The appellate courts in Illinois may be trending toward a broader definition of circumstantial evidence in slip and fall cases.

In a unanimous decision issued January 25, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court held in Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, et al. that an individual seeking redress for violations of Section 15(b) of the Biometric Information Privacy Act need not plead actual damages. 

On January 24th, New York’s Appellate Division, First Department rendered an important decision that expands the ability of litigators to obtain discovery from parties’ electronic devices, including email accounts and social media data, such as messaging apps content and even deleted materials.

On January 23, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in an 8-4 decision, dealt a blow to older job applicants in a case brought pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., under a theory of disparate impact liability. 

To prevail in a premises liability action in Illinois, a plaintiff must satisfy the “notice” requirement, proving that the defendant had either actual or constructive notice that a condition existed that posed an unreasonable risk of harm to others.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in Dittman v. UPMC, ruled that employers have a have a legal duty to exercise reasonable care to safeguard employees’ electronically stored personal information.The dispute arose after a data breach occurred at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, resulting in the personal and financial information of 62,000 UPMC employees being accessed and stolen from the UPMC computer systems.