Page 2 - Celeste Bott News Today

The Seventh Circuit ruled Monday that Smith & Wesson must litigate in state court lawsuits brought by survivors and the families of victims who were killed or wounded in the July 4, 2022, Highland Park, Illinois, parade shooting, rejecting the gunmaker's argument that its compliance with federal regulators mandated federal jurisdiction.

French Montana has told an Illinois federal judge that a young musician who alleged that the rapper sampled his song to make his hit single "Ain't Worried About Nothin'" should cover the attorney fees and litigation costs he spent defending the "frivolous" copyright lawsuit, suggesting that he only filed it to gain publicity.

The Seventh Circuit's chief judge has resolved judicial misconduct complaints targeting allegedly discriminatory standing orders by some Illinois federal judges encouraging younger, female and minority attorneys to handle oral arguments, after two of the judges rescinded their policies in response to the complaints.

A Cook County judge trimmed a lawsuit Tuesday brought by investors alleging financial mismanagement of the firm behind celebrated Chicago restaurant Maple & Ash, but lambasted defense counsel for dragging out discovery, saying she was "flabbergasted" that they left out information in discovery responses that she ordered them to include late last year.

Illinois voters told a Cook County judge Friday she should issue an order that Donald Trump can't appear on the state's March primary and subsequent general election ballots, arguing an elections board should have been empowered to remove Trump even if he didn't "knowingly" lie about his eligibility. 

The Seventh Circuit on Monday refused to reinstate a lawsuit brought by public school personnel challenging the Illinois governor's orders that they be tested regularly for COVID-19 unless they had been vaccinated, saying the plaintiffs improperly filed one suit in state court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and a second in federal court seeking damages.

A group founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller has filed a discrimination complaint against three Illinois federal judges over their efforts to encourage younger, female and minority attorneys to handle oral arguments in their courtrooms, saying the policies amount to "oral-argument affirmative action for lawyers."

A Michigan appellate panel ruled Thursday that a cannabis company's suit against Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, alleging the firm missed the deadline to file the company's applications for Illinois cannabis dispensing licenses because it was "too busy" with other clients, was itself filed too late and properly thrown out.

An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday rescheduled the April racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to Oct. 8 to allow time for the U.S. Supreme Court to interpret the federal bribery statute, but refused to grant his bid to stay the case entirely because "we have plenty of work to do."

Counsel for former Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore told an Illinois federal judge Thursday that regardless of how the nation's top court interprets the federal bribery statute later this year, the bribery convictions of his client and three former Commonwealth Edison lobbyists won't survive.