Illinois Lawyer Blog

Judge Thomas Durkin ruled on a routine pleadings motion in Federal Court in Chicago this week. A defendant was moving to dismiss a complaint, asserting the injured party failed to include the necessary allegations to go forward with a complaint. Sometimes however, even dry rulings on routine pleadings motions cannot obscure the heartbreak beneath. On September… Read More

The Los Angeles Times had a disturbing article by Emily Alpert Reyes last week regarding the deadly illness popping up among workers involved in the cutting of manufactured stone for use in kitchen countertops. The illness – silicosis – is an incurable and suffocating disease that is killing workers across California – many of them quite youn… Read More

I remember the excitement that comes with getting the offer letter on that job you really wanted. You can leave that dead-end job you are in, start making some real money and start enjoying life again. Yeah, the Employment Agreement includes an Arbitration Clause. And it’s kinda weird but the Arbitration Clause says the case has to be arbitrated on the o… Read More

On June 9, 2023, the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, ruled that the Illinois Prejudgment Interest Act [“the Act”] was constitutional. The constitutionality of the Act was addressed in Cotton v. Coccaro, an appeal of $6.5 million dollar verdict against various defendants in a medical malpractice case. After the verdict the trial court d… Read More

The Illinois Appellate Court recently handed down an important opinion that will have important ramifications in nursing home litigation. In Parker v. Symphony of Evanston, Cheryl Parker as the independent administrator of the Estate of Mae Jefferson, filed suit against Symphony Evanston Healthcare(“Symphony”) alleging that Symphony had been neglig… Read More

This important ruling got kind of lost in the news cycle. A couple weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court refused to vacate a $2.2 billion dollar ovarian cancer verdict against Johnson & Johnson[“J & J”]. The verdict was originally returned by a Missouri jury in 2018 on behalf of 22 women. The original verdict was actually $4.7 billion… Read More

The Illinois Second District Appellate court recently handed down an opinion that provides a pretty concise roadmap of the proof one needs when litigating a dog bite case. In Dziewra v. Ori, Jamie Dzierwa sued several people after she was bitten by Fiona – a 105 pound Cane Corso[a Cane Corso(not Fiona) is pictured above]. The drama started on July 25, 20… Read More

According to a recent Forbes article, McDonald’s Corporation is being sued for $1 billion dollars by dozens of former Black franchise owners who claim they were pushed to “substandard locations” that resulted in decreased revenue but increased insurance costs. The 52 former owners, who filed the lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, alleged th… Read More