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Illinois
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May 10, 2024
Real Estate Authority: Norfolk Southern, Big 4 Earnings, HUD
Catch up on this week's key real estate developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including reflections from co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the Norfolk Southern derailment case, Q1 results from the big four brokers, and a synopsis of billions in new grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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May 10, 2024
McDonald's Workers Want Class Cert. In Sex Harassment Suit
A pair of McDonald's workers claiming that the company has allowed sexual harassment to run rampant in its stores asked an Illinois federal judge to certify classes of thousands of women and girls who've worked at Florida locations, arguing that class treatment is the best way to evaluate whether McDonald's has a pattern of tolerating harassment.
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May 10, 2024
TV Guru's New Judge Will 'Bite The Bullet' To Help FTC Case
An Illinois federal judge who inherited a 21-year-old fraud case against weight-loss guru Kevin Trudeau said Friday that he's going to "bite the bullet" and try to address some of the enforcement case's "borderline unsolvable" problems to hopefully streamline litigation and aid judgment collection efforts.
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May 10, 2024
Deal Reported In Union Production Workers' Benefits Fight
A settlement is likely coming in a proposed class action filed by Parsec Inc. employees against the National Production Workers Union in Illinois federal court, signaling an end to claims that the rail transportation company's withdrawal from a collective bargaining agreement should have triggered the payout of severance and retirement funds.
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May 10, 2024
Printing Co. To Pay $1.2M To End 401(k) Fee Suit
A class of retirement plan participants asked an Illinois federal judge to grant final approval to a nearly $1.2 million settlement they reached to end their suit accusing a printing company of allowing its $1.3 billion plan to shoulder excessive record-keeping fees.
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May 09, 2024
Northwestern Sees 3 More Ex-Footballers File Hazing Suits
Three more former Northwestern football players have slapped the university with lawsuits over hazing they allegedly experienced while playing on the university's team.
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May 09, 2024
First Zantac Trial Plaintiff Says She Can't Live Normal Life
An Illinois woman suing the former manufacturers of Zantac heartburn medication and claiming her long-term use of the drug caused her colon cancer testified Thursday that she has struggled to control her bowels since her 2015 diagnosis and has experienced multiple accidents in public places that left her humiliated and fearful to leave her home.
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May 09, 2024
FICO Blasts Discovery 'Sideshows' In VantageScore Suit
An Illinois federal judge handling antitrust claims targeting the credit-scoring market should disregard the "sideshows" customers lodged by requesting confidential settlement records and other documents that are too far removed from the case's core issues, Fair Isaac Corp. argued on Wednesday.
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May 09, 2024
Mobile Carriers Pay $10M To End 50 AGs' Deceptive Ad Claims
A coalition of nearly all the country's state attorneys general on Thursday announced $10.25 million in settlements that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have agreed to pay to end a multistate probe into the wireless carriers' allegedly misleading advertising practices.
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May 09, 2024
Bain Capital Plugs $250M Into Professional Services Firm
Technology-enabled professional services company Sikich LLC on Thursday announced that it has secured a $250 million minority growth investment from private equity giant Bain Capital in a transaction built by four firms.
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May 08, 2024
Amazon Seeks To Ax $525M Verdict Over Data Storage Patents
Amazon asked an Illinois federal judge Wednesday to throw out a jury's verdict that the e-commerce giant owes $525 million for infringing three of Kove IO's patents relating to cloud data storage technology, saying the Chicago software company didn't actually prove infringement.
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May 08, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Atty Says Asset Freeze Hurt Outcome Defense
The U.S. government's overreach in restraining millions more than it could reasonably trace back to a $1 billion fraud by Outcome Health prevented the company's former CEO from hiring Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys to defend the charges like he originally wanted, an Illinois federal judge heard Wednesday.
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May 08, 2024
AGs Blast Federal Data Privacy Law's Proposed State Override
California joined attorneys general from more than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to urge Congress to ensure that proposed federal data privacy legislation sets a "floor, not a ceiling" that would preserve more stringent protections states have enacted and allow them to add new laws to address rapid technological developments.
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May 08, 2024
Coldwell Banker's Lockboxes Draw BIPA Suit
Coldwell Banker has been sued in Illinois state court by a proposed class of employees who claim it violated Illinois' biometric privacy law by failing to get their informed consent before requiring them to scan their fingerprints to access biometric lockboxes that store keys for rental units shown to potential customers.
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May 08, 2024
Homebuyers Can't Stop NAR's $418M Settlement Hearing
An Illinois federal judge said Wednesday she won't derail a final settlement hearing for the National Association of Realtors' $418 million deal with home sellers, despite a class of homebuyers' claims that the deal interferes with their separate case, saying they will have a chance to voice concerns at the hearing.
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May 07, 2024
85 Lawmakers Join Chorus Opposing Space Force Transfers
A bipartisan group of 85 federal lawmakers on Tuesday joined all 50 state governors in opposing a proposal to allow Air National Guard units to be transferred to the U.S. Space Force without gubernatorial approval, arguing the measure would undermine "the integrity and longstanding mission of the National Guard."
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May 07, 2024
FINRA Fines Broker M1 Over Short Sale Identification Errors
Financial services provider M1 Finance has agreed to pay $400,000 to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to settle claims that it failed to correctly identify 12 million short sales, inaccurately marking those orders as "long."
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May 07, 2024
MultiPlan, Insurance Cos. Accused Of Algorithmic Collusion
A medical provider has lodged a proposed class action in Illinois federal court accusing MultiPlan and major insurance companies, including UnitedHealth, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente and Cigna, of using pricing tools to systematically underpay out-of-network providers.
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May 07, 2024
Boeing Can't Widen Ethiopian Airlines Test Case Pool
An Illinois federal judge chose six cases Tuesday for a November trial over the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash and gave Boeing the power to decide the order in which they'll face a jury, finding a middle road between sides sparring over how to select the bellwether cases.
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May 07, 2024
$55M Hospital Merger Suit Deal OK'd, UHC Objection Rejected
An Illinois federal judge has given final approval to a $55 million class settlement, with $23.5 million in legal costs and attorney fees, resolving patient antitrust claims over a NorthShore University HealthSystem merger, all while finding that United Healthcare Services had no standing to object to the deal.
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May 07, 2024
Hytera Sanctions Show Strength Of Antisuit Injunctions
The Seventh Circuit's decision upholding $1 million a day in sanctions against Hytera Communications for violating an order to drop trade secrets and copyright litigation in China highlights the difficulty for lawyers when working alongside Chinese courts, while affirming to patent attorneys how powerful antisuit injunctions can be.
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May 07, 2024
Alight Inks Deal With Activist Starboard For 2 New Directors
Alight Inc., a cloud-based human capital and technology services provider, said Tuesday it has agreed to appoint two new independent directors to its board through an agreement with activist investor Starboard Value LP.
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May 07, 2024
7th Circ. Ruling Imperils Anonymity In NCAA, Netflix Cases
Anonymous plaintiffs suing the NCAA and Netflix in separate cases in Indiana federal court must explain why they should be allowed to keep their identities hidden following a recent Seventh Circuit ruling that established "a stringent standard" relating to anonymity, a magistrate judge has ruled.
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May 06, 2024
Ancestry.com Unit Escapes Ill. Publicity Privacy Suit For Now
An Illinois federal judge has tossed a putative class action accusing a France-based subsidiary of Ancestry.com of featuring individuals in its advertising without their permission, finding the plaintiff had failed to show that the company had sufficient ties to the state, while leaving the door open for the claims to be revised.
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May 06, 2024
OnePlus, Pantech File Dueling Bids After $10M Patent Verdict
Chinese phone company OnePlus is contesting a Texas federal jury verdict that found it owes $10 million for infringing five Pantech patents, calling the sum a "grossly inflated damages award," while Pantech is asking the court to award it even more money.
Expert Analysis
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Bankruptcy Ruling Stresses Value Of Client Communication
A recent Illinois bankruptcy ruling, which found that attorneys violated their ethical obligations by failing to return their client’s phone calls, serves as a strong reminder that counsel should promptly respond to their clients and ensure they know what’s required by local rules, say Maxwell Weiss and Daniel Lowenthal at Patterson Belknap.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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AI In Performance Management: Mitigating Employer Risk
Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools in performance management, exposing organizations to significant risks, which they can manage through employee training, bias assessments, and comprehensive policies and procedures related to the new technology, say Gregory Brown and Cindy Huang at Jackson Lewis.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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11th Circ. FMLA Ruling Deepens Divide Over Causation
The Eleventh Circuit's recent ruling in Lapham v. Walgreen distinguishes the circuit as the loudest advocate for the but-for causation standard for assessing Family and Medical Leave Act retaliation claims, though employers in other jurisdictions may encounter less favorable standards and the U.S. Supreme Court will likely have to address the circuit split eventually, say attorneys at Benesch.
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Golf Course Copyright Bill Implications Go Beyond The Green
A new federal bill, the BIRDIE Act, introduced in February would extend intellectual property protections to golf course designers but could undercut existing IP case law and raise broader questions about the scope of copyright protection for works that involve living elements or nonhuman authorship, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.
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BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling
The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.
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Preempting Bottled Water Microplastics Fraud Claims
Food products like bottled water are increasingly likely to be targets of consumer fraud complaints due to alleged microplastics contamination — but depending on the labeling or advertising at issue, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act can provide a powerful preemption defense, say Tariq Naeem and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.
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Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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Disney Copyright Expiration Spurs Trademark Questions
While the recent expiration of Disney’s Steamboat Willie copyright is not likely to have an immediate impact, it could provide clarity on the extent to which trademark rights in character names and appearance affect what others can do with characters from works whose copyright has expired, says Bryan Wheelock at Harness IP.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.