Practice News

Divorce lawyers aren't the only ones still sorting out the civil union law. Not by a long shot.

Take real estate lawyers, for example. In the latest ISBA Real Property newsletter, Dick Bales poses just a few of the questions they face. "How should parties to a civil union be described in deeds and other documents? How should the issue of homestead be addressed in these documents? Can parties to a civil union own their home as tenants by the entirety, and if so, how should they be described in the deed?"

Read his article.

There has been a surge in prosecutions against citizens for recording public officials while those officials are performing public duties. The charge is a Class 1 felony for violating the Illinois Eavesdropping statute. 

You know the drill--a motorist is pulled over for a traffic stop, records the officer, the officer  gets mad and arrests the motorist for violating the officer's right to privacy under the eavesdropping law. There is usually no underlying arrest against the motorist. Or, a homeowner records an arrest from his or her bedroom window and is arrested for a Class 1 felony for doing this.

Earlier this year a downstate auto mechanic in Robinson, Illinois was charged in a five-count information for allegedly recording these public officials while they were  conducting public business in a public place: the judge, the chief of police, a police officer, a circuit clerk, and the city attorney.

Earlier this week Judge David K. Frankland filed an opinion in this Crawford County case dismissing the charges because this part of the Eavesdropping statute violated substantive due process and the First Amendment. His opinion is a crisp, clear, and concise defense of the First Amendment and due process. Click here to read it

William A. Sunderman of Charleston, Illinois represented the defendant pro bono.

Don't be without this handy hard-copy version of Gino L. DiVito's color-coded analysis of the new Illinois Rules of Evidence, which is otherwise available only on the web. The guide compares the new Illinois rules with the FRE and provides insightful commentary. DiVito, a former appellate justice, is a member of the Special Supreme Court Committee on Illinois Evidence, the body that formulated the rules and presented them to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Published August 2011, 134 pages

Price: ISBA Member, $35; Non-member $50

Click here to purchase

According to the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, “[b]efore a person is admitted to a facility…a written contract shall be executed between a licensee and [a patient or patient’s representative].”

That's the letter of the statute. Not surprisingly, though, not every admittee signs on the dotted line. "Sometimes signatures cannot practically be obtained prior to admittance," write Laura A. Elkayam and Lawrence J. Stark in the latest ISBA Health Care Law newsletter. Or sometime patients won't sign. Or the nursing home just fails to get the signature.

So let's assume a patient who didn't sign, rang up a big tab and didn't pay. Is the nursing home left holding the bag because it failed to get the signature and thus didn't comply with the act?

Yes and no, Elkayam and Stark write. They discuss a recent first district case holding that nursing homes can seek relief under quantum meruit but "public policy, as expressed by the Act, required dismissal of breach of contract claims predicated on these unsigned documents." Read their analysis of the case and the possible impact of a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision.