OPINION JUSTICE STERBA delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff-appellant estate of Perry C. Powell, a/k/a Perry Smith, Jr., appeals the dismissal of his legal malpractice counts against defendants-appellees John C. Wunsch, P.C., Phillips Law Offices, Ltd., John C. Wunsch, Jeremy L. Dershow and Jill M. Webb (hereinafter collectively referred to as defendants) pursuant to section 2-615 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-615 (West 2010)), on the...
OPINION Justice SCHOSTOK delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff, Donald Rosen, appeals two trial court orders that contributed to the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, The Larkin Center, Inc., and Dennis Graf 1 ; Larkin is an agency that provides special education and care to students through its therapeutic day school. Those orders that plaintiff appeals are: (1) the discovery sanction barring plaintiff from testifying; and (2) the denial of...
OPINION JUSTICE CONNORS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff Five Mile Capital Westin North Shore SPE, LLC, brought this action seeking, among other things, an injunction against the sale of a multimillion dollar property. The circuit court denied Five Mile's request for a preliminary injunction, and we affirm. 2 This is a simple case about an investment gone wrong. The Westin North Shore is a hotel located in Wheeling, Illinois, and it is the collateral for an $...
OPINION PRESIDING JUSTICE HARRIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Third-party plaintiff, Chicago Title Land Trust Company (CTLT), appeals the judgment of the circuit court denying its motion filed pursuant to section 2-1203 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-1203 (West 2008)), to reconsider and vacate orders dismissing the amended third-party complaint and approving the judicial sale. On appeal, CTLT contends the trial court erred in denying its motion...
OPINION JUSTICE SIMON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Harris and Justice Quinn concurred in the judgment and opinion. JUSTICE SIMON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff, Jody Laport, appeals from an order of the circuit court of Cook County granting the motion to dismiss her complaint filed by defendant, MB Financial Bank, N.A. On appeal, plaintiff contends that the court erred by dismissing her complaint on the basis that she...
OPINION Justice PALMER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion: 1 Plaintiff Independence Plus, Inc. (IPI), appeals from the dismissal of its malicious prosecution suit against defendants Frances Walter, Kristen Prinz and Prinz's law firm, Bellows and Bellows, P.C. (Bellows). 2 The facts behind the underlying proceedings are as follows. IPI, a company that specializes in providing in-home private duty nursing care, hired Walter in May 2006 and fired her in November of that same...
OPINION JUSTICE HUDSON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Claimant, Linda Dye, filed an application for adjustment of claim pursuant to the Workers' Compensation Act (Act) (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 2006)) seeking benefits for injuries she allegedly sustained while in the employ of respondent, Plymouth Tube. Following a hearing pursuant to section 19(b) of the Act (820 ILCS 305/19(b) (West 2006)), the arbitrator determined that claimant's current condition of ill-...
OPINION JUSTICE HOWSE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff Area Erectors, Inc., appeals from a circuit court order granting defendant Travelers Property Casualty Company of America's motion for judgment on the pleadings. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court. 2 BACKGROUND 3 Plaintiff Area Erectors, Inc. (AEI), filed a complaint for declaratory judgment in the circuit court of Cook County, against defendant Travelers...
OPINION Justice APPLETON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Petitioners, Scott E. Blickenstaff and Kim D. Blickenstaff, are challenging the will of their deceased father, Wyverne A. Blickenstaff. They also have petitioned the trial court to remove their brother, Jon M. Blickenstaff, from the position of executor. During pretrial discovery in this litigation, petitioners requested the executor's personal financial documents as well as the billing statements corresponding to...
OPINION Presiding Justice HOFFMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The plaintiff, Michael Gagnon, appeals from the trial court's judgment finding in favor of the appellee, Deborah Schickel, on several counts of his 15-count complaint against her and two other defendants, Michael Laird and Mark Iles, Jr. 1 , who are not parties to this appeal. On appeal, the plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in dismissing three of the counts of his complaint prior to trial and...
OPINION JUSTICE LAMPKIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff Gregg Lansing sued defendant Southwest Airlines Company for negligent supervision of its employee. Plaintiff alleged that he notified defendant that its employee was threatening and harassing him but defendant failed to supervise the employee and take steps to stop his misconduct. The alleged misconduct included the employee's use of defendant's computer, Internet and telephone facilities to send...
OPINION JUSTICE LAMPKIN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff, Robin Foreman, appeals the trial court's order granting summary judgment in favor of defendant, Gunite Corporation, on the issue of proximate cause in the underlying negligence action. Plaintiff contends the trial court erred in finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that he could not establish that defendant proximately caused his injuries as a matter of law. Based on the...
OPINION JUSTICE KARNEZIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 This case presents the question of whether insurance claims adjusters are entitled to overtime. We answer the question in the negative, as did the trial court. Plaintiffs-appellants and cross-appellees Shelene A. Nettles and Ed Czarnecki, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated (collectively plaintiffs, unless otherwise noted), appeal from the trial court's order in favor of defendants-...
OPINION Presiding Justice LAVIN delivered the judgment of the court with opinion. 1 Plaintiffs-appellants, Charles R. Walgreen III, Leslie Ann Walgreen Pratt, and James Alan Walgreen (hereinafter, the Walgreen Beneficiaries), the children of the late Charles R. Walgreen, Jr., appeal from the circuit court orders denying their cross-motion for summary judgment and granting summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, Rotary/One Foundation, Inc., and the Rotary Foundation of Rotary...
OPINION Justice HUDSON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Claimant, Linda Dye, filed an application for adjustment of claim pursuant to the Workers' Compensation Act (Act) (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 2006)) seeking benefits for injuries she allegedly sustained while in the employ of respondent, Plymouth Tube. Following a hearing pursuant to section 19(b) of the Act (820 ILCS 305/19(b) (West 2006)), the arbitrator determined that claimant's current condition of ill-...
OPINION Justice SCHOSTOK delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The plaintiff, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, filed a foreclosure suit against the defendant, James L. Gilbert. Gilbert raised the affirmative defense that Deutsche Bank lacked standing at the time it filed the suit. Gilbert also filed a counterclaim alleging violations of the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) (15 U.S.C. 1601 (2006)) and seeking damages. The parties filed cross-motions for summary...
OPINION Justice SIMON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff, Jody Laport, appeals from an order of the circuit court of Cook County granting the motion to dismiss her complaint filed by defendant, MB Financial Bank, N.A. On appeal, plaintiff contends that the court erred by dismissing her complaint on the basis that she did not comply with the terms of the parties' contract or Illinois law in directing defendant to take certain actions. For the reasons that follow,...
OPINION Justice QUINN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 This consolidated appeal arises out of an action by plaintiff, Bank of America, N.A., to foreclose a $205 million loan guaranteed by defendants, Laurance H. Freed and DDL LLC. On appeal, defendants argue that the trial court erred by: (1) entering a judgment against them in the amount of $206,700,222.39, pursuant to a "carve-out" provision of the guaranty that required them to pay the full amount due, plus costs and...
OPINION Presiding Justice GORDON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 BACKGROUND 2 I. Complaint to Foreclose Benjamin Villasenor's Mortgage 3 Defendant, Benjamin Villasenor, purchased a home located at 11724 South Bishop Street (the subject property) from First Suburban National Bank (First Suburban) on June 7, 2005. On June 23, Villasenor obtained a $99,000 loan from Wells Fargo Bank 1 secured by a mortgage, recorded August 3, 2005. Villasenor defaulted on his...
OPINION JUSTICE CONNORS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 In 2010, WFLD Fox News Chicago aired an investigative report on the working hours of judges in the circuit court of Cook County. The report presented information suggesting that at least four judges, one of whom was identified as plaintiff James Ryan, had been neglecting their official duties by leaving courthouses well before the end of the business day, contrary to the stated policy of the chief judge of the...
