Cook County Judge William Gomolinski ruled that the language in the Illinois Constitution, Section 1, Article 13, “The right to trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate,” prevails and thus the law adopted for 6-person juries is unconstitutional. What the judge wrote in his opinion was that the…
Generally the law in Illinois states that a guarantor is entitled to assert the same defenses that would be available to the principal obligor. W.W. Merck White Lead Co. v. McGahey, 159 Ill.App. 418 (1st Dist. 1911). “Under Illinois law, ‘the liability of a guarantor is limited by and is…
The Rev. Timothy O’Malley and William O’Malley were two of Eileen O’Malley’s sons. In 1996, Eileen O’Malley experienced the first signs of dementia. The same year, Eileen and Timothy opened a joint checking account with First Midwest Bank Corp. Eileen instructed that the account statements be sent to the Palos…
On Oct. 28, 2013, Robert Skahill signed a contract with Metropolitan Properties & Development Inc. The contract called for him to buy the property from Metropolitan for $3.1 million. Skahill was required to put down $50,000 as earnest money of which $5,000 was due on the signing of the contract…
On Sept. 10, 2011, Stefan Zlatev was involved in a fight that started in an apartment building and spilled out to the street. During the fight, Zlatev was hit on the head with a brick. He suffered several broken bones to his face. The big issue in this case was…
The issue before the Illinois Appellate Court was whether the parties’ high-low agreement was a settlement agreement and if so, whether interest pursuant to Section 2-1303 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure accrues on an award that is predetermined by that high-low agreement. Mark Pinske thought he was entitled…
The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a jury’s wrongful death verdict regarding the death of a woman who was hit by a truck as she stood on the side of a road next to her disabled car. The woman’s husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the truck driver, the…
Richard Yanni appealed from the trial court’s order that imposed a constructive trust on property he owned and awarded attorney fees and punitive damages against him. The appellate court ruled that the trial court was wrong in denying his motion to dismiss. Accordingly, the Illinois Appellate Court vacated the trial…
The Illinois Appellate Court has ruled in a dispute regarding who should inherit a home in Highland Park, Ill. Although a trust instrument stated the house was part of the trust, there was no separate, formal documentation showing that a transfer of the house had been placed in the trust.…
Caterpillar Inc. purchased a factory owned by Bucyrus International located in Milwaukee. That facility was making strip-mining equipment. Because of the purchase, Caterpillar assumed the labor contract Bucyrus previously had negotiated with the United Steelworkers Union. About two months after the July 2011 purchase, a 36-ton piece of machinery called…