Under Illinois law, a healthcare provider facing allegations of malpractice knows that the standard by which his or her actions will be judged is what a reasonably careful healthcare provider would do under the same or similar circumstances based upon testimony provided by expert witnesses from the same area of practice. However, physicians and healthcare providers practicing in prisons, jails, and detention facilities will find that their decisions will be adjudicated under disparate standards that depend on a lay jury’s understanding of “objective unreasonableness.”
History of the Standard Used for Evaluating §1983 Claims Against Healthcare Providers
Section 1983 provides a…
Continue Reading What is Objectively Unreasonable Healthcare? Has the Implementation of Kingsley v. Hendrickson Caused an Unworkable Standard for Evaluating a Healthcare Professional’s Medical Decision- Making Under Section 1983?

While overall trends show that more and more litigants are appearing in court without an attorney, in the medical malpractice context, defending a case against a pro se plaintiff is not as common. This is particularly true in courts where the amount in controversy must be in the tens of thousands before a court can even hear the case (e.g., in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, where the Law Division only hears civil suits for recovery of monetary damages in excess of $30,000). Nonetheless, we have all had one. You probably still have one now – and every…
Continue Reading Pro Se It Ain’t So: Defending a Meritless Medical Malpractice Suit Filed by a Self-Represented Litigant

On January 31, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its annual adjustments to the reporting thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (HSR Act). The newly-revised thresholds represent modest increases over last year’s thresholds. They are published in the Federal Register and will become effective 30 days after the date of their publication. The revised thresholds will remain in effect until the FTC’s next annual adjustment in the first quarter of 2021.
HSR Act Basics
The HSR Act requires parties to mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and certain other transactions of a certain size or scale to file…
Continue Reading A Large Merger, Acquisition or Joint Venture in Your Future? –Updated HSR Merger Notification Threshold Tests for Federal Antitrust Review Apply February 27, 2020

In 2019, 72,675 Charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Frequently, EEOC Charges are filed regardless of whether the claim has any merit. Since the EEOC has the authority to investigate regardless of whether there is reasonable cause to believe discrimination occurred, any EEOC Charge is going to cost an employer time, effort, and money to deal with it.
During the EEOC’s investigation, the employer and the Charging Party will be asked to provide information related to the Charge. The EEOC may ask an employer to: 1) submit a statement of position (the employer’s side of the…
Continue Reading EEOC Onsite Inspections: How to be Prepared after a Charge is Filed

This post updates the October 15, 2019, blog post regarding the citizen enforcement proceeding against Midwest Generation, LLC (“MWG”) launched by several environmental advocacy groups (“Environmental Groups”). (That post can be read here.)
On February 6, 2020, the Illinois Pollution Control Board (“Board”) issued an order in Sierra Club, et al. v. Midwest Generation, LLC (PCB13-15) (“Reconsideration Order”) reconsidering its June 20, 2019, interim opinion and order (“Interim Order”). As addressed in greater detail in the earlier post, MWG owns four coal-fired power plants in Illinois, each of which contains coal ash disposal ponds. After Illinois EPA (“IEPA”)…
Continue Reading Illinois Pollution Control Board Reconsiders Ruling on Groundwater Management Zones, Affirms Remainder of Order on Coal Ash Violations

The laws governing the Cannabis industry are changing so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to keep up with all the new legislation across the country. Currently, there are over 1,100 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress for 2020. While most in the industry do not believe we will see national legalization in 2020, an additional seven states could legalize cannabis in some form this year. That would bring the 2020 total to 40 states with some form of legalized cannabis. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced at an Iowa rally that if he is elected to the White House, he…
Continue Reading Cannabis Legalization Efforts: A Constantly Evolving Landscape

If you have not looked at your debt collection policies or read your form “dunning letter” in a while, you might need to add some routine check-ups to your 2020 calendar. While collection jurisprudence rarely undergoes a large overhaul, it should be no surprise that tightening protections for consumers are already on the horizon. Consumer protection issues are frequent headliners in national news. From nationwide data breaches to ever increasing household debt, and now with student loan borrowing and medical debt emerging as hot topics in the 2020 presidential election, I would not expect conversations aimed at tightening consumer protection…
Continue Reading Creditors and Debt Collectors: Your Standard Procedures Might Need an Update

Facebook boasts of connecting us, of connecting users from across the world and uniting them by common interests and friendships.  One of the features for connecting users is the tagging feature – a way to indicate who is appearing in a photograph.  Facebook users can tag themselves and also tag their friends.  Facebook can also participate, using facial-recognition software to suggest the names of the people appearing in a users’ photos.  See Patel v. Facebook, Inc., 932 F.3d 1264, 1268 (9th Cir. 2019) (“If Tag Suggestions is enabled, Facebook may use facial-recognition technology to analyze whether the user’s Facebook friends…
Continue Reading Facebook Tagged for $550 Million Settlement

Fresh off major wins in the 2019 session, Missouri tort reform advocates are shifting their focus to a new target: punitive damages. Following a string of large punitive damages awards from St. Louis City courts, legislators in both chambers introduced bills to sharply curb such claims.
Senate Bill 591, introduced by Senator Bill White (R-Joplin), would establish new substantive and procedural restrictions on punitive damages claims. Most critically, the bill would raise the burden of proof on plaintiffs seeking punitive damages awards. Under existing Missouri law, a plaintiff must show by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with…
Continue Reading Missouri Legislature Turns Eyes to Punitive Damages

When representing an insured, trial attorneys must be attentive and recognize the circumstances under which opposing counsel may or may not present evidence that their client carries liability insurance. More importantly, attorneys must understand the actions that must be taken to preserve the record and protect the client. The Eastern District Court of Appeals recently granted a new trial based on a finding that the plaintiff made repeated, improper references to the defendant’s liability insurer in front of the jury. Collier v. Steinbach, — S.W.3d –, 2019 WL 7159756 (Mo. App. E.D. Dec. 24, 2019). In so holding, the Court…
Continue Reading Flaunting Insurance Coverage: Missouri Court Reaffirms, Explains Rule Against Referencing a Party’s Liability Insurance (And the Rare Exception)

In Woods v. Amazon.com LLC and Johnson v. Amazon.com LLC, 2019 WL 2504093 (2019) & 2019 WL 2509122 (2019), respectively, two individuals, Andrew Woods and Michael Johnson (“Plaintiffs”) brought separate, but related personal injury actions against Amazon.com, LLC (“Amazon”), Duke Realty, LP (“Duke”) and Steel King Industries, Inc. (“Steel King”) (collectively, the “Defendants”). Defendants brought third-party contribution claims against Plaintiffs’ employer, Lakeside Rack Installer, Inc. (“Lakeside”).
Both Plaintiffs suffered serious injuries when a forklift driver, employed by Lakeside, caused a steel shelving rack to collapse on them within a newly-constructed Amazon warehouse. Each Plaintiff alleged the structure collapse stemmed from…
Continue Reading JAWS: Crucial Kotecki Ramifications Continue to Lurk Beneath the Surface in Construction Site Cases

On December 4, 2019, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) published in the Federal Register an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Addition of Certain Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; Community Right-to-Know Toxic Chemical Release Reporting.” 84 Fed. Reg. 66369. USEPA is currently considering a rule proposal to add certain polyfluroroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (Right-to-Know Act) and the Pollution Prevention Act. This list is also known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), and chemicals within the TRI are known as “listed chemicals.” PFAS are synthetic…
Continue Reading USEPA Seeks to Add PFAS to List of Toxic Chemicals