2020 Articles

The General Assembly passed an amendment directing the Illinois Department of Insurance to appoint a task force on business interruption insurance policies.

The Department of Public Health adopted emergency amendments to the Parts titled Home Health, Home Services, and Home Nursing Agency Code Long-Term Care Assistants and Aides Training Programs Code, and Health Care Worker Background Check Code to address healthcare issues arising from the pandemic

On July 22, 2020, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court dissolved a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring the disclosure of information about persons who have tested positive for COVID-19, since the parties requesting the information had no right to it.

The Illinois Supreme Court recently considered the issue of whether a defendant’s effective tender of requested damages and attorney fees in a class-action suit is sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff’s individual claim and make the cause of action moot.

On June 18, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect a defendant whose conversation with a school official triggered a soft lockdown and a police response.

An amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115/4.1) makes it clear that tips are the property of employees and that employers are prohibited from keeping tips.

On Dec. 26, 2019, the First District Appellate Court found that a claimant in a probate case had not demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that the transfers he made to his son and daughter-in-law were loans rather than gifts.

On Sept. 21, 2020, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a trial court has discretion to dismiss a medical malpractice case without prejudice for untimely filing an affidavit required under 735 ILCS 5/2-622 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

On Aug. 31, 2020, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a trustee’s distribution of a trust’s income and principal to only one of the beneficiaries did not constitute unjust enrichment.

The Department of Employment Security adopted amendments to the Part titled Claimant’s Availability for Work, Ability to Work and Active Search for Work.

On July 22, 2020, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a circuit court’s ruling that, in the interest of public policy, an insured passenger in a car accident was entitled to uninsured-motorist coverage despite the terms of the insurance policy clearly stating the opposite.

On Sept. 30, 2019, the Fifth District Court of Appeals found the term “mechanical device” in an auto policy to be overly broad and vague. It held that the policy, which excluded coverage for incidents involving a “mechanical device,” was to be construed against the insurer.

The General Assembly amended the University of Illinois Act, the Southern Illinois University Management Act, the Chicago State University Law, the Eastern Illinois University Law, the Governors State University Law, the Illinois State University Law, the Northern Illinois University Law, the Western Illinois University Law, and the Public Community College Act, to provide that individuals who are on active military duty or receiving veterans’ education benefits must be deemed Illinois residents for tuition purposes at any public Illinois university.

The defendant argued the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed prosecutors to play a voicemail recording of the victim during his cross-examination.