Ancel Glink Diamond Bush DiCianni & Krafthefer, P.C.

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During the recent “lame duck” session, a bill passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly facilitating liquor delivery by retailers. If signed by the Governor, Ill. S.B. 54 would amend the Liquor Control Act to provide that nothing in the Liquor Control Act will “deny, limit, remove, or restrict the ability of a holder of a retailer’s license to deliver alcoholic liquor to the purchaser for use or consumption,” with just a few exceptions. Except for Chicago, home rule and non-home rule units alike may not regulate the delivery of alcoholic liquor inconsistent with the proposed statutory amendments. “Delivery”…
After being cited for speeding by a police officer and convicted at a bench trial, the driver appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court. The driver raised a “sovereign citizen” defense and claimed that (1) the court and the municipality had no authority to impose a monetary fine because money ceased to exist in 1933; (2) the municipality and court conspired to deprive him of his civil rights, including his right to travel; (3) traffic tickets were nothing more than fraud, extortion, blackmail, intimidation, harassment, mail fraud; and (4) the citation capitalized his name, among other reasons. In Village of Frankfort …
In Dycus v. County of Edgar, Illinois, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled in favor of the county in a case involving a motorcycle accident, finding that the Tort Immunity Act protected Edgar County from liability. In May 2018, the plaintiffs were riding their motorcycles on an Edgar County road. During their ride, the riders crashed and sustained injuries after encountering a road section that recently underwent repair to replace a culvert (a tunnel carrying a stream or drainage pipe). They sued the county arguing its actions amounted to negligence for failure to (1) repair the road, (2) inspect the…
A federal court recently denied vacation property owners’ due process and Fourth Amendment challenges to an ordinance regulating short-term rentals. Stone River Lodge, LLC v Village of North Utica In 2004, Grand Bear Lodge, LLC purchased land near North Utica to develop a hotel. North Utica annexed the land. The annexation agreements between the village and hotel granted special use approvals for the development of a hotel and a number of buildings that each would include multiple vacation villas. The annexation agreements provided, among other things, that no owner would be prohibited from renting his or her unit and that…
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a jury award of $22 million in a wrongful conviction case against the City of Chicago. Fields v. City of Chicago. In 1986, Nathson Fields and his co-defendant Earl Hawkins were convicted of murder by a Cook County Circuit Court Judge. Twelve years after the trial, in 1998, those convictions were overturned based on evidence that Hawkins’s attorney had bribed the Judge to secure an acquittal and that the Judge had became concerned that he was being investigated by law enforcement during the trial and returned the bribe. Fields was then…
Yesterday, the Illinois General Assembly completed the 101st General Assembly. Before adjourning, the legislature passed new legislation, including HB 3653, the criminal justice reform bill. The bill is more than 700 pages long, so we are still getting through it, but we did want to share the Illinois Municipal League’s summary of the bill that ultimately passed both the Illinois Senate and House and has been sent to the Governor. If the Governor signs the legislation, it will become effective on July 1, 2021, although certain provisions have delayed effective dates.  You can read the IML summary here.…
A police officer was injured after he slipped off the curb while entering his vehicle after leaving court where he had been testifying before a grand jury. The officer applied for a disability pension with the Police Pension Fund. The Board of the Pension Fund approved a non-duty disability pension but denied his request for an on-duty disability pension. He sought review of the Board’s decision with the trial court which held in his favor. The Pension Fund appealed, and the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the Board’s decision rejecting his on-duty disability request. Griffin v. Village of New Lenox Police …
In Grassroots Collaborative v. City of Chicago, an Illinois court held  that two Illinois groups could not sue the City of Chicago for allegedly creating tax increment finance “TIF” districts in a racially discriminatory way. Specifically, the court found that the groups did not have “standing” to sue the City (the requirement that a plaintiff directly suffered or will suffer a cognizable legal injury). TIF is a program used by municipalities to economically develop blighted, conservation, or formerly industrial areas by setting aside a portion of property taxes for redevelopment projects in the district. After the creation of a…
Ancel Glink just released a new episode of its Quorum Forum Podcast. Information about this episode is below: Episode 48 – 20 Questions for 2021 Local governments will face questions about vaccines, virtual meetings, cannabis licenses, and more in 2021. Ancel Glink’s Jaime Such and Rain Montero will join the podcast to answer those questions and more to help you prepare for the new year.  What are your local government questions for 2021? Email us at podcast@ancelglink.com!         Related Stories New Podcast Released – Social Media Workshop 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules on Social Media Case Qurum Forum Podcast …
An Illinois Appellate Court determined that Governor Pritzker has the authority to require the Department of Corrections to accept prison transfers from county jails, subject to an intake process designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Landers v. Pritzker On March 26, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order 2020-13, which suspended all transfers of individuals in Illinois county jails to DOC custody, with exceptions developed at the sole discretion of the Director of the DOC. On July 24, 2020, Illinois County sheriffs filed suit, challenging the Governor’s authority to stop prison transfers, and seeking a court order to compel DOC…
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Local governments will face questions about vaccines, virtual meetings, cannabis licenses, and more in 2021. Ancel Glink’s Jaime Such and Rain Montero join us to answer those questions and more to help you prepare for the new year. What are your local government questions for 2021? Email us at podcast@ancelglink.com!  — Resources — 2021 IAPD/IPRA Soaring to New Heights Conferencehttps://www.ilparksconference.com  Can Employers Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines?http://workplacereport.ancelglink.com/2020/07/can-employers-mandate-covid-19-vaccines.html  PAC Interprets New Remote Meeting Procedures of OMA in Binding Opinionhttp://municipalminute.ancelglink.com/2020/11/pac-interprets-new-remote-meeting.html PAC Issues Binding Opinion on FOIA and Police Report Involving Juvenile Victimhttp://municipalminute.ancelglink.com/2020/12/pac-issues-binding-opinion-on-foia-and.html  Public Body Did Not Waive…
In Tzakis v. Maine Township, the Illinois Supreme Court was asked to determine whether the “public duty” rule applied to a case that had been filed before the Illinois Supreme Court abolished the rule. The public duty rule stated that local governmental entities do not owe a duty to individual members of the public when performing customary governmental duties. The Court found that although the rule had been previously abolished by the Court before the outcome of this case, a prospective application of the rule (applying the rule after it was abolished for this particular case) was appropriate to…
 And now, for our annual “top 20” blog posts of 2020…it will come as no surprise, but most of these are COVID-19 related. 1. Most Government Offices Must Close for 2020 Election Day 2. PAC Guidance on OMA and FOIA During COVID-19 – we did multiple updates on this guidance here and here. 3. Governor Suspends In-Person Attendance at Public Meetings 4. Conducting Meetings During COVID-19  5. State Legislature Adopts Amendment to OMA Regarding Remote Meetings – we did multiple posts on this legislation here and here 6. Reminder of IMRF Posting Requirement Deadline of January 1, 2021…
As we do every year, we are summarizing all of the Attorney General’s binding PAC opinions so you can find them all in one place on the blog. It couldn’t be easier this year, as the PAC only issued ten binding opinions this entire year (3 of which came in the last month). We typically see about 15 or so binding opinions each year. Note that we had not yet written up the 9th or 10th binding opinion in separate posts since they came out the last couple of days of the year, so you may want to check those…
An Illinois Appellate Court recently rejected a lawsuit filed against a City relating to EMS services. Gary v. City of Calumet City. In 2014, a woman suffered an asthma attack and was treated by City paramedics after her mother called 911. The woman passed away 10 days later, and her mother sued the City claiming the paramedics acted willfully and wantonly in treating her. The Court disagreed, finding in favor of the City under the Emergency Medical Services Systems Act which provides immunity from civil liability when emergency medical services are provided in good faith, except in cases of…
An Illinois Appellate Court recently upheld the dismissal of a complaint against a municipality, finding that the landowner had no lawfully vested right and that his regulatory takings claim was precluded by a claim that had already been litigated in federal court. Storey v. City of Alton. In 1999, Michael Storey bought property in Alton in order to develop it into a mobile home development. The property was annexed into the City by a 1986 pre-annexation agreement. Storey claims the annexation agreement provided for rezoning of the land to allow for the placement of manufactured homes and that he would…