Illinois

Lawyer denies telling clerk to hold off disclosing jury note while he completed $25M settlement

A Chicago plaintiffs lawyer who completed a $25 million settlement after learning of a jury note indicating the possibility of a verdict favoring one of the defendants says he never told a court clerk to hold off disclosing the note to opposing counsel. Lawyer Mark McNabola testified on Monday that…

Oct 27, 2015 7:14 AM CDT

U-Haul sues over claimed Chicago truck-towing scheme

More than half a dozen Chicago-area towing companies participated in a scheme to tow U-Haul trucks and trailers without authorization, forcing the company to pay hefty fees amounting to thousands of dollars, a lawsuit alleges. U-Haul of Illinois filed the Cook County Circuit Court suit last week against 14 defendants,…

Oct 26, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Suit follows newspaper claim that Chicago police ran ‘domestic equivalent of a CIA black site’

In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday, three individuals accuse the Chicago police department of using “unconstitutionally coercive and torturous tactics” at an “off the books police detention, interrogation, and intelligence gathering center.” Earlier coverage before the Chicago litigation was filed, by the British newspaper The Guardian, described the…

Oct 21, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Chicago Public Schools chief pleads guilty to one count of wire fraud

Updated: Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who until June 2015 served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reports. The announcement follows her indictment, released last week, for multiple counts of wire and mail fraud involving allegations that she took bribes for…

Oct 9, 2015 12:22 PM CDT

Northwestern to end accelerated JD program

Northwestern University School of Law is pulling the plug on its accelerated JD program. The decision was announced in a news release and email on Friday to the law school community from Dean Daniel B. Rodriguez, Above the Law reports. In the email, Rodriguez acknowledged that the program has not…

Oct 7, 2015 12:25 PM CDT

Defense attorney holds his own in courthouse altercation with now-former client

It isn’t just in Chicago courtrooms that Joseph Lopez can hold his own. The Illinois attorney was involved in a recent altercation in a criminal courthouse holding cell with a now-former client facing probation-violation and weapon charges, the Chicago Sun-Times (sub. req.) reports. Lopez and the Cook County sheriff’s office…

Oct 1, 2015 4:55 PM CDT

Lawyer obtained credit report of opposing party without permission, ethics complaint alleges

An ethics complaint accuses an Illinois lawyer of accessing the credit report of an opposing party without permission in a bid to obtain additional child support for his client. The complaint alleges lawyer Peter Alexander Papoutsis was able to get the credit report from creditreport.com last December using information obtained…

Sep 29, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Parents donate their portion of wrongful death settlement as a way to honor son

The parents of Kevin Kennelly Jr., a 17-year-old Chicagoan who died in 2011 after being punched in the face, have donated their portion of a $1 million wrongful death settlement to various Catholic institutions, including two schools their son attended. “It wasn’t our money. It was the price they put…

Sep 25, 2015 5:20 PM CDT

Taxi group may sue Chicago over differing regulations for ride-hailing services, federal judge rules

A lawsuit alleging that the city of Chicago treats taxi drivers differently from ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft may go forward, a federal judge has ruled. The Cook County Record reported Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has rejected the city’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought…

Sep 24, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Ex-prosecutor accused of ‘disruptive conduct’ at adult store agrees to suspension

A former prosecutor accused of yelling at employees of an adult store and screaming obscenities at police has agreed to a 30-day suspension. The Illinois Supreme Court accepted the consent suspension on Sept. 21 for one-time Cook County prosecutor, Sarah Naughton. The Legal Profession Blog has the news. The incident…

Sep 24, 2015 8:13 AM CDT

DNA hit leads to arrest in 30-year-old murder case

An Illinois man has been charged with the 1985 murder and rape of a 15-year-old Chicago-area girl after his DNA was matched to evidence recovered from the crime. Michael R. Jones, 62, is being held without bail in the DuPage County jail on two counts of murder and one count…

Sep 23, 2015 4:10 PM CDT

Deceptive practices suits say McCormick put 25% less pepper in its usual tin containers

Where’s the pepper? That’s what consumers could be asking, after purchasing McCormick & Co. tin containers that allegedly contain 25 percent less of the product than they used to. Federal lawsuits filed in several jurisdictions say McCormick violated consumer laws prohibiting deceptive practices by not reducing the size of the…

Sep 16, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Fired prosecutor didn’t lie under oath, simply failed to recall years-ago events, his lawyer says

A veteran Illinois prosecutor publicly fired Monday by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office didn’t lie under oath when testifying in a police-shooting case, his lawyer says. Joseph Lattanzio, whose testimony conflicted with what was said by the mother of a man accused of shooting a Chicago police officer, simply…

Sep 15, 2015 8:05 AM CDT

Prosecutor fired over claimed lies under oath in shooting case

Updated: Soon after a Chicago police officer was shot in 2012 on the city’s South Side, a suspect was arrested in the basement of the home he shared with his mother. Officer Del Pearson was severely injured in the shooting but survived. A revolver recovered in the basement was linked…

Sep 14, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

Proposed Chicago tax would ‘surcharge the surge charge’ imposed by Uber and Lyft for peak-time rides

It isn’t just companies like Uber and Lyft and their drivers who would benefit from premium pricing at times of high demand for on-call ride-sharing services, if a possible new Chicago tax is approved. Under a proposal by two Chicago aldermen, the city would “surcharge the surge charge” imposed by…

Sep 14, 2015 12:10 PM CDT