Court Filings

The appellate court reviewed a foreclosure action by Associated Bank against defendants including John Morrison. The court held that a 1995 quitclaim deed conveyed immediate title to Morrison and his siblings as tenants in common while reserving a life estate to the grantor, Rosa McShan. Because McShan had the authority to encumber only her life estate, the 2007 mortgage only attached to that life estate and was extinguished on her death. The court reversed the trial court’s grant of foreclosure and vacated related orders as to Morrison’s interest, but it affirmed denial of Morrison’s Consumer Fraud Act claim.

The Illinois Appellate Court reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded after reviewing Brandon Johnson’s motion for leave to file a successive postconviction petition. Johnson, convicted in 1995 of murder and related offenses, argued his petition showed actual innocence and satisfied the cause-and-prejudice standard for claims that police misconduct undermined identifications and that Brady violations occurred. The court found Johnson presented a colorable actual innocence claim and a colorable due-process claim based on evidence of a pattern and practice of detective misconduct that could have affected eyewitness identifications, so it reversed the denial and remanded for further proceedings. The court affirmed rejection of the Brady claim under controlling precedent.

The appellate court reviewed a dismissal under section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure of negligence claims filed by Samantha Allumi on behalf of her son Chase after he fell from an inflatable slide at a school field day. The trial court dismissed the negligence claims against the school district, board, and the parent organization (SHSO) as immune under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. The appellate court affirmed dismissal as to negligence allegations that amounted to failures of supervision, but reversed as to specific pre-activity failures to guard or warn (including failure to provide safety equipment, notify parents, ensure medical clearance, and provide a safe slide) and remanded for further proceedings, including a determination whether the activity was a "hazardous recreational activity." The court also held SHSO qualifies as a local public entity under the Act.

A Wayne County jury convicted Brodey I. Murbarger of first-degree murder for the death of Megan Nichols; the court sentenced him to a 50-year term with 3 years of mandatory supervised release. On appeal Murbarger argued the court erred by denying a change of venue and funding for a phone-survey expert, that he was entitled to a Miller/Harris-type hearing because he was a young adult at the time of the crime, and that multiple murder convictions violated the one-act, one-crime rule. The appellate court affirmed the conviction and most rulings, held the venue and expert denials were not an abuse of discretion, declined to grant a Miller-type remedy on direct appeal, but vacated two duplicate murder convictions and ordered the mittimus corrected.

The appellate court reviewed Michael Southall’s convictions for attempted residential arson and related domestic-violence offenses. Southall argued the Will County Sheriff’s Office violated his due process rights and Supreme Court Rule 412 by destroying a seized Kingsford charcoal lighter fluid container, and that the evidence was insufficient to prove intent or a substantial step toward arson. The court held the destruction did not violate due process because it was routine, not shown to be in bad faith, and the missing item was not shown to be clearly exculpatory. The court affirmed the arson and aggravated battery convictions but vacated two domestic-battery convictions under the one-act, one-crime rule.