2018 Articles

The Illinois Appellate Court rejected a hospital's affirmative defense that there was no evidence it proximately caused the death of a mentally unstable patient who had been shot to death by police at the hospital after a nurse discovered he had a gun.

There is an exception to the general rule that an individual employee may not bring suit to appeal an arbitration decision under a collective bargaining agreement if the union breaches its duty of fair representation.

The Pollution Control Board (PCB) adopted amendments to the Air Quality Standards (35 Ill. Adm. Code 243 (effective May 29, 2018)) updating the Illinois ambient air quality requirements to correspond with those in the federal National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) adopted by the United States EPA from July 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017.

The Appellate Court of Illinois held that a search and seizure was improper where an officer did not have probable cause (nor a reasonable, articulable suspicion) to detain, and it was no longer a consensual encounter because a reasonable individual would not have believed they were permitted to leave the scene.

The court reversed defendant's conviction and remanded for a new trial where the trial court improperly conducted an in camera hearing on the defendant's motion to reveal the surveillance location at which the police officer allegedly observed the defendant commit the offense.

The Department of Revenue adopted three separately proposed rulemakings to provide guidance on how to correctly determine taxable income in Illinois (86 Ill. Adm. Code 100 (effective Sept. 24, 2018)).

On June 14, 2018, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois held that the term "sidewalk" under the Snow and Ice Removal Act's immunity provision is limited to the part of the public street reserved for pedestrian use that borders private residential property.

On Sept. 28, 2018, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois held that a defendant raising a freestanding actual innocence challenge after previously entering a guilty plea must present a truly persuasive demonstration of innocence in the form of compelling evidence.

The Illinois Appellate Court reversed the lower court's holding that an insurance company does not have a duty to defend and found that the insurance company does have a duty to defend where the defendant policy holder negligently entrusted her vehicle to another (resulting in an accident).

The section of the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act that governs Insurer Conduct has been amended to reflect that insurers are required to search for and then compare past insurance information of insureds.

The Department of Revenue adopted an amendment to the Income Tax regulations (86 Ill. Adm. Code 100) (eff. Feb. 28, 2018) creating the Invest in Kids Credit and implementing Public Act 100-465.