Big John, Ramblin’ Ray, and Governor Bruce Rauner mention the latest lawsuit against J.B. Pritzker involving people from his campaign staff. Gov Rauner goes into Pritzker’s tax policies and how will hurt the people of Illinois. He also touches upon topics of mental health, the service he has done for Illinois, and his plans to help the people of Illinois.
Tag Archives: Lawsuit
Lawsuit claims Cook County detainees were secretly monitored in holding cell bathrooms
A new class action lawsuit has accused Cook County sheriff’s deputies of spying on inmates while they used the bathroom in holding cells.
This class action lawsuit against the county and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart involves tens of thousands of men and women who were detained in holding cells in every Cook County courthouse.
The lawsuit states “pretrial detainees retain an expectation of privacy in their naked bodies, genitals, and bodily functions.”
Attorney Tom Zimmerman said the cameras are monitored in real time by male and female sheriff’s police and kept for 30 days.
Chief policy officer for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Cara Smith, released a statement saying:
“We vehemently deny the allegations that there are hidden or secret cameras focused on detainees’ private parts or the toilet areas of holding cells. Fixed cameras are present in the holding cells in courthouses as a critical tool to ensure the safety of staff, the safety of detainees and transparency of our operations.”
Smith also called the allegation outrageous. The complaint was filed in federal court on Wednesday.
Read more at WGN-TV.
Attorney Lou Cairo on MGM resorts suing 1,000 Victims of Las Vegas Shooting
Big John and Ramblin’ Ray are joined with Attorney Lou Caico, of GWC Lawfirm, where he gives his professional opinion on MGM resorts looking to sue 1,000 victims from the Las Vegas shooting.
Suit: Chicago’s destruction of 911 recordings violates state law
(CHICAGO) A lawsuit filed Tuesday by a group of Chicago-area civil rights lawyers alleges the city’s policy of destroying 911 call recordings after 30 days violates state law.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the Chicago Civil Rights Project, claims the city deletes the recordings “for administrative convenience,” unless there is a notice to preserve specific recordings.
Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city’s law department, declined to comment on the suit but said in an email that the city “has taken significant steps to improve transparency and access to public records during the past year, including increasing the time to store audio recordings from 30 to 90 days.”
Workers at the Office of Emergency Management and Communication can certify the destruction of 911 recordings if they don’t contain relevant evidence in pending or anticipated cases, but the suit claims recordings are often destroyed “without conducting any affirmative investigation.”
Backup copies of recordings are stored, but aren’t searchable by the Chicago Civil Rights Project and other attorneys who use them in criminal defense and exoneration cases, the suit says.
The city’s system dates back to a time when calls were stored on tape and overwritten to cut costs. A digital upgrade for up to 20 years of storage would cost the city less than $10,000, the suit says.
The lawsuit, which alleges the city is in violation of the Local Records Act, seeks a court order to halt the destruction of 911 calls and transfer all backup recordings to the city’s primary system, making them available to the public.
Orlando Shooting Victims Sue Social Media Giants
Is it possible to sue social giants like Twitter and Facebook?
Keith Altman is a lawyer representing the families of the victims in the Orlando shooting who are suing social media sites. He joined the John and Ray morning show to talk about why they are suing social media sites.
The lawsuit claims that the social media services are “making it too easy for the Islamic State to spread its message.”
Chicago-based US court to hear LGBT-workplace bias appeal
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago-based court will consider arguments that protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act should expand to cover LGBT workers.
The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear Indiana teacher Kimberly Hively’s appeal Wednesday. It vacated a ruling by three of its own judges in July that the landmark workplace-discrimination law doesn’t cover sexual-orientation bias. Hively alleges a college didn’t hire her full time because she is a lesbian.
The three-judge panel did criticize the lack of sexual-orientation workplace protections, but said they must come from Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate a social conservative to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, making High Court action on the issue uncertain.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
CPS hit with 9th lawsuit from CO leak that sickened 71 kids
(CHICAGO) Chicago’s Board of Education is facing at least its ninth lawsuit since a carbon monoxide leak at Northwest Side school last fall that sent dozens of children to hospitals.
Maria Bogojel filed the suit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of her daughter, a student at Prussing Elementary School, 4650 N. Menard Ave.
About 9:30 a.m. Oct. 30, 2015, emergency crews were called for a report of a sick child in the gymnasium, fire officials said at the time. The school was evacuated when high carbon monoxide levels were detected in the hallways.
At least 71 children and seven adults were taken to various hospitals with dizziness, nausea and abdominal pain. None of the illnesses were thought to be life-threatening.
The school’s boiler was the source of the leak, Chicago Public Schools officials said at the time. Representatives did not immediately return requests for comment on the latest lawsuit Monday evening.
Bogojel claims her daughter suffered serious injuries and that school officials should have better maintained the building’s boiler vent system. The three-count negligence suit seeks more than $150,000 in damages.
Six other Prussing families filed suit against the school board in November 2015, followed by two more this past August.
Chicago man sues House Speaker Madigan over failed primary
(CHICAGO) A man who unsuccessfully challenged Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in the Democratic primary has filed a lawsuit accusing the longtime political powerbroker of fraud and seeking to “win at all costs.”
Jason Gonzales of Chicago says Madigan falsely called him a “convicted felon” in campaign ads. He also says Madigan ran two “phony” candidates with Hispanic last names to dilute the votes of Hispanic residents in their 22nd House district race.
Gonzales said Monday “this stuff has got to stop.”
Gonzales was convicted of theft and other crimes as a teenager. He received a pardon and his criminal record was expunged in 2015.
Madigan says Gonzales “cannot be trusted and his lawsuit is without merit.”
Madigan won the March primary with 65 percent. Gonzales won 27 percent.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Lawsuit: Chicago officer threatened 1-year-old would feel Taser
(CHICAGO) A man claims in a federal lawsuit a Chicago police officer threatened to use a Taser on him last year while he held his 1-year-old son in his arms — and warned him his son would feel the electricity.
They also said police officers slammed the man onto the hood of a vehicle, smashing the baby underneath him. They said the entire incident was caught on video by a security camera, but none of the officers involved had their dash cameras activated to capture it. The claims appear in a lawsuit Cesar Carrizales filed Tuesday along with Theresa Cmiel, the mother of his son, against the city and several police officers, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
A spokesman for the city’s law department had no comment on the lawsuit, saying they hadn’t seen it yet.
The couple said Carrizales was approached by officers in an alleyway Oct. 10 as he approached his garage, and they demanded he put his son down. The boy was barefoot — and the alleyway was filthy — and Carrizales told officers Cmiel would take the child, according to their complaint.
That’s when the couple claims officers “began to violently assault” Carrizales with his son in his arms. They also tried to pry the boy away, and the boy “screamed in a way that Mr. Carrizales and his mother had never heard before,” they said.
The officers allegedly slammed Carrizales into the hood of a vehicle, “pinning and smashing” the boy beneath him. When an officer held an object to Carrizales’ head and threatened the use of a Taser, Carrizales screamed for Cmiel, according to the lawsuit. That’s when she came outside and collected the child, it said.
The lawsuit indicates officers confronted Carrizales because a neighbor had called to complain Carrizales had damaged a fence on the property line and threatened the neighbor.
“Even if true, these allegations amounted to minor misdemeanor charges,” the lawsuit states.
Carrizales was initially charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, but that was eventually dismissed, and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting arrest, the lawsuit says.
Suit Against Duckworth Can Move Forward
By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) A tentative trial date has been set in a lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
A judge in Downstate Union County has decided to let the workplace retaliation lawsuit to go to trial in August. Two workers at a Southern Illinois Veteran’s home accuse Duckworth of ethics violations when she headed up the Illinois Department of Veteran’s Affairs. The suit is seven years in the making.
Republicans have highlighted the case as they try to stop Duckworth’s bid to unseat U.S. Sen Mark Kirk in November. Duckworth supporters say the case is aimed to damage her politically, but the employees behind the suit say it’s got nothing to do with politics.
@ 2016 WLS-AM news
Emanuel to Court: Throw Out Lucas Museum Lawsuit
By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Mayor Rahm Emanuel is going to court to try to save the Lucas Museum for Chicago.
Emanuel is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to throw out the Friends of the Parks lawsuit that’s been blocking the Lucas Museum on a Soldier Field parking lot.
With George Lucas seriously looking at offers from other cities, the mayor is telling the court that time is off the essence.
Emanuel is also trying to isolate Friends of the Parks as the bad guys trying to spoil a billion dollar gem for the museum campus and shame them into making a deal to drop their lawsuit.
But if he loses, Emanuel told reporters it’s not a blow to him.
“I can’t stop you because you’ll say, in your way, this is my loss. Go ahead. I don’t really care how you do it,” Emanuel said. “Guess what? When your a mayor or an elected official, you’ve got to walk and chew gum. You’ve got to do them all. You don’t get to choose and pick and if you have an opportunity for nearly a billion dollars of economic development, you don’t just kind of be willy-nilly about it.”
@2016 WLS-AM News
Individual “A” Sues Hastert for Breach of Contract
By Nick Gale, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Ahead of his sentencing hearing later this week, the person at the center of the criminal case against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, has filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract.
Individual A, identified in the new lawsuit as “James Doe,” is seeking the remaining $1.8 million Hastert promised to pay him. The lawsuit was filed in Kendall County.
Hastert, who had claimed he was being extorted, promised to pay Individual A $3.5 million to cover up sexual misconduct from Hastert’s days as a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. He pleaded guilty to violating banking laws after withdrawing large sums of money. He lied to the FBI about the cash, which was used to pay Individual A, who has collected $1.7 million so far.
Hastert will be sentenced Wednesday, where one victim and the sister of another victim are expected to testify. Attorneys have asked for probation for the 74-year-old. Prosecutors have asked for six months, but the judge could sentence Hastert to a maximum of five years in prison.
@ 2016 WLS-AM News
Chicago Police sued in shooting death of black teen
.By John Dempsey
(CHICAGO) The mother of a 16 year old black teenager shot dead by Chicago Police April 11th, is filing a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago and two unnamed police officers.
The lawsuit from the mother of 16-year old Pierre Loury also cites findings from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s task force on police accountability, which found inherent racism in the department, and found that Chicago police have “no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.”
Police First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante has said Loury ran away from a car that officers had pulled over because it matched the description of a vehicle used in an earlier shooting.
Escalante also said that during the foot chase, Loury turned and aimed at gun at an officer, who then fired the shots that killed him.
An autopsy showed the teen was shot in the chest. Police called Loury a documented gang member, and said they recovered a semi-automatic weapon at the scene.
Loury had also posted a photo of himself online holding a gun, and wearing a gang tattoo on his neck.
The lawsuit filed in Chicago Federal Court also accuses police of conspiring with one another to lie about what happened during the incident.
@ 2016 WLS News
Lawsuit: NHL Put Profits Ahead of Players
By Nick Gale, WLS News
(CHICAGO) A Chicago based law firm has filed a lawsuit against the National Hockey League on behalf of the family of a deceased former Blackhawks player.
The firm Corboy & Demetrio has filed the suit claiming that as far back as 1997 the NHL had data on repetitive head trauma in hockey but failed to warn Steve Montador of the long term mental and cognitive health impairments.
Montador, who played for a number of teams including the Blackhawks and the Ducks, died earlier this year at age 35. When his brain was examined it turned out he suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, which can cause depression, sleeplessness, memory loss and more.
Attorney William Gibbs is representing the Montador estate. He says the NHL failed to warn players of the risk, putting profits first.
“The NHL for years has been scared of eliminating fighting based upon one reason and that is that they’re worried the turnstiles won’t spin as frequently,” Gibbs tells WLS News.
The NHL had previously said of Montador’s death that they don’t see a link between his heath and his NHL career.
Separate from this case, there is a class action lawsuit pending against the NHL alleging that the league failed to warn them of the true dangers of repetitive head trauma.
@ 2015 WLS News
Ousted COD President Files Wrongful Termination Suit
By Nick Gale, WLS News
(Glen Ellyn, Il) Many people following the story thought this was inevitable. A day after his ouster by board members, the former president of the College of DuPage has filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination.
Robert Breuder filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the College of DuPage board and the four trustees who approved a resolution Tuesday night to remove him. His firing comes after an internal investigation claimed to have found evidence of “misconduct and mismanagement.”
Breuder was dismissed almost five months before he was scheduled to step down with a $763,000 severance package. That large severance didn’t sit well with some of the trustees, students, staff and some politicians.
The lawsuit claims that the board chairwoman ran a campaign to tarnish Breuder’s reputation. It also says his constitutional rights were violated.
@ 2015 WLS News
Suit: Northbrook company tossed sensitive medical records in dumpster
(Northbrook) A document storage company tossed sensitive medical records into an unlocked Dumpster outside its north suburban office, putting thousands of people’s identities at risk, according to a lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against FileFax Inc, claims hundreds of files containing complete medical records were discovered discarded in a dumpster outside the firm’s Northbrook office.
The medical records belonged to patients of Suburban Lung Associates, which operates out of several locations in the north and northwest suburbs, a statement from the attorney general’s office said. The company contracted with FileFax to maintain and destroy patient medical records.
The lawsuit claims FileFax “failed to provide safe, secure and proper collection, retention, storage and destruction of Suburban Lung records.” It also alleges violations of the state’s Personal Information Protection Act and the Deceptive Business Practices Act.
In some instances, FileFax disposed of records in an unlocked garbage Dumpster outside of its offices that was accessible to the public, according to the suit.
“This company brazenly violated the law and jeopardized the personal information and privacy of thousands of Illinois residents,” Madigan said in the statement.
Chicago cop sues sergeant who accused him of sexual assault
(CHICAGO) A Chicago Police officer who was charged with sexually assaulting a fellow officer in 2013, only to see the charges dropped, is suing his accuser and several other police department colleagues who, he alleges, acted on allegations that “were without merit.”
Officer Juan Belmontes filed the lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court. On April 17, 2013, Belmontes was charged with sexually assaulting a Chicago Police sergeant while at an apartment in the Woodlawn neighborhood.
Three weeks after the charges were filed and Belmontes posted a $2,500 bond, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office declined to further prosecute him, the suit stated.
The bogus charges were brought against Belmontes after he saw his accuser vomiting and lying on the floor of the apartment on April 16, 2013, the suit stated. He nudged the sergeant with his foot and asked if she was all right, to which she responded “How f—ing dare you, mother——!” the suit stated.
Belmontes then left the apartment “in an effort to avoid further confrontation,” the suit stated.
About 11:20 a.m. on April 17, Belmontes’ accuser went to a police station out of her assigned district to file charges against him, the suit stated. She went to a different district — the Englewood District — “to enlist the aid of officers [she] was well acquainted with to further her false allegations.”
The same day, a lieutenant, who was also named as a defendant, called Belmontes and told him that she was sending a squad car to pick him up. He was taken to the Englewood District, told he was under arrest and placed in a lineup, the suit stated.
Belmontes was taken to the Calumet District on the Far South Side and placed in an interview room where he asked for an attorney. A detective interviewing him — also named as a defendant — asked him “if he was sure he wanted to do that” and demanded a statement from Belmontes, the suit stated.
The detective demanded a statement and that Belmontes unlock his cellphone, but he “did not entertain [the detective’s] demands,” the suit stated.
Shortly thereafter, Belmontes was told charges against him had been approved and he was taken to the Cook County Jail. After his bond hearing, he posted a $2,500 bail and was released, the suit stated.
On May 8, Belmontes again appeared in court and the assistant state’s attorney handling his case declined to prosecute further, the suit stated.
Another detective investigating his case was also named as a defendant, as was the Chicago Police Department.
A spokesman for the city’s Law Department declined to comment Monday, saying the city has not yet reviewed the lawsuit.
Belmontes alleges malicious prosecution and is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages.
Suit: Man spent 21 months in jail on murder charge after police ‘fabrication’
(CHICAGO) A South Side man who spent nearly two years in jail on a murder charge is suing six members of the Chicago Police Department who, a new lawsuit says, willfully disregarded evidence that would have exonerated him almost immediately.
Tahari Wilson — who is currently held in the Cook County Jail on different charges — filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against six members of the Chicago Police Department. Wilson claims he was wrongly held and charged in connection with a 2012 shooting that left one man dead and another injured.
About 8:35 p.m. on July 12, 2012, 27-year-old Andrew Jackson was walking in the 1200 block of West 79th Street when someone walked up and opened fire, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said at the time. Another man, 41, was shot in the leg and survived.
According to Wilson’s suit, he was a block away walking with members of his family when the shooting occurred and witnessed it occur himself. Wilson, now 23, was arrested — without just cause, the suit stated — a short time later in the 8100 block of South Elizabeth.
The arresting officers brought him back to the crime scene and presented him to several witnesses. None of them said Wilson was the shooter, and he was then brought to an area police station, the suit stated. While there, detectives learned that there was video surveillance of the shooting.
Though the detectives watched the video surveillance within a day of learning about it, and despite it showing two shooters — neither of whom looked like Wilson — police still held him, the suit stated.
Witnesses to the shooting were brought in to view a lineup that included Wilson, and they then identified him as the shooter, according to the suit.
However, the suit states that detectives led witnesses “to believe that the shooter was in custody and/or in the lineup.”
Investigators then gave Wilson a polygraph test and falsely claimed he “showed deception” during his examination, the suit stated.
Maintaining his innocence, Wilson went so far as to give police the name of a man he believed to be one of the shooters, but investigators never followed up, the suit stated.
“Through the fabrication of reports, the failure to follow up on reasonable avenues of investigation, and unduly suggestive identification procedures, [police] misled an assistant state’s attorney to approve murder charges against [Wilson],” the suit stated.
Wilson couldn’t post bail and remained in the Cook County Jail waiting for trial. His public defender talked with two of the witnesses who pointed to Wilson in the lineup and they told the attorney that they could not identify Wilson as the shooter, the suit stated.
After learning of the witnesses’ inability to identify Wilson, charges against him were dropped on April 11, 2014. He was in jail for 21 months, the suit stated.
Two weeks after he was released from jail, Wilson was arrested again near 82nd and Loomis and later charged with possession of a controlled substance and felony possession of a firearm, court and police records show.
He remains housed in the Cook County Jail, held on $70,000 bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office website. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 28.
The four-count suit, which also names the City of Chicago as a defendant, alleges malicious prosecution, and conspiracy. It seeks more than $200,000 in damages.
A spokesman for the city’s Law Department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Mother claims Bellwood school employee shoved 4-year-old into locker
(BELLWOOD) A lawsuit filed Thursday claims a preschool employee shoved a 4-year-old girl into a locker last year in west suburban Bellwood.
The girl’s mother filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Bellwood School District 88 and two women who work at Lincoln Primary School, 3519 Wilcox Ave.
The suit claims on Oct. 10, 2014, one of the employees forced the 4-year-old into a classroom locker while the other woman watched.
When the girl’s mother came to pick her up, she thought her daughter was missing before learning what happened, the suit said. Her daughter was “terrified and alone, and sobbing in tears, for an extended period of time,” the suit said.
One of the named employees did not touch the girl but witnessed the whole incident and did not do anything to stop her colleague or let the girl out, the suit claims.
The woman who allegedly hurt the girl had a habit of unreasonably disciplining students, and the district knew about it, the suit claims. Because of this, the suit states officials should have contacted the state’s Department of Children and Family Services.
The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Among its claims, the eight-count suit holds the employees and school district responsible for inflicting emotional distress on the girl.
The suit is demanding at least $200,000 in damages, as well as compensation under the Family Expense Act.
© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Woman claims boss made her hug him daily, touched her inappropriately
(OAK PARK) An Oak Park woman who claims her district manager made her hug him each day before leaving work has filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer.
Eugenia Brown began working as an insurance sales agent at Transamerica Insurance in west suburban Hillside in November 2012. During Brown’s employment, her district manager would grab her buttocks, rub her shoulders, send inappropriate text messages and show up to her home uninvited, according to the suit.
In one incident, Brown’s manager would comment on her clothing through Facebook, where he remarked, “ … with that skirt, I had to keep it together,” the suit said.
In May 2013, the manager showed up to Brown’s home unannounced and asked if he could use Brown’s bathroom, the suit said. Once inside, he pinned Brown against the wall and tried to move her to her bedroom by pressing his body against hers while attempting to kiss her with his tongue, the lawsuit said.
The harassment continued until Brown resigned on July 1, 2013, according to the suit.
Brown reported the harassment both during and after her employment, but no action was taken, the suit said.
The seven-count suit claims sexual harassment and seeks unspecified damages.
© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
