Hon. Michael T. Mason (Ret.) joined JAMS in Chicago in February 2019 after 17 years of distinguished service as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. During his time on the bench, Judge Mason presided over thousands of civil and criminal cases in both trial and pre-trial stages, including jury and bench trials in civil rights, employment, complex commercial, intellectual property and tort actions. Many civil settlement conferences required resolution of insurance issues, both between insurers and the parties and in complex cases between insurers.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Mason served for over 24 years as staff attorney and then chief trial attorney for the Federal Defender Program in the Northern District of Illinois.

As a magistrate judge, Judge Mason received case referrals from all of the district judges and developed close working relationships with each of them. Judge Mason is known as an able and even-tempered jurist who can quickly grasp parties’ legal and factual positions to home in on opportunities for settlement.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

Judge Mason has extensive experience adjudicating and mediating in the following areas:

• ADA/FLSA
• Civil Rights/Prisoner Civil Rights
• Complex Commercial
• Employment Discrimination
• ERISA
• Fair Debt Collection
• Intellectual Property
• Personal Injury/Torts
• TCPA

Representative Matters

• ADA
• Miles v. Courtyard Healthcare Center, No. 18 CV 14: mediated and settled a matter involving a hearing- and speech-impaired plaintiff; required a sign language interpreter
• Business & Commercial
• Arbitrated a case involving claims for misrepresentation, breach of contract, violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act
• Mediated cases involving the Violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. §227
• Arbitrated a breach of contract matter involving attempts to get a credit card company to refund the cost of a private chartered flight which was cancelled due to COVID-19.
• Arbitrated a case in which the claimant sought to enforce the mediation provision in the respondent’s Cardmember Agreement and to recover costs and attorneys’ fees
• Arbitrated an emergency injunction involving a printing store franchise in an area with restrictive covenant
• Arbitrated a case involving alleged violations of 15 U.S.C. 1692(f)(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
• Arbitrated a matter in which a jewelry company sought an emergency injunction to release funds after a bank froze their checks on suspicion of fraud
• Mediated and settled a matter involving a breach of contract between a dealer management software company and an automobile dealership
• Chicago Import v. American States Ins. Co., No. 09 C 2885: contract dispute regarding a warehouse fire including insurance disputes
• UCB v. Kanan Fashions, No. 10 C 331: mediated and settled a matter involving default on a promissory note
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana, Inc. v. Winning Charities Illinois, LLC, et al., No. 13 C 1430: mediated and settleda contract dispute involving fundraising for a charity
• AR-EN Party Printers v. Machines Dubuit, No. 15 C 9821: mediated and settled a breach of contract matter involving a printer and a French manufacturer
• PECO v. Northwest Pallet, No. 15 C 6811 (Presided over jury trial in matter involving unjust enrichment, conversion and civil conspiracy related to the return of rented wooden pallets)
• Civil Rights/Section 1983
• Alfredo v. Oviedo, No. 99 C 5216: presided over a jury trial in a matter involving excessive use of force, malicious prosecution and false arrest
• Truesdale v. Klich, No. 03 8209: presided over a jury trial in a Section 1983 claim arising out of a dispute between neighbors
• Zatos v. Village of Palatine, No. 07 C 1004: presided over a jury trial in a matter where plaintiff, who suffered from a disability affecting his arm and hand, alleged excessive force by police, who handcuffed him following a traffic stop
• Blackwell v. City of Chicago, No. 08 C 7257: presided over a jury trial in a matter involving false arrest, malicious prosecution and unlawful search
• Woulard v. City of Chicago, No. 09 C 8084: presided over a jury trial in a matter involving excessive force, malicious prosecution and false arrest arising out of the Chicago Police Department’s forced entry into plaintiff’s house on New Year’s Eve
• Garrit v. City of Chicago, No. 16 C 7319: issued an evidentiary report and recommendation in a Civil Rights Act matter arising out of the plaintiff’s death
• Cefalu v. Glenview, No. 12 C 5995: presided over a jury trial in a matter where plaintiff alleged false arrest related to her detention by Glenview police on her way to the airport with her boyfriend
• Mediated and settled several of the Burge Cases (related to torture of criminal suspects during Commander Jon Burge’s tenure at the Chicago Police Department), in addition to the following cases:
• Fields v. Grass, No. 07-2036
• Guerrero v. Finnigan, No. 07-1015
• Juarez v. Herrera, No. 07-685
• Ontivero-Artal v. Herrera, No. 06-7036
• Drake v. City of Chicago, No. 06-6893
• Melesio v. City of Chicago, No. 06-4841
• Class Action
• In Re: Trans Union, No. 00 C 4729: mediated and settled a Fair Credit Reporting Act matter
• Butler v. American Cable & Telephone, No. 09 C 5336: mediated and settled a Fair Labor Standards Act matter involving overtime wages of cable company employees
• Employment Law
• Arbitrated a matter in which the employer respondent allegedly failed to make a good faith effort to comply with the FLSA with regard to compensation of kiosk managers.
• Arbitrated a wage and hour dispute regarding overtime
• Simmons v. United Conveyor Corp., No. 02 C 4800: presided over a jury trial in an employment discrimination case
• Joyce v. Chicago Park District, No. 03 C 6420: presided over a jury trial in an employment discrimination and retaliation matter
• False Claims
• Robinson, et al. v. Northrop Corp, et al., No. 89 C 6111: whistleblower case; government alleged Northrop overcharged its customers for materials used to build warplanes
• USA v. Sekendur/Sekendur v. McCandliss, No. 03 C 807/11 C 8981: issued a report and recommendation in a matter involving false claims for disability benefits
• First Amendment
• Left Field Media v. City of Chicago, No. 15 C 3115: dispute regarding the sale of magazines outside of Wrigley Field (District court adopted Report and Recommendation which was affirmed on appeal)
• Health Care
• Mediated and settled a case involving alleged violations of federal and state False Claims Acts
• Intellectual Property
• Arbitrated an emergency injunction case with intellectual property and trade secret issues regarding restrictive covenants
• Mediated and settled a case involving allegations that a former subcontractor took plaintiffs’ confidential information and trade secrets and passed them off as his own, for purposes of developing a new business concerning health care data aggregation.
• MB Fin. Bank v. MB Real Estate Services, LLC, No. 02 C 5925: issued a report and recommendation ina trademark infringement (Lanham Act) matter involving the use of a logo
• Clark Tile v. Red Devil, Inc., No. 04 C 2928: presided over a jury trial in a trademark infringement matter involving adhesive spreaders; case settled mid-trial
• Restoration Hardware v. Haynes Furniture Co. (d/b/a The Dump), No. 16 C 10665: mediated and settled a trademark infringement case involving defendant’s use of plaintiff’s name, furniture models and photos
• Personal Injury Torts
• Mediated and settled a matter involving injury and eventual death of an incarcerated patient
• Mediated and settled a personal injury case by driver against trucking company for injuries sustained while unloading truck
• Colon et. al. v. Blackmon, No. 99 C 8146: presided over a jury trial in a matter involving negligence in a trucking accident with a family vehicle on the Chicago Skyway resulting in death and injuries
• Robenhurst v. Dematic Corp., No. 05 C 3192: presided over a jury trial in a personal injury lawsuit arising out of an accident at a Ford Motor Company facility; plaintiff’s leg was crushed while loading a trailer
• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. USA, No. 13 C 3266: presided over a bench trial in a Federal Tort Claims Act matter involving a car accident on government property
• Professional Liability
• Mediated and settled a case involving Professional negligence by insurance broker and company in procuring insurance for a school district, specifically by failing to provide necessary information regarding effect of change in carriers

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Presentations
• Speaker, Virtual ADR Presentation, Winston & Strawn, July 2020
• Panelist, What You Don’t Know Might Cost You: How To Be A Few Steps Ahead When Negotiating And Mediating Disputes, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, March 2020
• Panelist, Keys to an Effective Federal Civil Practice, Chicago Bar Association, May 2019
• Awards
• Recipient, Public Service Award, Mitchell A. Mars Foundation Annual Gala, 2018
• Teaching
• Guest Lecturer, Seminar for Public Interest Externs, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, April 2023
• Past Trial Practice Lecturer and Judge, Justice Department School for New Assistant U.S. Attorneys
• Former Adjunct Faculty, Trial Practice, Advanced Trial Practice, Negotiation, John Marshall Law School
• Memberships
• Former Investigator and Committee Member, Judicial Evaluation Committee, Chicago Bar Association
• Former Member, American Bar Association
• Former Member, Federal Bar Association

Background and Education

• Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2001–2019
• Attorney, Federal Defender Program (N.D. Ill.), 1977–2001
• Chief Trial Attorney, 1986–2001
• Staff Attorney, 1977–1986
• J.D., John Marshall Law School, 1977
• Inside Sales, Union Carbide, 1969–1974
• Sergeant, Secret Clearance, United States Army, 1967–1969
• Tuition Plan, CIT Financial Corporation, 1965–1967
• B.A., Government, University of Arizona, 1965