7th Circuit Court

Jones Day Sues Over Website Posting Attorney Home Purchase Info

Jones Day has sued a website that highlights lawyers—even posting their photos and linking to firm biographies—and other professionals who buy and sell their homes in Chicago, Las Vegas, St. Louis and South Florida. After two Jones Day associates were featured on the BlockShopper site, the Cleveland-based BigLaw firm sued,…

Sep 11, 2008 5:08 PM CDT

Convicted Media Mogul Loses Appeals Court Rehearing Request

Media mogul Conrad Black, sentenced to 6½ years in prison for embezzling money from Hollinger International, has lost his request for a rehearing before a federal appeals court. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Black’s request last week, Bloomberg reports. Black was convicted last year of…

Aug 21, 2008 5:11 PM CDT

Judge Tosses False Claims Suit Because of Leaked Discovery Documents

A federal judge has dismissed a false claims suit after a confidential discovery document ended up on Wikileaks. U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Jorge Sanchez, was apparently to blame for the Wikileaks document and dismissed the suit with prejudice as a sanction, the Chicago Daily Law…

Aug 20, 2008 3:51 PM CDT

Courts Ruling for Employers Who Spy on Suspected Malingering Employees

Employers are increasingly hiring private investigators to spy on employees believed to be abusing the Family Medical Leave Act, and courts are upholding their right to do so. The investigators have caught employees supposed to be taking sick leave engaged in activities such as bowling, yard work and even working…

Aug 19, 2008 1:59 PM CDT

Acquitting Time

After Apprendi, new challenges to sentencing enhancements emerge

Aug 1, 2008 1:05 PM CDT

Former Ind. Judge Gets 15 Months in Court Fraud Case

A former municipal judge in Schererville, Ind., who funneled defendants’ fees to a driving school she secretly owned and demanded kickbacks from a counseling firm that worked with her court, among other alleged misconduct, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Deborah Riga could have gotten two years,…

Jul 11, 2008 3:24 PM CDT

Housing Law Doesn’t Protect Right to Mezuzah, Appeals Court Rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Fair Housing Act does not protect the right of condominium owners to display mezuzot on their doorframes. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the federal law requires accommodation for the handicapped but not for religion, the New York Sun…

Jul 11, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

Law re Sex Materials Sellers Voided by Federal Judge in Indiana

Saying that it could apply to a drugstore selling a romance novel or a widow making a few bucks by selling her husband’s Playboy magazines at a garage sale, a federal judge in Indiana has voided a new state law requiring retailers to pay a registration fee in order to…

Jul 1, 2008 10:38 PM CDT

Blogger and Posner Differ Over Grammar Question, Agree on Pun

Blogger Howard Bashman and Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are debating an issue, but it doesn’t involve a weighty legal question. Instead, it concerns a grammar question. Now a linguistics professor is weighing in on the dispute, and he’s supporting Bashman’s view, Bashman…

Jun 30, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

Sex Offender Computer Search Law is Unconstitutional, Judge Says

A federal judge yesterday struck down a major portion of a revised Indiana sex offender registry law, saying that the state went too far in requiring that convicted sex offenders, after they serve their sentences and any parole or probation, agree to have their computers and Internet use monitored. Siding…

Jun 25, 2008 5:40 PM CDT

Judge Certifies Non-Wisconsin Law Grads, Axes Bar Admission Class Action

Not law graduates for nothing, a small group of juris doctor degree holders have successfully sought federal class action status over Wisconsin’s policy of allowing only graduates of in-state law schools to practice without passing the bar exam. But, at least for now, they have lost their U.S. commerce-clause case…

Jun 18, 2008 6:22 PM CDT

Suit Filed over ‘Gated Community’ Created by Police Barricades

The owners of an apartment complex in suburban Chicago have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against local government officials. At issue is the “gated community” created by concrete police barricades installed at 12 of the 13 entrance points to the complex earlier this month. Police for Rolling Meadows, Ill.,…

Jun 17, 2008 6:30 PM CDT

Assistant’s Goof Results in Late Brief, Costs Lawyer $5,000

Updated: A federal appeals court has fined a lawyer $5,000 for filing a brief too late. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted litigant Clarence Gross several extensions to file the brief, first due in January 2007, while the case was in mediation, the Wisconsin Law Journal…

Jun 12, 2008 4:10 PM CDT

Jurors Discounted Star Witness, But Convicted Rezko on Other Evidence

Attorney Stuart Levine was the star witness in the federal political corruption trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko. But jurors reportedly discounted the testimony of a man portrayed by defense lawyers as a con artist and by himself as someone who for a time lived life in the fast lane. However,…

Jun 5, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

ADA Protection for Relatives of Disabled Tested in Two Cases

Two cases in which companies fired employees whose relatives were incurring large health care costs could pave the way for more lawsuits under a little-known provision of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The provision protects relatives and caregivers of disabled people from job discrimination, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub.…

Jun 4, 2008 12:43 PM CDT