* December…

A pair of longtime government reform advocates are pushing back against an attempt by Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to force them to pay the state $1.5 million, alleging they are being punished for opposing Pritzker’s bid to end decades of federal court oversight of corrupt state government hiring practices.

On Dec. 1, attorneys Michael Shakman and Paul Lurie filed a motion in Chicago federal court, opposing Pritzker’s efforts to force them to repay fees the court awarded them from the state as Pritzker argued in court that continued federal oversight of state hiring practices was no longer warranted.

“Granting the Governor’s request … would unjustly punish two civil rights champions who achieved massive reforms,” Shakman and Lurie wrote.

Included in that demand was the return of state money paid to the Special Master. Shakman lost his appeal last August. From the state’s filing…

(U)nder black letter law and binding Seventh Circuit precedent, Plaintiffs no longer are prevailing parties with respect to the competing termination and expansion motions, and must shoulder their own fees for opposing the State’s termination motion and requesting expansion of the special master’s duties.

Similarly, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 53 requires the court to allocate payment for a special master’s services based on the “extent to which any party is more responsible than other parties for the reference to a master,” and allows reassessment of the allocation of special master payments between the parties “to reflect a decision on the merits.” The costs of the special master’s expanded duties and monitoring after Rule 60(b) was satisfied should be borne by Plaintiffs who sought the now-reversed order expanding her responsibilities over the State’s objection. In the wake of the Seventh Circuit’s repudiation of Plaintiffs’ arguments, there is no reason in law or equity that the State as opposed to the Plaintiffs should bear the cost of Plaintiffs advancing them and continuing special master monitoring and litigation past when it should have ended.

* Today at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois…

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Gabriel A. Fuentes: Settlement conference held on 1/17/23 on Governor’s Motion for Order that Plaintiffs Repay Attorneys Fees and Costs of Special Master Monitoring (doc. #[8160]). The parties reached an agreement to settle all of the disputed issues in that motion, with the agreement calling for plaintiffs to pay the sum of $525,000 to the State of Illinois. A further joint written status report is due by noon on 3/31/23 on settlement finalization but will be vacated if the Court is advised before then that the settlement funds have been paid.