Illinois

  • September 21, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Says Profit Measurement Patents Ineligible

    The Federal Circuit on Monday said claims in a trio of patents relating to management profit measures were not patent-eligible, handing a win to software company Teradata Operations Inc. and industrial supply business W. W. Grainger Inc. in a suit accusing them of infringement.

  • September 21, 2026

    Illinois Powerhouse: Clifford Law Offices

    Clifford Law Offices PC secured hundreds of millions in settlements and verdicts in the past year, including more than $100 million in confidential medical malpractice agreements and over $50 million from transportation litigation.

  • September 21, 2026

    Kraft Heinz Says Insurers Won't Cover Processed Food Suits

    Chubb units and Liberty Mutual are wrongfully refusing to cover Kraft Heinz's defense costs for several lawsuits blaming the food company's "ultra-processed foods" for consumers' diabetes or fatty liver disease diagnoses, costing the company millions of dollars, Kraft Heinz said in a Pennsylvania state court complaint.

  • September 21, 2026

    Morgan Lewis Adds Amazon Senior Counsel In Chicago

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP has grown its labor and employment offerings with the addition of a senior corporate counsel at Amazon, the firm said Monday.

  • September 18, 2026

    The 2026 Regional Powerhouses

    From major deals to high-profile litigation, the firms named to Law360's 2026 Regional Powerhouses list are leading the way across 14 states. They deliver deep regional expertise and make a lasting impact at the state and local level.

  • September 18, 2026

    Judge Nixes USDA's SNAP Deadline, Immigrant Benefit Rules

    An Oregon federal judge sided with a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia that challenged the Trump administration's restrictions to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, ruling Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's guidance barring certain noncitizen immigrants from SNAP benefits was unlawful.

  • September 18, 2026

    Split 7th Circ. Rejects NLRB's Bid To Reinstate Union

    A split Seventh Circuit panel on Friday upheld a decision denying the National Labor Relations Board's bid to reinstate a truck-seller's union, with the majority finding that the union hasn't shown irreparable harm justifying such "extraordinary relief," while a dissenting judge criticized the majority for making harm nearly impossible to show.

  • September 18, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Interest Rate Inklings, 9/11 Reflections

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney views on the Fed's first interest rate hike in three years and reflections from real estate practitioners 25 years after 9/11.

  • September 18, 2026

    7th Circ. Skeptical Of Bid To Block Ill. 'Captive Audience' Ban

    Two interest groups asking the Seventh Circuit to revive their challenge to an Illinois law banning captive audience meetings by employers faced pointed questions Friday about whether the law has injured them at all, with one judge saying their suit is based on a "series of ifs."

  • September 18, 2026

    Excavation Co. Off The Hook For Fund Payment, Judge Says

    A Chicago-area excavation company has dodged an obligation to pay about $182,000 to an International Union of Operating Engineers local's scholarship fund, with an Illinois federal judge ruling Friday that a 2023 arbitration award can't be enforced against the company.

  • September 18, 2026

    FTC's Meador Touts Right-To-Repair Progress After Deere Case

    Federal Trade Commissioner Mark Meador has hailed the commission's "progress" in right-to-repair enforcement during recent remarks before the National Farmers Union, touting the agency's July settlement in its case against John Deere.

  • September 18, 2026

    Frozen Potato Makers Must Face Bulk Of Price-Fixing Case

    The four companies controlling roughly 98% of the frozen potato product market must face consumers' accusations that they shared competitively sensitive information and coordinated other efforts to carry out an illegal price-fixing scheme, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.

  • September 18, 2026

    Conagra 'Keto' Products Hide Added Sugar, Suit Claims

    A proposed class of buyers is suing Conagra Brands Inc. in Illinois federal court, alleging that despite marketing some keto baking products as having no added sugar, the company adds allulose, a sugar, during processing.

  • September 18, 2026

    Ex-Wis. Judge Keeps License Amid ICE Conviction Appeal

    The ex-Wisconsin judge convicted of obstructing an ICE arrest will remain an attorney in good standing while she appeals, after the Supreme Court of Wisconsin declined to suspend her law license.

  • September 18, 2026

    Campbell's Can't Undo $17M Soup Rack Patent Verdict

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to nullify a $17 million patent infringement verdict against Campbell's Soup Co., rejecting its claims that a reasonable jury would have awarded only nominal damages to Gamon at most.

  • September 18, 2026

    Hartford Unit Must Defend Tax Lien Cos. In 'Eviction' Case

    An Illinois federal judge said a Hartford unit must defend tax lien purchasing companies from class actions alleging the companies profited from an unconstitutional tax sale process, rejecting the insurer's arguments that the underlying property owners did not allege they were wrongfully evicted.

  • September 17, 2026

    IBM, J&J Get Incurable Data Breach Suit Tossed For Good

    A New York federal judge dismissed a proposed class action alleging IBM and Johnson & Johnson's healthcare arm failed to safeguard sensitive health information of thousands of patients before a 2023 data breach, saying he provided plaintiffs a chance to fix their complaint, and they didn't cure its "deficiencies."

  • September 17, 2026

    Cannabis Co. Owners Ask To Toss $2M Investment Suit

    The entrepreneurs behind a Chicago dispensary urged a federal judge to end a lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors out of nearly $2 million, arguing the claims have no business being heard in Ohio, belong in arbitration and are legally insufficient.

  • September 17, 2026

    Ill. Woman Says Apple AirTags Enabled Stalking Abuse

    An Illinois woman sued Apple in Illinois federal court Wednesday, alleging the tech giant negligently released AirTags without adequate safeguards despite knowing stalkers could misuse them and saying she has been secretly tracked with an AirTag, physically attacked and forced to relocate multiple times.

  • September 17, 2026

    7th Circ. Questions Illinois' Out-Of-State Liquor Delivery Ban

    The Seventh Circuit seemed unsure Thursday whether it should back a district court decision tossing two wine collectors' constitutional claim against an Illinois law barring out-of-state retailers delivering alcohol to in-state customers, questioning the state's underlying reasoning for the ban.

  • September 17, 2026

    Art Institute Wins Appeal In Schiele Nazi-Loot Dispute

    A New York state appeals court Thursday vacated a warrant and orders requiring the Art Institute of Chicago to surrender an Egon Schiele painting to the heirs of Jewish art collector Fritz Grünbaum, finding a criminal-law procedure for returning stolen property could not be used to resolve a sharply contested ownership dispute without full civil proceedings.

  • September 17, 2026

    Ore. Judge Denies HHS' Attempt To Amend Gender Care Order

    An Oregon federal judge on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's bid to narrow an earlier order that voided a policy declaration central to the government's crackdown on gender-affirming care for minors.

  • September 17, 2026

    Insurer Off The Hook For $5M E-Cig Wholesaler Fire Coverage

    An Illinois federal judge handed a complete win to an insurer on its counterclaim that an electronic cigarette product wholesaler isn't owed nearly $5 million in coverage for a warehouse fire because it misrepresented important facts about its business when seeking coverage.

  • September 17, 2026

    7th Circ. Backs Concrete Co. In $23M Pension Exit Fight

    The Seventh Circuit turned down a multiemployer pension fund's bid to reinstate a $23 million withdrawal liability bill against a concrete company, splitting Thursday with two other appellate courts on interpreting how an employer's prior partial withdrawal applies to a future complete exit.

  • September 17, 2026

    Trader Joe's Faces Lawsuits Over Sugar Labeling

    Two proposed class actions filed in Illinois federal court Wednesday accuse Trader Joe's of misleading consumers by labeling its Sweet & Sour Gummy Worms and dark chocolate chips as containing zero sugar and no added sugar, respectively, when both products contain an ingredient classified as a sugar under federal labeling rules.

Expert Analysis

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Retailers Must Navigate State Innocent-Seller Law Patchwork

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    States' innocent-seller statutes can shield nonmanufacturing retailers from product liability claims to varying degrees, and by building the evidentiary record strategically throughout discovery, companies can improve their chances of obtaining summary judgment — but it is essential to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving policy environment, say attorneys at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

  • State AI Safety Laws Raise New Liabilities For Healthcare Cos.

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    Healthcare and life science companies using third-party artificial intelligence tools should pay particular attention to the changing state-level legal landscape, where the rollout of multiple AI safety laws is introducing both new compliance obligations and potential consumer protection liabilities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

  • AI Note-Taking Suits May Fill Gap In Privacy Law Structure

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    A recent class action against Granola joins other pending lawsuits against AI note-taking providers, highlighting the legal uncertainty surrounding these tools, but there are practical steps companies using "invisible" AI services can take to mitigate risk, including conducting inventories and reviewing access permissions, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Home Equity Products Face Expanding Regulatory Patchwork

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    Home equity investment providers, which have recently come under scrutiny from regulators and industry groups, face meaningful burdens as the U.S. Senate and a growing number of states take divergent regulatory approaches, with no uniform standard likely anytime soon, say attorneys at Bradley.

  • Series

    Ballet Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of learning and performing ballet taught me that success — whether in dance or practicing law — comes only through hours of thorough preparation, boundless energy and relentless effort, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Illinois BNPL Law Casts Wide Net Over Loan Providers

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    A new Illinois law's broad definition of buy now, pay later providers under its new dedicated licensing and supervisory regime notably imposes conduct standards similar to other consumer credit regimes and aggressively looks through a wide range of business activities and arrangements, say attorneys at Ashurst Perkins.

  • How Economic Analysis Informs Consumer Lending Disputes

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    A new wave of consumer lending class actions makes clear that economic analysis of control, pricing, repayment risk and borrower behavior will be central to litigation involving fintech platforms, earned wage access products and online lending models as regulatory enforcement recedes, say economists at The Brattle Group.

  • Insurer Spoliation Ruling Flags Continuing Duty To Preserve

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    An Illinois federal court’s recent decision to impose spoliation sanctions on the insurer in H.D. Smith v. Cincinnati Insurance provides practical guidance for navigating long-tail coverage litigation, underscoring the importance of evaluating preservation obligations in light of the full life cycle of a dispute, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Fed. Circ. In July: Meeting The Enablement Requirement

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    The Federal Circuit's decision in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca last month exemplifies when a generalized conception of an invention is insufficient to enable the full scope of asserted patent infringement claims, and may lead to more enablement challenges, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • 10 Ways To Avoid Privacy Risks Revealed In AI Notetaker Suits

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    Litigation claiming Otter.ai trained its AI-powered transcription tool on user conversations and a recent complaint alleging Granola’s notetaking bot joined video calls unbeknownst to participants show companies should assess these technologies as communications-capture tools with privacy and wiretap risks, says Jennifer Ruehr at Hintze Law.

  • Series

    Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

  • What To Know As Legal Duty To Consider AI Takes Shape

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    While the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce’s recent statement on liability for artificial intelligence harms is nonbinding for both U.K. and U.S. lawyers, it highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between the availability of a tool and a professional obligation to use it, say Jonny Frank and Michael Costa at StoneTurn.

  • NC Dental Review Change Counters Tougher National Trend

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    North Carolina’s elimination of its prior review requirement for dental management agreements departs sharply from the national trend toward expanded corporate practice of medicine oversight, but stakeholders should not view this regulatory shift as a relaxation of compliance expectations, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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