(updates article posted on Oct. 31, 2014) After its property was damaged by a hurricane, Perdido Sun Condominium Association filed an insurance claim with Citizens Property Insurance Corp., a state-created entity that provides property insurance. Perdido Sun was not satisfied with the amount of Citizens’ eventual payment on the claim and sued for breach of … Continue Reading
Section 2-1401 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure provides that courts may grant relief from a judgment on petition made within thirty days of the original entry of the judgment. The statute further provides that the old common law writs which served similar purposes, such as writs of error coram nobis and coram vobis, … Continue Reading
In the closing days of the May term, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously declined an invitation to create a tort cause of action for wrongful death in cases where the decedent committed suicide. Our detailed summary of the underlying facts and lower court decisions in Turcios v. The DeBruler Company is here. Our report on … Continue Reading
In the closing days of the recently concluded May term, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down its decision in Marks v. Vanderventer, unanimously upholding the constitutionality of a statewide surcharge on the recording of deeds. Our report on the oral argument in Marks is here. As enacted in 2005, the statute challenged in Marks required … Continue Reading
[The following post was originally published on Law360.com on February 12, 2015.] For the last two years (see here and here), we’ve taken a close statistical look at the previous year’s decisions from the Illinois Supreme Court to see what insights could be gained about the court’s voting patterns and decision-making dynamics. In 2014, the … Continue Reading
Yesterday, a unanimous Illinois Supreme Court resolved an important question for the health care industry. In an unanimous opinion by Justice Mary Jane Theis, the Court held in McVey v. M.L.K. Enterprises, LLC that a health care provider’s lien on a tort recovery cannot be reduced by a share of attorneys’ fees and costs before … Continue Reading
The Florida Supreme Court has accepted review of Granicz v. Chirillo, 147 So. 3d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014), where the Second District reversed a summary judgment in favor of a psychotherapist, finding that plaintiff’s expert testimony established that the psychotherapist owed a legal duty to prevent his outpatient’s suicide. See Chirillo v. Granicz, No. … Continue Reading
On April 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court held oral argument on Santiago v. Mauna Loa Investments, LLC, No. SC13-2194 (review granted May 22, 2014), which will require the Court to clarify the scope of a trial court’s review of an allegedly deficient complaint when determining whether to set aside a default judgment. Anamaria Santiago … Continue Reading
On April 15, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court accepted review of Omega Insurance Co. v. Johnson, No. 5D13-1701, 2014 WL 4375189 (Fla. 5th DCA Sept. 5, 2014), which found that an insured was not entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees under section 627.428, Florida Statutes and the confession of judgment doctrine based on an … Continue Reading
As we predicted, the Illinois Supreme Court has unanimously struck down the state Public Pension Reform Act. The Court’s opinion was written by Justice Lloyd Karmeier. We’ve written extensively about the background of the pension debate and the legal issues involved over the past year. For a guide to our previous posts, both here and … Continue Reading
On April 2, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court quashed the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Limones v. School District of Lee County, 111 So. 3d 901 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013), and held that the school district owed a common law duty to supervise a student athlete who collapsed during a high school soccer … Continue Reading
In the closing days of the March term, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Coleman v. East Joliet Fire Protection District, a case from the Third District. Coleman poses the question of whether public entities and their employees owe a tort duty of care to callers to 911 emergency lines. Our detailed summary … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Turcios v. The DeBruler Company. Turcios poses a simple question: can a plaintiff state a claim for wrongful death arising from a suicide? Our detailed summary of the underlying facts and lower court decisions in Turcios is here. In April 2011, plaintiff and her … Continue Reading
In the final days of its March term, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in McVey v. M.L.K. Enterprises, LLC. McVey poses a question of considerable importance for tort litigation: must attorneys’ fees and costs be deducted from a tort settlement before a lien under the Health Care Services Lien Act is paid? Our … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, April 29th at 11:00 AM Pacific/2:00 PM Eastern, Sedgwick’s Appellate Task Force will present its webinar “The California Supreme Court: What to Expect in 2015.” Highlights of the hour-long CLE presentation include: Data Analytics and the Court: We’ll preview our group’s new data analytics database on the Court’s work since 2000. We’ll discuss … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the Illinois Supreme Court disposed of one of the older cases on its advisement docket. A sharply divided Court held in Leetaru v. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois that a former employee and graduate student at the University of Illinois could maintain a suit for injunctive relief against … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, a unanimous Illinois Supreme Court held in Illinois State Treasurer v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission that the State Treasurer, when appealing a workers’ compensation award in a case where he appears as custodian of the Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund, must file an appeal bond. If this sounds like a minor procedural flaw, … Continue Reading
In Hewitt v. Hewitt in 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court decided that for public policy reasons, Illinois courts cannot decide property disputes between unmarried couples. In the closing days of the March term, the Court agreed to decide whether or not Hewitt remains good law in the context of same-sex domestic partner relationships. According to … Continue Reading
In the closing days of the March term, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to wade yet again into the contentious and politicized area of public employee wages and benefits. State of Illinois v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 poses the question of whether pay raises promised in the State’s contracts … Continue Reading
Ballot access statutes nearly always require that prospective candidates present a given number of valid voters’ signatures in order to qualify for the ballot. In Illinois, nomination for offices below the statewide level requires signatures from not less than 5% nor more than 8% of the registered voters who participated in the last preceding regular … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, April 29th at 11:00 AM Pacific/2:00 PM Eastern, Sedgwick’s Appellate Task Force will present its first webinar of 2015, “The California Supreme Court: What to Expect in 2015.” We’ll preview our group’s analytical data library on the Court’s 600+ civil decisions since 2000, and take a look at the highlights of the Court’s … Continue Reading
Two years ago, the Illinois Supreme Court recognized the doctrine of equitable adoption in the context of an estate proceeding. In In re Parentage of Scarlet Z.-D., the Court was presented with the question of whether the doctrine should be extended to a parentage proceeding. In late March, the Court handed down its unanimous decision: … Continue Reading
Section 2-2201 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that “[a]n insurance producer . . . shall exercise ordinary care and skill in renewing, procuring, binding, or placing the coverage requested by the insured or proposed insured.” (735 ILCS 5/2-2201). For many years, Illinois insurance law has distinguished between insurance “brokers” – independent actors who … Continue Reading
On February 12, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court quashed the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Sanders v. ERP Operating Limited Partnership, 96 So.3d 929 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) and held that evidence of lapses in security raised a fact issue for the jury as to whether those failures allowed assailants to more easily … Continue Reading
