Results tagged “lawsuits”

Every time our car gets towed from the Chicagoist Happy Hour, we resign ourselves to our fate: a long, expensive ride down to a random city lot somewhere incredibly inconvenient. Endless lines. Administrative hurdles that make tax forms look easy. And sometimes, we're lucky enough to find someone generous enough to give us a quasi-official hearing. We always lose. And then it's ramen noodles again, for months. But at least the hearing made us feel better about the situation.

• The Tribune catches up with the elderly man who was involved in yesterday's shooting incident in the Loop.
• CPD Supt. Jody Weis wants the city to fight lawsuits brought against the police department rather than simply settle each one.
• Gov. Quinn has ordered the closing of Tinley Park's Howe Developmental Center.

As Governor Quinn struggles to find ways to balance the state budget without help from the General Assembly, an unlikely duo of litigants have filed separate suits to stop cuts in state spending and further tax hikes. AFSCME, the largest public employee union in the state filed suit in Johnson County earlier this week to prevent the 2,600 layoffs that Quinn has threatened to impose if an agreement can't be reached the cut the state's payroll obligations. And Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new video poker law as well as liquor, candy and a menu of other tax increases set to take effect September 1.

Last week's Twitter defamation suit turned some heads and now we'll have a chance to see if a similar suit involving Facebook will do the same. The Daily Herald has reported that The Salon Professional Academy of Elgin has filed suit against Nicholas Blacconiere and a John Doe for using the Facebook page Tspa Robinhood to make defamatory statements about the school while using the school's logo. The school is seeking $50,000 in damages. The logo has since been taken down and a posting dated June 11 refers to the logo being taken down after complaints. In the page's "About Me" section, the author has written:

Remember the Roscoe's/Rosscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles kerfuffle from last year that had readers quoting lines from "Coming to America?" Looks like we're about to see it again, only with Superdawg in the role of plaintiff.

• Playboy Enterprises, Inc. has named Scott Flanders, president and chief executive of Freedom Communications Inc., as their new CEO.
• A new judge has been assigned to the Drew Peterson case.
• You can no longer sue a bowling alley if you fall in rented bowling shoes.

Craigslist will drop its 'erotic services' classified ads section in favor of another, more heavily-moderated adult category, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Wednesday. At a morning press conference, Madigan said, "I think this is a fundamental change, a recognition by Craigslist that the erotic services section truly had become an Internet brothel, truly had become an illegal and dangerous place." The decision followed several months of negotiation with the attorney generals of three states, including Illinois, and a federal lawsuit filed March 5 by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Dart, holding his own presser, said, "Under a fair and objective analysis, it's clear that but for our lawsuit, and the pressure we brought as a result of that and the exposure that came as well, that that is what brought this to conclusion."

If she didn't already have enough problems, Keifer Bonvillian, arrested in 2006 for attempting to extort money from Harpo, is suing the Oprah camp for defamation to the tune of $180 million. Bonvillian allegedly recorded phone conversations with a Harpo employee, then sweet talked another staffer into agreeing to pay him $1.5 million to prevent him from publishing a book based on the material. Though the charges were dismissed, Bonvillian is now claiming that Oprah and one of her attorneys made false statements leading to his arrest. Our favorite part is Bonvillian's claim that "There was substantial damage done to my name and reputation on a world level...The extent of my damages is vast." Delusions of grandeur, much? [MSN]

As the playoffs approach, postseason tickets for the Cubs and Sox have become the hot commodity around town. And if you're a fan wondering why it's so much harder to get playoff tickets this year than in previous years, there's a simple answer: the teams are releasing fewer seats than ever to the general public. Season ticket holders account for roughly 22,000 of Wrigley's 42,000 seats. Officials aren't saying how many seats were set aside for the general public (a Cubs lottery for tickets garnered over 600,000 applicants), and a growing number of seats are set aside for MLB employees, players, celebrities, and local politicians: aldermen have the option of buying "two tickets for every Cubs home playoff game at face value and can also pay for access to a Sox skybox for each game."

It's been a year since former NBC 5 reporter Amy Jacobson appeared in a bikini at the home of Craig Stebic, husband of still-missing Lisa, a move that resulted in Jacobson's release from NBC 5. Now, she's fighting back against the rival network that aired a videotape of the incident. Jacobson and husband Jaime Anglada filed a $1 million lawsuit yesterday against CBS 2 for airing the infamous tape, claiming she has been unable to find work since the incident because CBS 2 portrayed her as "an adulteress and disreputable reporter." Chicago's personal Smoking Gun, Eric Zorn, has the court papers which claim the following:

Well, the hits just kept on coming for one Mr. Christopher T. Turner of South Carolina. Last February, he checked into the Drake, where he was staying while on a business trip. He decided to have a little whiskey from the minibar, but when he drank the mini bottle of Dewar's White Label Scotch Whiskey, he says it tasted like urine.

In 2006, James Srodon took his grandson to see Blue Man Group at Briar Street Theater. Now he's suing the group, theater owners and related entities for $50K because he says he was subject to the "esophagus cam." From TMZ's copy of the lawsuit, Srodon alleges:

Investigations are still ongoing in Friday's Amtrak crash, but preliminary reports indicate that the train was going 25 mph faster than it was supposed to be. (The video is a lot less exciting than we were hoping for.) The Amtrak train's engineer told investigators he realized the speed limit was 15 mph in that stretch of track but accelerated to 40 mph anyway, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters Sunday. The...

Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. of the 21st ward was hit with a lawsuit this week that claims he owes $41,819.18 in back rent for the Loop offices of his law practice. Brookins didn't know about the suit until the Sun-Times contacted him. Sounds like a fun phone call: S-T: Hi, this is a reporter from the Sun-Times. Brookins: [dryly] Grand. S-T: I'm calling about the lawsuit. Brookins: The what? S-T: The lawsuit? That your office...

They didn't coerce anyone out of this one -- Chicago mob kingpins guilty in decades of crime. And a relative of a mob murder victim wasted no time applauding the guilty verdicts in the Family Secrets case. Signed, sealed, can't be delivered --Heavy rain forced Stevie Wonder to cancel his concert Monday at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island. It was rescheduled for tonight. David Letterman and Oprah are BFF now. Screw The...

From a public relations standpoint this has not been a banner couple weeks for the Chicago Police Department. First, the Reverend Al Sharpton opens a Chicago office for his National Action Network in order to address the issue of police brutality in Chicago. Days after Sharpton opened his office, 42-year-old Gefery Johnson died from injuries sustained after police Tasered and forcibly arrested him. Days after that, 18-year-old Aaron Harrison was shot to death by police...

- BREAKING: The Tribune and Sun-Times agree to a historic distribution deal where the Bright One contracts the Tribune to handle most of its delivery. More on this tomorrow after we've had time to let this one sink in. - A Dallas real estate investment firm is thisclose to signing off on an $850 million deal for four downtown office buildings, including 440 S. LaSalle, aka One Financial Place. - United Airlines files lawsuits...

- People keep giving Barack Obama money. This quarter he raised $34 million for his Presidential campaign. - Capitalism in action: The Mercantile Exchange will cut 400 Board of Trade jobs in their merger and receive as much as $40 million in aid from the city to assist in getting the world's biggest futures market off and running. - The Chicago Landmarks Commission designates 208 S. LaSalle with landmark status. - Another Whole Foods...

Illinois budgets are in trouble all over -- at a meeting with legislative leaders late Tuesday, Gov. Blagojevich warned that unless a budget deal is reached, state government could shut down next month. Selling sex toys on the side and earning a $64,000 salary wasn't enough. Karen Bailey, a top assistant to Cook County Commissioner Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, faces felony charges for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from an 87-year-old woman, prosecutors and police...

Again with the lawsuits. Twelve-year-old Jessica Turner and her grandparents are suing the Chicago Board of Education for the "psychological distress" that Jessica suffered when Brokeback Mountain was shown in her class at school — $500,000 worth of distress, to be exact. (For those living under a rock for the past couple of years, the movie features a tortured, secret homosexual romance between two cowboys out on the range and their relationship through the years.)...

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get...

Ah, the storied halls of America's finest institutions, the bastions of educational excellence, and the homes of our country's future leaders. Columbia, Boston, Penn, Duke, Vanderbilt, and yes, the University of Chicago — these are just a few of the schools that have long ranked as the best of the best.

In 2006 the number of deaths by fire, bank robberies and murders were all up. The Jazz Showcase had a final NYE show, and now they're closed for good. New Yorkers don't care about Chicago's popcorn. You knew this was going to happen, right? Lawsuits were filed in the Ogilvie shooting. The Sun-Times and the Trib are cutting the stuff no one looks at. Andersonville was picked as one of the country's greenest urban...

For those of you who keep tabs on architectural goings-on around town, the Uptown Theater saga has become old hat. Supporters of the 1925 theater first lobbied to save it in the '80s and got it registered as a Chicago Landmark in 1991. Technically it can't be torn down ... but so far no one has successfully picked up the challenge of rehabbing the severely delapidated nightspot. Enter not one, but two major entertainment companies...

Ah, Carson Pirie Scott & Co. What a store. Or, at least, what a building. While we don't shop there that often, mostly for their propensity to take plus-size fashion tips from retired schoolteachers, we admire the hell out of the building. Built between 1898 and 1906, not only does everyone in Chicago know it and take vast pride in its beauty, logic stands that there must be a ton of history tied up in it.

Greed must have been contagious in Chicago-area police departments this summer and fall. That, or those holiday gift exchanges have gotten really out of control, because cops have been stealing money so they can buy the chief an iPod instead of just knitting him an oven mitt this year.

Chicagoist’s love-hate relationship with the CTA continues unabated, but even we feel sorry for Frank and Co. as it’s mostly bad news this week. NBC – 5 reported that more than five dozen CTA passengers affected by the Blue Line derailment last July filed lawsuits against the agency. The CTA is not admitting liability despite the accident occurring on its train, which was traveling over its tracks in its tunnel. We’ll be curious to see...

As you may have already read, Wal-Mart is in the early stages of building and opening five (that’s right, five) more stores in Chicago. It just so happens that four of those stores will be in neighborhoods where aldermen opposed the big-box ordinance. Aldermen in those wards will of course say they opposed the big-box wage hike because their wards were the places where a higher wage would be enough reason for retailers to stay out. Wal-Mart can use a similar story; they want to open in these wards because the forces of capitalism tell them to. All-in-all critics of Wal-Mart and supporters of big-box were misguided from the beginning and should be quiet according to this line of thinking. It’s all too perfect, and we’re not going to be convinced easily.

We’ve all taken demeaning jobs to help pay the bills. (Don’t get us started on the number of times we dressed up as cartoon animals for children’s birthday parties.) One Chicago man figured he could get some work in the porn industry and keep it on the down low. Unfortunately, he discovered that not everyone in the porn industry is forthright and true. Also, the Easter Bunny isn’t real. A man going by the name...

It's not that we don't feel awfully bad for someone who suffers from gastrointestinal issues, but we here at Chicagoist have a tough time swallowing - no pun intended - anyone suing McDonald's for anything these days.