» CASES IN THE NEWS

Imagine a criminal trial where the defendant is charged with four separate counts of first degree murder. Then imagine that while a detective is testifying regarding some videotape evidence, defense counsel notices that the judge is ….. asleep. Sounds like the opening scenes from Law and Order. But that exact scenario played out in a Whiteside County, Il… Read More

Greg Hinz had a very interesting article[read it here] in Crains a week or so ago about precisely how fruitless it is to say no to a developer in the booming Lakeview neighborhood. Hinz wrote about how one of his Lakeview neighbors, a lawyer named James Faier, was recently approached by a heavyweight zoning lawyer. The zoning lawyer represented a developer who… Read More

The Second District Appellate Court handed down an important decision recently dealing with the failure to produce evidence. In Meeks v. Great America LLC, the plaintiff, Shatoya Meeks, was enjoying a day at Hurricane Harbor Water Park. While riding a water slide, Ms. Meeks suffered very serious injuries to her hands and wrists. She filed a lawsuit alleging th… Read More

This is a terrifying story. Richard Washart was dining at the McCormick & Schmicks restaurant in Atlantic City and ordered a beer with his meal. He took the first sip of his beer and things went to hell. Washart immediately began to experience a severe burning pain. He ran to to the bathroom where he became intensely ill. Severe pain in his mouth and throa… Read More

A recent case out of Pennsylvania serves as a cautionary tale for attorneys seeking attorney fees pursuant to statute. The case, Clemens v. New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Company was a “bad faith” case – where the plaintiff alleges the insurance carrier did not act appropriately in evaluating and/or resolving a claim. The case was tri… Read More

On Monday, a Los Angeles jury returned a stunning $417 million dollar verdict against Johnson & Johnson in another case claiming that Johnson & Johnson baby powder led to ovarian cancer. Eva Echeverria had claimed that she used the baby powder on a daily basis from the 1950s until 2016. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007. The verdict is the… Read More

Ford Motor has agreed to pay $10.125 million dollars to resolve a United State Equal Employment Opportunity Commission[EEOC] case alleging sexual and racial harassment of of female African American workers at the Chicago Assembly Plan and Chicago Stamping Plant. The EEOC also alleged that Ford had retaliated against those workers who complained about the haras… Read More

Should a cab company be held liable when one of its drivers makes sexual advances to a passenger and then assaults her? The Illinois Appellate Court dealt with that issue last month in McNerney v. Allamuradov. The opinion is worth a read, particularly for its analysis of the negligent hiring allegations. The underlying facts are pretty straightforward. Susan M… Read More