Illinois

  • March 26, 2024

    Ill. Judge Needs More Info To OK $57M Chicken Antitrust Fee

    An Illinois federal judge overseeing a sprawling antitrust litigation against broiler chicken producers said he couldn't rule on class counsel's renewed bid for a $57 million attorney fee award thrown out by the Seventh Circuit last year without more information on one of the firm's graduated fee arrangements in a similar 2015 antitrust case, which wasn't disclosed in the first go-around.

  • March 26, 2024

    Costco Parking Lot Fall Suit Doomed By 2-Inch Rule

    An Illinois federal court has thrown out a woman's trip-and-fall suit against Costco Wholesale Corp., saying the less than 2-inch difference in surface height is not enough of a defect that Costco had a duty to repair it.

  • March 26, 2024

    Newest Illinois Federal Judge Has Financial Crimes Expertise

    As he prepares to take his new district court seat, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sunil Harjani is being lauded as a former powerhouse litigator whose extensive experience in complicated financial cases helped him prosecute major white collar crimes and contributed to his thorough approach to handling cases.

  • March 25, 2024

    In High Court Sentencing Case, It's Everyone V. Gibson Dunn

    As the U.S. Supreme Court scrutinizes severe sentencing of repeat offenders, one view is backed by the Biden administration, defense bar groups, incarceration reformers and a household name among appellate advocates. And then there's the view backed by a few lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

  • March 25, 2024

    Judge Finalizes Ban On Taking $540M IP Fight To China

    An Illinois federal judge granted Motorola's request to stop Hytera from pursuing a non-infringement case against it in China, saying Monday that she would also start contempt proceedings in the case.

  • March 25, 2024

    Ill. Atty Fights To Keep Reinstatement Dispute In DC Court

    An Illinois attorney argued Monday that her lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Justice and its immigration component's refusal to reinstate her practice before federal immigration courts belongs in D.C. federal court, where the DOJ is based, not Virginia.

  • March 25, 2024

    Prior Deal Bars Issues-Only Classes In NCAA Football MDL

    An Illinois federal judge has denied a bid by former NCAA football players for issue-only classes in multidistrict litigation over concussion injuries, saying a settlement from a prior MDL specifically prohibits issue-only classes.

  • March 25, 2024

    TreeHouse Shareholders Get New Chance To Sue Execs

    An Illinois appellate panel reversed a Cook County judge Friday and revived a derivative lawsuit demanding that TreeHouse Foods sue three individual executives the shareholders claim materially misled them by falsely stating that two newly acquired companies were being successfully integrated into the food company's operations.

  • March 25, 2024

    7th Circ. Reverses Union's $2.3M Win In Pension Dispute

    The Seventh Circuit reversed a Teamsters pension fund's $2.3 million win in a dispute over withdrawal liability against a bulk transport company, finding that a lower court properly denied the union attorney fees but erred in ruling in the union's favor on the merits of the case.

  • March 25, 2024

    Paul Weiss-Led AbbVie Inks Up To $212M Deal For Landos Bio

    AbbVie Inc., represented by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, said Monday it will pay up to $212.5 million for Cooley LLP-led Landos Biopharma Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for autoimmune diseases.

  • March 25, 2024

    3 BIPA Pros Join Blank Rome In Chicago From Taft Stettinius

    Blank Rome LLP announced the additions of three former Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP attorneys to its corporate litigation group on Monday, touting the Chicago-based trio's experience with biometric privacy laws in a state that has often led the charge on them.

  • March 25, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.

  • March 25, 2024

    Class Cert. In United Military Leave Suit Will Have To Wait

    An Illinois federal judge said he had doubts about claims that United Airlines owes pay to pilots taking military leaves, saying he'll wait for several appeals courts to decide the fate of similar suits before signing off on class certification.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Privacy And Trade Secret Law Are On A Collision Course

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    The conflict between the legal regimes of trade secret law and data privacy law is growing as companies increasingly collect and use data about their customers, making it key for organizations to find ways to comply with both laws in order to protect their intellectual property and the privacy of their customer, says Jenny Colgate at Rothwell Figg.

  • How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness

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    Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory

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    Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • ComEd Case Shows Wide Reach Of FCPA Accounting Clauses

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    The recent conviction of former Commonwealth Edison executives and associates, paired with broader civil enforcement actions, demonstrates the government’s willingness to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s accounting provisions, even in domestic cases without a predicate violation of the statute’s anti-bribery provisions, say James Koukios and Nathan Lowry at MoFo.

  • Regulating AI: Litigation Questions And State Efforts To Watch

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    In view of the developing legal and regulatory framework for artificial intelligence systems in the U.S., including state legislation and early federal litigation, there are practical takeaways as we look toward the future, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Job Transfer Review Should Hold To Title VII Text

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis should hold that a job transfer can be an adverse employment action, and the analysis should be based on the straightforward language of Title VII rather than judicial activism, say Lynne Bernabei and Alan Kabat at Bernabei & Kabat.

  • Immigration Program Pitfalls Exacerbate Physician Shortages

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    Eliminating shortcomings from U.S. immigration regulations and policies could help mitigate the national shortage of physicians by encouraging foreign physicians to work in medically underserved areas, but progress has been halted by partisan gridlock, say Alison Hitz and Dana Schwarz at Clark Hill.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: 55 Years Of The JPML

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    As the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation marks its 55th birthday, Alan Rothman at Sidley looks back at its history and finds that, while some features of MDL jurisprudence have changed over the decades, the most remarkable aspect of the panel's practice has been its consistency.

  • 9th Circ. Gap Ruling Creates Split On Forum Selection Clause

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    The Ninth Circuit recently held in Lee v. Fisher that a forum selection clause in Gap's bylaws requiring all derivative claims to be brought in Delaware state court is enforceable, but since the Seventh Circuit struck down a similar clause in Boeing's bylaws last year, Supreme Court review may be on the horizon, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Why Justices' SuperValu Ruling Wasn't Quite A 'Seismic Shift'

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    Notwithstanding an early victory lap by the relators' bar, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. SuperValu Inc. was a win for both whistleblowers and sophisticated companies, but unfortunately left “subjective belief” to be interpreted by lower courts and future litigants, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Effectual Relief Questions Linger After Section 363 Ruling

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    In the months since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in MOAC Mall Holdings, courts and practitioners must grapple with the issue of what effectual relief courts may grant upon an appeal of an unstayed sale order, says Monique Jewett-Brewster at Hopkins Carley.

  • What's Next For Enviro Justice After Affirmative Action Ban?

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision striking down affirmative action measures in university admissions raises questions about the future of the Biden administration's environmental justice initiatives — but EJ advocates may still have reasons for cautious optimism, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

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