Practice News

According to a recent report from ABC 7 News, internal audits of the Illinois State Police crime lab's toxicology section reveal fundamental problems with the section's testing methodology.

Wheaton criminal defense attorney Donald J. Ramsell discovered an internal audit dated July 13, 2011 while defending a DUI case. Ramsell said the audit revealed that crime lab scientists were not using proper validations to ensure the accuracy of their test results. In particular, the data used for testing blood samples was inaccurate, he said.

According to the 2011 audit, control charts, which are statistical tools used to monitor the predictability of the testing process, were inaccurate, Ramsell said. This could have prevented crime lab technicians from knowing that the testing process was not working, he said. For their part, state police representatives told ABC 7 News that validation studies "are [not] necessary for ISP to show its method is valid. The ISP uses a valid method in blood alcohol testing which is widely accepted in the scientific community." Find out more in the November Illinois Bar Journal.

Illinois veterans need access to legal services and in response, the ISBA Board has adopted a Resolution Encouraging Law Schools to create Veterans’ Legal Clinics

By Alice Kush, Ex-Officio, ISBA Health Care Law Section

In an October 2014 survey performed by the prestigious Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, half of respondents in military households in southern Illinois identified access to VA healthcare benefits and the wait times for care at VA facilities as a veteran’s greatest challenge. The ISBA Healthcare Section Council began researching this problem last year and soon realized that many of these veterans really needed access to lawyers to help them with problems that they have developed as a result of their service.  We found three lawyers, working for Land of Lincoln, who work very hard to provide legal services to veterans.  However, significant legal services are provided by the Veterans’ Legal Clinic at John Marshall Law School in Chicago. That clinic fielded over 1,000 calls from veterans in 2014 with their staff of law students and faculty as well as the assistance of 350 attorneys who volunteer their services.  Veterans have come to John Marshall’s legal clinic from all of the state.

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the results of a court user survey that measured public perceptions and experiences with trial courts across the state. Overall, the results show that court users have a very positive view of the courts in Illinois.

"My colleagues and I on the Illinois Supreme Court are gratified to learn that so many of our fellow Illinoisans have a positive opinion of the justice system," Chief Justice Rita B. Garman said. "We want to thank those who assisted the court with conducting the study and, in particular, the individual court users who took the time to provide thoughtful answers to the survey questions."

"The survey provides us with valuable information we can use to improve not only public perception of our court system, but also its efficiency and effectiveness. We plan to conduct a thorough analysis of the survey results to determine what actions we can take to increase public confidence in our legal system even further. Then, with the assistance the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) and the Strategic Planning Committee, and with the involvement of judges and court administrators throughout the state, we will take action to implement changes that address the needs and concerns of the public we all serve."

The recommendation to conduct a survey designed to evaluate the perception and experience of court users came out of the Supreme Court's Future of the Courts Conference in 2013. The Strategic Planning Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference, in coordination with the AOIC and under the Supreme Court's leadership, developed the survey.

Our panel of leading appellate attorneys review Wednesday's Illinois Supreme Court opinions in the civil cases Price v. Philip Morris, Inc., The Henderson Square Condominium Association v. LAB Townhomes LLC and Folta v. Ferro Engineering.

Price v. Philip Morris, Inc.

By Michael T. Reagan, Law Offices of Michael T. Reagan

Holding that 735 ILCS 5/2-1401 does not authorize a circuit court to vacate the judgment of a reviewing court, the supreme court vacated the judgments of both the circuit and appellate courts in this latest of many rounds following the entry of a judgment for compensatory and punitive damages in the amount of $10.1 billion following a bench trial in Madison County in March, 2003. Previously, that money judgment of the circuit court was reversed by the supreme court upon a direct review under SCR 302(b). That plurality opinion found that the Federal Trade Commission had specifically authorized the use of descriptors for light cigarettes, thereby effectively barring plaintiffs’ complaint by operation of Section 10b(1) of the Consumer Fraud Act.  There, the supreme court remanded to the circuit court with instructions to dismiss the case, which was done.