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By: Jake Leahy

Latest from Leahy Tax Blog - Page 2

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

Marathon Petroleum Co. v. Cook County Department of Revenue, 2022 IL App (1st) 210635)
This is a recent decision released from the First District Appellate Court, Justice Walker, who was joined by Justices Mikva and Tailor delivered the opinion of the court. This is an interesting case that involves some of the nitty-gritty details of a motor fuel tax assessment.
BACKGROUND
The Cook County Department of Revenue assessed fuel taxes and penalties under the Cook County Retail Sale of Gasoline and Diesel Tax Ordinance for so-called “book-out transactions.” In these transactions, no fuel physically changes hands or locations. When parties

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Continue Reading Appellate Court Affirms Tax Assessment, Rejects Penalties (Marathon Petroleum Co. v. Cook County Department of Revenue)

Butler Brothers Supply Division, LLC v. HN Precision Company, 2022 IL App (2d) 220418-U
NOTE: I will post several articles going through different portions of this case. The Second District’s 34 page opinion provides instructive guidance and thorough reasoning on several interesting issues. The case background is fairly fact-intensive, I tried to simplify it as much as possible.
BACKGROUND
In a long and procedurally intensive decision, the Second District Appellate Court reviewed on appeal claims against several parties alleging common law fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, and benefiting from a scheme to defraud. The three fraud related counts were brought

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Continue Reading Final and Appealable or Interlocutory; Jurisdictional Questions (Butler Brothers v. HN Precision)

Ortiz v. State, 869 A.2d 285 (2005)
Juan Ortiz was convicted of first degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and arson in the second degree. The jury voted eleven to one to sentence Ortiz to death. This article will primarily review the issue that involves the trial judge’s decision to deny Ortiz the supplemental voir dire questionnaire.
After his conviction, Ortiz appealed and brought up six issues. The issues primarily pertain to questions issues jury questions and certain evidence that was admitted during the trial. For example the victim’s wounds were repeatedly shown to

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Continue Reading Trial Judge’s “Broad Discretion in Voir Dire (Ortiz v. State)

Adams v. Commissioner, 160 T.C. No. 1 (U.S.T.C. January 24, 2023)
Last month, the U.S. Tax Court considered a pro se litigant’s challenge to the Commissioner’s decision to revoke his passport over $1.2 million in assessed tax liability. Cross motions for summary judgment were filed, with Adams alleging that the tax liabilities assessed were improper and that revoking his passport was unconstitutional. The Tax Court held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the constitutional challenge and that the revocation was proper because there is no requirement under the Internal Revenue Code that the tax was properly assessed, just that it

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Continue Reading Tax Court Affirms Passport Revocation, Lacks Jurisdiction for Constitutional Challenge

Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc., Docket No. 127801 (February 2, 2023)
The Illinois Supreme Court today released its groundbreaking decision involving statute of limitations in the notorious Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). I have written extensively on the onslaught of complaints on this issue pending in both federal and state courts.
In Tims v. Black Horse, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the First District Appellate Court and found that the five-year statute of limitations period in section 13-205 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure applies to sections 15(a), 15(b), and 15(e) of BIPA, and the one-year statute of

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Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court’s Major BIPA Decision (Tims v. Black Horse)

INTRODUCTION
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that largely regulates pension, 401(k), and similar employer provided retirement benefit plans. The statute is intensive, it provides strict regulations pertaining to fiduciary duties by employers and similar sorts of requirements. While lawsuits arising from ERISA are often initiated by employees, there is also an enforcement mechanism from the Department of Labor. The Supreme Court’s decision in Hughes v. Northwestern considered whether the University breached its fiduciary duty of prudence by failing to remote certain low performing retirement options from its basket of options. The Seventh

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Continue Reading Hughes v. Northwestern: ERISA’s and the Duty of Prudence