Michael S. Hilicki

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Phone: 866-726-1092
Fax: 312-726-1093
Contact: Contact Me

Michael has spent nearly his entire 20+ year legal career helping consumers and workers subjected to unfair and deceptive business practices, and unpaid wage practices. He is experienced in a variety of consumer and wage-related areas including, but not limited to, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Truth-in-Lending Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Illinois Consumer Fraud & Deceptive Business Practices Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Fair Labor Standards Act and the Illinois Wage & Hour Law. He is experienced in all aspects of consumer and wage litigation, including arbitrations, trials and appeals.

Michael handles both individual cases and class action cases. Examples of the numerous certified class actions in which Michael has represented consumers or workers include: Eibert v. Jaburg & Wilk, P.C., 13-cv-301 (D. Minn.); Brinkley v. Zwicker & Associates, P.C., 13 C 1555 (N.D. Ill.); Kraskey v. Shapiro & Zielke, LLP, 11-cv-3307 (D. Minn.); Short v. Anastasi & Associates, P.A., 11-cv-1612 SRN/JSM (D. Minn.); Kimball v. Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C., 10-cv-130 MJD/JJG (D. Minn.); Murphy v. Capital One Bank, 08 C 801 (N.D. Ill.); In re American Family Mut. Ins. Co. Overtime Pay Litig., 06-cv-17430 WYD/CBS (D. Colo.); Nettles v. Allstate Ins. Co., 02 CH 14426 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty.); Sanders v. OSI Educ. Servs., Inc., 01 C 2081 (N.D. Ill.); Kort v. Diversified Collection Servs., Inc., 01 C 0689 (N.D. Ill.); Hamid v. Blatt Hasenmiller, et al., 00 C 4511 (N.D. Ill.); Durkin v. Equifax Check Servs., Inc., 00 C 4832 (N.D. Ill.); Torres v. Diversified Collection Services, et al., 99-cv-00535 (RL-APR) (N.D. Ind.); Morris v. Trauner Cohen & Thomas, 98 C 3428 (N.D. Ill.), Mitchell v. Schumann, 97 C 240 (N.D. Ill.); Pandolfi, et al. v. Viking Office Prods., Inc., 97 CH 8875 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty.); Trull v. Microsoft Corp., 97 CH 3140 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty.); Deatherage v. Steven T. Rosso, P.A., 97 C 0024 (N.D. Ill.); Young v. Meyer & Njus, P.A., 96 C 4809 (N.D. Ill.); Newman v. Boehm, Pearlstein & Bright, Ltd., 96 C 3233 (N.D. Ill.); Holman v. Red River Collections, Inc., 96 C 2302 (N.D. Ill.); Farrell v. Frederick J. Hanna, 96 C 2268 (N.D. Ill.); Blum v. Fisher and Fisher, 96 C 2194 (N.D. Ill.); Riter v. Moss & Bloomberg, Ltd., 96 C 2001 (N.D. Ill.); Clayton v. Cr Sciences Inc., 96 C 1401 (N.D. Ill.); Thomas v. MAC/TCS Inc., Ltd., 96 C 1519 (N.D. Ill.); Young v. Bowman, et al., 96 C 1767 (N.D. Ill.); Depcik v. Mid-Continent Agencies, Inc., 96 C 8627 (N.D. Ill.); and Dumetz v. Alkade, Inc., 96 C 4002 (N.D. Ill.)

Michael has lectured on consumer law issues at Upper Iowa University and the Chicago Bar Association.

Michael is a member of the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and he has represented consumers in state and federal courts around the country on a pro hac vice basis.

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, 1994
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 1995
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1996
• U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois, 2001
• U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 2006

Education

• University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, Iowa
  • J.D. – 1994
  • Honors: With Distinction
• University of Iowa, Iowa, Iowa
  • B.A. – 1991
  • Honors: With Distinction
  • Honors: Phi Beta Kappa

Published Works

• “AND THE SURVEY SAYS…” When Is Evidence of Actual Consumer Confusion Required to Win a Case Under Section 1692g of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in the Seventh Circuit?, 13 Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 224, 2001

Representative Cases

• Shula v. Lawent, 359 F.3d 489 (7th Circuit 2004)
• Weizeorick, et al v. ABN Amro Mtge Grp.,, 337 F.3d 827 (7th Circuit 2003)
• Certiorari Denied, 158 L. Ed. 2d 83, 124 S. Ct. 1418 (US 2004)

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Chicago Bar Association, Member
• Illinois Bar Association
• National Association of Consumer Advocates