Flying J Inc. bought 50 acres of land in New Haven, Indiana intending to develop a travel plaza, hotel, and restaurant complex. But New Haven didn’t want the development and twice denied zoning variances. Flying J sued in Indiana state court, lost in the trial court, then won in the…
When she was still a teenager living in Guatemala, Aura Chavez-Vasquez’s uncle was kidnapped from her home. Aura was raped, and her life was threatened. Then 17 in 1991, Aura left her home and entered the United States as an illegal immigrant. Aura was living in Missouri with her two…
Neringa and Jeffrey were disputing a court order that modified custody of their child. Neringa appealed the order. But a motion to disqualify her attorney still was pending when she filed her notice of appeal. And the custody order from which she appealed did not expressly permit an interlocutory appeal.…
Two residents of the Elgin [Illinois] Mental Health Center, both committed to the unit for the criminally insane, challenged certain policies at the Center that limited or prohibited their access to their property and money. The residents asked for summary judgment. But their motion raised events that were not alleged…
Jennifer Keener’s daughter was arrested by the City of Herrin Police for underage intoxication. The police allowed the daughter to leave the police station while she still was intoxicated. She was struck by an automobile and killed. Jennifer sued the City of Herrin for wrongful death. Herrin moved to dismiss…
In this confusing mortgage foreclosure case, a default judgment was entered in favor of Washington Mutual Bank against Archer Bank. About six months later, Archer asked the court to vacate the default. Archer’s motion to vacate relied on two sections of the Illinois Civil Procedure Code − § 2-1301(e) (setting…
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that an e-filing in the Illinois Commerce Commission on the final deadline date, but after the close of business, was a timely filing. We first reported on this case when the supreme court agreed to take the appeal from the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court,…
In a post-dissolution of marriage case, does a pending contempt petition render other substantive rulings non-final and non-appealable? Does the court have to rule on the contempt petition before the appellate court can exercise its jurisdiction over all of the rulings? The blog entry directly below explains what happened in…
Nearly five years after their divorce, Mary Gutman filed a motion to continue and modify her maintenance award. Two months later, Daniel filed a motion to terminate maintenance. One month after that, Mary filed a petition to hold Daniel in contempt for having stopped the maintenance payments. The trial court…
A developer bought land in Chicago intending to build apartments on it. The developer had the property for several years and incurred expenses to prepare it for construction. Then the City of Chicago rezoned the property, and the apartments no longer were allowed. The developer sued the city. The developer…