8 Women Allege Rape, Harassment in Military Suit

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON March 6, 2012 (AP) Eight current and former members of the U.S. military allege in a new federal lawsuit that they were raped, assaulted or harassed during their service and suffered retaliation when they reported it to their superiors. The lawsuit, being filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in […]

Book Excerpt: A Saga Of ‘Fishy’ Surgery For Chronic Sinus Trouble

By Carey Goldberg “Crank?” was my first reaction when I saw the review copy of the new book “Scrubbed Out: Reviving the Doctor’s Role in Patient Care.” It was a slim, self-published volume with a cartoon cover and an M.D. after the author’s name. Usually, that means rosy, false promises of health panaceas. But Dr. […]

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 […]

Jimmy’s Charhouse to Pay $205,000 to Female Employees Subjected to Sexual Harassment

Jimmy’s Charhouse of Elgin, an Elgin, Ill., steakhouse, will pay $205,000 to resolve a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced Wednesday. The EEOC sued Jimmy’s Charhouse on behalf of female employees who charged that they were sexually harassed by restaurant employees, including managers. The case, EEOC […]

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 […]

State: Belleville nursing home negligent in 77-year-old resident’s death

BY KEVIN BERSETT – News-Democrat The 77-year-old man who walked away from a Belleville nursing home last month and later died in the cold had wandered off from the facility two times in the weeks and months before his final disappearance, according to an inspection report released Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health. […]

Blake Anderson Breaks Back: ‘Workaholics’ Star Injured In Party Prank

In a ridiculous example of life imitating art, Blake Anderson of ‘Workaholics‘ — the scripted Comedy Central series about a group of hard-partying twenty-somethings juggling office life with an ambitious regimen of drugs and alcohol — landed himself in the hospital with a broken back when a stunt he tried to pull went horribly wrong. […]

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 […]

Returning military members allege job discrimination — by federal government

By Steve Vogel, Published: February 19 Every year, more than a thousand National Guard, reserve and active-duty troops coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan or other military duties complain of being denied jobs or otherwise being penalized by employers because of their military obligations. The biggest offender: the federal government. It is against federal law for […]

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 […]

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Cybex Settles Barnhard Product Liability Lawsuit for $19.5 Million

Feb 8, 2012 4:25 PM, By Pamela Kufahl, editor-in-chief Cybex International Inc., Medway, MA, reached a $19.5 million settlement in the Barnhard v. Cybex International Inc. product liability lawsuit, the company announced Monday. “We are financially strong. We were able to withstand this,” Art Hicks, COO of Cybex, tells Club Industry. In December 2010, a […]

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 […]

Pepsi to Pay $3.13 Million to Resolve Hiring Discrimination

Pepsi Beverages will be paying over three million dollars to settle a charge of racial discrimination filed by the Minneapolis Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The company will also be providing job offers and training as per the agreement. The EEOC initiated an investigation into the criminal background check policy […]

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 […]

Mother: Cop, Not Ex-Boyfriend, Deserves Prison Time

The night of the crash, Chicago Heights Police Officer Chris Felicetti pulled LaFond over and arrested her for driving with a suspended license. She blames the officer for handing over her keys to a heavily intoxicated Conner, then 22, after telling the officer she was the designated driver. “That’s when I grabbed my keys and […]

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 […]