Our preview of the September term continues with Center Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC [pdf]. Center Partners involves a dispute over the purchase of a property company. Defendants – a maze of corporations, partnerships and trusts we’ll call Westfield, Rouse and Simon – negotiated the purchase of the assets of Rodamco North America. Rodamco owned … Continue Reading
Late last month, the California Supreme Court raised the stakes for defense counsel negotiating settlements in multiple defendant cases, abolishing the common-law “release rule” in Leung v. Verdugo Hills Hospital [pdf]. Leung has gotten a good bit of attention in the news and the blogs, including stories in The Wall Street Journal, Findlaw, Plaintiff Magazine [pdf] … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court posted its docket for the upcoming September term [pdf]. Today, we begin a series of previews of civil cases scheduled to be argued this term, starting with the first civil argument on the docket: Hernandez v. Bernstein. In 2005, the plaintiffs sued the defendants, his former attorneys, alleging that they negligently … Continue Reading
As of September 1, 2012, service by e-mail of pleadings and other court documents is mandatory in Florida state court civil cases.Every pleading subsequent to the initial pleading and every other document filed in any court proceeding must be served on each party in accordance with these new rules, which are summarized below. The decision implementing … Continue Reading
With the September term approaching and two new civil decisions being filed, coverage of the Illinois Supreme Court has picked up recently in the news and on the blogs. At the Madison St. Clair Record, Bethany Krajelis had this story about competing amicus briefs filed with the Court in Fennell v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., … Continue Reading
In its other opinion this morning, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down its decision in Santiago v. E. W. Bliss Co. [pdf] Santiago is a products liability case (see here for our preview of the opinion). Plaintiff Rogasciano Santiago allegedly entered the United States illegally in 1993, coming to Chicago. After working at two jobs under his true … Continue Reading
This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down its decision in Doe v. White [pdf]. Doe arises from a teacher sexual abuse case. As explained in detail here, a grade school teacher was disciplined for sexual misconduct by his then-employer, the McLean County School District. Rather than reporting the matter to state authorities, McLean purportedly took a … Continue Reading
Of course, stage names are commonplace in Hollywood. Pen names are relatively common among authors as well. But can you sue under a pen name? Well – only for a very good reason. Nearly all states have a “fictitious names” statute. In Illinois, the statute is 735 ILCS 5/2-401, and it says that unless a party name is … Continue Reading
The Illinois Supreme Court will release two civil opinions tomorrow [pdf]. While we await the opinions, here’s a preview of the first case, Doe v. White [pdf]. Doe arises from a sexual abuse case against a second-grade teacher in Urbana. The victims and their mothers sued not only the Urbana school district and various administrators, but also the … Continue Reading
As we noted here, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Stengel v. Medtronic Inc. (676 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 2012)) left plaintiffs who sue the manufacturers of pre-market approved devices precious little in the way of potential state-law claims that are not expressly preempted by Riegel or impliedly preempted by Buckman. In fact, the … Continue Reading
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(a) allows a claim for attorney’s fees and other nontaxable costs to be made by motion in most cases. Such fees may be recoverable by statute or pursuant to a contract between the parties. In some cases, attorney’s fees are recoverable as a sanction for litigation misconduct. Consequently, fee motions … Continue Reading
Coverage of the Court in the news and blogs is light with the Court on its summer hiatus between terms. Bethany Krajelis of The Madison St. Clair Record reported on Republican leaders’ petition for reconsideration of the Court’s order dismissing their constitutional challenge to the redistricting maps drawn by the Legislature. By Court rule, such challenges must … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court’s opinion in Buckman Co. v. Plaintiffs’ Legal Committee, 531 U.S. 341, 349-50 (2001), recognizes that any attempt by a plaintiff to enforce the FDCA is preempted by federal law, because Congress entrusted all such enforcement efforts to the sole discretion of the FDA. In 2010, the Ninth Circuit’s PhotoMedex opinion held that … Continue Reading
As the summer got started, and his first year on the bench nearly completed, Justice Liu produced four unanimous opinions on wide ranging issues of California law, including arbitration, preemption work product and environmental regulations. This makes a total of six opinions by Justice Liu in civil cases. The other two, Dicon Fiberoptics, Inc. (re … Continue Reading
Today we begin another new feature in our expanding coverage of the Illinois Supreme Court – a regular summary of the news and blog posts about the Court. We’ll run the feature bi-weekly while the Court is in its summer break, and more regularly when the Court resumes its regular terms. Earlier this month, the Court … Continue Reading
Last month, I joined a panel discussion on blogging during a PLI program on social media led by LexBlog‘s Kevin O’Keefe. I explained how important following blogs through an RSS Reader is to keeping up to speed in a world where information moves more quickly than ever. I recalled that comment this week while thinking about … Continue Reading
We complete our preview of the new civil review grants at the Illinois Supreme Court with DeHart v. DeHart [pdf], a will contest which raises a range of issues from how do you prove lack of testamentary capacity, to undue influence, to whether or not Illinois should adopt the theory of "equitable adoption." Like many … Continue Reading
We continue our preview of the new civil review grants from the Illinois Supreme Court with Russell v. SNFA, which raises questions of general and specific jurisdiction over a French-based manufacturer. Russell [pdf] arose from a 2003 helicopter crash in Illinois. The decedent’s estate sued, alleging that one of the helicopter’s tail rotor drive-shaft bearings had … Continue Reading
Can a public entity or employee be sued over the negligent operation of an emergency vehicle responding to a call? This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court held in Harris v. Thompson [pdf], written for a 6-Justice majority by Justice Charles E. Freeman, that the answer is “No.” Harris arose from a 2004 accident. Defendant, a publicly owned … Continue Reading
In a time of budget cuts — including cuts directed against public employees — Griggsville Perry Community Unit School District v. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board [pdf] may wind up offering important guidance to the state and local lawmakers. There, the underlying party worked as a noncertified paraprofessional for the plaintiff school district. After a long series … Continue Reading
Today we continue our previews of the new civil review grants from the May term of the Illinois Supreme Court. In Skokie Castings, Inc. v. Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund, [pdf] the Court will face questions about the operation of the Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund with respect to self-insurers. A worker was seriously injured on the job. At … Continue Reading
The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that on the morning of Thursday, June 21, it will file an opinion in one civil case [pdf]: Harris v. Thompson, No. 112525 — Does the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 625 ILCS 5/1-100, which limits the potential liability of government employees to willful and wanton … Continue Reading
Earlier today, we previewed Bjork v. O’Meara, a case about the perils of challenging a will too late. Now we preview a case about timing your claim for attorneys fees: Rodriquez v. Department of Financial and Professional Regulation [pdf]. The defendant Department sued Rodriquez for violating the Medical Practice Act. The parties agreed to stay all proceedings … Continue Reading
Today in our continuing series of previews for the Illinois Supreme Court, we bring you two cases on the perils of waiting too long: Bjork v. O’Meara and Rodriquez v. Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. In Bjork [pdf], the plaintiff died, and his will was probated. Plaintiff filed an appearance in the probate proceeding, and … Continue Reading
