Category Archives: IL

$450M AIG workers comp class action settlement receives formal approval

CHICAGO—A $450 million settlement of a class action suit brought against American International Group Inc. for its alleged underreporting of workers compensation premiums has been formally approved. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gettleman approved the settlement in an order and memorandum on Feb. 28. The money is to be paid by New York-based AIG to […]

Lawsuit: Nursing home failed to protect patient from resident with `violent criminal record’

By Bridget Doyle TribLocal reporter March 8 The family of an Alzheimer’s patient who died after a physical altercation with another patient at Oak Park Healthcare is suing the west suburban nursing home for wrongful death, according to a press release issued Thursday by the family’s lawyers. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Chicago-based Levin and […]

Hal Leonard to Pay $150,000 to Class of Females Who Endured Physical and Verbal Sexual Harassment

Hal Leonard Publishing Company, a music print publishing company founded in Winona, Minn., has agreed to pay $150,000 to a class of female employees to settle a sexual harassment charge brought against the company by a former employee, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced Wednesday. An investigation by the EEOC’s Minneapolis […]

City of Park Ridge found liable in boy’s death, ordered to pay $5M

By JENNIFER JOHNSON jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com March 13, 2012 1:36PM The city of Park Ridge has been ordered to pay $5.18 million to the estate of a 15-year-old Park Ridge boy following last week’s verdict in a wrongful-death lawsuit stretching back seven years. A jury on March 8 found the city liable in the death of Maine […]

Suit filed in death of woman killed while walking along Eisenhower Expressway

By Clifford Ward Special to the Tribune 3:26 p.m. CDT, March 15, 2012 The family of a woman struck and killed by a pickup truck while walking along the Eisenhower Expressway after a DUI arrest filed a lawsuit today, saying a state trooper negligently allowed the woman to go free even though she was still […]

Railroad will pay $6 million to family of Chicago woman killed at University Park crossing

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS First Posted: March 14, 2012 – 4:02 am CHICAGO — The family of a woman killed at a University Park railroad crossing two years ago will receive $6 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.. Dance instructor Katie Ann Lunn of Chicago was killed in April 2010 when her vehicle was hit by […]

Stonewalling The Public

Dark clouds hanging over Sunshine Week cast a shadow on the First Amendment What’s worrying to journalists is, after years of sitting largely idle on the books, the Illinois eavesdropping law is starting to produce arrests. A Chicago woman was charged under the law after recording police officers whom she thought were preventing her from […]

Illinois judge: law barring recording police is unconstitutional

By Megan Geuss | Published about 19 hours ago In Cook County today Judge Stanley J. Sacks declared Illinois’ eavesdropping law—which is one of the toughest in the nation—unconstitutional in his ruling in the case of Christopher Drew, who was charged with the felony crime in 2009. The eavesdropping law prohibits citizens from making audio […]

Alaska Court Decision Could Open Door to Millions of Disability Claims, Nonprofit Says

The Alaska Supreme Court has decided a case that could open the door to disability claims from millions of wireless industry or maintenance workers who experience occupational exposures to operating antenna arrays, according to the nonprofit group EMR Policy Institute. In AT&T Alascom and Ward North America, Inc., v. John Orchitt; and The State of […]

Court OKs class action against Merrill Lynch

Court OKs class action against Merrill Lynch BY MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) — African-American brokers employed by Merrill Lynch can pursue racial discrimination claims in a class action. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, on Feb. 24 reversed a District Court ruling, permitting the class action. The plaintiffs […]

Loop Tilted Kilt Sued for Sexual Harassment by 19 Women

Published : Friday, 10 Feb 2012, 12:46 PM CST Sun-Times Media Wire Chicago – Nineteen women have filed a federal lawsuit claiming they were sexually harassed and subjected to a raunchy and “humiliating” work environment at a Loop bar. The three-count suit filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday claims the owners of Tilted Kilt […]

Paramedics’ alleged mistakes in girl’s death likely to cost taxpayers

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com February 14, 2012 1:02AM Chicago taxpayers will likely spend $1.75 million to compensate the family of a 13-year-old girl who died of bronchial asthma in 2002 after a string of alleged mistakes made by Chicago Fire Department paramedics. Arielle Starks died at Advocate Trinity Hospital after an ambulance […]

Dave Duerson’s family sues NFL

CHICAGO — The family of former Chicago Bears player has filed a wrongful death suit against the NFL over his suicide. The suit was filed Thursday in Chicago on behalf of Duerson’s children. Duerson died on Feb. 17, 2011, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. The lawsuit accuses the NFL of negligently causing the […]

Nursing home sued over walk-away resident’s death

February 22, 2012 (BELLEVILLE, Ill.) — The daughters of a 77-year-old man who was found dead last month partly submerged in a creek are suing the southwestern Illinois nursing home from which the man wandered. Terri Dancy and Linda Woods filed the negligence lawsuit Tuesday in St. Clair County against Midwest Rehabilitation and Respiratory Center […]

Study: 15% of surgeons report alcohol use disorder

Nurse.com News Monday February 20, 2012 A relatively small proportion of surgeons who responded to an anonymous survey self-reported alcohol use disorders that are consistent with alcohol abuse or dependence, according to a report. Because alcohol abuse disorders can cause clinically significant impairment and distress in other aspects of life, researchers evaluated the prevalence of […]

Chicago man charged in fatal crash on I-290

By Madhu Krishnamurthy A Chicago man who rear-ended a state police squad car early Saturday, killing a 42-year-old West suburban man warming up inside and injuring the state trooper, has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence, a DuPage County state’s attorney’s office news release said. The driver of the gray 2010 Chevrolet Impala, […]

Female Passengers Say They’re Targeted By TSA

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Women passengers complain that TSA agents are targeting them for extra screening. The Transportation Security Administration has a policy to randomly select people for extra screening, but some female passengers are complaining. They believe there is nothing “random” about the way they were picked. A Dallas woman says TSA agents repeatedly asked […]

Posted in IL  |  Tagged

Menards ends discrimination claim for $1 million

Associated Press 4:55 a.m. CST, February 7, 2012 EAU CLAIRE, Wis.— The Menards home improvement chain has agreed to settle a race discrimination case for $1 million. A Chicago arbitrator recently approved the settlement which compensates hundreds of managers and assistant managers who say they were passed over for promotions because of their race. About […]

City Settles Class Action Suit Over 2003 Iraq War Protest Arrests

Attorneys for the City of Chicago told federal judges they reached a settlement in the class action lawsuit brought by more than 800 people arrested after protesters took Lake Shore Drive in a 2003 march against the Iraq War. The Chicago Tribune reports those arrested, charged and detained will potentially receive up to $15,000 and […]

Fourth District vacates McLean County asbestos conspiracy verdicts; New hearings on whether Honeywell witness must testify

On the first day of trial in one of the cases, Honeywell lawyer Gary Zimmerman of Chicago told Circuit Judge Paul Lawrence that Charm “has unequivocally stated he will terminate his contract with Honeywell rather than be obligated to travel any significant distance to testify, including being obliged to travel to Illinois to testify.” According […]

New Illinois law grants immunity for those reporting a drug overdose

Just before Justin Tokar died of a drug overdose last January in unincorporated Will County, his panicked friend texted people questioning what to do, rather than call 911. A new law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn Monday would allow people like him to call 911 and report an overdose without fear of facing criminal charges […]

Did Hospital Settle Malpractice Case to Spite Its Chief of Surgery?

Hospital conspired to defame surgeon, says lawyer. Published: February 8, 2012 How bad was the rift between hospital officials at the University of Illinois at Chicago and its one-time chief of surgery? So bad that when the hospital heard that both it and colorectal surgeon Herand Abcarian, MD, were about to be sued for malpractice […]

Judge’s ruling clears way for workers’ comp medical records release

A Cook County judge on Friday ruled that medical tests involving Menard Correctional Center guards who received disability settlements at taxpayers’ expense must be turned over to the public. Circuit Judge Michael B. Hyman heard arguments from the three parties involved — Central Management Services, the Illinois attorney general’s office and the Belleville News-Democrat. As […]

Workers accuse Capital Grille of racial discrimination

Reuters 7:35 a.m. CST, January 31, 2012 A restaurant workers group said it will sue Darden Restaurants Inc. in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday, accusing the company’s high-end Capital Grille steakhouse chain of racial discrimination and violations of state and federal labor laws. The action will pit Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a vocal advocate […]

The Obama Memos: The Verdict on Malpractice

Posted by Ryan Lizza Today, I’m posting a memo to the President that includes Barack Obama’s handwritten decision at the end of the document. The memo—one of several I obtained for a piece in this week’s New Yorker—was sent to Obama on July 1, 2009, and came back from the Oval Office the following day. […]

Wrongful death lawsuit filed after fatal high-rise fire

Mother says her daughter’s life would have been saved if building had sprinklers, proper elevators January 19, 2012 The mother of a woman who was killed in a North Lake Shore Drive high-rise fire this month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners and managers of the building. The lawsuit by JoAnn McCoy […]