Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP.
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Ohio's On Top Of Underground Injection Control Activity
Companies that own and operate Class II disposal wells in Ohio will now have to comply with tougher standards when using deep injection wells for the underground disposal of brine and other wastes, a regulatory change spurred by findings that an injection well in Youngstown may have caused a series of earthquakes in 2011, say Jason Hutt and Michael Weller of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
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Defeating Class Actions With Prudential Mootness
The Tenth Circuit has dismissed a putative class action against Toyota Motor Corp. under the little-used doctrine of prudential mootness. Class action litigators should be aware of this decision and its implications for putative class actions across a broad range of cases, say Jim Martin and Colin Wrabley of Reed Smith LLP.
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Preempting State Law To Protect Patient Privilege
The Illinois Second District Appellate Court's decision in Department of Financial and Professional Regulation v. Walgreens is significant because it represents the first appellate court decision in the country to interpret and hold that the privilege protections afforded under the Patient Safety Act effectively preempt more restrictive state law, says Michael Callahan of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.
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IP In Bankruptcy — Insights From 6th, 7th Circs.
Recently, the Sixth Circuit and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals each issued decisions on important intellectual property issues in bankruptcy: Dominic's Restaurant of Dayton Inc. v. Mantia and Sunbeam Products Inc. v. Chicago Am. Mfg. LLC, respectively, say Hugh McCullough and Brad Duncan of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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FCA's First-To-File Rule — Mass. Weighs In
In U.S. ex rel. Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp., a Massachusetts federal court recently found that a relator’s complaint was barred by the False Claims Act’s first-to-file requirement and dismissed the relator’s complaint, intensifying a developing divide among courts about the breadth of the FCA’s first-to-file rule, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.
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Bad Faith To An Insured's Rescue ... Again
Policyholders often find that first property insurers delay eternally and offer specious reasons to deny coverage. Policyholders should use bad faith when appropriate to press for a rapid and meritorious decision by the insurer, as in Miller v. Safeco Insurance Co., decided by the Seventh Circuit, says Robert Chesler of Lowenstein Sandler PC.