Illinois

Suspension recommended for lawyer who blogged about probate corruption and lawyer ‘feeding frenzy’

An Illinois patent lawyer accused of blogging with a reckless disregard for the truth is facing a proposed three-year suspension. The hearing board of the Illinois Registration and Disciplinary Commission recommended the suspension for lawyer JoAnne Marie Denison because of her blog comments about judges and lawyers. The Legal Profession…

Dec 3, 2014 5:45 AM CST

Fired reporter can’t sue over bikini footage shot by rival station, appeals court rules

A well-known television reporter in the Chicago area, who was fired after a rival station filmed her wearing a bikini near a swimming pool in a source’s back yard, doesn’t have a tort case against CBS News, the Illinois Court of Appeals has ruled. Knowing that her source was a…

Dec 2, 2014 5:35 PM CST

County clerk fined $500 for using government Wi-Fi during his re-election campaign

A longtime court clerk in suburban Chicago used personal electronic devices when he was attending to matters related to his re-election campaign. But County Clerk Jack Cunningham did some campaign work on those devices while using the Kane County’s Wi-Fi system, leading to an investigation of Cunningham by a special…

Nov 21, 2014 5:45 AM CST

Can Chicago deputize law firm to do city’s job? No, say companies sued in painkiller-marketing case

Sued by the city of Chicago earlier this year over their marketing of painkillers, a group of pharmaceutical companies is now fighting back. The seven defendant companies are seeking to disqualify Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the special assistant corporation counsel deputized by Chicago to handle the case on a…

Nov 19, 2014 2:55 PM CST

Fannie Mae pursues borrowers for foreclosure losses in ‘robo-signer redux’

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae is pursuing borrowers for its foreclosure losses in Florida, where a new law required the deficiency suits to be filed by July 1 of this year. Fannie Mae is seeking to recover the difference between the amount owed on foreclosed properties and the amount collected…

Nov 18, 2014 5:45 AM CST

Woman ticketed for going topless at Chicago event files civil rights suit against city

Ticketed in August for indecent exposure at a lakefront women’s rights event in Chicago, despite opaque body paint on her breasts, a woman has filed a civil rights suit against the city. Plaintiff Sonoko Tagami says a city ordinance banning women from going topless is unconstitutional because it violates the…

Nov 13, 2014 12:40 PM CST

Big Apple may join Chicago in banning bicyclists from texting

Like many other jurisdictions, New York state prohibits motorists from talking, texting or sending an email from a handheld cellphone while driving. But the ban doesn’t apply to bicyclists. That may soon change: On Thursday, Mark Treyger, a Democratic city councilman from Brooklyn, plans to propose a similar law in…

Nov 11, 2014 4:35 PM CST

Would-be condo developer sues residents who spoke out against project at city meeting

Updated: Residents of a Chicago suburb who spoke out at a public hearing against a proposed condominium project have been named, along with city officials, as defendants in a lawsuit filed by the would-be developer. The Cook County Circuit Court suit, which was filed by 400 West Talcott LLC, alleges…

Nov 11, 2014 10:35 AM CST

From Playgrounds to Battlegrounds: Chicago teens tell how guns affected them and their neighborhoods

For five years, teenage sisters J'Doria and Jari Taylor lived on a tree-lined street of brick homes in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood, and there they grew familiar with the sound of gunfire. The girls didn't need police statistics to tell them they were surrounded by violence, but those statistics support…

Nov 1, 2014 5:25 AM CDT

Ex-cop accused of torturing defendants will keep $4,000 monthly pension, state supreme court rules

The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a decision to give a disgraced ex-Chicago police officer his $4,000 monthly pension, Courthouse News reports. Former detective commander Jon Burge avoided being charged in the torture of more than 100 suspects because of the statute of limitations. But in 2011 he was sentenced…

Oct 31, 2014 2:15 PM CDT

Judge attacked in courtroom by defendant in aggravated battery case, sheriff’s officials say

A suburban Chicago judge was taken to a hospital for treatment Thursday after being attacked by a defendant in an aggravated battery case, immediately after a court hearing, sheriff’s officials said. The Cook County Circuit Court judge, who has not been officially identified, is expected to be OK. He may…

Oct 30, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

New defamation suit by Northwestern prof is 4th case filed over student’s claim of sexual assault

A student’s claim that a Northwestern University philosophy professor was involved in sexual misconduct in 2012 has sparked four lawsuits this year. In February, the woman filed a Title IX suit against the school in federal court, saying that it had mishandled her complaint that professor Peter Ludlow got her…

Oct 29, 2014 2:30 PM CDT

Former ‘People’s Attorney’ radio host is convicted in $10M mortgage-fraud case

A federal jury in Chicago has convicted former national talk radio show personality Warren Ballentine in a mortgage-fraud case that cost lenders nearly $10 million. Jurors deliberated less than two hours after a four-day trial, before convicting Ballentine on Friday of making false statements to lenders and bank, mail and…

Oct 24, 2014 1:50 PM CDT

Police say man arrested in one slaying led them to 6 other bodies; he is now charged with murder

A registered sex offender convicted in Texas of aggravated rape was quickly linked by police in Hammond, Indiana, to the slaying of a prostitute at a motel there Friday. But when Darren Deon Vann, 43, was taken into custody Saturday, police said he confessed not only to killing Afrikka Hardy,…

Oct 21, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Bank sues attorney and others over $570K wired to Japan in alleged Internet fraud by ‘client’

An Illinois attorney, apparently victimized by a fake client in an Internet scam involving purported settlement payments in a divorce case, has been sued over $570,000 he allegedly wired to Japan without adequate inquiry. Filed last week in federal court in Chicago, the suit by Federal Insurance Company and First…

Oct 20, 2014 2:45 PM CDT