The Illinois Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it will release seven opinions [pdf] on the morning of Thursday, April 15th, including two civil cases:

• No. 106511, Carter v. SSC Odin Operating Company, LLC, which presents the issue of whether the clauses of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act invalidating any contractual provision limiting a resident’s cause of action under the Act, or waiving jury trial, are preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act?
   
• No. 107146, Slovinski v. Elliott, which presents the following issues: (1) Must a Circuit Court make findings of fact and conclusions of law before it may set aside a jury’s award of punitive damages?  (2) What standard of review applies to an Appellate Court’s power to review a punitive damages award? and (3) May a party attack a punitive damages award based on lack of evidence, when the party declined to produce that evidence in discovery? 

For full details on these cases, click our Illinois Supreme Court Update.  These cases can be found under the links for Arbitration, Punitive Damages, and Civil Procedure, respectively.