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By: Jake Leahy

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Jake Leahy

Latest from Chicago Litigation Blog

When a candidate is removed from the ballot in Illinois, the path forward runs through the courts.
Tedora Brown, a Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois’s 11th Congressional District, was removed from the March 17, 2026 primary ballot after the State Officers Electoral Board determined she had filed 798 valid signatures: one short of the 799 required under Section 7-10(b) of the Illinois Election Code.
She sought judicial review under Section 10-10.1(a) (10 ILCS 5/10-10.1(a)) in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The Circuit Court affirmed the Board. The Illinois Appellate Court later reversed in a one-page order that did

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Continue Reading Illinois Ballot Removal and Judicial Review: Appellate Court Reverses Electoral Board Decision

Facing a year-end deadline, the City of Chicago was able to get a budget passed that included some “alternative” revenue methods. In an effort to raise revenue, the City budget included new dollars from sports gambling.
Chicago adopted a new municipal licensing requirement and a 10.25% tax on certain sports wagering revenue as part of its year-end 2025 budget. The measure took effect January 1, 2026. Within days, a trade association representing major online sportsbook operators filed suit in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The case is Sports Betting Alliance v. City of Chicago,

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Continue Reading Chicago Sports Betting Tax Lawsuit: Can the City Balance Its Budget by Taxing Online Wagering?


Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters (Labor)
Striking workers who do not take reasonable precautions to protect against property damage are not protected by the National Labor Relations Act, because this is a well-established carve-out, the state tort law claims are not preempted by the NLRA.
Slack Technologies v. Pirani (Securities Act)
To bring a claim under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, the plaintiff must prove they purchased securities traceable to an allegedly misleading registration statement.
U.S. ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc. (False Claims Act)
The False Claims Act allows for relief against a person who “knowingly” submits

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Continue Reading A Quick Recap of Last Week’s Supreme Court Opinions

Calcutt v. FDIC (Administrative)
Listen to the Calcutt v. FDIC Decision Syllabus here.
A banker was suspended and fined by the FDIC for actions he took on one financially troubled account. The Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit, reasoning that the Court of Appeals must reverse the administrative agency if it reaches the same outcome for a different reason. Once an administrative agency has made an error of law, the decision must be remanded back to the administrative agency.
Tyler v. Hennepin County (Takings Clause)
Listen to the Tyler v. Hennepin County Decision Syllabus here.
In Tyler v. Hennepin County

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Continue Reading A Review of Last Week’s Opinions

The Supreme Court released several new decisions at the end of last week. While the most covered decision was probably where the Court ruled in favor of the photographer and against Andy Warhol, each decision offers a potentially helpful insight into the interworking of the Court.
Gonzalez v. Google LLC (Anti-Terrorism Act / Section 230)
Listen to the Supreme Court’s opinion syllabus here. After the Twitter ruling below, the plaintiffs failed to state a claim under the Anti-Terrorism Act. 18 U.S.C. §2333(d). The Court reversed and remanded and decided it did not need to reach the question regarding 47 U.S.C.

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Continue Reading Last Week’s Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court has been unusually slow this term, with fewer rulings compared to past years. However, the pace seems to be accelerating, with 19 opinions released recently, including five last Friday. Major rulings are anticipated in the coming months as numerous cases remain pending. Let’s briefly examine the cases from last Friday.
Ciminelli v. United States
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the right-to-control theory for wire fraud, which has long been recognized in the Second Circuit, cannot be used to convict persons under federal fraud statutes. In this case, Ciminelli was convicted for wire fraud

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Continue Reading A Brief Summary of the Five Supreme Court Opinions Released on May 11

I had the chance to attend this oral argument at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the beginning of March. I had an open morning so I went to the court to see oral arguments, I didn’t have the chance to look at the cases beforehand, but to my surprise there was a Tax Injunction Act / SALT case being heard.
There was a group of about 20-30 high school students next to me attending the oral argument. There was another case that involved an employment discrimination suit brought by a Hispanic police officer, perhaps the high school students

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Continue Reading Federal Jurisdiction Barred: Tax Injunction Act Precludes Federal Court for Interest-Only State Tax Case (DeMartino v. New York, 2nd Cir.)

Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Summary: PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS v. DION ADDISON

The Illinois Supreme Court only issued on written opinion in the month of April. In Justice Rochford’s opinion, she sided with the defendant Dion Addison. While the bounds of the right to effective of assistance of trial counsel has been well-litigated, the question of effective assistance of appellate counsel, arising from the failure to properly plead ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, presents a slightly different question.
In this case, the Illinois Supreme Court addressed whether postconviction counsel provided unreasonable assistance by failing to frame the issues

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Continue Reading A Brief Review of April 2023 Illinois Supreme Court Opinions

In Bridges and Cunningham v. Blackstone, Inc., the Seventh Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling in favor of Blackstone, the defendant-appellee. Plaintiffs Carolyn Bridges and Raymond Cunningham filed a class action against Blackstone, alleging that the firm violated the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) in its acquisition of Ancentry.com.
Background
The plaintiffs submitted their DNA samples for genetic review years earlier to Ancestry.com. The plaintiffs allege that in Blackstone’s acquisition of Ancestry.com, it violated GIPA, which prohibits the disclosure of the identity of any person upon whom a genetic test is performed, or the

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Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Affirms Decision Below in Favor of Blackstone in Ancestry Privacy Case

Charles Bertini v. Apple Inc., No. 21-2301 (Fed. Cir. 2023)
In a recent case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the court reversed the tribunal which it dismissed a case that sought to challenge Apple’s use of the mark “Apple Music” as applied to live musical events. Apple previously purchased a trademark that had originally been owned by the Beatles which had been used to cover certain products including live events. In using this mark, Apple attempted to “tack” its date back to 1968. The Federal Circuit found that while tacking was proper sofar as

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Continue Reading Tacking Doctrine, “Apple Music,” “Apple Jazz,” and a 1968 Beatles Trademark. Federal Circuit Rules Against Apple in Trademark Priority Case

Meier v. Pacific Life Insurance Co., No. 22-1607 (7th Cir. 2023)
Ron Meier applied for a life insurance policy from Pacific Life Insurance Policy. After applying for the policy, but prior to being issued the policy, Ron was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He did not disclose this to Pacific Life, given that he had already applied for the policy. His widow Lorrie, attempted to collect on the policy after he died. Pacific Life denied coverage, stating Ron’s failure to disclose the diagnosis amounted to a material misrepresentation, which allowed for the policy to be rescinded. The Northern District of

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Continue Reading Undisclosed Cancer Diagnosis: Material Misrepresentation and Policy Rescission in Meier v. Pacific Life Insurance Co.

Uetricht v. Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, No. 22-1166 (April 7, 2023)
In 2008, Mayor Daley entered into an agreement to lease the city’s parking meters to Chicago Parking Meetings, LLC. In the decade since the $1.15 billion agreement, the company has made its investment back and then some, by 2019, the company already had half a billion dollars in profit from the deal. The deal has been subject to close public and judicial scrutiny over the years.
Last last week, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an antitrust suit
There are several areas of analysis that are instructive

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Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Antitrust Action in Chicago Parking Meter Case

In this new seventh circuit federal case, Camelot Banquet Rooms and about 50 other businesses that offer live nude (or nearly nude) dancing filed suit against the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) for its denial of funding to said businesses under the second round of funding under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), as authorized by Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiffs alleged the decision violated their Free Speech rights under the First Amendment. The Eastern District of Wisconsin had issued a preliminary injunction. The government appealed to the seventh circuit, seeking a stay of the preliminary injunction issued by

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Continue Reading A Review of Camelot Banquet Rooms, Inc. v. United States Small Business Administration, Which Upheld the Use of Content Based Discrimination in Certain Federal Funding

In 2020, Illinois voters overwhelmingly voted down a signature initiative of Governor Pritzker that sought to enact a graduated income tax system in the State of Illinois. Senator Martwick proposed SB2105 this past week, the bill proposes installing a graduated income tax in Illinois.
While this legislation has been brought forward, it is important to note that this specific bill does not propose a constitutional ballot initiative. Instead it seeks to change the income tax system by statute, something that is expressly not authorized by the state constitution.
The Illinois Constitution clearly lays out that the state’s income tax system

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Continue Reading SB2105 Looks to Impose Graduated Income Tax Without Constitutional Amendment

The Internal Revenue service issued guidance Friday that answers lurking questions about whether payments issued by 21 state governments will be considered taxable income.
The guidance largely breaks down to whether the payments were simply a rebate of state and local taxes paid, or if it was general welfare and disaster relief. The guidance states that “people in the following states do not need to report these state payments on their 2022 tax return: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island . . . Alaska is

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Continue Reading IRS Releases Guidance Relating to Certain State Refund and Relief Payments

Citigroup Inc. will no longer be allowed to operate in the roughly $3.4 billion municipal bond market in the state of Texas. Texas Attorney General Brent Paxton announced in December that he would investigate to determine whether Citi discriminates against gun manufacturers.[1]
This investigation stems from a 2021 initiative that Governor Abbott signed into law, which prohibits companies bidding for state contracts to not have discriminatory policies in relation to the firearm industry. [2] The Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act of 2021 provides for the Attorney General to investigate compliance. [3]
BACKGROUND
This is

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Continue Reading AG Concludes Investigation, Citigroup Banned From Texas Municipal Bond Market Over Firearm Policies