Daniel Lynch (Illinois) (2024)

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Daniel Joseph Lynch was a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. Lynch was first elected in 1998. He retired on August 20, 2021.^[1]

In October 2017, the Illinois Supreme Court removed Lynch from a wrongful death case following complaints by attorneys involved in the case. Click here to read more about Lynch's removal from cases in 2016 and 2017.

Education

Lynch earned his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1988.^[2]

Career

Prior to his judicial election in 1998, Lynch was an assistant state's attorney and senior prosecutor.^[2]

Elections

2016

See also: Illinois local trial court judicial elections, 2016

Judges of the Illinois Circuit Court stand for retention after their first full term. To be retained, a judge must receive at least 60 percent of the vote.^[3][4] Daniel Lynch was retained in the Illinois Cook Circuit Court, Daniel Lynch Retention Election with 69.28 percent of the vote.

Selection method

See also: Partisan elections

There are 513 judges on the Illinois Circuit Court, each elected in partisan elections to six-year terms. Upon the completion of these terms, judges who wish to continue serving must compete in uncontested, nonpartisan retention elections.^[5]

The chief judge of each circuit court is selected by peer vote; he or she serves in that capacity indefinitely.^[5]

The circuit courts are also served by 391 associate judges, who are limited in that they may not preside over cases in which the defendant is charged with a felony (an offense punishable by one or more years in prison). Associate judges are appointed to four-year terms by circuit judges.^[6][5]

Midterm vacancies are filled by Illinois Supreme Court appointment.^[5]

Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:^[5]

• a U.S. citizen;
• a circuit/county resident; and
• licensed to practice law in Illinois.

2010

See also: Illinois judicial elections, 2010

Lynch was retained in 2010, receiving 76.02 percent of the vote.^[7][8]

Lynch was recommended for retention by the Judicial Performance Commission of Cook County.^[2]

Noteworthy events

Supreme court removal from cases

On September 6, 2017, the Illinois Supreme Court removed Lynch from a wrongful death case stemming from the 2015 death of Bertha Winford that her family argued was caused by asbestos exposure. Winford's family filed suit against six companies who they alleged were responsible for creating equipment that exposed Winford to asbestos. Attorneys in the case petitioned the supreme court after Lynch alleged a conspiracy between both sides in the case to benefit one of the defendants. The attorneys' petition also said that Lynch threatened attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant with contempt of court charges. Lynch declined to comment on the case as of October 2, 2017.^[9]

Lynch was removed from a case by the supreme court in May 2016 after attorneys for Goldberg, Cairo Weisman complained that the judge ignored alleged misconduct by attorneys for Roadway Express. The case started with a lawsuit by the family of Hawa Sissoko, who was killed by a Roadway Express truck in 2007. Lynch reversed a $4.25 million award granted by a jury to Sissoko's family in 2013 because he found that the administrator of her estate lied about her marital status during the trial. The administrator was sentenced to six years in jail for contempt of court. Goldberg, Cairo Weisman filed a complaint against Lynch in April 2016 alleging that he ignored evidence that attorneys for Roadway Express paid for affidavits in order to overturn the jury award.^[10] In early 2017, an appellate panel dismissed the estate administrator's conviction on the grounds that Lynch should not have presided over the trial.^[9]

See also

• Cook County, Illinois
• Illinois Circuit Courts

External links

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Footnotes