Brian Crompton worked as a railroad employee for BNSF Railway. On April 24, 2011, Crompton worked on a locomotive that was to travel from Paducah, Ky., to downstate Centralia, Ill. Crompton was severely injured during the trip from Paducah when he was knocked off the train by a door that…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago has agreed that a concert ticket tying parking to the music concert was not a violation of the federal antitrust laws. James Batson brought a ticket from O.A.R. Concert at Live Nation’s box office at the 3 on July…
On March 23, 2010, two officers of the Chicago Police Department flagged down two men who appeared panicked. One of the men told the officers that a Hispanic man wearing a white tank top had just fired a gun at him. The man directed the police officers to an alley…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago has affirmed the decision of a district court judge regarding the conviction of Henry R. Brown. Brown was convicted after a jury trial of conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and was sentenced to life imprisonment…
The U.S. District Court certified a class of property owners in Roxana, Ill., which is a small town across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. In the lawsuit it was claimed that Shell Oil, together with its subsidiaries, was responsible for the leakage of poisonous benzene and other contaminants into…
This is a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago found that the defendant had contracted with an out-of-state buyer. The court found that the buyer performed all contractual obligations in his own state; however, the required sufficient minimum contacts were not found…
A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago naming several United States and Canadian companies as defendants. The allegations in the complaint allege that these companies acted on a medical discount scam that targeted seniors. According…
In a case decided in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Perry v. A.W. Chesterton Inc., it was determined that brakes located onto a rail car are a “part or appurtenance” to a locomotive and therefore the plaintiff’s state law asbestos claims were pre-empted by the federal Locomotive Inspection Act (LIA). …
Officials at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) believe that U.S. truck and bus regulators are not catching on to serious safety hazards before fatal crashes occur. The NTSB has stated that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has known about deficiencies in bus company practices before some fatal crashes, but…
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found five safety violations that carried a proposed penalty of $158,015 against an Illinois roofing company. The company, Affordable Roofing and Exteriors, Inc. of Trenton, Ill., was cited after inspections at three job sites where workers were improperly…