Most recently, grads of the John Marshall Law School, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, and DePaul University College of Law have sued the schools for deception saying that the schools inflated their employment data, reports the Tribune.
The plaintiffs say that the law schools included any employment to determine their employment rates — even jobs unrelated to the law. Additionally, the plaintiffs claim that schools boosted the starting salary information by only polling those students who likely had high-paying jobs, like members of the law review.
Graduates say that they relied on the data when deciding what school to attend, and upon graduation, they realized the data was hopelessly false. To win their lawsuit, the plaintiffs will likely have to prove that the university engaged in a fraudulent practice by artificially inflating their numbers, that the graduates relied on the fraud to their detriment, and that they now suffer harm.
As the graduates may have paid well over $100,000 to attend these schools and had nothing to show for it upon graduation, the issue may just be whether the schools engaged in deceit and if the students were reasonable falling for it.
Recent law grads are blaming their schools for their unemployment and mounting debt. Three Chicago law school lawsuits were filed, and you can probably expect many more nationwide.
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As you may have heard, 16 people were killed when the ship that was touring the Italian coast struck a rock and capsized earlier this month. Along with those killed, 16 others are still missing, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
]]> The Carnival Cruise lawsuit claims that the ship captain was encouraged to sail dangerously close to the coastline as it made a better viewing spectacle for passengers. Additionally, after the boat took on water, the lawsuit claims that the crew members and passengers were not notified of the dangerous conditions until it was too late, reports the Sun-Times.The lawsuit was filed by Gary Lobaton, a South American man working on the cruise ship, and he is seeking class action status for the federal lawsuit. Along with Panama-based Carnival Corporation, the United Kingdom-based Carniva PLC and Italian-based Crociere S.p.A. were also named as defendants.
As you can see, none of the defendants have any ties to the United States let alone Chicago. Additionally, Gary Lobaton is from Peru and also has no ties to this country or city. So, why is this federal lawsuit being brought in Chicago?
Well, it’s not entirely clear. Generally, a federal court can have jurisdiction over a case if the parties are located in the state, the accident occurred in the state, or if the location bears a particular significance to the matter. This is called personal jurisdiction. Federal courts can also have jurisdiction if it is a claim arising from federal statutes or the U.S. Constitution. This is called subject matter jurisdiction.
Here, the accident happened off the coast of Italy on a foreign-owned cruise ship run by foreign-owned companies. Federal laws may apply to companies doing business in the U.S. (which Carnival does) and perhaps that is why the Carnival Cruise lawsuit was filed in this country. As far as why Chicago was selected, that is anyone’s guess.
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]]>In her Standard & Poor’s lawsuit, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says that somewhere along the way S&P lost its independence and ended up fooling many investors into buying highly-rated securities, which in fact ended up being highly speculative and extremely risky investments, thus leading to the 2008 financial meltdown, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
]]> Madigan claims that S&P got into bed with the companies they were supposed to rate. Instead of remaining independent, she says that S&P was more concerned with increasing its client base and making money off companies. She alleges that S&P fraudulently gave high ratings to risky mortgage-backed investments with the expectation that more and more companies would pay them money to rate its securities, reports the Sun-Times.Instead of evaluating the increasing risks posed by mortgage-backed securities, S&P is alleged to have evaluated which ratings would best benefit its bottom line.
The Standard & Poor’s lawsuit is essentially one of fraud. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says that S&P put itself out there as some independent, objective eye on securities. Instead, she says the company made its ratings with only revenues in mind, thus handing out high ratings for extremely risky investments.
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The police framed Jimenez for the crime, and coerced Morro's friends and other eyewitnesses to finger him for the shooting, reports the Chicago Tribune. As a result, Jimenez was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder.
]]> Sixteen years into his sentence, Jimenez maintained his innocence, and prosecutors eventually asked a judge to vacate his conviction as they had determined that another 13-year-old boy had committed the crime, reports the Tribune.Jimenez, who is now 32 years old, was freed and he sued the city for wrongful conviction. This week, a Cook County jury sided with him and awarded him $25 million, the largest award ever given for such a case.
In his lawsuit, Thaddeus Jimenez claimed that the Chicago police were determined to make him the killer of Eric Morro, even when the evidence pointed elsewhere. Jimenez said that police ignored evidence that another teen committed the murder, including a recorded confession by that boy. Instead, they went after Jimenez and even pressured witnesses to identify him, though they had no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
The Chicago police do not have to be absolutely certain someone is guilty of a crime before arresting that person. But when police ignore evidence and manufacture evidence, they could be held liable in a wrongful conviction civil claim.
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]]>The 32-year-old woman was killed in the Lake Shore Drive apartment fire, and now her family is suing the owners of the building in a wrongful death lawsuit, reports the Chicago Tribune.
]]> The accident happened earlier this month, and officials are still not certain of the cause of the fire. The fire started in another 12th floor apartment and apparently spread when the couple in that unit, (who made it out safely), propped open their door with a rug so their pet could escape, reports the Tribune.McCoy’s family has not sued the couple in that unit yet, but they have sued the property owners, claiming that they failed to maintain a safe building. In their lawsuit, the family says that the elevator should have automatically shut down once the fire was detected, instead of sending McCoy directly up to her death.
Additionally, the family claims that the building should have had an operating sprinkler system and security guards to help out during an emergency.
However, just because the building did not have these safety measures, it does not mean the owners will be automatically liable for McCoy’s death. According to the Tribune, the building was built before 1975, and was not required by law to have a sprinkler system or any type of system to alert tenants of an emergency.
Shantel McCoy died in a tragic Lake Shore Drive apartment fire. In a wrongful death lawsuit, her family claims that the building owners were negligent for not taking fire safety precautions, some of which they were not legally required to take. It will be interesting to see how a jury takes into account the legal requirements to determine the building owner’s culpability.
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That point may have been lost on Malecek as he punched Kennelly in the face, killing him. Malecek is currently facing criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter. Now he, his sister, and his mom will also have to deal with a wrongful death lawsuit.
]]> In their lawsuit, Kennelly’s family claims that Malecek’s mother, Marguerite Malecek, supplied her minor children with alcohol. As a result, her drunk daughter allegedly started trouble with one of Kennelly’s friends, prompting James Malecek to look for a fight. Kennelly apparently told Malecek to “calm down” and was killed for it, reports the Chicago Tribune.While the lawsuit names all three Malecek family members, it may be difficult to find liability for anybody beyond James Malecek himself. In a wrongful death action, the plaintiff will normally have to show the actions of the defendant reasonably caused the harm. With Malecek’s mother, it may be a bit of stretch to tie underage drinking to manslaughter. She may have demonstrated poor judgment in letting her kids drink, but that doesn’t mean she should be liable for a young man’s death from a fight gone wrong.
Malecek’s sister could be liable if she incited the fight, but unless she was pushing her brother to “kill” or “punch” Kennelly, it’s hard to imagine holding her liable for Kennelly’s death either.
The family members of Kevin Kennelly sued James Malecek and his family members for the July 4 beach fight death. Malecek bears obvious responsibility for the death, but it’s unclear how his sister and mother could be held liable.
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This is what allegedly happened to students at Westwood College, After numerous complaints of about useless degrees from the school, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan decided to champion Westwood students’ cause by filing a Westwood College lawsuit for fraud.
]]> Westwood College is a for-profit school operated by Alta College of Denver, reports the Associated Press. The college operates four campuses in the Chicago area, and allegedly makes bold promises about the school’s criminal justice program through online, radio, mailed, and television advertising. Apparently, the school convinced hundreds of students that a Westwood degree would help them land a job at local law enforcement agencies and police departments. It didn’t.To get a job at most area police departments, including the Illinois State Police, applicants must have a degree from a school accredited by one of six regional accrediting associations, reports the AP. While Westwood has a national accreditation, it has no regional accreditation. And so, graduates looking for jobs in the area were left holding a worthless piece of paper.
While students voluntarily handed over their money to the college, the Attorney General may still be able to show fraud if the college engaged in deceptive business practices, such as misleading advertisements, false promises, and suppression of information.
Westwood College says that it never concealed the fact that it is not regionally accredited. In fact, incoming students were required to initial a box in a fine print agreement that stated that Westwood’s accreditation status “could have an impact on economic employment with some Chicago and surrounding area employers,” reports the AP.
In the Westwood College lawsuit, the school is alleged to have deceived students into enrolling with false promises of non-existent and unavailable jobs. Whether the Attorney General wins her lawsuit may come down to the fine print.
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Cecelia Groark purchased a Groupon deal for a food and wine pairing class at Bottled Grapes in Albany Park, reports CBS. However, the deal required that Groark confirm her reservation by responding to an email. Groark said she never got the email and when she called Bottled Grapes to find out where the wine pairing class was to be held, she discovered that her seats were resold since she never confirmed.
]]> As a result, Groark went on the business review website Yelp and posted a one-star review of Bottled Grapes.Not happy with the review, Krunch Kretschmar, the owner of Bottled Grapes, responded to Groark on Yelp blaming Groark for missing the email and failing to confirm her reservations, reports CBS. Kretschmar signed off his rebuke by saying "[T]hese classes are for ADULTS ONLY and you clearly have shown you're not one."
But Kretschmar's venom didn't stop there, Groark claims in her lawsuit. She then says that Kretschmar established a blog in Groark's name where Groark appears to self-confess to being a drug addict and prostitute. Groark says that Kretschmar did this in an apparent blackmail attempt for her to remove her Yelp review.
In the meantime, Groark says that she has been hurt professionally by Kretschmar's fake blog and is seeking over half a million dollars.
This defamation lawsuit is a lesson on the power and permanency of the words on the Internet. Whenever you hit "publish," whether it be on Yelp or a blog, you are making your written words visible to millions. And if you are not careful about what you post, you could be sued for defamation, if what you say is false.
Cecelia Groark posted a review that in her opinion Bottled Grapes' customer service was bad. A customer review is subjective, and a bad review is perfectly legal if honest. On the other hand, Krunch Kretschmar was allegedly so angered by the review that he created a fake blog calling his reviewer a drug user and whore. These are not true, and so he could be liable in a defamation lawsuit.
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]]>Roland Ball said he purchased a Mountain Dew from a vending machine and began to drink the can when he "tasted something foul" and spit out the soda, reports KSL TV. Ball said he poured the contents of the can into a Styrofoam cup and discovered the remains of a mouse.
]]> But an expert hired by Pepsi says this is impossible.Dr. Lawrence D. McGill says that within a week of a mouse being submerged in a fluid with the acidity of Mountain Dew, the mouse would be unrecognizable as the calcium in its bones would disintegrate, the abdominal structure would rupture, and the cranial cavity would also rupture, reports KSL.
The mouse would basically become jelly.
The can of Mountain Dew at issue was produced in August 2008. Ball says he drank the can in November 2009. In this span of time, Pepsi argues that there is no way that the mouse Ball produced could have possibly been inside the can for a week, let alone more than a year -- suggesting that Ball is faking his lawsuit.
Ball is seeking $50,000 in damages in a Madison County court. However, his lawsuit may have gotten a lot more complicated (and expensive) as he may now need a team of experts to combat Pepsi's.
Roland Ball may have been looking to make a quick buck at Pepsi's expense. He may have thought he could cow the giant beverage company into a settlement with the threat of negative publicity of a dead mouse in its products. What he may not have expected is an affidavit from a scientist essentially calling him a liar. Ball can now either go all-in in his mouse in Mountain Dew lawsuit and hire a team of experts of his own, or back out.
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In December, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton and 20 other NFL players sued a Chicago law firm for more than $10 million after the firm allegedly gave bad financial advice, reports the USA TODAY.
]]> In their lawsuit, the NFL players say that the law firm Chuhak & Tecson advised the athletes to invest in producers and sellers of gas generated at landfills. Sounds complicated, huh? These are not your typical stocks and bonds, and the players were supposed to benefit from some tax breaks. Unfortunately, they didn't qualify for the breaks.In a separate case, retired baseball All-Star Denny Neagle sued his former Northbrook-based financial adviser in a similar lawsuit. Neagle says that he handed over his assets and financial decision-making decisions to William Leavitt of Leavitt Capital Management. Thinking that his money was in safe hands, Neagle was later surprised to learn that most of his money was lost in risky "alternative investments" like hedge funds and private equity funds, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
The commonalities between the two cases are obvious, and the lesson learned extends beyond the investments of professional athletes.
Financial advisers exist to provide investment expertise to laypeople, whether they are professional athletes or everyday workers. Generally, advisers will listen to the needs of a particular client and provide investment options that best meet these needs.
When financial advisers veer from this and seek riskier investments -- perhaps to receive a larger commission -- they violate their fiduciary duty and may be engaging in fraud.
The alleged Denny Neagle fraud and Kyle Orton fraud may have caused the pro athletes millions of dollars. However, everyday people relying on financial advisers should be wary and hire trusted advisers to ensure their savings are also not lost in fraudulent schemes.
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The Novartis recall involves Excedrin and NoDoz made with the expiration dates of December 20, 2014 and Bufferin and Gas-X made with the expiration dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, reports the Associated Press.
]]> The company has received complaints of broken and chipped pills, and inconsistent bottle packaging that could cause pills to be mixed up, reports the AP. However, so far the company has not received any news of anyone being injured or hurt by the mix-up.The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also chimed in and warned consumers, though it acknowledged that the odds of being affected by the mix-up were low. Still, consumers were told not to use these products and to contact Novartis for a refund.
Sadly, this is not the first problem with the Novartis manufacturing plant. Last summer, the company was cited for dozens of quality control problems including reviewing none of the 223 consumer complaints the company received.
Now subject to a nationwide recall, Novartis could find itself sued in a massive product liability lawsuit should anyone ingest the wrong pill. Novartis has a duty to ensure that its manufacturing process is safe, and mistakenly putting the wrong pills in the wrong bottles is certainly evidence of an unsafe manufacturing process.
The Novartis recall involves some of the most common drugs on the market. If you use these products, you should check the expiration dates on the bottles to ensure that you do not accidentally take the wrong medication.
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Collins used some smooth moves and creativity in an attempt to woo a young lady into having dinner with him. Instead of getting a date, the Stickney cop is now faced with a lawsuit, reports MyFox Chicago.
]]> Last October, a Kendall county woman, Evangelina Paredes, says that she was stopped by Officer Collins for speeding. She received a ticket for the seemingly innocuous traffic violation. However, two days later, Parades says that she found a note on her windshield from the arresting officer.According to Fox, the note read: "It's Chris. I'm that ugly bald Stickney cop who gave you that ticket on Saturday... I have not stopped thinking about you since... I did cost you $132 least I can do is buy you dinner."
To a lot of guys, this may seem like a pretty slick move that would surely warrant a first date.
Unfortunately, that is not how Paredes took it. As a single mother, Paredes says that she was frightened by the cop's bungled attempt at chivalry. So frightened, in fact, that she decided to sue the Stickney cop. Talk about adding insult to injury.
It's unclear what grounds Evangelina Paredes is suing Officer Collins, but invasion of privacy may be one. The police officer basically accessed state records to track the woman down (i.e., he stalked her), before pinning a personal note on her car.
Police officers are expected to uphold the law, not use their authority to get dates. Officer Christopher Collins did not get this, and now he is dealing with a lawsuit along with rejection.
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On Monday morning at about 6:00 a.m., Stanley Lee awoke to screams of "Help me! Help me!" The 35-year-old man rushed outside with a baseball bat in hand and saw two large pit bulls mauling jogger, Joseph Finley, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
]]> The seventy pound pit bulls were attacking Finley “like he was a piece of steak” and Lee beat the animals until police officers could arrive at the scene, reports the Sun-Times. Once police arrived, the animals turned on them and the police fatally shot both dogs multiple times.The 70-pound unneutered dogs were tagless but were soon tracked back to their owner, Jimmy Johnson. According to police, Johnson lived nearby and the dogs escaped from an open gate in his backyard. The dogs did not have any previous complaints and Johnson was not criminally charged for the attack, reports the Sun-Times.
But escaping criminal liability does not mean Jimmy Johnson will avoid civil liability. Illinois is a strict liability state when it comes to dog bites. This means that Joseph Finley can sue Johnson for damages regardless of whether the pit bull attacks happened before and even if Johnson was not otherwise at fault.
A South Shore pit bull attack put a jogger in the hospital. The victim may sue the dog’s owner for damages, but will no doubt thank Stanley Lee first for saving his life.
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In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho was running in the rain to catch a Metra train, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was running with an umbrella covering his head and apparently did not see a train coming at him as he crossed the tracks.
]]> The train was traveling at more than 70 mph and obliterated Joho's body sending "a large portion" of his body 100 feet onto the southbound platform, reports the Tribune. Gayane Zokhrabov was standing on the platform and was hit by Joho's remains. She was knocked to the ground and broke her leg and wrist.Zokhrabov later sued Joho's estate for her injuries, but a lower court ruled against her finding that her injuries were not foreseeable, reports the Tribune.
But this week, the appeals court disagreed. The court found that it was in fact foreseeable that someone who stepped in front of a speeding train could cause injuries to bystanders with his flying body parts. The court said that, "if you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it," reports the Tribune.
The Illinois Court of Appeals found that Hiroyuki Joho was negligent when he stepped onto the Metra train tracks. As a result, his estate is liable for the injuries he caused Gayane Zokhrabov as it was foreseeable that his flying body parts would injure the bystander.
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Levgard was struck and killed by the passenger train, and his vehicle was dragged a quarter mile up the tracks, reports the Chicago Tribune.
]]> The Palatine train accident occurred at about 7:30 a.m. and Levgard was the only fatality in the accident. The express Metra train that struck his car was carrying around 200 passengers, and is believed to have been traveling at about 75 miles per hour at impact. It wasn't reported if there were any other injuries.So far investigators believe that one train was stopped at the Palatine station when the crossing gates lowered. The stopped train may have blocked Levgard's view of the other tracks; as he attempted to go around the gate, the second Metra train sped through, reports the Tribune.
As investigators continue to look into the accident, you may be wondering if there is any legal liability for Levgard's death. Generally, in a wrongful death action, the family of the victim will have to show that the defendant acted carelessly or negligently.
In the case of the train accident, a plaintiff may try to argue that the first train shouldn't have stopped at the station blocking the view of the other tracks, or perhaps that the Metra train was speeding. However, the fact that Levgard appears to have broken the law by driving around a crossing gate designed to protect him makes it unlikely that his family will sue.
Michael Levgard was killed in a Palatine train accident. Because his actions in going around the crossing guard were dangerous, his family probably won't bring a wrongful death lawsuit.
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