Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis must be counting down the days until his contract is up, so he can get the hell out of Dodge. Two of the cops he suspended in connection to an alleged police brutality incident earlier this month are now suing Weis for defamation of character. more ›

Say mean things about a company on the internet, get sued. It's the lesson a local woman just learned recently in a case that has a striking similarity to last year's story in which a woman criticized her landlord on Twitter and was sued for defamation (and the lawsuit was eventually dismissed). This time around, a woman is being sued after criticizing a concrete company on Angie's List. Helen Maslona was surprised to learn a local concrete company refused to do work at her house, five miles from their headquarters, because they claimed to cover her area in their company profile. So Helen posted this criticism on the site (which is allowed on Angie's List) and gave the company an "F." This, apparently, warrants a lawsuit asking for $10,000 in damages. Said Helen: "I'm just floored. I can't believe it. First of all, $10,000 -- for what?" And said Michael Fitzgerald, owner of the company, "I'm not trying to be a jerk. It's just hard to have somebody slander you." more ›

The Big O will dodge a big trial as it was announced late yesterday that she's reached a settlement with Nomvuyo Mzamane, the former headmistress of Oprah's all-girls school in South Africa. Attorneys for the two women released a statement saying, "The two parties met woman to woman without their lawyers and are happy that they could resolve this dispute peacefully to their mutual satisfaction." The lawsuit was filed over comments Winfrey made about Mzamane after dorm matron Tiny Virginia Makopo was charged with sexual abuse of students at the school. After the charges were revealed, Oprah said that she had "lost confidence" in Mzamane and she was "cleaning house from top to bottom." According to the Associated Press, court papers indicate Mzamane is still employed at the school. more ›

Remember the back-and-forth between Patti Blagojevich and her old boss about whether or not she swiped the company email list for the purposes of pimping husband Rod's book? Well, now Patti is pissed and she's got the lawsuit to prove it. The Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki reports that Patti has filed a defamation lawsuit against Rick Roberts of the Chicago Christian Industrial League for his initial remarks. Lead attorney Jay Edelson said, "Hopefully, this will send the message that making false statements against Patti or Rod Blagojevich will not go unanswered." more ›

An uptown woman is being sued by the real estate company that owns her apartment for a defamatory tweet the woman put up on her public Twitter account. Amanda Bonnen allegedly tweeted on May 12, "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." Now Horizon Group Management says that statement has caused harm to their reputation and they're suing for more than $50,000 in damages. [CBS 2] more ›

It's been far too long since we heard anything from embattled former TV reporter Amy Jacobson. Besides having her story kinda-sorta adapted for a Law & Order episode, you may remember that Jacobson sued CBS 2 for airing the controversial video that led to her termination at NBC 5. The Trib's Eric Zorn, had the details when Amy first filed suit and now Encyclopedia Zorn is back on the case with an update on how Jacobson's lawsuit has cleared a hurdle. more ›