Seventh Circuit Rejects The Separate-Accrual Rule In Copyright Ownership Disputes
The Seventh Circuit recently answered an important question about when suits under the Copyright Act accrue for purposes of its three-year statute of limitations. See 17 U.S.C. § 507(b). In Consumer Health Information Corp. v. Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No....
Patent Litigator Mimi Addy Joins TDR
New Partner Deepens TDR's Intellectual Property Practice Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC is proud to announce that highly accomplished patent litigator Meredith "Mimi" Addy is joining the firm as a Partner. Addy deepens our intellectual property practice and...
Suit to Enjoin Corporate Dissolution and Suit for Fraud are Same Cause for Purpose of 2-619(a)(3) Dismissal
The Illinois Code of Civil Procedure provides a mechanism for the circuit court to dismiss an action where there is "another action pending between the same parties for the same cause." 735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(3). In Schacht v. Lome, 2016 IL App (1st) 141931, the...
Appellate Court Does Not Have Jurisdiction to Review Order Denying Judgment in Supplementary Proceeding
As a general rule, the Illinois appellate court only has jurisdiction to review final judgments. Ill. Sup. Ct. R. 303(a). When there are multiple claims and parties, and there has been a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of them, the appellate...
Seventh Circuit Indicates Willingness to Revisit Causation Standard for ADA Claims
Although it left the issue undecided, the Seventh Circuit recently noted that the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act may have altered its causation standard. The case, Arroyo v. Volvo Group North America LLC, No. 14-3618, 2015 WL 5846595 (Oct. 6,...
Intermediate Standard of Review Applied to Deny Conditional Pre-Notice Class Certification Under FLSA
In an article in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Jordan Wilkow discusses a recent case from the Northern District of Illinois that, for the first time in the Northern District, denied conditional pre-notice class certification under the Fair Labor Standards Act after...
Circuit Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Review Arbitrator’s Ruling In Favor of Failed Bank
John M. Fitzgerald and Uri Abt discuss a recent Illinois appellate court opinion interpreting the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), the federal law governing claims against failed banks, in their regular column in the Chicago Daily...
Illinois Supreme Court Distinguishes between Confidential and Privileged Information
Do statutory confidentiality provisions mandate that information designated "confidential" is also non-discoverable? No, the Illinois Supreme Court recently held in Klaine v. Southern Illinois Hospital Services, 2016 IL 118217. Rather, "the confidential nature of...
Federal District Court Applies Newly Amended Rule 37(e)
Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of the Southern District of New York recently granted, in part, a motion for sanctions that raised "significant issues concerning the reach of newly amended Rule 37(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the standard of proof...
Appellate Court Considers Illinois’ Relation Back Rule After Krupski
In their regular column in the the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, "The Bottom Line," John M. Fitzgerald and Uri Abt discuss a recent a Illinois appellate court opinion that answered two certified questions about Illinois' relation back rule in light of the United States...
Intradistrict Conflict on the Effect of Video Played for the Jury in the Courtroom in the Presence of Judge, Attorneys, and Defendant, after Commencement of Jury Deliberations
Although not directly related to any codified evidence rule, it is important to be aware of three appellate court split decisions in the Third District resulting in intradistrict conflicts about the propriety of playing a video—at the request of the jury after jury...
Appellate Court Holds that Trial Is Needed to Determine Whether Commercial Dispute Must be Arbitrated
The recent case of Sturgill v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., 2016 IL App (5th) 140380, demonstrates that while most motions to compel arbitration pursuant to a written contract will be determined based only upon the allegations of the plaintiffs complaint and the...
Court’s Ruling that Trademark Plaintiffs Have Right to Jury Trial When Claiming Defendants’ Profits As Damages Leads to $54 Million Jury Verdict
Judge Dow of the Northern District of Illinois recently denied a motion to strike a jury demand for trademark-related claims after holding that plaintiffs who claim an infringer's profits as a proxy for damages have a constitutional right to a jury trial. The...
Wilkow Authors CDLB Article
Counter-Intuitive Considerations for Plaintiffs, Defendants Considering FLSA Class Discovery TDR attorney Jordan Wilkow authored an article in the February 10 edition of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (subscription may be required). The article, "Defendants,...
Illinois Military Leave of Absence Act is Interpreted by a Court for the First Time
A court has, for the first time, passed on employer liability under the Illinois Military Leave of Absence Act ("IMLOAA"), 5 ILCS 325/1. See Bello v. Village of Skokie, No. 14 C 1718, 2015 WL 9582986, at *14 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 31, 2015). On the face of it, the Act's...
Individual Liability Under the Illinois Whistleblower Act
Bello v. Village of Skokie, No. 14 C 1718, 2014 WL 4344391, at *8-9 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 2, 2014) and 2015 WL 9582986, at *12 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 31, 2015) are the latest decisions out of the Northern District of Illinois to weigh in on an open question over individual...
Can Former Minority Owners of an LLC Bring a Legal Malpractice Claim Against Company’s Law Firm?
In Stevens v. McGuireWoods LLP, 2015 IL 118652 (Thomas, J.), the Illinois Supreme Court was called upon to decide whether former minority members of an LLC could bring a legal malpractice action against the LLC's litigation law firm for allegedly failing to timely...
What Constitutes “Intentional Discrimination” Under the ADA?
A federal district judge recently answered a question still open in the Seventh Circuit, and that has split the other circuits: whether a plaintiff seeking compensatory damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or the Rehabilitation Act is required to show...