FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 31, 2014

CONTACT:                           Mik Gerhardt, Attorney

                                                Gerhardt & Haskins, LLP

                                                312. 593.5100

 

One Week After Announcing Cameras Allowed in Criminal Courts, Motion Seeks to

Add Chief Judge Tim Evans as a Defendant in Reporter’s Federal Civil Suit.

 

 

CHICAGO, IL – On eve of New Year, attorneys in U. S. Northern District Court seek emergency injunctive relief in reporter’s complaint of federal civil rights violations against Sheriff Tom Dart and Director of Building Security for the Public Building Commission, Chief Edward Carik. 

 

At 9:15 a.m. in the Dirksen Federal Building located at 219 S. Dearborn, Chicago, IL attorneys for reporter Gwendolyn Chubb will bring a motion before Judge Milton Shadur to add Chief Judge Tim Evans as a Defendant. Ms. Chubb’s assignment includes reporting on Domestic Relations cases from inside the lobby and hallways of the Daley Center and other courthouses where civil matters are heard.

 

Ms. Chubb is a reporter and co-hosts a live talk show along with family law attorney, Michael Gerhardt for an independent radio station broadcasting out of the near north side.

 

AM 1680, Q4 Radio features an alternative arts and activism platform and offers numerous shows highlighting controversial issues in social justice. Ms. Chubb possesses current and valid media credentials issued through the Chicago Police Department and after completing an application with the building management office of the Daley Center had been allowed in with camera equipment from

April 1, 2014 to April 23, 2014 when things suddenly went haywire.

 

On April 23, 2014, the reporter was on the 19th floor of the Daley Center when, “All of a sudden, I was surrounded by four armed sheriffs telling me I was under arrest”, states Ms. Chubb, who offered to destroy any footage from the day’s reporting and leave instead of going to jail. When Ms. Chubb submitted several FOIA’s inquiring as to what law, order or ordinance she violated, the sheriff’s office could provide no such statute.

 

Ms. Chubb then took her FOIA request along with the sheriff’s response to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Public Access Counselor for follow up. When the AG’s office was unsuccessful, and in light of the Illinois Supreme Court’s March 2014 decision in People v. Clark determining civil courts are public proceedings and judges are public officials, Ms. Chubb took her case to the federal district court for Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech, Excessive Force and other civil rights violations.

 

A status hearing was set for January 16, 2015 to schedule a settlement conference, but with this latest development, attorneys are unsure of what will happen next, yet remain hopeful they will prevail in court especially since dragging everyone in on the holiday. But as attorney and former marine, Michael Gerhardt stated, “the fight for justice does not allow for holidays”.