August 4

Legal History

By Karen Conti

Karen Conti is a litigation attorney and owner of ContiLaw LLC. She is a regular legal commentator on CNN and the local Fox affiliate. She hosts a radio show every Sunday on WGN AM 720 from 7 to 9 p.m. to discuss current legal events and to answer listeners’ questions.

Posted August 4, 2020 11:18 AM

1964The bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are discovered in a Mississippi earthen dam, triggering an FBI investigation. In 1967, 19 men were indicted and seven were convicted. In 2005, on the 41st anniversary of the three murders, an eighth man was found guilty of manslaughter for the same crime.2015Delta Airlines announces that it will no longer transport wildlife trophies after the high-profile killing of a lion, Cecil, in Zimbabwe by an American hunter who was reportedly …

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By Steve Fretzin
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By Steven P. Garmisa
Judge offers guidance for avoiding federal ‘trap’ in med-mal case

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By Steven P. Garmisa
Opinions shed light on how justices view shadow docket

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Answering a question certified for immediate appeal in a case where the plaintiff didn’t know the defendant was dead when the lawsuit was filed, the Illinois Appellate Court concluded that the maneuver used by plaintiff’s attorney to rectify the problem — having his secretary appointed as “personal representative” of the decedent’s estate under Sec. 13-209(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure and then naming her as defendant in an amended complaint — was the wrong move.
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Claiming immunity under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act when Eduardo Santos sued for severe injuries allegedly caused by a police officer who shot him in the face with a rubber bullet, Defense Technology — the company that manufactured the “kinetic impact projectile” and KIP launcher — argued the statute’s product-liability exception didn’t apply.
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