A recent opinion out of the Northern District of Illinois underscores an often-overlooked risk for retail establishments and their insurers: when an employee voluntarily assists a customer, that assistance may itself create an independent legal duty—even when a premises claim might otherwise fail.

In Swayka v. Menard, Inc., the court denied Menard, Inc.’s (“Menards’”) motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by a customer who was injured while a store employee assisted him in transporting heavy merchandise to his vehicle. Although Menards framed the case as one involving a routine, open-and-obvious parking lot condition, the court focused on…
Continue Reading When Helping Hurts: Illinois Federal Court Finds Retailer May Have Assumed a Legal Duty by Assisting Customer

Changes to FTC’s Non-Compete Rule

In April 2024, the FTC issued a Non-Compete Clause Rule that barred most post-employment non-compete agreements nationwide. However, the ban was immediately challenged in federal court. In August 2024, a federal court enjoined the ban, and appellate litigation ensued. After a year of appellate litigation, in September 2025, the FTC dismissed its appeals in Ryan, LLC v. FTC, No. 24-10951 (5th Cir.) and Properties of the Villages v. FTC, No. 24-13102 (11th Cir.), effectively invalidating the ban on the non-compete rule. The Commission voted 3-1 to dismiss the appeal and accept the vacatur. Chairman Andrew Ferguson, joined by Commissioner…
Continue Reading 5 Keys to Crafting Non-Compete Agreements in Missouri After FTC Abandons Its Nationwide Ban

The State of Asbestos Litigation in Cook County, Illinois

Numerous law firms currently file asbestos cases in Cook County, Illinois—some with a long history of being based there and others based outside Illinois.

In recent years, the County experienced an increase in asbestos injury cases.[1] (Asbestos filings  increased by 33.8% from 2023 to 2024, with 95 filings between July 2023 and July 2024.[2]) This trend is expected to continue in the years ahead.

This jurisdiction has also experienced a high number of high-dollar personal-injury verdicts, a trend that directly affects how parties defend asbestos cases there. (The…
Continue Reading What to Know About Asbestos Litigation in Cook County, Illinois

An Illustrative Case

Earlier this year, Illinois’ Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld a directed verdict for the plaintiff because the defendant violated a witness sequestration order under Illinois Rule of Evidence 615. See Mogensen v. SCF Lewis & Clark Fleeting LLC, 2025 IL App (5th) 230501.

At the final pre-trial hearing in this personal injury case, defense counsel invoked Illinois Rule of Evidence 615. This Rule allows a party to request that the court exclude witnesses from the courtroom so they can’t hear other witnesses’ testimony. However, over the course of trial, defendant’s attorneys discussed prior witness testimony…
Continue Reading Sequestration Slip-Ups: Why Illinois’ Rule of Evidence 615 Matters in Medical Malpractice Trials

Case Background

Plaintiff Amanda Wright visited her brother at his home in Gurnee to play badminton. The two set up the net in a lightly wooded, grassy area adjacent to her brother’s home. That property was owned by Gurnee Park District, the defendant. Before the game, her brother warned her to be careful because there was an area with tall grass. Plaintiff thought she needed to be wary of a shrub. However, when she went to retrieve the shuttlecock that landed near the shrub, the shrub was in fact a tree stump covered by tall grass. Plaintiff fell over the…
Continue Reading Tort Immunity Act Protects Illinois Park District in Badminton Injury Appeal

AI Can Be Quite Helpful – Until It’s Not

Many of us have embraced ChatGPT as a useful tool in our everyday lives to promote efficiency or spark creativity. And the more you use ChatGPT, the more it learns your preferences. For instance, ChatGPT knows that our families prefer certain foods when we ask for dinner suggestions. If we ask for Halloween costume suggestions, it immediately understands we’re looking for coordinating costumes for kids of certain ages—without needing a reminder about our families’ demographics.

When it comes to using AI in the legal profession, some may think it’s just as easy.
Continue Reading Fake Law, Real Trouble: How One Illinois Court is Responding to Chat GPT’s Hallucinated Cases

Introduction to Cyber Insurance Subrogation

Traditional subrogation principles allow a party (the subrogee) who pays the debt or loss of another (the subrogor) to assert the subrogor’s rights against third parties regarding a loss. An insurer who pays losses an insured incurs can generally use subrogation to pursue the insured’s rights against any third party responsible for the losses. The insurer stands in the insured’s shoes and has the same rights as the insured.

Notably, an insurer’s right to pursue subrogation against third parties can be contractually waived by an insured’s waiver of the right to pursue claims against those…
Continue Reading Cyber Insurance Subrogation Claims: Understanding a Growing Risk Management Imperative

Introduction

Revolutionary technology can carry significant consequences. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no exception.

Before AI, fraudsters needed sophisticated technical skills to execute their schemes. It was common to see photoshopped receipts, doctored videos, and other manipulated “evidence” used to support a deceptive claim. Now, swindlers no longer need sophisticated technical skills. With a few keystrokes in a generative AI system, fraudsters can generate professional-quality fake receipts, videos, photographs, or audio recordings.

The Rise in Insurance Fraud

Property and casualty insurance fraud costs an estimated $45 billion annually (including home, auto, and business insurance). In addition, between 10% and 20% of…
Continue Reading Artificial Intelligence: An Unlikely Culprit in Insurance Fraud

Two Factors Driving the Concerns

Nuclear Verdicts. The industry is clearly concerned about the increase in nuclear verdicts against trucking industry defendants—and for good reason. As the report notes, in recent years, some verdicts against trucking industry defendants have exceeded $100 million. And “thermonuclear” verdicts (exceeding $100 million) against corporate defendants are on the rise.[ii]

Third-Party Litigation Funding. Another factor driving the need for lawsuit abuse reform is the increase in third-party litigation funding (TPLF). This form of financing allows plaintiffs to cover litigation costs through a third party in exchange for a right to recover part of the lawsuit’s…
Continue Reading Why the Trucking Industry Is More Concerned Than Ever About Lawsuit Abuse—and Why That Concern Is Justified

by George Kiser
Recently, I was talking with colleagues about overly broad discovery orders entered against defendants and the options for appealing those orders. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to appeal these orders before the case is over, to prevent a costly search of a client’s records? However, a party is generally not able to appeal a trial court order issued in the middle of a case, before final verdict is entered. Generally, a party can appeal from a final judgement in a case, but not before it. The trial court can grant permission to appeal a decision, but…
Continue Reading Can a Discovery Dispute Lead to Extraordinary Intervention by the Illinois Supreme Court? Usually Not; That’s Why it is Extraordinary

This post was written by HeplerBroom Summer Associate Sarah Jolley. A supervising partner also contributed to the post.
In Abo-Saif v. Bd. of Trustees of Univ. of Illinois, 2022 IL App (1st) 211091, the Illinois Court of Appeals, First District affirmed the Circuit Court of Cook County’s holding that sovereign immunity extends to contract disputes involving formerly private institutions that have since been purchased by the State.
Case Background
Plaintiff Bishoy Abo-Saif, a disabled student at John Marshall Law School (“JMLS”) was dismissed from his juris doctor program on academic grounds. Abo-Saif v. Bd. of Trustees of Univ. of Illinois,…
Continue Reading Sovereign Immunity Extends to Formerly Private Entities Now Owned by the State

by Kathleen Hamilton
After a more than twelve-year court battle and three separate appeals, the Missouri Court of Appeals-Eastern District has ruled that the plain language of Missouri Statute Section 34.057 (the Prompt Pay Act) calls for a penalty of simple interest computed solely on the principal. (The Prompt Pay Act allows courts to impose late payment interest of 1.5% per month on top of payments found to have been withheld from a contractor in bad faith.) The Court of Appeals held that Missouri’s Prompt Pay Act did not provide for compound interest and that the trial court erred in…
Continue Reading Missouri’s Prompt Pay Act Provides for Simple Interest as Penalty for Failure to Pay

by Emilee M. Bramstedt
It is longstanding law in Illinois that a possessor of land does not owe a duty of care to an adult trespasser on his land except to refrain from willfully and wantonly injuring that trespasser.[1] For example, a railroad operator is not expected to keep a lookout for persons on a railroad track that’s away from populated areas and public crossings, where persons are not expected or anticipated to be.[2] Similarly, it has long been held that a possessor of land is not required to foresee an injury caused by an open and obvious…
Continue Reading Quiroz v. Chicago Transit Authority: An Illinois Supreme Court Analysis Regarding the Duty of Care