Illinois Supreme Court, Springfield, Ill.
SPRINGFIELD — A Wood River lawyer who has clashed with the state of Illinois on several occasions in challenges to constitutionally questionable state laws has had his law license suspended by the Illinois Supreme Court.
On Sept. 25, the Illinois Supreme Court announced that Thomas Maag should be suspended for at least two years from practicing law in Illinois.
Further, the court ordered that Maag must petition the court for reinstatement at the end of two years. The reinstatement process also must include a hearing before the Illinois attorney disciplinary body, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
According to the order, the suspension is in connection to Maag's alleged failures to "diligently represent a married couple in three separate claims." The court asserted Maag "engaged in dishonesty by fabricating materials" to allegedly cover up his alleged failure to "return their files to them after being discharged."
The court further asserted Maag "made a false statement during the disciplinary investigation and refused to comply with an investigative subpoena."
The suspension comes narly two years after the Illinois ARDC recommended the two-year suspension at the conclusion of the investigation into Maag's alleged handling of the legal affairs for clients identified as Michael and Laura Ambrose.
According to the ARDC records, the Ambroses had retained Maag to handle legal disputes over a dispute related to redress for a faulty hot tub and damaged concrete; a dispute with a jewelry story about a diamond ring; and a dispute with a financial company about life insurance.
According to ARDC records, the couple paid Maag a $1,545 filing and service fee and agreed to allow Maag to keep a fee equal to 33% of any recovery in their cases.
Amid the investigation, the Ambroses claimed Maag failed to send demand letters to potential defendants and allegedly did not communicate with them for three years about the cases.
Maag reportedly testified he did not believe he could move forward with their cases, as he struggled to identify liable parties and did not receive authorization to settle for specific amounts.
He further asserted he took months off from the matters in early 2022 as he dealt with family medical issues and the death of his father, former judge and Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Gordon Maag.
According to ARDC records, the Ambroses filed a complaint against Maag with the ARDC in December 2022.
According to ARDC records, the couple soon after received a bag in their mailbox which reportedly contained a damaged envelope with a letter claiming the bag contained all of their files. The bag did not contain any of the files.
In recommending the two-year suspension, the ARDC further noted Maag had already been suspended for 60 days in 2019.
The suspension also comes after years of efforts by Maag to represent clients challenging controversial Illinois state laws.
In 2023, Maag represented gun owners challenging the ban on so-called "assault weapons" championed by Gov. JB Pritzker and virtually all other Illinois Democrats. Maag's case was one among a collection of lawsuits challenging the gun ban.
The "assault weapons" ban has largely withstood court challenges, to this point, as judges with the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago have repeatedly ruled the Illinois law doesn't violate the Second Amendment because the state should be free to ban weapons that lawmakers find to be "too dangerous."
The state law, however, is likely to face a more difficult day in court, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case addressing the constitutionality of a virtually identical "assault weapons" ban ordinance in Cook County and a similar state law in Connecticut.
Maag, however, has also clashed with the state in other constitutional challenges.
Maag has represented several clients challenging denials by Illinois State Police of applications for gun ownership permits, known in Illinois as Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards.
But most recently, Maag squared off with the state before the Illinois Supreme Court over the constitutionality of an Illinois state law that forced Illinoisans to only use courts in Chicago and Springfield when filing lawsuits challenging state laws under the state constitution.
That law had followed a flurry of lawsuits over several years challenging constitutionally questionable laws and government actions, including those challenging Illinois' state law abolishing cash bail for criminals and those challenging Gov. Pritzker's executive orders issued for years in the name of fighting Covid.
The law would now prevent anyone seeking to file such lawsuits from using their local county courthouses and instead file only in Cook County and Sangamon County.
The Democrat-dominated state Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of the state on that question.
Neither the ARDC reports and recommendations nor the state Supreme Court order referenced Maag's litigation challenging the state government.
