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Daily Legal News
Judge orders McHenry County to pay $290,000 in legal fees for Bianchi case
A judge on Thursday ordered McHenry County to pay about $290,000 in legal fees for the failed prosecution of State's Attorney Louis Bianchi â though the county is still fighting the bills.
Chicago Tribune
Court allows appeal in murder case
The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of a petition for leave to appeal brought forth on behalf of the Jackson County state's attorney after an appeals court upheld a Jackson County judge's dismissal of a murder charge against Elijah S. Lacy.
Southern Illinoisan
Beyond the billable hour
More clients - and lawyers for that matter - are looking for value-based alternatives to the billable hour. The good news? They can be a win-win for attorney and client.
Illinois Bar Journal
More Bloodletting at Legal Services
Civil legal aid groups that receive money from the Legal Services Corp. estimated that they will cut 163 lawyers and 230 other employees this year after Congress trimmed the agency's budget by 14 percent for fiscal 2012, according to an LSC survey released Thursday.
National Law Journal
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ISBA News
February 2012 Illinois Bar Journal
Beyond the billable hour, ethics puzzlers, the "cat's paw" theory, and more.
Read IBJ on your iPad
The ISBA is now making the Illinois Bar Journal available for download as a PDF to allow members to read the latest issue of the Journal on their iPads and other devices.
Illinois Court Cases
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal
Fines and Costs 4th Dist.
People v. Burney , 2011 IL App (4th) 100343 (December 27, 2011) Jersey Co. (TURNER) Affirmed in part and vacated in part; remanded with directions.
(Court opinion modified upon denial of rehearing 1/26/12.) Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of residential burglary and criminal trespass to a residence. Court erred in imposing fee for reimbursement of court-appointed counsel without first conducting hearing as to Defendant's financial circumstances and ability to pay. Court properly excluded dog-tracking evidence. No error in prosecutor's statements about reasonable doubt, as he did not diminish State's burden of proof or shift burden to Defendant. Prosecutor's statements in closing
argument that victim was a victim of a traumatic event was reasonable inference from evidence, and sought to hold Defendant accountable. Conviction for criminal trespass to residence must be vacated as it violates one-act, one-crime rule. (STEIGMANN, concurring; COOK, specially concurring).
Federal Court Cases
7th Circuit
Civil
Expert Witness
Tribble v. Evangelides, No. 10-3262 (January 26, 2012) N.D. Ill., E. Div. Affirmed and reversed in part and remanded
In section 1983 action alleging that defendants-police officers subjected plaintiff to false arrest and illegal search, which resulted in drug possession charges involving small quantity of drugs that were eventually non-suited by prosecution, Dist. Ct. erred in allowing testimony of Ass't. State's Attorney, who testified on behalf of defendants and indicated existence of practice of non-suiting large number of cases in courtroom where defendant had his charge dismissed due to small quantity of drugs at issue in said charge. Testimony given by Ass't. State's Attorney was in essence expert witness opinion testimony, and thus, should have been stricken under Rule 37(c)(1) where, as here, defendants had failed to
identify said witness as expert, as required by Rule 26(a)(2). Moreover, defendants' failure to identify said witness was prejudicial since: (1) plaintiff was unprepared to effectively challenge witness' competency to testify about percentage of drug cases that were dismissed without court resolving merits of cases; and (2) plaintiff was operating under impression that Dist. Ct. would not allow defendants to provide evidence regarding why plaintiff's drug charge was dismissed where Dist. Ct. had issued pre-trial ruling on said issue.
Securities
Dixon v. ATI Ladish LLC, No. 11-1976 (January 26, 2012) E.D. Wisc. Affirmed
Dist. Ct. did not err in granting judgment on pleadings in favor of defendants-corporation directors in plaintiff-stockholder's state law action alleging that defendant failed to disclose material facts to stockholders in registration and proxy solicitation that occurred prior to third-party buyout of corporation's stock. Plaintiff's action was precluded by business judgment rule that was incorporated in Wisc. statute that gave defendants immunity from lawsuits alleging breach of any duty resulting from their status as directors of corporation. While Wisc. statute had two exceptions to said immunity, plaintiff failed to allege that defendants violated any duty of loyalty or had engaged in any willful misconduct.
Legislation
Judicial campaigns and disqualification
House Bill 4098
(Kay, R-Ewardsville) requires the Supreme Court to establish rules allowing for the disclosure by that attorney and disqualification of a judge who has received more than $500 in political contributions in the last five years from that lawyer or law firm if a case is assigned to that judge. Assigned to House Rules Committee for referral to a substantive committee.
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Administrative support orders
House Bill 4129
(Costello, D-Belleville) sets forth filing and notification requirements for judicially registering an administrative support order. Provides that a nonregistering party seeking to contest enforcement of a registered administrative support order must (1) request a hearing within 30 days after the date of service of notice of the registration; and (2) the party seeking to do this or vacate the registration has the burden of proving one or more specified defenses. Assigned to House Rules Committee for referral to a substantive committee.
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New crime
House Bill 4077
(Kosel, R-Mokena) creates the new crime of making a false statement to a peace officer or investigator. A person commits the offense by (1) knowingly making a false statement to a peace officer or investigator regarding a criminal matter that the person knows to be under investigation by the officer; and (2) the person is first informed by a prosecutor during the interview that a knowing false statement constitutes a Class 4 felony. Assigned to House Rules Committee for referral to a substantive committee.
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Eavesdropping exemptions
House Bill 3943
(Zalewski, D-Chicago) makes it an exemption from the eavesdropping law for a peace office or designee to record what the officer believes is a felony violation of Illinoisâ drug laws. No prior court approval is needed before the officer decides to do this. A companion bill is House Bill 4081 (Gordon, D-Peoria). Assigned to House Rules Committee for referral to a substantive committee.
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