Cathleen M. Combs

(Retired in 2021)

Chicago Consumer Protection Lawyer

Cathleen M. Combs joined the law firm of Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, LLC in early 1991 and became a named partner in 1993. She formerly supervised the northwest office of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, where she was lead or co-counsel in class actions in the areas of unemployment compensation, prison law, Social Security law, and consumer law. Ms. Combs has argued over 15 cases in the 1^st, 3^rd, and 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois Appellate Court. She is a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar. Ms. Combs received an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service from the Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association on May 18, 2012. She has a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago Law School.

Cathleen is a frequent speaker on consumer law topics at various legal organizations including the Chicago Bar Association and the National Consumer Law Center’s Consumer Rights Litigation Conferences. Ms. Combs is a coauthor of “The Bankruptcy Practitioner’s Guide to Consumer Financial Services Actions after the Subprime Mortgage Crisis” (LRP Publications 2010).

Areas of Practice:

25% Consumer Law
75% Class Actions
Deceptive Trade Practices
RICO Act
Trade Regulation
Unfair Competition
Mortgages & Foreclosures
Foreclosures
Garnishment
Debtor/Creditor
Secured Transactions
Uniform Commercial Code
Warranties
Race Discrimination
Sex Discrimination
Wage & Hour Laws — Employee
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act — Employee
Wrongful Termination — Employee
Wage & Hour Laws
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act
Bankruptcy Litigation
Complex Litigation
Federal Appellate Practice
Federal Trial Practice
Multidistrict Litigation
State Appellate Practice
State Trial Practice
Landlord/Tenant
Residential Real Estate
Title Insurance
Collections & Repossessions

Litigation Percentage:

100% of practice devoted to litigation

Bar Admissions:

Illinois, 1976
U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 1976
U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1988

Education:

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois, 1976
- J.D.
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
- B.S.
- Major: Mathematics

Representative Cases:

Suesz v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC, 734 F.3d 684 (7^th Cir.2014)
Nielsen v. Dickerson, 307 F. 3d 623 (7th Cir. 2002)
Chandler v. American General Finance, Inc., 329 Ill. App.3d 729, 768 N.E.2d 60 (1st Dist. 2002)
Miller v. McCalla Raymer, 214 F. 3d 872 (7th Cir. 2000)
Bessette v. Avco Financial Services, 230 F. 3d 439 (1st Cir. 2000)
Emery v. American Gen. Fin., Inc., 71 F. 3d 1343 (7th Cir. 1995)
Siwulec v. J.M. Adjustment Servs., LLC, 465 Fed. Appx. 200 (3rd Cir. 2012)
McDonald v. Asset Acceptance, LLC, 296 F.R.D. 513 (E.D.Mich. 2013)
Tocco v. Real Time Resolutions, 48 F.Supp.3d 535 (S.D.N.Y. 2014)