Appeals Court Approves Dismissal of Terminated Arbitrators' Lawsuit

A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's decision to toss a lawsuit that four Illinois workers' compensation arbitrators filed against the state after they lost their jobs in 2011. The lawsuit accused former Gov. Pat Quinn and two advisers of refusing to reappoint Kathleen Hagan, Gilberto Galicia, Joseph Prieto and Richard Peterson because they had sued the state on a previous occasion. They said that refusal amounted to retaliation against them for exercising protected speech.  The district court said that the lawsuit did not amount to protected speech. The U.S. 7th Cir...