William T. "Toby" Eveland

Toby is a trusted advisor to Boards of Trustees, presidents, and general counsels for colleges and universities across the country. His defense work for these clients includes class actions and matters involving Title IX, Section 1983, First Amendment, Title VII, and ADA tort defense. Toby also audits policies and procedures connected to compliance with Title IX, VAWA, ADA, FERPA, HIPAA, and Title VI, and provides advice on ethics laws, open meeting laws, and FOIA. 

Select representations include:

• Dismissal of a class action suit alleging fraud based on a law school's compilation and publication of post-graduate employment statistics, which was affirmed on appeal.
• Unanimous appellate court decision enforcing a university's student housing contractual rights against a local alumni group.
• Defense and resolution of numerous Title VII claims, as well as failure to promote and failure to award tenure cases.
• Defense and resolution of numerous Title IX claims and cases involving hazing allegations and other criminal misconduct.
• Defense and resolution of multiple claims alleging tuition misrepresentation, tenure revocation, procurement, and cybersecurity.

Informing his understanding of the broader implications litigation can have on clients is his past service managing a not-for-profit educational foundation that provides risk management services and assists colleges, universities, and fraternal organizations in times of loss. Toby has also served as an instructor for his law school's moot court program, and he is a frequent presenter at conferences on issues such as hazing, Title IX, OCR regulations and guidance, protections for suicidal students, reasonable accommodations for emotional support and service animals, and internal investigations.

Toby is a long-time counselor to municipal and governmental entities and related authorities. Additionally, he has represented municipal and local governmental entities and public housing authorities in a number of pieces of litigation, including extensive work in state and federal courts in Illinois. Some representative recent cases and examples in Illinois include:

• Successful defense and resolution of class actions advancing section 1983 and due process claims.
• Summary judgment in a premises liability action where plaintiff sought multi-million-dollar damages.
• Successful defense of wrongful death and civil rights claims in connection with a security shooting.
• Unanimous appellate court decision affirming dismissal of plaintiff's petition for review of an administrative hearing.
• Dismissal with prejudice where plaintiff sought damages for alleged racial profiling and segregation in housing assignments, First Amendment and fair housing statutory violations, and Section 1983 claims.
• Summary judgment where a former employee sought damages for a variety of employment claims, including age, gender, and race discrimination.
• Successful resolution of a multi-million-dollar tax appeal where certain exempt property had been improperly taxed.

Toby routinely leads complex commercial litigation teams and represents clients in the manufacturing, finance, insurance, and real estate industries. His national courtroom experience for them includes contractual disputes, employment matters and restrictive covenants, intellectual property rights, and property disputes. With an entrepreneurial focus, Toby seeks to understand his client's goals at the outset of an engagement, and then formulates a plan to see it to fruition. As such, he has become the go-to attorney for a number of corporate clients given his full-service approach.

Within the realm of litigation, some select examples include:

• Unanimous appellate court decision affirming a trial verdict against plaintiff who sought to pierce the corporate veil to collect judgment from a company owner.
• Dismissal of a class action challenging a retail chain’s billing practices.
• Successful resolution of BIPA and other cybersecurity class action cases.
• Successful resolution of multi-state products liability actions for a manufacturer involved in airplane crash litigation.
• Unanimous appellate court decision affirming the dismissal of a suit against a title insurer claiming a landmark designation was an encumbrance.
• Summary judgment in favor of a manufacturer of personal watercraft for failure to warn claims with multi-million dollar exposure.
• Successful resolution of multiple shareholder derivative suits involving financial and investment vehicles, commodities, and manufacturing.