The HCBullet: The blog of the Attorneys at HCB

Seventh Circuit Reminds Plaintiffs That Overcoming Summary Judgment Requires Evidence, Even in Fatal Officer Involved Shooting Cases

November 21, 2022

Countless federal court decisions teach that plaintiffs cannot evade summary judgment by speculation or by merely insisting that the other side’s witnesses must be liars. Rather, they must point to evidence in the record. The Seventh Circuit recently reiterated that this principle holds even in high-profile police shooting cases. A police officer was responding to…

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Judge Vindicates Police Officers In Search and Seizure Case

November 9, 2022

A federal judge recently granted summary judgment to three police officers in a suit arising out of those officers’ attempts to secure evidence against a home invasion suspect. Two detectives in a Will County municipality identified a home invasion suspect and obtained an arrest warrant. Several days later, they were told that a regional fugitive…

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Court Rejects Employee’s Attempt to Turn an Incentive Into an Entitlement

October 26, 2022

Many, if not most, employers offer their employees financial incentives for going beyond the minimum job duties. Earn an additional degree, exceed a sales threshold, or recruit new hires, and you get a bonus. A recent federal court decision preserves the ability of employers to offer such incentives without risk that some disgruntled employee will…

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Appellate Court Rejects Failure to Protect Claim Filed By Jail Inmate

October 3, 2022

In 2020, a DeKalb County Jail Deputy was sued for allegedly failing to protect an inmate from an attack by a fellow inmate. The plaintiff, pretrial detainee Roberto Silva, alleged that he had summoned the deputy about another inmate who was upset. The deputy responded and investigated. Silva wanted the inmate moved. The inmate uttered…

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Court holds that a passenger in a police squad car cannot sue his police officer friend for negligence during a “police ride along”

September 19, 2022

The City of Joliet and a Joliet police officer were sued by the officer’s (former) friend for negligence when the friend was allegedly injured during a “police ride along.” Just before going on the ride along, the passenger had knowingly executed a broadly worded waiver and release which absolved the City and the officer for…

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