Terrill v. Oakbrook Hilton Suites, 2-05-0961 (2nd Dist Ill. 2006)
Summary: Consumer fraud class action case. Appellate court affirms ruling that hotel's charge was fee, not a tax.
In re Marriage of Abma, 3-05-0455 (3d Dist. Ill. 2006)
Summary: Court affirms a post-decree pension award to wife. This case involved a novel question of whether the Illinois Pension Code voided the order originally awarding the wife part of the husband’s pension.
St. Charles Mfg. Lt. Partnership v. Whirlpool Corp., 398 F.3d 593, 35 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,039 (7th Cr. 2005)
Summary: Contract issues in the context of an environmental cleanup.
Gschwind v. Witkowski, 2-13-1202 (2d Dist. Ill. 2003)
Summary: Court affirms custody award to father.
In re Marriage of VT, 335 Ill. App. 3d 297 (2002)
Summary: Trial court abused its discretion in determining post-decree child support petition brought by custodial parent.
Tobin for Governor v. Illinois State Board of Elections, 268 F.3d 512 (7th Cir. 2001)
Summary: Election law and constitutional case brought by slate of third-party candidates seeking to be included on a state-wide election ballot. Constitutional standing, immunity, and mootness questions.
M.K. v. Alpha Therapeutic, D030468 (Cal. App. 4th Dist 1999)
Summary: This was a unique case in which the appellate court approved of plaintiff proceeding on a Summers v. Tice theory of alternative liability. Plaintiff was a hemophiliac who was infected with HIV when he received blood Factor VIII during surgery. Plaintiff knew he was infected from Factor VIII processed by one of two defendants, but he could not identify the particular lot of product. The appellate court ruled that if plaintiff could show at trial that both processors supplied infected Factor VIII, then it would be proper to shift the burden to them to show that their product did not cause plaintiff's HIV.
Gordon v. United Van Lines, 103 F. 3d 282 (7th Cir. 1997)
Summary: The Carmack Amendment generally preempts state common law causes of action by interstate shippers of goods against transporters. But in this case, the Seventh Circuit reversed the district court and allowed the shipper, a consumer who moved from Florida to Illinois, to maintain an action for infliction of emotional distress when the transporter was responsible for the destruction of the consumer's property and then took a long time before telling the consumer.
Creek v. Village of Westhaven, 80 F. 3d 186 (7th Cir. 1996)
Summary: Reversal of summary judgment entered for defendants on the basis of res judicata. Plaintiff was a developer of subsidized housing who maintained that the defendants conspired to prevent him from building in their community. A summary judgment was reversed because plaintiff showed that his alleged damages did not accrue until after the first lawsuit – the one in which the district court ruled that plaintiff should have brought the present claims – had been resolved.
Sander v. Dow Chemical, 166 Ill. 2d 48 (1995)
Summary: In this case, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court, and thus sustained the trial court's dismissal of a chemical exposure claim, when plaintiff continually failed to abide by orders regarding filing amended pleadings. The case established the proposition that the trial court has the power under Supreme Court Rule 219 and its inherent authority to dismiss a case for continuing and deliberate disregard for the court's authority.
USF&G v. Wilkin Insulation, 114 Ill. 2d 64 (1991)
Summary: An insurance coverage dispute in which the Illinois Supreme Court established and reiterated fundamental rules concerning the duty to defend asbestos/property damage claims.
Chicago Bar Association v. State Board of Elections, 137 Ill. 2d 394 (1990)
Summary: This case involved citizens' rights to place an initiative to amend the Illinois Constitution on the election ballot. The Illinois Constitution permits very limited right to statewide initiative and referenda. The proposed amendment, among other things, would have required a super-majority vote in the General Assembly to pass tax and fee increases. The dispute here revolved around the limitation that constitutional amendments proposed by initiative must be limited to structural and procedural aspects of the Legislative Article.
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