Illinois

  • March 25, 2024

    7th Circ. Affirms Co. Can't Get $3.5M Software Deduction

    A healthcare company that helps nursing homes buy equipment is not entitled to $3.5 million in tax deductions meant for domestic software production, the Seventh Circuit ruled, saying the company failed to meet the threshold for the break because it didn't actually provide software to customers.

  • March 25, 2024

    Lender Curo Group Hits Ch. 11 To Slash $1B In Debt

    Consumer lender Curo Group Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas on Monday with a plan of reorganization supported by a majority group of creditors, saying it crumbled under a $2.1 billion debt load with high interest rates.

  • March 22, 2024

    Power Line's Refuge Crossing To Stay On Hold For Now

    A Wisconsin federal judge on Friday extended an order temporarily blocking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from executing a land swap that would allow the nearly completed Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage transmission line to cross part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

  • March 22, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ill. Justices Weigh Whether Rule Violation Merits Fee Award

    The Illinois Supreme Court has questioned whether two law firms should be allowed to preserve their $1.7 million fee award for their work on a family dispute that settled after they were fired, as the justices asked whether fees are appropriate if the firms never disclosed how they would split the money.

  • March 22, 2024

    Real Estate Authority: NAR, Climate, Data Center Dollars

    Law360 Real Estate Authority covers the most important real estate deals, litigation, policies and trends. Catch up on this week's key developments by state — as well as on how the National Association of Realtors could shift broker fees, what the country's patchwork of climate action plans means for real estate, and why private equity is hot on data centers.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ill. Atty Tampered With Witness In Own Fraud Case, Feds Say

    A Chicago-area lawyer facing criminal tax fraud charges has been slapped with a superseding indictment accusing him of witness tampering by trying to script a bookkeeper's testimony, according to an announcement made Friday.

  • March 22, 2024

    Judge Signals OK For $15M DIP Loan To Petersen Health Care

    During a break in a hearing Friday afternoon in Delaware bankruptcy court, senior-living company Petersen Health Care reached an interim deal with its debtor-in-possession lender and its prepetition lenders to let it access $15 million of its proposed $45 million DIP loan.

  • March 22, 2024

    Ill. Justices Won't Stop Exec Email Defamation Suit

    A Chicago software company must face a defamation suit over two anonymous, disparaging emails sent to a competitor's executives, Illinois' top justices have ruled, finding a company's reputation can be harmed even by messages sent only to top-level leaders. 

  • March 22, 2024

    Ill. Judges End Diversity Rules That Drew Conservative Ire

    The Seventh Circuit's chief judge has resolved judicial misconduct complaints targeting allegedly discriminatory standing orders by some Illinois federal judges encouraging younger, female and minority attorneys to handle oral arguments, after two of the judges rescinded their policies in response to the complaints.

  • March 22, 2024

    NLRB Urges 7th Circ. To Toss Union's Sanctions Bid

    The National Labor Relations Board challenged an International Union of Operating Engineers local's "wholly inappropriate" sanctions bid against the agency at the Seventh Circuit, telling the appeals court that the union can't raise an argument related to the lawfulness of a punch-in policy for strike replacement workers.

  • March 21, 2024

    Burford, Sysco Get OK To Swap Bid In Price-Fixing Cases

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday agreed to allow an affiliate of legal investment firm Burford Capital to substitute for food giant Sysco in price-fixing litigation against broiler chicken producers, a ruling that comes a month after a Minnesota federal judge refused to allow the same Burford unit to substitute for Sysco in similar pork and beef price-fixing litigation.

  • March 21, 2024

    Ill. Judge Leaves Outcome Health Execs' Convictions Intact

    An Illinois federal judge said Thursday that he wouldn't disturb three former Outcome Health executives' convictions for carrying out a massive billion-dollar fraud scheme to grow their health advertising business, saying the jury heard enough evidence to support its verdict.

  • March 21, 2024

    Invoking Seuss, Judge Says Convicted Ill. Gov. Must 'Go Now!'

    An Illinois federal judge threw out former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's lawsuit Thursday challenging a legislative resolution that bars him from holding the office because of his impeachment and public corruption conviction, deeming his complaint an "Issue-Spotting Wonderland" and urging him to take Dr. Seuss' advice and "please go now!"

  • March 21, 2024

    Judge Worries Clothing PFAS Theory Could Open Floodgates

    An Illinois federal judge seemed unsure Thursday whether he will allow consumer fraud claims to proceed against a children's clothing store that sells allegedly contaminated uniforms, suggesting the plaintiffs' liability theory could open the door too wide for future suits.

  • March 21, 2024

    Chicago Restaurant Biz Sanctioned For Missing Discovery

    A Cook County judge on Wednesday sanctioned the former management group behind celebrated Chicago eatery Maple & Ash and two associated entities for discovery violations, ordering them to pay attorney fees and costs spent seeking their compliance to information requests and warning that escalating penalties could be imposed if violations continue.

  • March 21, 2024

    Nursing Home Woes, Cyberattack Sparked Petersen's Ch. 11

    Rising costs after the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattacks and a general shift away from nursing homes led senior-living company Petersen Health Care to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week with about $296 million in debt, according to a declaration filed Thursday by the company's top restructuring official.

  • March 21, 2024

    Chicago Sues Glock Over Pistols Made Into 'Machine Guns'

    The city of Chicago is suing Glock Inc. in Illinois state court, saying the gunmaker is allowing its consumers to skirt state and federal machine gun bans by selling pistols that can be easily converted to automatic fire.

  • March 21, 2024

    Kroger's 'Smoked Gouda' Is Indeed Wood-Smoked, Judge Says

    Kroger Co. has defeated a proposed class action alleging deceptive labeling on its "smoked gouda," as an Illinois federal judge granted summary judgment Wednesday in an order referencing a declaration from the source company's president that the cheese goes through a wood-smoking process.

  • March 21, 2024

    Cos. Push For Held-Up Power Line Through Wildlife Refuge

    Power companies and the U.S. government are asking a Wisconsin federal judge to reject conservation groups' bid to block a land swap allowing the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line to cross the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, with the judge putting any execution of the deal temporarily on hold in advance of a Friday hearing.

  • March 21, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Let Admitted Fraudster Ditch $1.3M Restitution

    A woman who admitted to wire fraud in connection with a three-person scheme to file hundreds of false tax returns owes $1.3 million in restitution to the government, the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday, rejecting the woman's claim that the amount was miscalculated.

  • March 21, 2024

    Robertshaw Can Seek Buyer In Ch. 11 After Deal With Invesco

    Appliance parts maker Robertshaw US Holding Corp. won a Texas bankruptcy judge's approval on Thursday to tap $56 million in Chapter 11 financing and take bids for its assets, after an agreement between the company and Invesco over the effects on an ongoing lawsuit resolved the asset manager's objections.

  • March 20, 2024

    Petersen Health Care Files Ch. 11 Amid Suits Over HUD Loans

    Assisted living facility operator Petersen Health Care Inc. and more than 100 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday in Delaware as the company faces claims it has failed to pay millions of dollars in federal housing loans.

  • March 20, 2024

    7th Circuit Nominee Fends Off Complaints About Case Backlog

    U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado has one of the largest case backlogs among federal district judges, several Republican senators said Wednesday, insisting President Joe Biden made the wrong choice in nominating her to join the Seventh Circuit.

  • March 20, 2024

    7th Circ. Closes Door On Italian Hotel's Virus Coverage Bid

    A luxury Italian hotel has no coverage for certain coronavirus-related losses, the Seventh Circuit affirmed on Wednesday, saying that the hotel's own filings contradicted its claim that it suffered a covered physical loss.

Expert Analysis

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • Young Thug Case Spotlights Debate Over Lyric Admissibility

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    A Georgia court’s recent ruling, allowing prosecutors to use some of rapper Young Thug’s lyrics in his conspiracy trial, captures the ongoing debate about whether rap lyrics are admissible, with courts often stretching the boundaries of the federal evidence rules, say Amy Buice at Smith Gambrell and Emily Ward at Continuum Legal Group.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Employers Should Review Training Repayment Tactics

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    State and federal examination of employee training repayment agreements has intensified, and with the potential for this tool to soon be severely limited, employers should review their options, including pivoting to other retention strategies, says Aaron Vance at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For

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    The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.

  • Cos.' Trade Secret Measures Must Adjust To Remote-Work Era

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    Several recent cases demonstrate that companies need to reevaluate and adjust their trade secret protection strategies in this new age of remote work, says Stephanie Riley at Womble Bond.

  • Safe-Harbor Period Change Could Hinder TCPA Compliance

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    A proposed rule change under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission would require businesses to honor do-not-call requests within 24 hours of receipt for calls and texts that are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and companies have already called it unreasonable, say Aaron Weiss and Danny Enjamio at Carlton Fields.

  • Opinion

    Courts Shouldn't Credit Allegations From Short-Seller Reports

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    Securities class actions against public companies can extend for years and lead to significant settlements, so courts should not allow such cases with allegations wholly reliant on reports by short-sellers, who have an economic interest in seeing a company's stock price decline, to proceed past the motion to dismiss stage, says Richard Zelichov at DLA Piper.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Why 7th Circ. Libel Ruling Is Crucial For The Media

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    As more defamation plaintiffs attorneys argue that allowing a published statement to remain online after additional evidence of falsity emerges equates to actual malice, the Seventh Circuit's recent National Police Association v. Gannett opinion should be lauded by the media and online publishers as a favorable decision, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Compliance Primer: Foreign Investment In US Real Property

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    The rise in foreign investment in U.S. real property, especially agricultural land, has led to increased national security concerns, meaning it’s important to understand reporting requirements under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and state-level statutes, and to monitor legislative proposals that could create more stringent reporting and review processes, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How Ill. Supreme Court Could Shape Statutory Violation Cases

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    In Fausett v. Walgreens, the Illinois Supreme Court will take up the question of whether a violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement, and any outcome could significantly change the litigation landscape in Illinois, say Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua Zhao at Freeman Mathis.

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