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Some weeks are a bit of a struggle trying to figure out what to blog on. Law360 is a tremendous help. Also, I keep a pipeline of cases as well. However, sometimes I’m just not in the mood to blog on what is in my pipeline. So, I looked at all of my law 360 alerts and lo and behold Karnoski v. Trump came down from the Ninth Circuit. My daughter and I teach at our synagogue during the school year. Our synagogue, Congregation  Bet Haverim, was originally founded as the home for gay and lesbian Jews in Decatur Georgia.…
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In recognition of Pride month, the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism (Commission) will feature biographies of LGBTQ+ legal professionals who promoted a culture of civility and inclusion within the Illinois legal community. Our first biography, featuring Pearl Hart, came out last week. Keep an eye out for more later this month. Thomas Chiola Thomas Chiola, 67, grew up in Springfield, IL. As a self-described “all-American boy,” Chiola was the Springfield high school senior of the year in 1970. In 1993, Chiola returned to Springfield to give a speech at an awards banquet. It was here that he…
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Scott’s Law was enacted in 2002 in response to a fatal traffic accident that occurred on December 23, 2000, in which Chicago Fire Lieutenant Scott Gillen was struck and killed after responding to a car crash.  In response to this, Illinois legislatures passed what is known as Scott’s Law, or the “Move Over law.” Originally, this law required all drivers to slow down and move over when approaching a police car or other emergency vehicle on the highway.[1] In 2017, the law was expanded to apply to require drivers to slow down and move over when approaching any vehicle…
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The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, currently titled HB2557, is one of three pending bills aimed at taming the risks posed by big data in the workplace. When Governor Pritzker signs the bill into law, Illinois will be one of the first states to regulate the use of workplace data analytics. HB2557 focuses strictly on the use of facial recognition technology in job interviews and passed both houses on May 29, 2019. Two other bills, HB 2991 and HB 3415, would prohibit the use of predictive analytics to consider information correlating with race and zip codes when making hiring decisions,…
Owners of a Massachusetts waste collection, recycling and removal company recently were held personally liable for their failure to pay their employees at prevailing wages.  See Donis v. American Waste Services, LLC, 95 Mass.App.Ct. 317 (2019).  Under Massachusetts law, wage violations are subject to triple damages and payment of attorney’s fees.     The waste services company entered into contracts with several Massachusetts towns that required compliance with prevailing wage laws at hourly rates of $20 — $24.  However, the company paid workers $16 — $17 an hour, or at flat day rates.  The company tried several unsuccessful defenses: (1) the…
On June 5, 2019, Nevada became the first state to make it unlawful for employers to reject job applicants who test positive for cannabis. The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2020 and fits with existing Nevada law, which already prohibits employers from discriminating against employees who lawfully use “products” outside of the work premises which do not adversely affect job performance or the safety of other employees. However, there are exceptions for certain jobs and employers can still require that employees not engage in cannabis use while on-the-job. Nevada is one of nine states that have…
Numerous Illinois cases have considered the question of when an insurer must defend or indemnify an additional insured. E.g., Pekin Ins. Co. v. Centex Homes, 2017 IL App (1st) 153601; National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA. v. R. Olson Constr. Conts., Inc., 329 Ill.App.3d 228 (2d Dist. 2002); Commonwealth Edison Co. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA., 323 Ill.App.3d 970 (1st Dist. 2001).  In most additional insured coverage cases, two factors are critical to the outcome. The first is the wording of the additional insured endorsement, and the second is the extent to which facts outside the…
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A doctor who owned her own practice, billed her patients directly, and filed taxes as a self-employed physician was not an employee of the hospital she had privileges at, and therefore was not entitled to sue the hospital for discrimination after it revoked her practice privileges. For almost 13 years, Dr. Yelena Levitin performed surgeries at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Levitin is a female, Jewish surgeon of Russian descent. She owns and operates Chicago Surgical Clinic, Ltd., a private medical practice. From 2000 until 2013, most of her revenue came from the work she performed at Northwest.…
The buzz started last year when the Louisiana Retail Food and Beverage E-Commerce Task Force met to review and consider home delivery of alcoholic beverages. According to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report piece at the time, both Instacart and Drizly appeared to testify about the growing trend in American lifestyle choices – home delivery of stuff people want. Prior to 2019, the Louisiana legislature killed bills for home delivery. But the bill and service found renewed momentum this year and has passed You can read the enrolled text of HB508 here, which has been sent to Louisiana’s Governor…
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1. How did you get Patrice Poltzer Creative started?I was at the TODAY show for six years where I learned from the best in the business how to tell a story and captivate an audience, winning several awards while I was there. Because I came into my role as a TODAY show producer already knowing how to shoot and edit video, I was also able to create original digital content alongside my job of making television which created this hybrid storytelling job and allowed me to think of stories from a multi-platformed discipline. When I was on maternity leave with…
Regents of the Univ. of Minnesota v. LSI Corp. et al. (Gilead Sci. Inc., intervenor) Docket Nos. 2018-1560-65 (IPR2017-01068, -01186, -01197, -01200, -01213, -01214, -0129) DYK, WALLACH, HUGHES June 14, 2019 Brief summary: FC panel concluded “that state sovereign immunity does not apply to IPR proceedings”. Summary: UMN appealed Board refusal to dismiss multiple IPR petitions “alleged to be improper because states supposedly enjoy sovereign immunity in IPR proceddings.” The IPRs relate to six of UMN’s patents relating to particular types of telecommunications chips. UMN sued LSI And Ericsson for infringement and each separately petitioned for IPR, alleging unpatentability for…
Easton v. Primal Wear, Inc., No. 17 C 6081, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 29, 2019) (Tharp, J.). Judge Tharp denied the plaintiffs’ (collectively “Primal Mode”) Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 motion for summary judgment and defendant Primal Wear’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) & (6) motion to dismiss in this Lanham Act trademark infringement and unfair competition case involving Primal Mode’s PRIMAL MODE marks and Primal Wear’s PRIMAL and PRIMAL WEAR marks. Of particular note, the Court held as follows: Primal Wear did not meet its burden of proving that Primal Mode abandoned its mark by not having sold…
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This month the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (“CASE Act”) was introduced in the Senate (S. 1273) by a number of Senators including Dick Durbin of Illinois and in the House (H.R. 2426) by Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Doug Collins. The CASE Act seeks to provide individual creators and small businesses, who create the vast majority of creative works but are the least able to afford costly intellectual property litigation, with an affordable forum to adjudicate small claims against copyright infringers. The CASE Act would create the equivalent of a small claims court…
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A small producer of musical instruments sued Guitar Center, alleging that Guitar Center violated its trademark on the name for a line of woodwind instruments. The plaintiff made a mistake in its suit, however, and named several subsidiary corporations of Guitar Center as additional defendants. After a trial, a jury was asked to determine whether each of the organizations were liable for infringing conduct. The jury, however, found that only the sales that occurred at Guitar Center branded stores were infringing, which amounted to a tiny fraction of the total sales across Guitar Center and all of its subsidiary brands.…
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Children are expensive. Children need to be fed, clothed and cared for when they’re babies. Then when children get into school, they inevitably get into activities that require some kind of financial contribution from the parents. When the parents of the children are divorced, there must be some kind of arrangement made to pay for these activities. But what exactly are the children’s extracurricular activities in the context of an Illinois divorce? Who decides what extracurricular activities the children will be in? Before the law changed in 2016, whoever had “custody” of the children would make all of the decisions…