12 results for 'judge:"Kness"'.
J. Kness partially grants the Illinois Department of Corrections’ motion for summary judgment on an older Black employee’s claims of age and race discrimination, and retaliation for union association. The employee, who oversees several parole officers, claims his spotty disciplinary record with the department is the result of systemic ageism and anti-Black racism and departmental retaliation for his efforts to unionize his office. The court finds most of the employee’s discrimination claims either untimely or lacking sufficient evidence, but also finds there is sufficient evidence to support his claim for union activity retaliation against several specific department personnel.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation, Labor / Unions
J. Kness grants a pharmacy chain’s motion to dismiss the government’s joint complaint and intervention, but denies the pharmacy chain’s motion to dismiss the relators’ third amended complaint. This suit involves the pharmacy chain’s alleged attempt to garner Medicare and Medicaid kickbacks by inducing Cook County patients to fill their prescriptions at one of its specialty pharmacy locations. The court finds the government’s intervention does not allege a proper theory of False Claims Act liability, but that the relators’ amended complaint does.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 1:14cv1558, NOS: False Claims Act - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Fraud, Health Care, False Claims
J. Kness primarily denies the defendant public high school’s motion to dismiss sexual abuse allegations brought by a group of male former students. The students, who attended the suburban public high school in the 1970s and ’80s, claim a former teacher abused them and other male students for over three decades. They now bring 13 separate claims against the school and the teacher himself. Though the teacher and district argue most of these claims are time-barred, the court disagrees. It allows all but three claims to proceed; and the battery, sexual abuse and due process claims dismissed are tossed only against the school, not the former teacher.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 30, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv2755, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, Emotional Distress, Assault
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J. Kness grants a narcotics officer’s motion for summary judgment on a Black Illinois man’s false arrest and malicious prosecution claims. The officer, looking to confirm the identity of and then arrest a Black drug dealer known as “Buzzy,” had another policeman pull over a suspect on a bogus traffic stop. The narcotics officer, after getting the suspect’s name, concluded it was Buzzy and charged the man on drug dealing offenses. At trial, a jury acquitted the man of all counts, and he claimed in his subsequent civil suit that the narcotics cop had accused him of being Buzzy simply because he was another Black man in the same age range. Despite this, the court believes the narcotics officer was justified in charging the man falsely identified as Buzzy, and also finds that the narcotics officer has qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv5072, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Malicious Prosecution, Police Misconduct
J. Kness grants a motion from the defendant estate administrator of a drowned woman to dismiss the plaintiff ship owner's claim of limited liability for the drowned passenger. The woman drowned after falling off the ship owner's vessel on Lake Michigan, and the ship owner claims he has no liability for the death under the Limitation of Shipowner’s Liability Act. The court, however, agrees with the estate administrator that the Act does not apply in this case and dismisses the ship owner's claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv5954, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Admiralty, Negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Kness denies an Illinois college's motion to dismiss a contract class action brought by a student who claims the college shutting down in-person classes amid the Covid-19 pandemic violated the school's contractual responsibility to provide students with an education. The student seeks a partial refund of tuition and fees for in-person services she did not receive. The student plausibly alleges the existence of an implied contract that the college breached when it changed its practices in response to the pandemic.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv5229, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Covid-19, Class Action, Contract
J. Kness grants an electronics company's motion for summary judgment on Walgreen's contract breach, warranty and negligence claims. The electronics company installed an alarm system in one of the pharmacy chain's refrigerated medicine warehouses, which was supposed to alert administrators when the temperature in the warehouse rose too high. The temperature did rise too high after the alarm system failed to work, but the electronics company is still not responsible for the pharmacy's loss of the temperature-sensitive medications.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 1:17cv2120, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Negligence, Warranty, Contract