Illinois

  • September 23, 2026

    Circuit Rift On Pension Credit May Catch Supreme Court's Eye

    The Seventh Circuit recently established how to credit employers for a previous partial withdrawal from a multiemployer pension fund when calculating liability for a complete exit, resulting in a split with the Ninth and Eleventh circuits and raising the likelihood the issue could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys said.

  • September 23, 2026

    Wash. Judge Blocks Ed. Dept. Mental Health Grant Cuts

    A Washington federal judge preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Education Department from terminating up to $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants serving 15 states, finding states provided sufficient evidence that the agency was planning to unlawfully cut those grants.

  • September 23, 2026

    Exelon Investors' $40M Deal In Bribery Case Wins Final OK

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday granted final approval to a $40 million settlement resolving Exelon shareholders' claims against company leaders connected to the Commonwealth Edison bribery scandal, over the objections of some investors who argued that most benefits were already paid, previously implemented, or too small to justify releasing valuable claims.

  • September 23, 2026

    Illinois Swipe-Fee Ban Also Blocked For Federal Credit Unions

    An Illinois federal judge expanded an order blocking the state from enforcing its landmark ban on tax-and-tip swipe fees against most banks, ruling that an injunction she granted earlier this year extends to federal credit unions in light of a new federal rule that authorizes them to collect interchange fees.

  • September 23, 2026

    D&O Insurer Needn't Cover Condo Board In Ex-Member's Suit

    An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify an Illinois condominium association, its board or a unit owner against a suit brought by the former condo board president, a federal court ruled, finding that an insured-versus-insured exclusion bars coverage.

  • September 23, 2026

    NY Judge Dismisses States' DOGE Treasury Data Access Suit

    A New York federal judge Wednesday tossed several states' lawsuit that challenged Department of Government Efficiency staff access to U.S. Department of the Treasury data, saying DOGE's dissolution rendered the states' access claims moot and that they failed to allege that any federal funding due to them was ultimately canceled.

  • September 23, 2026

    Illinois Powerhouse: Jones Day

    Launched in 1987 with 14 attorneys, Jones Day's Chicago office now has a roster of 172 and expects to keep growing as it represents major companies headquartered in Illinois, earning it a spot once again on Law360's annual list of Regional Powerhouses.

  • September 23, 2026

    State Pols Urge Justices To Rein In Kalshi's Sports Offerings

    A coalition of state lawmakers has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit decision allowing Kalshi to keep its sports offerings online in New Jersey, emphasizing that sports betting oversight must be left to the states.

  • September 23, 2026

    Steel Distributor UPG Hits Ch. 11 In Illinois Seeking Sale

    Steel distributor UPG Enterprises has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Illinois in hopes of drumming up more interest in its sale process, the debtor said Wednesday.

  • September 22, 2026

    'Yikes' Email Sinks BIPA Coverage For Donut, Transport Cos.

    An email stating "Yikes ... no" in response to outside counsel's inquiry regarding a commercial bakery's biometric data collection practices proves the business and a logistics company misrepresented material facts while seeking insurance that could have covered an underlying privacy dispute, an Illinois federal judge said Monday.

  • September 22, 2026

    9th Circ. Wipes Out $140M Class Verdict Against CenturyLink

    The Ninth Circuit overturned a $140 million class verdict against CenturyLink on Tuesday, holding that the company's reasonable interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act shielded it from liability for willful violations when it pulled consumers' credit reports during online orders for internet service.

  • September 22, 2026

    'Chicago Fire' Production Co. Doesn't Pay Properly, Suit Says

    The production company behind "Chicago Fire" has been hit with a proposed collective wage lawsuit in Illinois federal court claiming the company keeps intentionally inaccurate records and illegally fails to pay for all the work its employees perform on set.

  • September 22, 2026

    RI Judge Vacates Feds' Noncitizen Benefit Restrictions

    New York and other states applauded a Rhode Island federal judge's finding that the Trump administration flouted rulemaking requirements when it reinterpreted a 30-year-old welfare reform bill to try to subject a slew of federally funded benefit programs to immigration status verification requirements.

  • September 22, 2026

    Law Firm Says Illinois Tollway Owes Limo-Crash Defense Fees

    The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is being sued in Illinois state court by a Chicago law firm claiming the agency has failed to pay attorney fees for its defense in litigation over a catastrophic 2016 limousine crash.

  • September 22, 2026

    Insurer Owes No Coverage In Wrongful Conviction Deal

    The estate of a man wrongly convicted of an arson that killed his mother-in-law cannot receive $1.8 million for a settlement with a polygraph agency accused of coercing him into a false confession, an Illinois federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • September 22, 2026

    Illinois Powerhouse: DiCello Levitt

    Plaintiffs-side litigation firm DiCello Levitt obtained multimillion-dollar recoveries for Sudanese refugees escaping a genocide, for Illinois residents affected by an industrial fire at Chemtool Inc., and in automotive defect cases involving General Motors and Honda, earning the firm a spot among Law360's Regional Powerhouses.

  • September 22, 2026

    United Can't Ground Christian Gate Agent's Vax Bias Suit

    An Illinois federal judge refused to fully dismiss a religious bias suit from an ex-United Airlines employee who claimed she was unlawfully denied a COVID-19 vaccine mandate exemption and then fired, citing her argument that a short deadline for documenting her exemption bid was intended to thwart it.

  • September 21, 2026

    ADM Faces Class Action Over Purported Dark Web Data Leak

    A former Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. employee filed a proposed class action in Illinois federal court claiming the agricultural giant failed to protect workers' personal information during a ransomware attack this month that has been attributed to a cybercrime group.

  • September 21, 2026

    Vape Co. Gets $304K Judgment Over Unpaid Order

    The Illinois-based owner of the Urb vape brand has secured a $300,000 judgment in Illinois federal court against a California company that ordered tens of thousands of empty vape devices but never paid for them, but it won't be getting attorney fees.

  • September 21, 2026

    Ill. Panel Says News Report Bars Law Firm's FCA Suit

    An Illinois appellate court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Forde & O'Meara LLP accusing a company of secretly assigning its interests in unpaid state bills to unapproved entities to duck taxes, agreeing that a prior public disclosure of the alleged scheme in a news report bars the firm's claims.

  • September 21, 2026

    Ill. Court Won't Undo $41M Stroke Malpractice Verdict

    An Illinois appeals panel won't upend a $41 million verdict against OSF Healthcare System in a suit over a man's debilitating stroke, saying Illinois law tolls the statute of limitations based on the plaintiff's disability, regardless of if his wife or attorneys could have filed suit.

  • September 21, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Says Profit Measurement Patents Ineligible

    The Federal Circuit on Monday said claims in a trio of patents relating to management profit measures were not patent-eligible, handing a win to software company Teradata Operations Inc. and industrial supply business W. W. Grainger Inc. in a suit accusing them of infringement.

  • September 21, 2026

    Illinois Powerhouse: Clifford Law Offices

    Clifford Law Offices PC secured hundreds of millions in settlements and verdicts in the past year, including more than $100 million in confidential medical malpractice agreements and over $50 million from transportation litigation.

  • September 21, 2026

    Kraft Heinz Says Insurers Won't Cover Processed Food Suits

    Chubb units and Liberty Mutual are wrongfully refusing to cover Kraft Heinz's defense costs for several lawsuits blaming the food company's "ultra-processed foods" for consumers' diabetes or fatty liver disease diagnoses, costing the company millions of dollars, Kraft Heinz said in a Pennsylvania state court complaint.

  • September 21, 2026

    Morgan Lewis Adds Amazon Senior Counsel In Chicago

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP has grown its labor and employment offerings with the addition of a senior corporate counsel at Amazon, the firm said Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • The Deep Split Over Mandatory Detention, And What's Next

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    The government’s mandatory detention policy for noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection has led to a spate of decisions this year, with nine circuits rejecting the government's reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act against two that have accepted it, making the issue ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, says attorney Kemal Hepsen.

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Retailers Must Navigate State Innocent-Seller Law Patchwork

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    States' innocent-seller statutes can shield nonmanufacturing retailers from product liability claims to varying degrees, and by building the evidentiary record strategically throughout discovery, companies can improve their chances of obtaining summary judgment — but it is essential to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving policy environment, say attorneys at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

  • State AI Safety Laws Raise New Liabilities For Healthcare Cos.

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    Healthcare and life science companies using third-party artificial intelligence tools should pay particular attention to the changing state-level legal landscape, where the rollout of multiple AI safety laws is introducing both new compliance obligations and potential consumer protection liabilities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Juggling And Unicycling Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Because I juggle (sometimes with fire) and ride the unicycle, friends and family used to joke that I should join the circus, but I pursued the practice of law instead and learned that my hobbies benefit my profession in several important ways, says Morgan Eddy at Smith Currie.

  • AI Note-Taking Suits May Fill Gap In Privacy Law Structure

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    A recent class action against Granola joins other pending lawsuits against AI note-taking providers, highlighting the legal uncertainty surrounding these tools, but there are practical steps companies using "invisible" AI services can take to mitigate risk, including conducting inventories and reviewing access permissions, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Home Equity Products Face Expanding Regulatory Patchwork

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    Home equity investment providers, which have recently come under scrutiny from regulators and industry groups, face meaningful burdens as the U.S. Senate and a growing number of states take divergent regulatory approaches, with no uniform standard likely anytime soon, say attorneys at Bradley.

  • Series

    Ballet Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of learning and performing ballet taught me that success — whether in dance or practicing law — comes only through hours of thorough preparation, boundless energy and relentless effort, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Illinois BNPL Law Casts Wide Net Over Loan Providers

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    A new Illinois law's broad definition of buy now, pay later providers under its new dedicated licensing and supervisory regime notably imposes conduct standards similar to other consumer credit regimes and aggressively looks through a wide range of business activities and arrangements, say attorneys at Ashurst Perkins.

  • How Economic Analysis Informs Consumer Lending Disputes

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    A new wave of consumer lending class actions makes clear that economic analysis of control, pricing, repayment risk and borrower behavior will be central to litigation involving fintech platforms, earned wage access products and online lending models as regulatory enforcement recedes, say economists at The Brattle Group.

  • Insurer Spoliation Ruling Flags Continuing Duty To Preserve

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    An Illinois federal court’s recent decision to impose spoliation sanctions on the insurer in H.D. Smith v. Cincinnati Insurance provides practical guidance for navigating long-tail coverage litigation, underscoring the importance of evaluating preservation obligations in light of the full life cycle of a dispute, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Fed. Circ. In July: Meeting The Enablement Requirement

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    The Federal Circuit's decision in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca last month exemplifies when a generalized conception of an invention is insufficient to enable the full scope of asserted patent infringement claims, and may lead to more enablement challenges, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • 10 Ways To Avoid Privacy Risks Revealed In AI Notetaker Suits

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    Litigation claiming Otter.ai trained its AI-powered transcription tool on user conversations and a recent complaint alleging Granola’s notetaking bot joined video calls unbeknownst to participants show companies should assess these technologies as communications-capture tools with privacy and wiretap risks, says Jennifer Ruehr at Hintze Law.

  • Series

    Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

  • What To Know As Legal Duty To Consider AI Takes Shape

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    While the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce’s recent statement on liability for artificial intelligence harms is nonbinding for both U.K. and U.S. lawyers, it highlights the importance of being able to distinguish between the availability of a tool and a professional obligation to use it, say Jonny Frank and Michael Costa at StoneTurn.

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