Seventh Circuit rules that based on unambiguous contract language, a construction contractor owed no duty to plaintiff
Seventh Circuit rules tie between alleged trade secret infringement and Illinois sales too attenuated to support specific personal jurisdiction
Analysis of new guidelines Illinois employers face for increasing minimum wages and gas taxes, as well as workplace harassment rules
Recently, Alameda County Superior Court in California conducted a jury trial on a products liability claim for asbestos exposures. The jury selection process was carried out electronically via Zoom, and the entire trial was conducted virtually. Several issues were raised about conducting the trial remotely, including judge, jurors, witness, and/or counsel speaking without muting and jurors being inattentive (e.g., handling other tasks while the trial was being conducted). Nonetheless, the trial went forward and the jury deliberated via teleconference. After the ...
As Missouri gears up for medical marijuana to possibly become available this month (with one licensed dispensary already doing a “dry run”), the nation has been slowly addressing the legality of marijuana. Just last month, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (“MORE”) Act was slated to be on the House floor, only to be delayed by urgent COVID-19 measures. This bill would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and decriminalize manufacturing, distribution, and possession of marijuana. And no one ...
Illinois appeals court holds that statute on allowing only one substitution of judge applies only to the immediate case
Illinois appeals court denies marital privilege of text massages in part due to wife’s original consent stated messages same on both phones
HeplerBroom boasts several of Illinois’ premier environmental-law lawyers, and recently those colleagues were asked to prepare an amicus brief on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group in an appeal pending in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Prairie Rivers Network v. Dynegy Midwest Generation LLC, No. 18-3644. The matter involves the non-profit Network’s assertion that Dynegy’s Vermillion, Illinois, power station was releasing contaminants into groundwater.
Specifically at issue is the Clean Water Act’s forbidding of “any addition” of ...
In Tafoya-Cruz v. Temperance Beer Company, LLC, et al., 2020 Il App (1st) 190606, the Illinois Appellate Court First District recently upheld a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the plaintiff’s slip-and-fall claim in favor of the defendant’s brewery. The decision is noteworthy because it provides a good example of defeating the argument of constructive notice, which is an essential element of many premises liability claims. The case also provides useful guidance for assessing whether a defendant’s internal policies/practices can trigger a legal duty to ...
On August 28, 2014, Patricia Watson suffered multiple facial fractures and other injuries while riding her bicycle in St. Peters, Missouri. Watson was riding on the sidewalk and flipped head-first over the handlebars when the front wheel of her bicycle went into a sump inlet that the City had installed on the sidewalk. Watson sued the City of St. Peters for negligence, alleging that the sump inlet was an unreasonably dangerous condition. To prevail on her claims, Watson had to establish: 1) a dangerous condition existed on the premises that was not reasonably safe; 2) the City knew of the ...
