Civil Rights / Constitutional Law

The civil rights and constitutional law practice at Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd., is one of the largest, best regarded, and most successful in the nation. Our attorneys pursue complex cases that drive change, challenge discriminatory practices, and uphold and protect fundamental human rights. We believe in a long-term investment in clients and causes — an approach that has earned us hard-fought victories in courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court.

At HSPRD, our attorneys have professional backgrounds in private and public sectors, at large firms and prominent non-profits, working for judges, and as public defenders. Each member of the civil rights and constitutional law team brings outstanding legal skills, creative vision, collaborative spirit, and compassionate approach. We work tirelessly to defend constitutional rights, fight race and gender discrimination, and challenge misconduct by government agencies.

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Below are a number of examples of HSPRD’s successful work on civil rights and constitutional law cases:

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

Ernst v. City of Chicago. HSPRD successfully represented five women who were denied employment as City of Chicago paramedics due to a discriminatory pre-hire physical test. After successfully representing the Ernst plaintiffs in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, judgment was entered in our clients’ favor. Several of the women were instated, and all recovered significant damages in the form of back pay and pension benefits.

Livingston v. City of Chicago. After the City of Chicago adopted a new pre-hire physical test in response to the Ernst lawsuit, the City of Chicago terminated the employment of eleven more female paramedics for not passing a post-hire physical test. HSPRD represented the eleven women and filed a new lawsuit alleging the post-hire tests discriminated against women and had no relation to the job in question. After years of discovery and after the Court denied summary judgment, the Livingston case settled for over $11 million and retroactive seniority and pension credits.

Howard, et al. v. Cook County Sheriff’s Office. HSPRD represented 529 women who worked at the Cook County Jail and were subjected to extreme sexual harassment by male detainees at the jail and courthouse, including masturbation attacks, an epidemic of indecent exposure, and a barrage of sexualized epithets, sexual vulgarities, and threats of sexual violence. The women alleged that the County and Sheriffs’ Office have failed to take this harassment seriously and failed to take meaningful steps to prevent it. Case settled for more than thirty million dollars.

Lucas v. Vee Pak, Inc. HSPRD represented class of African American temporary staffing workers who alleged that they were denied jobs due to their race. Plaintiffs alleged that three staffing agencies conspired with their client to not place African-American employees at the company. After nearly ten years of litigation, the Court certified Plaintiffs’ claims as a class action, and the case settled for $11 million.

Lewis v. City of Chicago. HSPRD represented more than 6,000 African-American clients who the Chicago Fire Department denied employment based on race. A trial court ruled the City’s method of hiring bore no relationship to candidates’ skills or abilities, yet white candidates were more than five times more likely to be hired than their African-American counterparts. The practice was, as the trial court called it, “a manifest violation of Title VII,” the nation’s core federal guarantee of equal employment opportunity. HSPRD prevailed not only at trial but also in a federal court of appeals and before the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous opinion in favor of our clients. In all, 111 class members were hired as Chicago firefighters. Our clients received $78.5 million in back pay and pension contributions.

Jones v. Walgreen Co. HSPRD obtained a $17 million settlement on behalf of a nationwide class of female Walgreens management employees. An injunction required Walgreens to establish objective criteria for pay and promotions and to comply with an outside review of gender equity efforts.

Braceros Litigation. HSPRD has long protected the rights of immigrants and visa workers. A class action lawsuit filed by HSPRD resulted in a historic settlement for Mexican contract laborers (braceros) who worked in the U.S. from 1942 to 1946 during World War II. The settlement recovered unpaid wages for workers who were systematically denied 10 to 15 percent of their wages. The lawsuit and was the a catalyst for a reparations programs for thousands of laborers who worked in the United States from 1947 to 1962.

ELECTION PROTECTION

HSPRD filed an election objection against Donald Trump. In a historic ruling, the circuit court ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified from the Presidency under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court rejected Trump’s arguments that he did not engage in insurrection, that he did not swear an oath to support the Constitution, and that the Presidency is not an office under the United States, among others. She ordered the Electoral Board to remove Trump’s name from Illinois ballots. The United States Supreme Court later overturned the circuit court’s ruling. 

SCHOOL DESEGREGATION

People Who Care v. Rockford Board of Education. In one of the largest school desegregation cases since Brown vs. Board of Education, HSPRD obtained a court order that effectively integrated African-American and Latino students into Rockford, Illinois schools. Rockford was required to spend tens of millions of dollars on new school construction in minority neighborhoods. The case resulted in the most extensive set of liability findings in the history of desegregation legislation.

South Inter-Conference Association Litigation. We represented several predominantly African-American school districts in a challenge to a decision made by eleven predominantly white districts to secede from the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) and form a predominantly white high school interscholastic conference. The split would have effectively ended regular season competition between majority-white and majority-African-American high schools in the area. The case was one of the first to use the “effects test” provisions of the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003.  The case settled on terms that ensured integrated sports conferences.

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

Hispanics United v. Village of Addison. HSPRD obtained one of the largest Fair Housing Act settlements in U.S. history. The class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of residents of two predominantly Mexican communities in Addison, Illinois after the village planned to demolish the communities under the guise of “urban renewal.” The settlement effectively changed the use of tax increment financing (TIF) projects and resulted in millions of dollars in compensation and community development benefits.

VOTING RIGHTS

del Valle v. Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission. HSPRD represented Latino elected officials and community leaders in challenging gerrymandered legislative districts as violations of the Voting Rights Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The resulting settlement created district boundaries that maximized the electoral power of Illinois’ Latino communities and facilitated the rapidly growing Latino political power in Illinois.

EQUAL PROTECTION AND DUE PROCESS

Robinson v. Martin.  HSPRD represented a class of individuals detained at Cook County Jail who were otherwise eligible for release on bond but remained detained because they could not afford their bond amounts. These individuals sued Cook County Judges who set bonds without making inquiries or findings about ability to pay the bond set. During the suit, Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans issued General Order 18.8A, which prohibits judges within the County from setting cash bail in amounts beyond what defendants could afford. The population of the Jail, which is the country’s second largest single site jail correctional facility and houses the vast majority of the County’s pretrial population, declined by more than 1,100 inmates in the first two months after the Order took effect.  

FOURTH AMENDMENT

Escobar, et al. v. Gaines, et. al. HSPRD represented victims of a warrantless raid in Nashville, Tennessee conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers. ICE and MNPD agreed to pay $310,000 to settle all claims. Related settlements were reached with private defendants in the case.

THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS

Henderson v. City of Chicago. HSPRD brought the first substantive case under the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act.  Our client Robert Henderson made claims against the City of Chicago after city workers seized and destroyed all of his possessions—including his medications, identifications, obituaries of family members, and a Bible—during the time he was living under a West Side viaduct. Through litigation, HSPRD secured the first interpretation of the Act, and a favorable settlement for Mr. Henderson.

Smith v. City of Chicago. HSPRD represented a couple who brought claims under the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act, asserting that for more than a year while they were struggling with homelessness, City of Chicago employees, including numerous officers of the Chicago Police Department, continuously harassed them because of their homeless status.  City workers, among other things, routinely destroyed their belongings, forced them to leave public areas, and subjected them to derogatory remarks about their homelessness.  HSPRD defeated the City’s motion to dismiss, obtaining a favorable interpretation of the Act, and secured a successful settlement for our clients.

FIRST AMENDMENT

Trombetta vs. Proviso Township High School District 209. HSPRD represented an employee at a suburban Chicago high school who was fired after supporting the candidate of his choice in local school board elections. The verdict was one of the highest in a single plaintiff civil rights action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

ACLU v. City of Chicago. Our attorneys challenged political surveillance and harassment by local and national law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The class action lawsuit resulted in a consent decree with the broadest restrictions in the nation on government interference in First Amendment activities involving non-governmental, community and public interest organizations.

LAW ENFORCEMENT MISCONDUCT

Estate of Daniel Prude v City of Rochester, NY. Represented the estate of a Black man killed by Rochester police officers in March 2020, as they were responding to his pleas for help as he suffered an acute mental health crisis. Settlement of $12,000,000 was one of the largest single plaintiff police misconduct recoveries in the country.

Estate of Robert Brooks Sr. v. Farina et al., Represented the estate of man killed by New York Department of Corrections officers. Mr. Brooks was brutally attacked by the officers while handcuffed behind his back. The incident was captured on video and highly publicized in national media. The case is currently pending.