Woman accused of filing $100B fake liens against prosecutors, judges in revenge for brother’s case

Barred from the federal courthouse in Chicago and forbidden to make filings on behalf of a brother who had pleaded guilty in a drug case, Cherron Phillips allegedly tried another tack. Federal prosecutors say she slapped fake liens totaling $100 billion each on property owned by then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald,…

Jun 16, 2014 7:45 PM CDT

Peoria didn’t play in fake mayoral tweet case; cops’ search of account-holder’s home sparks lawsuit

A constitutional law drama is now unfolding in Peoria, where officials didn’t play when they spotted fake posts being published on Twitter under the name of the Illinois city’s mayor earlier this year. Although Twitter account-holder Jonathan Daniel called the ridiculous, sometimes profane comments made in the @Peoriamayor tweets obvious…

Jun 12, 2014 10:25 PM CDT

7th Circuit holds do-over after secret hearing was recorded but public argument wasn’t

News last week of an unusual closed-door federal appeals court argument Wednesday from which even defense counsel was excluded was quickly followed by news of another rare occurrence the same day in the same case: The public portion of the argument wasn’t recorded. Then on Friday, another unexpected development occurred:…

Jun 9, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

Posner tosses ‘scandalous’ settlement, says judge didn’t heed danger signs

Updated: A federal appeals court has rejected an “inequitable—even scandalous” class-action settlement, removed the lead lawyer and reinstated “defrocked” lead plaintiffs who had objected to the deal. Judge Richard Posner wrote the June 2 opinion (PDF) for a panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Almost every…

Jun 3, 2014 1:44 PM CDT

Is Sherlock ‘complete’? 7th Circuit will consider when literary characters are free from copyright

Jun 1, 2014 9:50 AM CDT

Posner: Drug decriminalization will help solve prison overcrowding

Judge Richard Posner is offering his solutions to overcrowded prisons in a review of a book about American punishment. Writing in the New Republic, Posner looks at the problems outlined in the book Inferno: An Anatomy of American Punishment. The per capita imprisonment rate in the United States is seven…

May 29, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Off-site security video saves woman from felony charge, is now evidence in federal civil rights case

Updated: Afraid she was being robbed or attacked, Jianqing Klyzek began screaming as a group of men in plain clothes followed by uniformed police officers strode past the reception desk at the Copper Tan and Spa on the north side of Chicago last July and one grabbed her arm. “What…

May 20, 2014 8:04 PM CDT

Ex-manager of Chicago’s red-light traffic camera ticketing program is federally indicted

Updated: A retired former City Hall manager of a Chicago program that used cameras to issue traffic tickets to drivers who ran red lights has been federally indicted. John Bills is charged in a claimed bribery scheme involving more than $2 million. Federal prosecutors say he accepted money and other…

May 14, 2014 7:29 PM CDT

Judge Posner sarcastically applauds ‘new form of arbitration’ after Garner’s expert evaluates tiff

Legal writing expert Bryan Garner is taking a new tack in his defense of a book he co-authored with Justice Antonin Scalia. In August 2012, Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals alleged that the authors misrepresented case rationales and showed a “pattern of equivocation”…

May 14, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

First Amendment ruling halting campaign spending probe in Wisconsin is back in effect

Updated: A federal judge who halted a probe of coordinated campaign spending in Wisconsin based on First Amendment concerns acted quickly after a federal appeals court stayed his decision. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its stay on Wednesday, the day after the initial decision by U.S.…

May 8, 2014 12:09 PM CDT

Posner tosses copyright suit by ‘Banana Lady,’ notes her ‘incessant filing of frivolous lawsuits’

A federal appeals court is apparently worried that frequent lawsuits by a “Banana Lady” plaintiff are tripping up the courts. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only tossed a copyright infringement suit filed by the pro se plaintiff, Catherine Conrad, but also suggested that a Wisconsin federal…

Apr 15, 2014 11:40 AM CDT

Lawyer who pointed client in accident case to high-interest loan did nothing wrong, judge rules

Unable to work after a 2001 accident in which the Chicago commuter train she was riding hit a car at a railroad crossing, Debbie Crim eventually asked her lawyer for a loan to help with her medical bills and living expenses. Peter Vrdolyak instead referred her to Client Funding Solutions,…

Apr 1, 2014 9:50 PM CDT

Posner cites in-chambers donning and doffing experiment; dissenter is ‘startled, to say the least’

An appellate opinion (PDF) by Judge Richard Posner relates how the court’s own experiment rebuffed suggestions that poultry processing workers needed as long as 15 minutes to change into and out of required clothing for their jobs. Dissenting Judge Diane Wood said she was “startled, to say the least,” to…

Mar 25, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Released from jail in civil contempt case, Kevin Trudeau starts 10-year criminal contempt term

Infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau can only serve one contempt sentence at a time. So a federal judge who jailed Trudeau last year for civil contempt to try to force him to pay something towards a $37.6 million fine released him Wednesday. That will allow Trudeau to begin serving a 10-year…

Mar 19, 2014 8:55 PM CDT

Lawyer is suspended for faking illness to avoid oral argument

An Illinois lawyer will be suspended for 60 days for faking an illness to avoid oral arguments before the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Michael Joseph Finn was suspended by consent in an Illinois Supreme Court order issued on Friday. Finn initially told the court clerk he had…

Mar 19, 2014 3:36 PM CDT