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  • Discrimination
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Successes in the Year 2001

Appeals · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007

In 2001, the concurrence of the rapidly expanding business and the retirement of Aaron Maduff’s colleague, Edna Selan Epstein for whom Deanne Medina had been working (first as a law clerk and when she graduated law school as an attorney), led to Ms. Medina joining the firm. In addition, with Ms. Epstein’s retirement, she closed her office and the firm moved to new and larger quarters on Wabash St. which it initially shared with a strategic marketing firm.

The following cases came to verdict, judgment, or settlement in the year 2001. Please note that cases can take anywhere from a few months to several years to reach their conclusions.

ALS No. 10940
Administrative Trial Verdict
(Disability Harassment – Illinois Human Rights Act)
Our client, a city bus driver, was caught in a bus fire. Although he survived the fire, he suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder. After much counseling, he attempted to return to work, but was called “crazy” by his boss, and told that he “should have died in that fire”. When he came to us, he already had a case pending in the Illinois Human Rights Commission for Disability Harassment. This case did not settle in large measure because it had not been clear whether the Illinois Human Rights Act covered disability harassment (though it covers sexual and racial harassment) and went to trial before the Commission. That trial resulted in a verdict on August 30, 2001 for our client which for the first time clearly acknowledged that disability harassment is prohibited by the Human Rights Act. It also resulted in the Defendant paying our client more than $56,000.

00 C 2553
(Illegal Search – § 1983)
Our clients were eight eighth grade boys who filed suit against a police officer for strip searching them and their entire gym class in search of $47. (The money was never found.) Based on the testimony in more than 20 depositions and written documentation, the Court found liability in favor of our clients without the need for trial. Throughout the course of this case there was significant media attention including several newspapers. The case went to a three week trial on the question of damages only and eventually resulted in a settlement to our clients’ satisfaction.

00 C 5954
(Sexual Harassment – Title VII)
Our client was a server at a chain restaurant. In spite of the fact that both her managers and co-workers had met her husband, several cooks made a practice of slapping her buttocks and one male server continually rubbed his groin against her buttocks as he would grab her around the stomach. The result of the sexual harassment was not only humiliating, but debilitating. We settled the case to her satisfaction.

99 C 0919
(False Arrest – § 1983)
Our client, a white male living in a relatively affluent suburb of Chicago, was arrested for driving under the influence. Despite blowing a 0.00 on a breathalyzer and then taking blood and urine tests which came to the same conclusion, he was prosecuted for a myriad of crimes over a period of 14 months. He was later arrested again by the same department for no reason and threatened and harassed over a period of two years. We settled the case to his satisfaction.

Numerous cases were also settled before the EEOC and IDHR during 2001.

Appeals · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007