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Illinois Supreme Court

  • April 30, 2013 | Events
    Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice to hold listening conference at NIU Law

    Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride and Justice Robert R. Thomas, McHenry County Chief Judge Michael J. Sullivan, and NIU Law Dean Jennifer L. Rosato cordially invite you to the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice Listening Conference. The conference will be held on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 from 1:30-4:00 p.m. at the Northern Illinois University College of Law (DeKalb, IL) in the Riley Courtroom (Room #170). 

    The purpose of this conference is to hear from people engaged in the judicial system about problems confronting the poor and vulnerable in our communities and to hear about possible solutions.

    Additional speakers/panelists for the conference includeJustice Mary S. Schostok (2nd Judicial District), Patrick M. Kinnally (MCLE Board/Kane County Bar Association), Michele Meyer (Mutual Ground), Mike O’Connor (Prairie State Legal Services), Professor David H. Taylor (NIU College of Law), and Michelle Rock (Director of Illinois Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Justice).

  • April 28, 2013 | People
    Former Chief Justice Moses W. Harrison II 1932-2013

    Chief Justice Moses W. Harrison II was a judge and a gentleman. Most of all, he was a friend and a champion of ordinary people. Chief Justice Harrison passed away Thursday, April 25, after a long illness. He was 81.

    "My former colleague, friend and mentor Chief Justice Harrison will be remembered as a prominent judge in Illinois legal history not because he was a great man, but because he never lost sight of the common man," said Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride "His commitment to equality and fairness went well beyond his simple, succinct, yet superlative opinions. He treated all people in all stations in life with the same kindness, dignity and respect. That fundamental decency guided his work as a judge, and his work guided Illinois law.

    "Illinois is a sadder place today because of his death, but it will forever be a better place because of his life."

    Justice Harrison was a member of the Illinois judiciary for 29 years; a member of the Illinois Supreme Court for 10 years; and Chief Justice from Jan. 1, 2000 to September 5, 2002, when he retired. His legacy is quite larger.

    A Chicago Tribune profile in 1999 described him as "a gentleman rebel, a distinctly gracious man whose convictions are firm and manners mild."

    During his tenure on the Supreme Court, he was most known and honored for demonstrating a commitment to justice and human welfare, writing—either for the majority or in dissent—to defend the poor, the weak, the young and the elderly against corporate or government policies which went against their interests.

  • April 25, 2013 | Practice News
    Quick take on Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore

    CIVIL

    Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive Condominium Association

    By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, Ottawa

    Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore, while nominally about the circumstances in which a condominium unit owner can obtain the records of the condominium association, is fundamentally about whether the section of the Chicago Municipal Code dealing with that subject is a valid exercise of the City’s home rule power. The court also decided that the prevailing plaintiff unit owner, entitled to attorneys fees pursuant to the ordinance allowing recovery of "his reasonable attorney fees," is not limited to the fees actually charged by his attorney, but could recover greater fees at the reasonable market rate established by the evidence. The circuit and appellate courts were affirmed.

    The association defendants asserted that the Chicago ordinance conflicted with the Condominium Property Act and the General Not For Profit Corporation Act. The statutes require unit owners to state a proper purpose for obtaining association financial books, limit requests to ten years of records, and allow the association 30 days in which to gather the records. The ordinance does not require statement of a purpose, does not restrict the age of the documents, and requires production with three business days. The parties and the court all agreed that the ordinance conflicted with the statutes.

  • April 18, 2013 | Practice News
    Quick takes on Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions

    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case Russell v. SNFA and the criminal cases People v. Domagala, People v. Martinez, People v. Lloyd and People v. Colyar.

    CIVIL

    Russell v. SNFA

    By Alyssa M. Reiter, Williams, Montgomery & John Ltd.

    This helicopter-crash case provoked two important long-arm-jurisdiction issues: whether due process protection under the Illinois long-arm statute is greater than federal due process protectionsand whether to apply a narrow or broad version of the stream-of-commerce theory.

    Defendant SNFA manufactured a custom tail-rotor bearing in France used in a helicopter manufactured by an Italian company. That manufacturer’s wholly-owned subsidiary located in Pennsylvania sells defendant-produced parts and sells helicopters incorporating defendant’s parts. SNFA knew that the manufacturer incorporated its products into its helicopters for sale in America but did not know the final destination.

    SNFA does not have any direct United States customers for its custom-made helicopter parts. SNFA does not have any offices, property, assets or employees in Illinois.

    Since 1997, SNFA has sold aerospace bearings to a company located in Rockford. Those bearings are a different model and type from those involved in this case. 

    A helicopter containing an SNFA part crashed in Illinois.

  • April 17, 2013 | Practice News
    E-filing approved for 4th Distric Appellate cases from Logan County

    Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride announced Wednesday the expansion of an e-project that allows attorneys, parties and appellate justices to view, access and work electronically from the official record of cases on appeal in the Fourth Judicial District.

    The Supreme Court has authorized Logan County to allow the electronic transfer of the official court record of cases on appeal filed after July 1, 2013. Logan joins Adams and Moultrie counties in the Fourth Judicial District and 14 other counties that participate in the pilot project.

    Since he became Chief Justice in 2010, Justice Kilbride has pledged to make the Illinois courts more user friendly by implementing improvements in technology. Since then, the Supreme Court has opened avenues for e-filing, creating a special E-Business Committee in June 2011; announcing in October 2012 statewide standards and new and amended Supreme Court rules that will allow all courts in Illinois to begin electronic filing in civil cases; and greatly expanding the pilot project that allows the e-filing of the trial record in the Appellate courts.

    "Logan County becomes the 17th county in Illinois that will file the trial record on appeal electronically," Chief Justice Kilbride said. "We've come a ways since announcing the first two counties to participate in the pilot project back in 2011.

    "We give a big thank you to all who have helped us and the courts make progress."

  • April 8, 2013 | Practice News
    Illinois Supreme Court announces applicable dates for new foreclosure rules

    The Illinois Supreme Court announced Monday the applicable dates for new rules aimed at mitigating abuses and uncertainty in mortgage foreclosures, and helping those who face the loss of their homes by imposing several requirements on mediation programs and lenders seeking to foreclosure.

    The rules were announced February 22, and their effective date is May 1.

    However, under amendments filed on Monday Supreme Court Rule 114, which requires a lender to attest that the lender has complied with the requirements of any applicable loss mitigation program, will apply to all judgments on or after the May 1 effective date of the rule no matter the foreclosure filing date.

    "Because the affidavit (required under Rule 114) must be filed prior to the entry of a foreclosure judgement, the effective date requires application to any case where a judgment of foreclosure has not yet been entered," state amended comments to Rule 114. "Thus, although a case may already have been filed prior to the effective date (May 1) of Rule 114, the Rule would apply if a judgment of foreclosure has not yet been entered."

    Supreme Court Rule 113, which establishes practices and procedures in mortgage foreclosure cases, was amended to make clear that it applies only to those foreclosure actions filed on or after the effective date of May 1, 2013.

  • April 4, 2013 | Practice News | ISBA News
    2 Minutes with the President: John Thies discusses e-filing with Chief Justice Kilbride

    Illinois State Bar Association President John E. Thies discusses e-filing in the courts with Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride.

  • April 4, 2013 | Practice News
    Quick take on Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions

    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil case In re Estate of Boyar and the criminal cases People v. Fitzpatrick, People v. Le Mirage, Inc. and People v. Hunter.

  • April 1, 2013 | Practice News | Events
    Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice to hold 5 listening conferences

    The first of five Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice Listening Conferences will be held at Bradley University on April 29. The conference will take place from 1:30-4 p.m. at the Westlake Building, Room 116, 814 N Tobias Lane, Peoria.

    Space is limited! To secure your seat, RSVP to IlSupCtATJ@isba.org

    Here's the full schedule of listening conferences:

    • April 29: Bradley University, Peoria, 1:30–4 p.m.
    • May 1: NIU, DeKalb, 1:30–4 p.m.
    • May 30: U. of I., Urbana, 1:30–4 p.m.
    • June 5: SIU, Edwardsville, 1:30–4 p.m.
    • June 13th: The John Marshall Law School, Chicago, 1:30–4 p.m.
       
  • March 21, 2013 | Practice News
    Quick takes on Thursday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions

    Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Friday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Ferguson v. Patton, Julie Q. v. the Department of Children and Family Services and DeHart v. DeHart and the criminal cases People v. Cruz and People v. Donelson.

    CIVIL

    DeHart v. DeHart

    By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan, Ottawa

    For more than 50 years plaintiff believed his decedent father’s representation that the decedent was plaintiff’s biological father. Plaintiff found to the contrary when he obtained a certified copy of his birth certificate to obtain a passport, which revealed who his biological father was. That man had abandoned the plaintiff when he was two, and had no further contact. Decedent married plaintiff’s mother, and for more than 60 years held plaintiff out to everyone as his biological son. 

    Plaintiff’s mother died in April 2001. In 2005, decedent, then 83, married defendant, 29 years his junior. Three hundred sixty-four days later, decedent executed a new will in which he stated “I have no children.” A prior will provided bequests for plaintiff and plaintiff’s children. 

    Legal suspense builds throughout this Opinion as the court methodically works through the six counts of the complaint which had been dismissed by the circuit court, knowing that what lies at the end will be the court’s treatment of the theories for “contract for adoption” and “equitable adoption.” The appellate court, which had reversed the circuit court’s dismissal of all counts, was affirmed in the entirety.