A federal judge in Illinois recently rejected plaintiffs’ request to reconsider an adverse judgment in a contractual dispute after one of their attorneys fell ill and seemingly ghosted the case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin for the Northern District Court of Illinois denied plaintiffs’ motion for relief from judgment after the court dismissed their suit against the defendant, U.S. Foods, for failure to prosecute. The plaintiffs, Jav Nikollbibaj and Geoff De Weaver, claimed they hadn’t responded in the litigation because their lead counsel, Steven Biss, a solo practitioner based in Charlottesville, Virginia, suffered a stroke in August 2023, and he was unable to practice law or communicate with the clients or the court. In November, more than a year after the judgment was entered in favor of U.S. Foods, the plaintiff sought relief based on excusable neglect.