Judge declines CTU’s motion to dismiss financial audit lawsuit

By Dan McCaleb and Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A Cook County judge on Monday denied a Chicago Teachers’ Union motion for summary judgment and granted plaintiffs’ request to compel discovery in a case over the union’s lack of releasing financial audits to its members.

“The court saw through CTU’s effort to avoid scrutiny,” Sara Albrecht, chair of Liberty Justice Center, the nonprofit law firm representing union members who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Simply posting documents after being sued doesn’t erase legal obligations. With discovery now moving forward, we intend to get a full accounting of whether CTU has complied with its duties to its own members.”

LJC filed suit in October 2024 on behalf of four CTU members after they said the union failed to produce the audits for four years. In November 2025, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce sent a letter to CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, asking the union to produce audits from 2019 to 2024. In January, CTU said it had made the audits available and filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which a judge refused.

“CTU tried to shut this case down before the facts could come out,” Albrecht said. “The court said no. Now that discovery is moving forward, we’ll be able to examine whether CTU has truly provided the full financial disclosures its members deserve.”