What Public Act 104-0683 Means for Illinois Workers and Employers
Serving on a jury is one of the most important civic responsibilities Americans have. Every day across Illinois, ordinary citizens help decide criminal and civil cases that shape lives, businesses, and communities. Yet for many workers, receiving a jury summons has created a difficult question:
Can I afford to miss work?
Until now, many Illinois employees had to choose between fulfilling their civic duty and receiving a paycheck. While employers were generally required to allow employees time off to serve on a jury, they were not required to continue paying…
Continue Reading New Illinois Law Requires Many Employers to Pay Employees During Jury Duty

Who Pays College Tuition After Divorce in Illinois? What Parents Need to Know Before Move-In Day is a question that often becomes urgent in late summer. Tuition statements arrive, housing deposits are due, and parents may suddenly realize that their divorce judgment never clearly explained how college costs would be divided.
In Illinois, contribution toward a child’s post-high-school education is not automatically a 50/50 obligation, and it may extend beyond tuition. The answer can depend on the divorce agreement, existing court orders, each parent’s resources, the student’s finances and academic performance, and whether a timely request is filed with the…
Continue Reading Who Pays College Tuition After Divorce in Illinois? What Parents Need to Know Before Move-In Day

Divorce has a way of making people feel like every text, every demand, and every argument with your spouse requires an immediate response. That’s because your nervous system is on high alert. Part of my job as your attorney is to act as a filter, so you’re not making decisions just because someone else nags you to do so.
In fact, one of the most valuable things I do as a family law attorney has very little to do with the law. It’s helping clients distinguish between demands that require a legal response and demands that warrant hitting the “ignore”…
Continue Reading Don’t Let Your Spouse’s Pressure Cause a Legal Misstep

Thanks to host Mason Rashtian for hosting me on his SCV Law & Life Podcast last Thursday 7/30/26! The show’s YouTube page is here: https://www.youtube.com/@masonrashtian. My episode (30 minutes) is here: https://youtu.be/573uY09p6Yo. We discussed practicing law, what businesses need to know concerning labor and employment law and my background in the field. It’s also below!
https://www.charlesakrugel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Employment-Law-for-Business-Owners_-Hiring-Firing-Avoiding-Costly-Lawsuits-Charles-Krugel.mp4
 
Here’s more about Mason and the podcast: Welcome to The SCV Law & Life Podcast, where justice meets everyday living. I’m your host, Mason Rashtian, a top 1% personal injury attorney serving the Santa Clarita Valley and beyond. With my…
Continue Reading I’m on the SCV Law & Life Podcast

Doctors don’t just make money from salaries. Doctors often own their medical practices and those practices make money. A medical practice is an asset whose value can be divided in an Illinois divorce. A Medical Practice Appraisal Must Begin With Defining What Is Being Valued What is a medical practice worth?  Well, it depends. A medical practice does not have a single value that can be determined by using the same formula in every case. What matters is the purpose of the valuation. A court valuing a spouse’s ownership interest, a physician selling a practice to another physician, and a…
Continue Reading Medical Practice Valuation And Divorce In Illinois

The ADA just had its 36th year anniversary. Happy anniversary!! In June, I got to visit the George H.W. Bush presidential library where his signing of the ADA is featured prominently. It was pretty neat to see that. Interestingly enough, many years ago when I visited the George W. Bush presidential library in Dallas, Texas, which is definitely worthwhile visiting, especially for its interactive components, there was nary a mention of his signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act. I don’t know if that has changed since then, but I did find it strange considering the impact of that…
Continue Reading NCAA Five Year Rule Redux: Basketball Player Prevails Under Nebraska Law, But Would Have Also Prevailed Under the ADA/Rehabilitation Act

An inspector walks out. A week later a letter arrives with a case number on it. That letter is a cannabis notice of violation, and what you do in the next 72 hours has more effect on the outcome than anything your lawyer argues three months from now. Operators lose licenses over paperwork responses far more often than they lose them over the underlying conduct.
The response window is shorter than most operators assume.
What Is a Cannabis Notice of Violation?
It is the regulator formally alleging that you broke a rule, and formally starting a clock for you …
Continue Reading Cannabis Notice of Violation: 9 Critical First Moves

The notice lands on a Tuesday afternoon. Two paragraphs, no phone number, and one sentence that wrecks your quarter: your application was not approved. Getting a cannabis license denied is not the end of the road, but it is the start of a very short clock. In most of the states where we practice you have roughly 30 days to act. Miss that window and the merits of your application stop mattering entirely.
A denial letter is a deadline, not a verdict.
This guide walks through what the letter actually means, how long you really have, and the seven moves…
Continue Reading Cannabis License Denied? 7 Critical Steps to Appeal

In Schukar, et al. v. Kenosha County, et al., the Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld a district court’s decision in favor of
police officers in a First and Fourth Amendment case brought by
photojournalists relating to a protest incident.  
On August 25, 2020, two photojournalists were documenting a protest at the Kenosha County Courthouse. The protest was
sparked by the shooting of a 29-year-old Black male by a City of
Kenosha police officer. During the protest, both protestors and police officers
launched objects at one another, including the officers’ launching of foam
batons that hit and injured the…
Continue Reading Court Rules Against Journalists in Lawsuit Against Police Officers for Injuries Sustained at a Protest

Collectanea J. Limited v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule “A”, No. 25 C 4839, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 31, 2026) (Kocoras, J.).Judge Kocoras granted nonparty eBay’s motion to modify the preliminary injunction (PI) in this Schedule A trademark and copyright infringement case, dissolving the PI against all 252 defendants after finding improper joinder under Fed. R. Civ. P. 20.Collectanea, a Hong Kong corporation, filed suit against 252 defendant-seller accounts across Amazon, eBay, and other platforms, alleging infringement of its BEADNOVA trademark and copyrights. The Court granted an ex parte temporary restraining order (TRO) and later…
Continue Reading Preliminary Injunction Dissolved Against 252 Improperly Joined Defendants in Schedule A Counterfeiting Case

Accident News | Kendall County, Illinois

Three people, including a 4-year-old girl, lost their lives following a four-vehicle crash in Kendall County on Friday night. According to Illinois State Police, the collision occurred around 9:15 p.m. on Illinois Route 71 near Walker Road in Millbrook. Investigators said one driver attempted to pass several southbound vehicles before colliding head-on with an oncoming vehicle, triggering a chain-reaction crash involving four vehicles. Five people were transported to nearby hospitals with injuries, and authorities later confirmed that three of the victims died. The Kendall County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as 65-year-old James Witter,…
Continue Reading 3 Killed, Including 4-Year-Old Girl, in Kendall County Crash

Car Crash News | Chicago, Ill

A wrong-way crash on Interstate 94 claimed one life and left several others injured Friday evening on Chicago’s South Side, prompting a large emergency response and significant traffic delays. According to Illinois State Police, the collision occurred around 5:48 p.m. in the northbound express lanes of I-94 near 55th Street after a driver reportedly entered the interstate traveling in the wrong direction near 31st Street.

The vehicle collided with multiple cars near Garfield Boulevard, resulting in a fatal crash. One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while several others were transported with…
Continue Reading Wrong-Way Crash on I-94 in Chicago leaves 1 Dead, Multiple Injured

Divorces routinely order one person to pay the other person money in the form of child support or maintenance (formerly known as alimony). If the party fails to pay, the payee has two options: 1) they can hold the payor in contempt until the contemnor pays, 2) the payee can attach the payor’s assets. Obviously, waiting on someone who didn’t pay what they owed in the first place to now pay under the threat of jail is agonizing. It’s much easier to just get permission to access their accounts and take what’s owed directly from those accounts. This is called…
Continue Reading Attaching Retirement Accounts In An Illinois Divorce

Synopsis: Strong IL Appellate Court Ruling Outlining Appropriate Analysis of Recovery for IL WC Lien Claimants.Editor’s comment: This is a strong and unanimous statement by this Appellate Court relating to IL WC lien recovery. It is a must-read for anyone handling such matters. From what I can tell, it appears to be an appellate-level fight over approximately $5,000!! In Larsen v. Vaid, a police officer was injured in a 2017 on-duty automobile accident and received workers’ compensation benefits totaling $399,930.16 from IRMA, the Intergovernmental Risk Management Association, her employer’s workers’ compensation administrator. Claimant Vaid later settled her civil action…
Continue Reading July 2026; IL Appellate Court Clarifies Calculation of Litigation Costs in WC Lien Recovery; IL and Chicago Minimum Wage Increases Change Reserves on Wage Diff Claims and more

Finding out that the other driver is blaming you for a car crash you didn’t cause can be infuriating. After everything you’ve already been through, injuries, medical bills, missed work, and the stress of recovery, hearing someone twist the facts can make you wonder if you’ll ever be treated fairly. The good news is that […]
The post What Happens If the Other Driver Lies About the Accident? appeared first on SAM LAW OFFICE LLC.
Continue Reading What Happens If the Other Driver Lies About the Accident?