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In March 2019, HSPRD won the first appellate case under the Illinois Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act. This law enables whistleblowers to sue corporations and individuals that commit fraud on private insurance companies. In this case about fraud by a suburban Chicago optometry office, the trial court held that the whistleblower law was invalid, but Illinois Court of Appeals reversed that decision and upheld the rights of whistleblowers to bring fraud claims under the law.
HSPRD appellate lawyers have also prevailed in many cases in the Seventh Circuit, including the unanimous victory in Lewis v. City of Chicago. HSPRD brought lawsuit on behalf of more than 6,000 African-Americans who passed a hiring exam and then were denied employment in the Chicago Fire Department based on race. The trial court required the City to hire 111 class members as firefighters. Our clients also were ultimately awarded $78.5 million in back pay and pension contributions. More recently, HSPRD attorneys are representing female paramedic applicants, both at trial and on appeal, who were excluded from the Chicago fire Department by discriminatory physical tests.
HSPRD regularly provides amicus briefs on immigration and a range of issues from qui tam laws to affirmative action programs, and employment issues. Under the current presidential administration, HSPRD attorneys have filed several amicus briefs across the U.S. defending pro-immigrant policies and supporting sanctuary cities. HSPRD attorneys also routinely represent people filing appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Our attorneys are admitted to practice law in the United States Supreme Court and several of our lawyers clerked for judges in the Seventh U.S. District Court of Appeals prior to joining HSPRD. Our team has argued cases in the Second Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, Seventh Circuit, Ninth Circuit, United States Supreme Court and Illinois state appellate courts, among others.
