Thomas Pearson donated $1.2 million to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary to establish a scholarship honoring his parents, with the funds conditioned on supporting Iowa ministry students and subject to transfer to another university if unmet. After alleging the seminary failed to meet those conditions, Pearson sued for breach of contract, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and unjust enrichment under Illinois law in a diversity action. The court granted the seminary's motion to dismiss all claims with prejudice under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), holding that the written gift agreement contradicted the alleged conditions, no fiduciary relationship arose from the arm's-length transaction, the misrepresentation claims lacked actionable statements, and unjust enrichment could not stand alone.
Plaintiff Dynamic Fluid Control, a South African valve manufacturer, sued several defendants including International Valve Manufacturing, LLC and its principals for patent infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,511,577, federal trademark and trade-dress infringement under the Lanham Act for the VENT-O-MAT mark, unfair competition, violations of Illinois trade-secret and consumer-fraud statutes, and unjust enrichment, alleging unauthorized marketing of identical valves after termination of a distributorship. Some defendants moved to dismiss certain claims, and defendant William T. Lang separately moved to dismiss, arguing improper service and non-existence of Pegasus Airline Group, LLC. The court denied both motions in full, holding that the complaint's factual allegations are accepted as true on a motion to dismiss and sufficiently state the claims, that arguments regarding service on a non-existent or d/b/a entity do not require dismissal when the individual defendant is already before the court, and that failure to prove service does not invalidate it under the Federal Rules.
Angela Kent, an African-American woman formerly employed by the City of Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation, sued the City alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII based on sex and race discrimination after her employment ended in 2008. The City moved for summary judgment, following an earlier dismissal of her Section 1981 and 1983 claims and any untimely Title VII allegations. The court analyzed Kent's claims by examining the City's graded and special-rate salary structures, job classifications, and potential comparators such as Horodecki and Bradley, concluding that Kent failed to identify valid comparators performing substantially equal work or to establish the necessary elements of her prima facie cases under either statute. On that basis, the court granted the City's motion for summary judgment.
In Powell v. West Asset Management, Inc., plaintiff Dominginho Powell sued defendant, a debt collection agency, alleging violations of the TCPA for using an automatic dialing system to make 25 calls to his cell phone in an attempt to collect a debt he did not owe, along with an FDCPA claim. The FDCPA claim settled, mooting one affirmative defense, while the remaining dispute concerned defendant's third affirmative defense of failure to mitigate damages on the TCPA claim. The court granted the motion to strike that defense, holding that the TCPA creates no duty for recipients to mitigate statutory damages by answering or returning calls, as the statute lacks such a requirement and FCC guidance plus other court rulings confirm recipients need not take steps to stop the calls.
This case under the federal Clean Air Act concerns allegations that Midwest Generation and related entities violated the Prevention of Significant Deterioration provisions by operating coal-fired power plants that had been modified without required preconstruction permits by a prior owner, ComEd. Plaintiffs, including the United States, Illinois, and citizen groups, sought civil penalties and injunctive relief, asserting continuing violations and successor liability via an asset purchase agreement. The court addressed motions to dismiss the amended complaints, holding that the law-of-the-case doctrine did not bar new allegations of transferred liability because the theory had not been properly presented or litigated earlier. It further noted that PSD requirements apply to construction at the time it occurs and do not independently prohibit subsequent operation without a permit, while certain penalty claims remained time-barred.
Plaintiff Chris Muczynski sued the City of Chicago, Village of Melrose Park, and various police officers, alleging false arrest on battery charges for an incident he did not commit, along with a class-of-one equal-protection claim based on alleged animus stemming from his prior work as an auxiliary officer. The defendants moved to dismiss the equal-protection claim in the Second Amended Complaint. The court granted the motions and dismissed the claim, holding that the plaintiff failed to plead with specificity that similarly situated individuals were treated differently by not being subjected to falsified evidence or arrest. The opinion emphasized that class-of-one claims require allegations showing the plaintiff was singled out without a rational basis relative to others in comparable circumstances, to avoid converting ordinary tort claims into constitutional violations.
criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure
JW
John W. Darrah
Judge, District Court, N.D. Illinois · Born 1938 · Chicago, IL