The Chicago Tribune reports on a common issue among neighbors: how one can use land and what actions a neighbor can take on their neighbor's land. As real property law is foundational, from the Court of Common Pleas in Coke's time to Learned Hand's NY jurisprudence, much of the controversies involving real property have been resolved.
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After refusing to consider settlement in the case against an off-duty Chicago Police Officer who loudly used his office when threatening and eventually savagely beating Karolina Obrycka, a female bartender, the City is now willing to pay damages in exchange for limiting some very damaging precedent against the City, especially regarding tortious acts committed by its police officers.
Two Chicago police officers who arrested a man filling up his tires at a gas station air pump were found liable for violating that man's civil rights by wrongfully arresting him. The facts speak for themselves, but it must be noted that the Chicago Tribune observes that the City's Corporate Counsel failed to settle this case despite some very unsettling facts, including the fact the Chicago police officers changed their story regarding the Plaintiff and they both failed to appear at the aggravated battery hearing for the Plaintiff.
TMZ, courtesy of CNN, reports that a former Price is Right model has been awarded an $8.4M verdict for gender discrimination at her workplace. The award includes over $700,000 in compensatory damages and $7.7M in punitive damages. The model alleged in a 2010 complaint that the producers of the show
Initially one set of parents, but later more, have come forth with lawsuits alleging that Maine West High School in Des Plaines, IL either knew or should have known about widespread sexually abusive hazing practices on the baseball and soccer teams.
Graphic details aside, the allegations, if true, would pose serious liability on the school district as well as the individuals accused. Schools, especially colleges, have been found liable for damages in hazing incidents. It would be prudent for any organization that involves its employees with children develop clear enforced guidelines on the extent and quantity of contact allowed as well as the nature of the supervision. Look for many schools to take note of this lawsuit and promulgate specific rules if they have not done so already. The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a 7th Circuit Appellate ruling that the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute violates the First Amendment where it prevents citizens from audio recording police officers when they make otherwise non-confidential or priviledged statements. As the Chicago Tribune reports, The Seventh Circuit reversed the trial court's holding that prevents the ACLU from amending its complaint as well as directing the trial court to enter a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Eavesdropping Statute.
Stepping in the shoes of their injured insured, Great Northern Insurance Co. filed suit against Cellar Advisors, a wine moving company hired to move a portion of a wealthy family's wine collection from Illinois to Florida in climate controlled containers. The Chicago Tribune notes that: In June 2012, D. Gideon Searle hired St. Louis-based Cellar to transport the couple's wine collection, held in a Des Plaines warehouse, in refrigerated carriers to a Naples, Fla., wine cellar. The wine to be transported was valued at $2 million. The CTA approved a $5.45 million settlement for the estate of a woman who was run over by a 152 Addison bus when she was trying to remove her bicycle from the front of the bus. The CTA approved the settlement because its bus driver was negligent when he failed to look in front of the bus for anyone, especially a passenger that had just alighted.
A Cook County jury awarded an iron worker, who fell at a jobsite and was left paralyzed and in need of 24 hour care for the rest of his life, $64 million in total damages. The company responsible is planning an appeal but the case is a lesson to both workers and construction companies in compliance with workplace safety procedures and policies. OSHA compliance is critical for the long term survival of both workers and companies.
Blessed with qualified immunity and tort immunity generally, the City and its employees often hide behind either a blue wall of silence, like the Chicago Police has thrown up regarding the off-duty cop body slamming a female bartender, but also the City's Corporation counsel as is the case where the Chicago Police arrested a mentally ill California woman in Midway Airport and detained and released her into a south side neighborhood where she was eventually raped and fell off a building, ending up horribly injured. The CPD failed to adhere to department protocol related to the treatment of mentally suspect offenders and ignored clear evidence and fellow colleague appraisals regarding the mental health of the plaintiff.
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AuthorRishi Nair owns Nair Law LLC and practices as Of Counsel at Keener and Associates, P.C. Archives
October 2013
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