Docket number: 24-cv-08209 (N.D. Ill.); 25-3282 (7th Cir.)
The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) filed a lawsuit concerning the April 15, 2024 blockade of the main entrance into O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, which snarled traffic for three hours and trapped innocent travelers in their cars. HLLI’s client was among the victims. He missed his flight, spent most of his day rerouting, and then missed a work function that night at his destination. Other travelers were forced to abandon taxis and rideshares, and trudged more than a mile to the airport.
The client brings his complaint as a class action on behalf of thousands of others falsely imprisoned in their cars or otherwise displaced by the blockade. The case defends the rights of citizens unlawfully impeded by anti-Israel, pro-Gaza groups engaging in illegal acts of obstruction rather than peaceful protest. HLLI’s legal team seeks damages and a court injunction to prevent future disruptions like this.
The suit names several groups as defendants, including: Jewish Voice for Peace, The Tides Center and its Community Justice Exchange, National Students for Justice in Palestine, the WESPAC Foundation, and Dissenters. These groups provided monetary or logistical support to the “A15 Action.”
A15 Action was a premeditated plot “to identify and blockade major choke points in the economy … with the aim of causing the most economic impact.” A15 Action disrupted sites across the United States, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Seattle-Tacoma Airport. These actions were reportedly part of a broader strategy promoted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Biden administration’s Director of National Intelligence has warned that “Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza.” Americans should not tolerate such disruption.
Additionally the suit names four individuals directly involved in orchestrating or promoting the blockade at O’Hare Airport: Jinan Chehade, Superior Murphy, Simone Tucker, Rifqa Felaneh, who is affiliated with an organization funded by the Tides Foundation.
While Americans enjoy broad protections to speak, A15 Action was not a protest, but a planned effort to damage the American economy. Those who plotted the economically-damaging blockades should be held accountable to prevent further politically-motivated attacks in the future.
Manhart filed an amended complaint on January 29. The defendants each filed a motion to dismiss, with some filing motions to strike and for sanctions. Manhart responded to these filings on March 28.
On August 7, 2025, the district court dismissed the class action complaint and issuing sanctions against HLLI attorneys based, among other things, on the theory that Manhart was not really falsely imprisoned because he could have abandoned his car on the road. Manhart appealed the next day to the Seventh Circuit. “The decision and the sanctions are based on the premise that it’s legal in Illinois for drivers to abandon their car on the highway outside O’Hare Airport for up to seven days, and they thus weren’t truly trapped. This is a misreading of the precedent and the applicable statutes, as well as a procedurally improper inference against the allegations in a complaint, and we are confident in our chances on appeal,” said Ted Frank, HLLI’s Director of Litigation.
Manhart filed his opening brief for his appeal on October 6, 2025.
HLLI will continue to seek lawful redress against the activists’ deliberate effort to damage the American economy by trapping travelers in their cars.
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