Celeste Bott News Today

Federal prosecutors asked an Illinois federal judge Monday to send former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to prison for 10 years for "brazenly and boldly" using his official position to steer tax business to his law firm, while Burke requested a sentence of probation, bolstered by letters of support from prominent attorneys and retired judges.

Attorneys for GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim told a Chicago jury Wednesday that no one besides a plaintiff's paid witnesses have said publicly that Zantac heartburn medication causes colon cancer, calling on the jurors to reject claims that the companies owe $640 million for a woman's cancer diagnosis.

A Chicago jury found Thursday that Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts sold by GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim are not responsible for an Illinois woman's colon cancer and her subsequent, debilitating symptoms, handing the drug companies a decisive victory in the first of hundreds of such cases to go to trial.

An Illinois federal judge on Friday trimmed a second lawsuit by charities challenging the way PayPal solicits and distributes charitable contributions, saying they can't get a "second bite of the apple" after their nearly identical claims were dismissed because they'd agreed to individually arbitrate disputes.

The first trial in sprawling state and federal litigation over whether a chemical in Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts causes cancer began Thursday in a packed Chicago courtroom, with counsel for an 89-year-old Illinois woman telling jurors her colorectal cancer diagnosis and the suffering it's caused can be attributed to her 20-year use of the drug.

The first trial in sprawling state and federal litigation over whether a chemical in Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts causes cancer began Thursday in a packed Chicago courtroom, with counsel for an 89-year-old Illinois woman telling jurors her colorectal cancer diagnosis and the suffering it's caused can be attributed to her 20-year use of the drug.

An Illinois state court judge has thrown out a proposed class action accusing Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp. of violating the state's decades-old genetic information privacy law, saying Wednesday the lead plaintiff not only released the hospital system from liability, but was largely asked about her own medical status after she was already offered a job.

An Illinois federal judge said Thursday he would grant preliminary approval to a $9.4 million settlement resolving a class action targeting White Castle's biometric timekeeping practices but added he wants more information on why all employees are poised to receive the same recovery regardless of how long they worked there.

An Illinois judge on Thursday refused to reconsider his decision to let an investment company move ahead with its lawsuit accusing Perkins Coie of helping the company's former investment manager steal $12 million and opted not to certify questions raised by the firm about his reasoning to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Patients who cut a $55 million antitrust settlement with NorthShore University HealthSystem are urging an Illinois federal court to reject objections by United Healthcare Services, arguing that the insurer has no standing to derail the deal and that its challenge to the agreement could dilute their recovery.