For decades, Illinois has been a popular legal destination for plaintiffs’ counsel looking to litigate their respective toxic tort cases and take advantage of what they believe are plaintiff-friendly exposure laws and sympathetic juries in certain venues. Many asbestos claims are filed on behalf of plaintiffs without any connection to Illinois. Most of these plaintiffs live, work, and claim to have been exposed in Indiana, Michigan, or Wisconsin; some plaintiffs come from farther away. Despite Illinois’ forum-non-conveniens stance having been settled by the Illinois Supreme Court since 2012, plaintiff firms continue to file case after case in Illinois courts. In addition to the out-of-state plaintiff filings, plaintiff firms have also brought many out-of-state defendants into Illinois asbestos litigation—“the name first ask questions later” approach, which, argues Craig Liljestrand in his March 2020 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Can Asbestos Ever Be Mitigated From Illinois Courts?” raises more than a few eyebrows from the defense bar familiar with Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137(a).
Practice News
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Effective for anything filed on March 16 through March 31, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court has approved relaxing the requirement in Paragraph 8a of the Supreme Court’s Electronic Filing Procedures and User Manual to give parties 14 days instead of the usual five days to provide the Court the 13 copies of certain e-filing documents.
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Something was amiss in the Village of Barrington Hills—or so it seemed to a recent panel of the First District Illinois Appellate Court when it decided Drury v. The Village of Barrington Hills. The facts of the case prompted the court to weigh in on the constitutionality of a repealed zoning ordinance that regulated equine activity and put a new twist on the application of the LaSalle/Sinclair factors, which have been traditionally used to evaluate legislative zoning decisions. In his March 2020 Illinois Bar Journal article, "Horsing Around," Adam Kingsley examines how the Illinois Supreme Court has rejected other standards Illinois courts have used to evaluate facial challenges to zoning ordinances and also discusses the First District Appellate Court's suggestion that when a zoning ordinance is challenged, courts may now consider the reasoning and motives that lay behind the ordinance.
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The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on March 13, 2020. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.
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March 13, 2020 |
Practice News
The U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois is accepting applications for an assistant United States attorney opening in its Asset Forfeiture Unit within the Criminal Division.
The applicant selected will investigate and litigate criminal and civil asset forfeiture matters arising under a broad range of federal offenses, including, among others, health care fraud, drug trafficking, and money laundering, with the aim of taking the profit out of crime and returning property back to crime victims. Day-to-day responsibilities may include representation of the United States in federal court in hearings and trial, working with other AUSAs and law enforcement agents, research and writing on legal issues, negotiating case resolutions, and other litigation related duties.
Applicants must possess a J.D. degree, be an active member of the bar (any jurisdiction), and have at least two years of post-J.D. legal experience. U.S. citizenship is required.
Preferred qualifications include excellent academics, significant litigation experience, criminal law experience (for the Criminal Division), strong legal writing skills, and a demonstrated commitment to public service.
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In their March 2020 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Talk Shows,” Allen Wall and Caitlyn Culbertson consider the phenomenon of the deponent who has undergone careful preparations to answer deposition questions truthfully and in the most simple and direct manner possible, but then ends up providing answers that go far beyond what is necessary. In so doing, the deponent often unwittingly promotes the interests of one litigant at the expense of another. Why do deponents often provide far more information than is needed and what can attorneys do to help deponents avoid talking too much during deposition questioning? As many attorneys have never been witnesses answering questions in a deposition, Wall and Culbertson suggest that exploring a talkative deponent’s mindset will allow them to better prepare such clients and witnesses for depositions.
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March 6, 2020 |
Practice News
By Marlo Del Percio and Victor P. Filippini, Jr.
The novel coronavirus known as the COVID-19 virus has made international headlines for the resulting quarantines and work-stoppages as much as for the actual symptoms of the virus. Should the COVID-19 virus become widespread in Illinois, certain legal barriers may hamper local governments’ ability to continue to operate safely and effectively.
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March 5, 2020 |
Practice News
Jerome Larkin, the administrator of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the entity that investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct, has announced the following promotions and new hires at the ARDC. The changes are the result of months of planning and are spurred by various forces, including the broadening of the ARDC’s mission to include education and outreach, shifts in discipline caseloads, and retirements from the ARDC’s workforce.
1 comment (Most recent March 12, 2020) -
The Illinois Supreme Court handed down one opinion on Wednesday, February 26. In Burns v. Municipal Officers Electoral Board, the court upheld the constitutionality of a provision of the Illinois Municipal Code restricting the power of home rule municipalities to impose term limits.
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March 4, 2020 |
Practice News
Several ISBA members attended an Illinois Senate Judiciary hearing on March 3 to support the Transfer on Death Instrument bill (SB-3150).
Those photographed above include ISBA members Charles Brown and Nathan Hinch, as well as Sen. Jason Barickman, who sponsored the bill.