The lower court determined that reputational damages and chilling effect damages didn’t constitute special damages under Illinois law, and Mark Gregaros’ decision not to represent Jussie Smollett as lead counsel in separate litigation was a business decision that didn’t constitute special injury.       

“The court concludes that the Graham complaint does not fall within the ‘very limited circumstances’ that would establish fraudulent joinder. Philips did not meet its heavy burden to show, as a matter of fact or law, that the claims against Gould’s are not colorable,” Senior U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District

“Plaintiffs’ own testimony and purchasing records confirm that their purchases were not and could not have been influenced by either the front label protein statement or the %DV—and certainly never both in combination,” the complaint said.       

“The repeated and consistent nature of Malloy’s sworn falsehoods and misrepresentations during discovery threatened the integrity of this litigation particularly and the judicial process generally,” the judge said.       

“No longer would the $250,000 per-person limit be a barrier to recovery. It is, after all, per person, allowing each spouse to recover for their own damages subject to payments by the tortfeasor’s insurer and the $500,000 per-occurrence limit. It would not matter that Beverly suffered no ‘bodily injury’ herself,” the court said.       

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner David Quigley is skeptical that the strategy will gain traction. “They may actually have some good facts; they just don’t have a legal framework to apply those facts, he said.       

“These principles flow naturally from the court’s interest in vigorously defending the integrity of the legal process and procedural rules. When a party is served properly and fails to appear, as is undisputed here, the party faces the consequences of that failure. One such consequence is that the party is charged with notice of all

“As we told the judge, what happened with the dissolution was like if Tim Cook started a company called Apple 2.0, transferred all of Apple’s assets to the new company, and told the existing Apple shareholders, ‘Oops, your stock is worthless now,’” plaintiff’s attorney Michael Forde said.       

The appointment of veteran W.W. Grainger lawyer Aimee Nolan to the role comes as a new generation of legal leaders sweeps into the nation’s freight railroad companies.       

DHL general counsel Mark Smolik called losing Elaine Darr to Safelite a “proud and bittersweet moment” and said Darr “is a true example of what dedication, integrity and a passion for excellence can achieve.”