2011 Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Opinions 501 - 1000 of 1188
Date: August 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2290
Justia Opinion Summary: A special education support teacher sued the school district and administrators under 42 U.S.C. 1983, asserting that her constitutional rights were violated because she was ordered to a room with an autistic fourth-grade…
Date: August 10, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1558
Justia Opinion Summary: The company previously gave retirees credit toward their share of health care costs, based on unused sick-leave. Union workers could take that sum in cash or put it toward the premium. Executives who quit before…
Date: August 10, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3736
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner's claim for Social Security disability insurance benefits (42 U.S.C. 423(a)(1)(E)) and supplemental security income payments after suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle crash were denied by the Social…
Date: August 9, 2011
Docket Number: 08-2467
Justia Opinion Summary: Responding to complaints about a party, officers arrived and attempted to quiet and disperse the crowd of nearly 100 attendees, mostly of Mexican descent. Tension escalated. A full-blown melee ensued. Officers and…
Date: August 9, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3098
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were convicted of mail fraud and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1341, 1346) for participating in a fraudulent scheme to obtain mortgage loans. The scheme involved: recruiters, who enlisted buyers to buy properties with…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 08-4164
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 08-4164
Justia Opinion Summary: Two computer programs hold the registered trademark "CONDOR." After the district court entered summary judgment, the Seventh Circuit concluded that a trial was required on a confusion-in-trade allegation, but held that…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1687
Justia Opinion Summary: American citizen-civilians alleged that they were detained and illegally tortured by U.S. military personnel while in Iraq in 2006 and released from military custody without being charged with a crime. At the time they…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1827
Justia Opinion Summary: After two years of contributing to a multiemployer pension plan established under a collective bargaining agreement, the company closed the covered facility, triggering withdrawal liability. The union notified the…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2140
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants ran the township trustee's office, which provides various social services. They defrauded the office by taking substantial payments for work they did not perform, deposited checks made out to the office into…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2734
Justia Opinion Summary: At jury selection in a criminal trial, the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to strike the only two African-American members in the venire. The defendant was convicted. The Seventh Circuit remanded for findings under…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3073
Justia Opinion Summary: After the company announced a plan to outsource positions, it arranged for the new vendor to accept applications from its employees. Two targeted employees applied for positions within the company, rather than pursuing…
Date: August 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3936
Justia Opinion Summary: Based on her part in billing Indiana Medicaid for ambulance service while running a car service to take patients to medical appointments, defendant was convicted of Medicaid fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1347, and conspiracy to…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 08-4164
Justia Opinion Summary: Two computer programs hold the registered trademark "CONDOR." After the district court entered summary judgment, the Seventh Circuit concluded that a trial was required on a confusion-in-trade allegation, but held that…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3549
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant drove from New Jersey to Illinois and met an undercover agent who loaded bags containing packages wrapped in tape into her car. On her return trip, DEA agents stopped defendant, questioned her about the bags,…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4010
Justia Opinion Summary: Davis learned that the government was suspending sale of new 30-year bonds.The information was embargoed until 10 AM. He passed the information to traders, who bought futures contracts with an eight-minute head start and…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2339
Justia Opinion Summary: Wisconsin inmates challenged the state's Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act, Wis. Stat. 302.386(5m), which prevents the state Department of Corrections from providing transgender inmates with certain medical treatments.…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3746
Justia Opinion Summary: After prevailing in a suit for social security disability benefits, plaintiff asked for an award of attorney’s fees of $25,200 under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412(d)(2)(A)(ii). The district judge cut…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3746
Justia Opinion Summary: After prevailing in a suit for social security disability benefits, plaintiff asked for attorney's fees of $25,200 under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412(d)(2)(A). The district judge awarded $6,625,…
Date: August 5, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1371
Justia Opinion Summary: Drivers, employed by the concrete company, were represented by the union and went on strike after their collective bargaining agreement expired. The company announced that it no longer recognized the union as the…
Date: August 4, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2811
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a natural gas supplier, and defendants, a natural gas distributor and its executive, had a written contract. The relationship unraveled in the face of a failed acquisition, several million dollars' worth of…
Date: August 4, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1231
Justia Opinion Summary: Following an anonymous tip, the FBI conducted surveillance of defendant and observed that he regularly transported about four people back and forth between his home and his restaurant. A consent search of the home…
Date: August 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1368
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, who is white, worked with an African-American who was confrontational, rude, and disruptive in the workplace. Plaintiff claims that a 940-pound steel coil that fell on him, from a machine operated by the…
Date: August 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3287
Date: August 1, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2487
Justia Opinion Summary: The applicant sought disability insurance benefits and supplemental security income, claiming that she is disabled by bipolar disorder and numerous physical impairments. The Social Security Administration denied the…
Date: August 1, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1121
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, convicted of robbery and forgery in state court, filed a state court motion challenging his sentence. The motion was denied, as was his request for appointed counsel. The federal district court rejected a…
Date: July 29, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3953
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff suffered a stroke and claimed that the VA hospital failed to properly diagnose and take appropriate measures. He and his wife sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 1346(b), 2671-80, and also sued…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: 08-3917
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a plastics manufacturer, dealt with a container company that filed for bankruptcy in 2002, filed a creditor's claim for more than $7 million, and objected to the sale of assets and lien priorities. The debtor…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4116
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant approached an employee of his business for help in finding a hit-man to kill his business partner. The employee went to the authorities, was outfitted with a wire, and recorded conversations in which he and…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3519
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff claimed that several of defendant's brands of toilet paper infringed on its trademark design. The district court entered summary judgment, holding that toilet paper embossed patterns are functional and cannot…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1329
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1989, defendant pled guilty in Illinois to aggravated criminal sexual assault of a seven-year-old. In 2001, he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to probation. He complied with…
Date: July 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2333
Justia Opinion Summary: The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act prevents states and their subdivisions from imposing discriminatory taxes against railroads. 49 U.S.C. 11501. In 2008, the drainage district, a subdivision of…
Date: July 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2529
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs want to represent a class of more than 100 people with stakes of more than $5 million and invoked federal jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1332(d)(2), the Class Action Fairness Act. They claim that the company…
Date: July 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2955
Justia Opinion Summary: Seeing that plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt, the officer followed him to a store where plaintiff worked, arriving at 5:57 p.m.. Plaintiff, due at work at 6:00 p.m., sped into the parking lot. The officer pulled in…
Date: July 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2986
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, age 14, and her mother, a biomedical researcher, entered the U.S. from Georgia on temporary visas in 1998. While their applications for permanent residency were pending, the mother violated the terms of her…
Date: July 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3490
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff received a written warning from his supervisor for failing to complete a task and went to management to complain. The complaint triggered a series of events that led to his discharge. He sued his former…
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3037
Justia Opinion Summary: The qui tam suit, brought by a former contractor for one of the defendants, alleges that defendants violated the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729(a)(1) in connection with a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Greece, which paid…
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1738
Justia Opinion Summary: In negotiations for architectural services for construction of a hotel, the parties agreed that defendant would pay an additional $15,000, apart from design fees, if defendant elected not to use plaintiff's construction…
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2596
Justia Opinion Summary: XMH sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief and obtained permission to sell a subsidiary's assets (11 U.S.C. 363), indicating that a contract between the subsidiary and WG would be assigned to purchasers. WG objected,…
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2739
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court dismissed a complaint asserting breach of contract, breach of a covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of a settlement agreement, promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel, quantum meruit,…
Date: July 25, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2147
Justia Opinion Summary: The railroad owns a 2.8-mile right-of-way that it has leased to the Chicago Transit Authority for almost 50 years. When the lease became too costly, the CTA sought to condemn a perpetual easement. The district court…
Date: July 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2479
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a citizen of Thailand, was extradited for trial on drug charges in Illinois. Once in the U.S., she wrote letters to people in Thailand who were suspected of being involved in the drug trade in order to assist…
Date: July 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3202
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant used a gun to rob a convenience store, taking $54. He entered a plea of guilty to robbery under the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, 18 U.S.C.…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1889
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff worked as a sales representative when she became disabled and sought long-term disability benefits under the company's ERISA plan (“the Plan”) after a series of back surgeries. In her suit under 29…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2028
Justia Opinion Summary: Indiana police officers attempted to stop a car matching the description of one involved in a road-rage incident. The driver continued to drive, prompting a brief low-speed car chase. He pulled over, after leading the…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2968
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant entered a plea of guilty to using the Internet to traffic in child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(1) and (b)(1)). All sides agreed that the correct guideline range for the offense was 210 to 262 months.…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3057
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, age 62, entered a plea of guilty to attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity (18 U.S.C. 2422(b)), and to attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor (18 U.S.C. 1470) and was sentenced…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3261
Justia Opinion Summary: A developer built a subdivision in a floodplain. The developer and buyers knew that the land is low-lying and prone to flooding. The developer constructed levees, floodwalls, retention ponds, and a stormwater holding…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3732
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006 creditors forced the corporation, which owned a golf course, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the trustee approved sale of the course to the local recreation district over the objections of the corporation's…
Date: July 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3912
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a Mexican citizen, entered the United States in 1991 without inspection and was eligible for removal 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), 1227(a)(1)). He married a woman who also lacks legal status. Their three…
Date: July 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3017
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant owned companies forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but was not a debtor in the proceedings. The plan was confirmed and prohibited suits against the bankruptcy professionals and certain litigation against…
Date: July 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3021
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was one of the first female custodians hired by the Chicago Public Schools in 1981 and, in 2004, qualified to oversee custodial operations at large school buildings. She clashed with her new boss, who declined…
Date: July 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3135
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, evicted from their home following a state court foreclosure judgment, sought relief in federal court. The district court rejected all claims. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court correctly…
Date: July 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3198
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, the getaway driver, was convicted of armed robbery of a financial institution (18 U.S.C. 2113(a) & (d)), possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A)), and possession…
Date: July 20, 2011
Docket Number: 06-2807
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a lawful permanent resident, petitioned the court for review of the denial of his application for cancellation of removal. At issue was whether petitioner's second conviction for domestic battery qualified as…
Date: July 20, 2011
Docket Numbers: 09-3932, 09-2190, 09-2689
Justia Opinion Summary: The three defendants in this consolidated case were Mexican nationals who were living in the United States illegally. At issue was what evidentiary showing must a defendant, charged with being found in the United States…
Date: July 20, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2481
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, Green County's chief juvenile-intake worker from 1997-2008, alleged that Green County (county) deprived her of a property interest in her job without due process, in violation of 42 U.S.C. 1983, where the…
Date: July 20, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2778
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued to recover a "break-up fee" it claimed was owed to it under the letter of intent the parties executed in relation to a negotiated sale of defendants' assets and real estate properties. At issue was whether…
Date: July 20, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3301
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs sued the City of Chicago and a named police officer, bringing three state law and two federal claims on the allegedly unlawful search of plaintiffs' apartment. At issue was whether the district court erred in…
Date: July 19, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4066
Justia Opinion Summary: The warden at the prison where plaintiff worked suspended him pending discharge and recommended termination after concluding that plaintiff had sexually harassed a female subordinate and had lied about the matter. An…
Date: July 19, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1896
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a gang member, was convicted with others on multiple charges. He was sentenced to three concurrent life terms of incarceration on racketeering charges (18 U.S.C. 1962) with a consecutive term of 57 years (18…
Date: July 19, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3339
Justia Opinion Summary: Inmates filed a class action lawsuit claiming that the Indiana Department of Corrections violated their First Amendment Rights by prohibiting them from advertising for pen-pals and receiving materials from websites and…
Date: July 15, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3515
Justia Opinion Summary: An inmate filed suit against guards (42 U.S.C. 1983), claiming that they used excessive force against him in an altercation. After the altercation a disciplinary board found the inmate guilty of "Assaulting Any Person,…
Date: July 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2122
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native of Mexico, entered the United States illegally in 1987, married the next year, eventually raising three children, and remained until returning briefly to Mexico in August 2001. Border Patrol…
Date: July 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3097
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant entered a plea of guilty to transporting, receiving, and possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 360 months in prison. 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(5)(B). The guidelines sentencing range was…
Date: July 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3327
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners, husband and wife, are Macedonian Slavs. In 2001 husband was drafted into the Macedonian Army. He refused to report, because he disapproved of government efforts to suppress Albanian demands for greater…
Date: July 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3567
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant entered a plea of guilty to advertising child pornography, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 2251(d)(1), agreeing to a comprehensive waiver of appellate rights. Defendant signed a statement: "I acknowledge that . . .…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1943
Justia Opinion Summary: A semi-truck jackknifed while making a delivery for a federally licensed carrier and struck a vehicle, killing its driver. The estate brought a wrongful death action in Illinois state court against the driver, his wife…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2450
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant sold a confidential informant 3 grams of cocaine base (crack) and, weeks later, 56.3 grams of a mixture containing cocaine base in the form of crack. The district court accepted a guilty plea (21 U.S.C.…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2509
Justia Opinion Summary: The Wisconsin smelting plant owed more than $1.3 million in delinquent utility charges to the local municipal utility when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Months later, despite the automatic stay, the utility…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2535
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of distributing crack cocaine (21 U.S.C. 841) and sentenced to 420 months in prison. The Seventh Circuit, rejecting a "cumulative error" argument. The district court erred in admitting evidence of…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2962
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff purchased a house in the early 2000s and fell behind on his payments. The lender extended two forbearance agreements, but assessed late fees and reported the late payments; plaintiff was unable to refinance…
Date: July 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3166
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff began working at an auto dealership finance department in 2006. Her son began working in the department days later, but both were terminated about three months later. They filed a complaint in federal court…
Date: July 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1249
Justia Opinion Summary: Based on a scheme for laundering drug money, defendants were convicted of conspiring to engage in monetary transactions in criminally derived property (18 U.S.C. 1956); one was additionally convicted of engaging in a…
Date: July 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2696
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a school bus driver convicted of distributing and possessing child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)), received a 360-month sentence, the low end of the sentencing guidelines range but the statutory maximum.…
Date: July 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2887
Justia Opinion Summary: The company closed paper mills and eliminated a health-care subsidy for retirees. The union filed suit in Ohio under the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 185, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
Date: July 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3063
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a college student, was not known to live in the house when agents executed a warrant. His uncle was the target of a child pornography investigation. Uniformed officers went to campus to interview defendant,…
Date: July 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3728
Justia Opinion Summary: Decedent was arrested on June 10, 2006, and pronounced dead at about 1:30 a.m. on June 12. She died of heart arrhythmia while in lockup. The evidence showed that she experienced severe abdominal pain throughout her…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2592
Justia Opinion Summary: Charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine and at least fifty grams of crack cocaine (21 U.S.C. 841), and for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1029
Justia Opinion Summary: A citizen of Illinois brought personal-injury claims against the driver of a tractor-trailer and his employer, citizens of Indiana, shortly before expiration of the limitations period. Service of process on the employer…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1705
Justia Opinion Summary: Convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) and 846, and 18 U.S.C. 2) and of distribution of cocaine base (21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1)), defendant was sentenced to the 240-month…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3015
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant is one of several investors (underwriters) in a mortgage bankers blanket bond issued to plaintiff to insure against financial loss resulting from employee misconduct. One of plaintiff's employees engaged in a…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3243
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff found a $20 parking citation on his windshield and initiated a class action, claiming that the inclusion of personal information, such as his driver's license number, address, and weight, violated the Driver's…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3675
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, 23 Liberian children, charge defendant with using hazardous child labor on its rubber plantation in violation of customary international law. The Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. 1350, confers on the federal…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3898
Justia Opinion Summary: After being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression, plaintiff was awarded long-term disability benefits under an employee benefit plan issued and administered by defendant. Benefits were…
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1041
Justia Opinion Summary: Subdivision residents claimed that a retention pond's problems with algae, mosquitoes, and flooding would be exacerbated by proposed expansion of the subdivision. The residents, most of whom are African-American, claimed…
Date: July 8, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3975
Justia Opinion Summary: Illinois riverboat casinos filed a RICO suit (18 U.S.C. 1961) against racetracks, charging that the owner of two tracks, in cahoots with then-governor, Blagojevich, "bought" statutes requiring casinos to deposit three…
Date: July 8, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1415
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff claims that in 2005 county officials told his mobile home park tenants to stop paying rent and vacate. In 2006 the health department obtained a court order to remove the remaining 13 units. Plaintiff claims…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3921
Justia Opinion Summary: A sergeant was asked by town supervisors to investigate charges of "double dipping" against the police chief, who reportedly told the sergeant that he would "get him." The sergeant was acting chief while the chief was on…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2629
Justia Opinion Summary: Convicted as felon in possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. 922(g)), defendant was sentenced to 210 months' imprisonment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Application of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924, was…
Date: July 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3132
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant entered an open plea of guilty, without benefit of a plea agreement, for failing to register as a sex offender in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, 18 U.S.C. 2250. The district…
Date: July 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2170
Justia Opinion Summary: Responding to a domestic violence call in an apartment building, officers attempted to follow the suspect through the building and encountered plaintiff, mother of the suspect, and searched her apartment. The district…
Date: July 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3265
Justia Opinion Summary: Officers, staking out a suspected drug operation, saw plaintiff (known to them) driving a car, ran a search, and learned that his license was suspended. They later filled out a ticket and obtained a warrant. Three weeks…
Date: July 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3525
Justia Opinion Summary: For nearly three decades, Chicago had ordinances effectively banning handgun possession by almost all private citizens. In 2008 the Supreme Court struck down a similar District of Columbia law .…
Date: July 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3964
Justia Opinion Summary: The former Governor of Illinois, in federal prison following convictions for racketeering, mail fraud, tax evasion, and lying to the FBI, filed a collateral attack (28 U.S.C. 2255) after the Supreme Court held in…
Date: July 5, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3967
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1)). He was acquitted of several other drug-related offenses, but the district court took the underlying (acquitted) conduct into…
Date: July 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1423
Justia Opinion Summary: An African-American salesperson was fired after his white boss concluded that the salesperson violated the company's zero-tolerance employee guidelines by processing a noncommissionable transaction as a commissionable…
Date: July 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3762
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, an American citizen, approached plaintiff, a supplier of dairy products, about doing business with a Chinese company, affiliated with a company operated by defendant's cousin. The American did not claim to be…
Date: July 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3766
Justia Opinion Summary: The deputy liquor commissioner charged with exerting his position to demand bribes, property, and, in at least one instance, sexual favors from liquor license holders. He entered a plea of guilty to attempting to commit…
Date: July 1, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3023
Justia Opinion Summary: The tow truck driver sued his former employer for failure to pay overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 207(a). The district court held that the driver was not entitled to overtime pay…
Date: July 1, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1153
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, defendant pled guilty to 11 counts of possession of child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2252) and was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release. The district judge imposed conditions…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3825
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff first sued tennis star Connors in 1997; the suit settled with payment of $10.5 million by Connors and an agreement that provided mutual promises of indemnification. In 2010, plaintiff's former law partner sued…
Date: June 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3388
Justia Opinion Summary: The employee sued for retaliatory discharge and civil conversion under Indiana law, claiming that the employer wrongfully terminated his employment for filing a workers’ compensation claim and unlawfully retained his…
Date: June 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3966
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, with four prior felony convictions, discharged a gun inside the bank he was robbing and shot a bystander in the face outside the bank. He entered a plea of guilty to armed bank robbery (18 U.S.C. 2113(a) and…
Date: June 28, 2011
Docket Number: 08-3961
Justia Opinion Summary: The borrowers, former high-level employees, participated in the company’s shared investment program by purchasing company stock. The entire purchase price was funded by personal loans from banks. The company guaranteed…
Date: June 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1308
Justia Opinion Summary: After participating in a kidnapping that involved the victim's girlfriend obtaining the ransom from the bank where she worked, defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit attempted robbery of a federally-insured…
Date: June 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2503
Justia Opinion Summary: Following remand on sentencing after conviction for conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances (21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) and 846), possessing with intent to distribute a controlled…
Date: June 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3597
Justia Opinion Summary: The debtors filed Chapter 11 petitions and the court ordered joint administration. The court rejected the debtors' proposed procedures for auctioning property, holding that the plan did not qualify for "fair and…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: 07-2093
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1997 petitioner shot and killed four men; he was sentenced to death. The Indiana Supreme Court vacated the sentence. On remand the court reimposed the death sentence; the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed. Petitioner…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3905
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to three consecutive 30-year terms to begin after a 28-year sentence for an unrelated conviction. Five years later, DNA testing revealed a match to plaintiff's…
Date: June 23, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2875
Justia Opinion Summary: Based on a series of incidents, during which managers showed hostility to the efforts of truck drivers to unionize and toward drivers who supported the union, an ALJ found that the company engaged in several unfair labor…
Date: June 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2334
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1)), in connection with two burglaries. He was acquitted of the two charges stemming from the first burglary, but…
Date: June 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3917
Justia Opinion Summary: A 1998 amendment to the plan effectively penalized lump-sum distributees by voiding their future interest credits, in violation of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. 1054(c)(3). Participants who had received lump sum distributions filed…
Date: June 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1351
Justia Opinion Summary: A real estate broker received money for contracting work never completed, used false addresses in invoices from companies that did not exist, submitted loan applications with inflated incomes and account balances, and…
Date: June 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2204
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of using a gun to intimidate a witness. 18 U.S.C. 1512, 924(c). Immediately before the sentencing hearing, the government produced statements placing that witness, the star witness against…
Date: June 21, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2357
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was sentenced to 120 months' imprisonment as a felon possessing a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), while subject to a domestic abuse injunction. On remand for sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18…
Date: June 20, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1467
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, charged with attempted murder, encountered the victim at the courthouse, shot him, and was charged with a second attempt. At trial, defendant's attorney testified about talking to the victim on the day of the…
Date: June 17, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2876
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs' predecessors bought their Wisconsin land from the federal government in 1882-1884 and the railroad obtained an easement to cross the land by condemnation. The railroad abandoned the easement in 1980 by…
Date: June 17, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4043
Justia Opinion Summary: After a five-week trial, four defendants were convicted of various drug crimes. Although the government's star witness had testified to a defendant's participation in events that occurred in 2003,the defendant was in…
Date: June 17, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2438
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant entered a plea of guilty to removing and disposing of asbestos in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1) while replacing an apartment building heating system. He claimed that he had not known that asbestos was…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 09-1405
Justia Opinion Summary: The Clean Air Act prohibits national and state officials from making changes that cause air quality to deteriorate in parts of the country that have yet to attain the required standard, 42 U.S.C. 7410(l), 7515. In 2002…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3654
Justia Opinion Summary: After engaging in sexually explicit online conversations with agents posing as young girls, defendant was convicted of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity (18 U.S.C. 2422(b)) and of knowingly…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3797
Justia Opinion Summary: In order to conceal embezzlement of $17,500, the teller and her friends staged a robbery that involved her friends presenting the teller with a note. After receiving a tip, police charged the four with robbery of…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2226
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted defendant of possessing ammunition after having been convicted of a felony (18 U.S.C. 922(g)), attempting to possess with intent to distribute marijuana (21 U.S.C. 841(a), 846), and possessing with…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3028
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, affiliated with the Latin Kings street gang, sold crack cocaine, and, in 2003, pled guilty to a conspiracy charge, then fled before sentencing. He was apprehended in 2008 and pled guilty to drug conspiracy and…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1704
Justia Opinion Summary: After the the defendants defaulted on $39 million in loans the bank began post-judgment enforcement proceedings. Defendants were "sluggish" in responding to citations and the bank learned that they had transferred about…
Date: June 16, 2011
Docket Number: 11-8001
Justia Opinion Summary: Employees filed a proposed class action in state court, alleging violations of the minimum wage law. The employer removed to federal court. The district court found that the employer failed to show that the amount in…
Date: June 15, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2132
Justia Opinion Summary: An undercover agent purchased crack cocaine and a gun from the defendant. He agreed to participate in a sting operation, but ran from the scene with $2,000 provided by the police for the purchase. After he was arrested…
Date: June 15, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2854
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an Illinois corporation, filed suit for conversion against a corporation based in South Korea and individuals. Although the defendants were served, there was no formal response. The individual defendants sent…
Date: June 14, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3715
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant accompanied a friend buying drugs and supplied more than $5,000 of the purchase price. He was arrested and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances (21 U.S.C. 846)…
Date: June 14, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4055
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, convicted of cocaine offenses and sentenced to 20 and 30 years in prison, appealed procedural rulings. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court properly rejected a motion for a continuance so that the…
Date: June 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2720
Justia Opinion Summary: After not paying taxes for several years and creating shell corporations to receive his income, the defendant, a commodities trader, entered a guilty plea to one count of tax evasion, 26 U.S.C. 7201. The district court…
Date: June 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3488
Justia Opinion Summary: The "American Bottom" is a 175-square-mile floodplain of the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois, across the river from St. Louis and contains wetlands that provide habitat for birds, butterflies, and wildlife.…
Date: June 13, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4040
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, employed by the department of public works since 1972, publicly criticized the city's decision to purchase a certain brand of tractor and indicated that board members were influenced to purchase the…
Date: June 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3396
Date: June 9, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2768
Justia Opinion Summary: Nurses sued their former employer, a privately-operated jail, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e, and 42 U.S.C. 1981, alleging racial discrimination and hostile work environment. The district court…
Date: June 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2761
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of attempted murder of another inmate (18 U.S.C. 113(a)) and sentenced to life in prison. At trial, he argued misidentification. On appeal, he argued that the court should have insisted on an…
Date: June 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2927
Justia Opinion Summary: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked a Wisconsin pawn and gun shop's license to sell firearms after it rejected an appeal from a finding that the shop willfully violated record keeping…
Date: June 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2144
Justia Opinion Summary: One defendant was a research assistant for one of the plaintiffs, an engineering professor, when the professor developed a mathematical model of how electrons behave under certain circumstances. The assistant switched to…
Date: June 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3664
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, convicted five times of felonies--murder, attempted murder (twice), aggravated battery, and domestic battery--and several times of other offenses, including unlawfully possessing firearms, participated in a…
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: 08-3568
Justia Opinion Summary: The employee began work at the university in 1989 and was the only African-American working in her department when racially charged discord erupted. In 2005, she began filing complaints about her coworkers’ offensive…
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2919
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant entered a plea of guilty to bank robbery charges in 2003 and was sentenced to 170 months as a career criminal because of two prior escape convictions under Wisconsin law involving failure to return to…
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2261
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008 defendant was recorded selling both crack and powder cocaine to a cooperating defendant and an undercover officer. He entered a conditional plea of guilty and received the 10-year minimum sentence, but appealed…
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2654
Justia Opinion Summary: The employee developed bilateral cubital tunnel syndrome while working at a supermarket, then worked as a greeter until she was laid off in 2003 because she was unable to perform the job. She subsequently started and…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2446
Justia Opinion Summary: The inmate, placed in the most restrictive disciplinary segment of the prison for 240 days due to misconduct in another segment, filed suit. On remand, after the Seventh Circuit held that the case did implicate a…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3957
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008 the Supreme Court held that a federal enclave’s ban on operable handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment. At the time, Chicago and Oak Park had ordinances similar to the one invalidated. The plaintiffs…
Date: June 2, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1446
Date: June 1, 2011
Docket Number: 08-3810
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1993 a hip-hop group released a track that contains a segment of plaintiff's 1969 song. The district court dismissed plaintiff's 2003 copyright suit. Under the Copyright Act, sound recordings fixed before February 15,…
Date: June 1, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1453
Justia Opinion Summary: A suit by a school district employee, terminated after absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act, was dismissed. The Seventh Circuit remanded claims under the FMLA and for breach of contract. The parties entered a…
Date: June 1, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2174
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1995, 14 years of applications and appeals, an ALJ found that the mine worker was entitled to black lung benefits, dated to 1981. The award was reversed in 1996. In 2000 the Seventh Circuit held that denial of a 1981…
Date: June 1, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2256
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a native of Syria, entered the U.S. on a fiance visa, but did not marry within 90 days. More than a year after her visa expired, she conceded removability and sought asylum as a Christian, subject to…
Date: June 1, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2600
Justia Opinion Summary: When the plaintiff left the company, the parties entered an agreement about how the company would handle requests for references. In a suit alleging breach, the district court entered summary judgment in favor of the…
Date: May 31, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1986
Justia Opinion Summary: The national organization, chartered by Congress (36 U.S.C. 80302), decided to reduce the number of local councils, which are, essentially, franchises. The plan called for dissolution of the plaintiff council and…
Date: May 31, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2112
Justia Opinion Summary: A $15,000 insurance policy covering the decedent named his brother as beneficiary. The brother was killed in the same accident that killed the decedent. Although the insurer received notice that the decedent's mother…
Date: May 27, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2184
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a shooting, an informant stated that he had seen defendant leave after being directed to get a weapon. Another confirmed telling defendant to get the weapon and seeing him with the weapon at some point. Another…
Date: May 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3009
Justia Opinion Summary: The Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201, establishes minimum wage and requires employers to pay 150 percent of hourly wage for hours worked above 40 a week except to "any employee employed in a bona fide executive,…
Date: May 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3454
Justia Opinion Summary: The Equal Access to Justice Act entitles a prevailing party to fees only if the position of the United States was not substantially justified. The Seventh Circuit affirmed denial of fees for a remand to an administrative…
Date: May 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1665
Justia Opinion Summary: The hospital opposed a proposed medical office building by lobbying public officials, conducting a public relations campaign, offering incentives to discourage prospective tenants, and making negative statements about…
Date: May 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3672
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants faxed unsolicited advertisements to plaintiff and others, violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227. One of the recipients filed a proposed class action in Wisconsin, but dismissed its…
Date: May 25, 2011
Docket Number: 09-1527
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, previously employed by defendant as a driver-technician, claims racial and sexual discrimination, a hostile work environment, and retaliation, all in violation of Title VII (42 U.S.C. 2000(e)), and retaliatory…
Date: May 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2904
Justia Opinion Summary: At 3:30 a.m., a police officer observed the defendant walking on a sidewalk with a waistband bulge that resembled a gun. After he called the defendant over, the defendant passed newspaper stands and the bulge…
Date: May 24, 2011
Docket Number: 08-2029
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff claimed gender discrimination and hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e, retaliation in violation of Title VII, assault and battery, intentional…
Date: May 24, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3479
Justia Opinion Summary: The Seventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of possession with the intent to distribute less than five grams of a mixture or substance containing cocaine base and two counts of distributing less than five grams…
Date: May 24, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1446
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff makes glucose monitors and other diabetes-related products that incorporate software written by defendant, under a contract that entitles it to use the software for two years after the contract’s initial term,…
Date: May 23, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3462
Justia Opinion Summary: A citizen of Illinois brought suit against several non-Illinois companies and one Illinois company, alleging failure to warn with respect to side effects of Yazmin birth control pills. The defendants removed to federal…
Date: May 20, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2516
Justia Opinion Summary: After a stake-out, officers pulled defendant's car over in Indiana for traffic violations and found a loaded handgun registered in Illinois. An inventory search following arrest for possession of a handgun without the…
Date: May 20, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1525
Justia Opinion Summary: An Indiana medical transport company executed a software licensing agreement with the plaintiff to replace its dispatch and billing software. The software did not work as the Indiana company expected, so it attempted to…
Date: May 19, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1948
Justia Opinion Summary: The wife of a deceased coal miner argued that her claim for black lung benefits should be remanded to the administrative law judge (ALJ) because sect. 1556 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Pub.…
Date: May 16, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2306
Justia Opinion Summary: A default judgment entered against the defendant, for failure to pay loans from the Department of Agriculture. On the day before property was to be sold at auction, the defendant filed a bankruptcy petition. The judge…
Date: May 16, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3639
Justia Opinion Summary: The company filed an objection to a flyer, distributed on the eve of an election. The hearing officer found that the flyer contained a misrepresentation of the law, but did not interfere with the employees’ ability to…
Date: May 13, 2011
Docket Number: 07-2052
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1995 the city gave an examination for positions in its fire department and rated applicants on a scale between highly qualified and not qualified, based on scores. "Qualified" applicants were told that they were…
Date: May 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3184
Justia Opinion Summary: The tenant appealed an eviction order. The appeals court reversed, finding that the management company had not given notice required by state law. One member of the state appellate panel opined that the company violated…
Date: May 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3278
Justia Opinion Summary: Wanting to retire from the trucking business, the owner entered into employment contracts so that the plaintiffs would act as CEO and vice president and a stock purchase agreement. The relationship broke down while they…
Date: May 12, 2011
Docket Number: 08-1486
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants, based in Romania and Chicago, operated an internet scam using E-bay. The Seventh Circuit addressed appeals by defendants convicted of wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343). The court upheld a sentence of 63 months…
Date: May 12, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3718
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States has a $60 million judgment against the defendant, who fled the country, for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The government served a writ of garnishment (28 U.S.C. 3205) against his interest in a Georgia…
Date: May 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1666
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued operators of commodity trading pools for fraud and related violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. Following earlier proceedings in the Seventh Circuit, the district court…
Date: May 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3939
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004 the bank made a loan secured by a mortgage and all rents from the property. Three years later the borrower defaulted. The IRS filed a tax lien against the property. A receiver, appointed at the request of the…
Date: May 10, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3143
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, assigned to a bridge crew in 2002, informed his supervisor of his fear of heights. He performed most job functions and the crew accommodated him by swapping assignments. In 2006 he was required to work in a…
Date: May 10, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2863
Justia Opinion Summary: For many years the owners of the original bridal shop allowed family members to operate similar businesses under the same name. The owners sold one of their own shops and the buyer agreed to pay $75,000 per year for the…
Date: May 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2740
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court correctly conducted a "Batson" inquiry into the intent of the prosecution in using a…
Date: May 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3566
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant entered a plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 120 months. The Seventh Circuit declined to consider the merits of his appeal because the defendant had waived his…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1612
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant was outside his fenced yard when officers arrived to execute a warrant; a bystander yelled "police" and he ran. An officer used his taser and found a gun was found on the ground under the defendant. After…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1932
Justia Opinion Summary: The petitioner overstayed her visa. At a removal hearing she asserted a Fifth Amendment claim and would not answer questions, but did not request asylum or indicate any fear of return to Pakistan. Following a removal…
Date: May 4, 2011
Docket Number: 09-1750
Justia Opinion Summary: Purchasers of common stock brought a class action alleging violations of federal securities laws; the case settled for $190,000,000. The same underlying facts resulted in an action by employees and former employees under…
Date: May 4, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4088
Justia Opinion Summary: The doctor was convicted of conspiring to defraud the government and Medicare fraud (42 U.S.C. 1320a) for accepting a salary from the hospital in return for referring patients and sentenced to 72 months imprisonment…
Date: May 4, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2480
Justia Opinion Summary: As part of the cleanup of PCBs in Wisconsin's Fox River, the EPA filed suit against de minimus potentially responsible parties (PRPs) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act…
Date: May 4, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3164
Justia Opinion Summary: After a fire at a discount mall, the insurer declined to defend negligence suits by tenants and sought a declaration that the losses fell within a policy exclusion for damage to "property in the care, custody, or control…
Date: May 4, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1085
Justia Opinion Summary: The city requires that potential mayoral candidates obtain 12,500 signatures from registered voters within 90 days in order to be placed on the ballot. The district court denied an injunction to prevent enforcement of…
Date: May 3, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2607
Justia Opinion Summary: The petitioner, born in Germany in 1957, was admitted as a lawful permanent U.S. resident in 1961. In 1990 he entered a plea of guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor. He was discharged from parole in…
Date: May 3, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3403
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, convicted of financial crimes involving his operation of an insurance brokerage, was sentenced to serve 121 months, ordered to pay $841,527 in restitution, and (following a remand) ordered to forfeit $15…
Date: May 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1786
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, convicted of child molestation in 1990, failed to register as a sex offender when he was released from prison in 1994, although registration was required by Indiana law. When he was released from prison in…
Date: May 3, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2237
Justia Opinion Summary: The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) ordered the company to remedy certain conditions at its solid waste dump in Goshen; the company moved the operation to Elkhart. Following complaints, IDEM found…
Date: May 2, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1389
Justia Opinion Summary: Former captains from the Illinois Department of Corrections sued state and union officials, alleging that the defendants unlawfully punished them for seeking to organize with a rival union. The district court entered…
Date: May 2, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1867
Justia Opinion Summary: The union represents housekeepers at a hotel owned by the village. After the union staged a mock funeral procession on the premises, police blocked efforts to stage a second protest on August 31, 2009. After the union…
Date: May 2, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3400
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, sentenced to 63 months as felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922, argued that the district court erred in applying the high end of the guidelines range without meaningfully considering his…
Date: April 29, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2326
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff stopped working in November, 2005, due to a variety of ailments, and filed a disability claim in August, 2007. The claim was denied in September. The plaintiff's appeal, received in April, 2008, 11 days…
Date: April 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1239
Justia Opinion Summary: The EEOC conducted a preliminary investigation, following a complaint filed by an African-American salesman who was fired after eight months, and discovered possible pattern of discrimination in hiring as well as in…
Date: April 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2729
Justia Opinion Summary: A former high school teacher and union president was fired for allegedly viewing pornography on school computers. The district court rejected claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983, based on an assertion that the firing was…
Date: April 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2748
Justia Opinion Summary: After pleading guilty to being in the United States without authorization after removal, 8 U.S.C. 1326(a), the defendant requested a prison term below the guidelines range on the grounds that his criminal history…
Date: April 28, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3025
Justia Opinion Summary: After pleading guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922, 924, the defendant moved (28 U.S.C. 2255) to vacate his plea for ineffective assistance of counsel, arguing that his attorney failed to pursue a…
Date: April 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1473
Justia Opinion Summary: Suspecting the defendant of drug trafficking, federal agents attached a GPS device to his vehicle while it was parked in a public place. The GPS tracked the defendant from Phoenix to Illinois, where the state police took…
Date: April 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2797
Justia Opinion Summary: After pleading guilty to mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1341, the defendant challenged a two-level increase in his sentence, based on use of "sophisticated means" and theft of more than $1 million. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.…
Date: April 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2436
Justia Opinion Summary: After convicting seven defendants charged with operating a St. Louis area dog-fighting ring, the court sentenced all to a three-year term of supervised release and to payment of $100. Two defendants additionally received…
Date: April 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2747
Date: April 27, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2980
Justia Opinion Summary: A German online dating service, serving U.S. customers through a Delaware subsidiary, sued a New Jersey resident for operating an online dating service with a "confusingly similar" name, in violation of Illinois law, the…
Date: April 26, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3318
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court denied a petition for habeas corpus by an inmate serving 40 years for attempted murder and aggravated battery on a senior citizen and certified three issues as appealable. The Seventh Circuit clarified…
Date: April 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3033
Justia Opinion Summary: Officers, executing an eviction order, discovered marijuana and firearms in plain sight in defendant's apartment. The defendant entered a guilty plea to possession of firearms by a felon (18 U.S.C. 922(g)), conditioned…
Date: April 22, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2520
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant was convicted of wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent investment and mortgage brokerage business and sentenced to 144 months. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Evidence turned over by the defendant's…
Date: April 22, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3540
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury rejected claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983, arising from an incident at the county jail during which the plaintiff, an inmate, was injured. The district court denied a motion for new trial. The Seventh Circuit vacated…
Date: April 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2303
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant was sentenced to 174 months for participation in a drug trafficking operation. The district court denied a motion to reduce the sentence after reconsidering the facts and concluding that the defendant was…
Date: April 22, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2576
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, who has a long history of identity theft and misusing social security numbers, was denied reduction of his 108-month sentence. The sentence was based on a finding that there were 23 victims and more than…
Date: April 19, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3859
Justia Opinion Summary: After his state conviction for murder was overturned, the plaintiff brought federal claims against state officials and prosecutors and malpractice claims against his own lawyers. He stipulated to dismissal of claims…
Date: April 19, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3392
Justia Opinion Summary: The prisoner, serving 30 years for drug trafficking, assaulted a guard. The Bureau of Prisons suspended its disciplinary process while the FBI investigated. After the U.S. Attorney decided not to file criminal charges,…
Date: April 18, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3851
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant, who has a long history of mental illness, was sentenced to 185 years for attempted murder and related crimes following a 1991 incident involving hit-and-run of a pedestrian, a police chase, a four-car pile…
Date: April 14, 2011
Docket Number: 08-4292
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant was convicted of conspiracy to sell drugs and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Responding to a witness statement that defendant was tired of "BDs," the prosecutor had…
Date: April 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1973
Justia Opinion Summary: Every president, except Jefferson, has issued proclamations including an invitation to pray. The president is directed by 36 U.S.C. 119 to proclaim a national day of prayer. The district court found the statute to be a…
Date: April 14, 2011
Docket Number: 11-8009
Justia Opinion Summary: Employees filed a class action in Illinois state court, concerning violations of wage and hour laws. The company removed the case, pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act, 28 U.S.C. 1453(c)(1). The federal district…
Date: April 13, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1061
Justia Opinion Summary: A recent retiree (employee) unsuccessfully tried to enroll her adult dependent child in the medical plan. The district court found the plan administrator's decision to be in violation of ERISA and imposed penalties. The…
Date: April 12, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3428
Justia Opinion Summary: The plaintiff's investment in his former employer's ERISA plan (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) was primarily in the employer's stock. The employer went out of business. The plaintiff, unable to recover from the…
Date: April 11, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1469
Justia Opinion Summary: Participants in a defined-contribution retirement plan filed a class action suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA, 29 U.S.C. 1002(34)), alleging mismanagement and payment of excessive funds. The…
Date: April 7, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3670
Justia Opinion Summary: The union claimed that the company owed $2.2 million to benefits funds, based on what would have been contributed had the company used plumbers' union workers for certain work, as required by contract. The union…
Date: April 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1022
Justia Opinion Summary: Executing a warrant to search for marijuana and other drugs, officers found 11 grams of crack cocaine in the defendant's home. The defendant accepted a conditional plea and, after the court rejected a challenge to the…
Date: April 7, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2715
Justia Opinion Summary: A police officer identified herself as a 13-year-old girl in an online chatroom. The defendant made sexual suggestions, masturbated in front of a webcam, and invited the "girl" to masturbate. The defendant was convicted…
Date: April 7, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1340
Justia Opinion Summary: A 1994 regulation concerning fall protection in the residential construction industry was subject to a 1999 directive instructing OSHA to not commence enforcement actions against employers using certain systems. The…
Date: April 7, 2011
Docket Number: 11-1386
Justia Opinion Summary: The petitioner re-entered the United States illegally after being removed in 1997 following convictions related to a hit-and-run. He was caught in 2010. The Department of Homeland Security rejected his petition to stay…
Date: April 6, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3954
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants were convicted of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and carrying and possessing a fireman during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense (18 U.S.C. 924c); one was tried separately…
Date: April 6, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1764
Justia Opinion Summary: The Seventh Circuit affirmed the defendant's conviction for bank robbery and sentence of 137 months. Testimony by the defendant's sister and by a former girlfriend,identifying the defendant in a photo from a bank…
Date: April 5, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2498
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court imposed a sentence of 124 months for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity (18 U.S.C. 2422) and of 120 months to be served concurrently for receiving, possessing, and distributing…
Date: April 5, 2011
Docket Number: 09-4135
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant entered the U.S. from Canada under a six-month visitor visa and stayed more than half of his life. He was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal damage to property, theft under $2,500, and…
Date: April 5, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1523
Justia Opinion Summary: An African-American coroner was elected in 2004. After a contract with Indiana University for pathology services expired, two Caucasian university pathologists formed a company (FP) and contracted to provide services.…
Date: April 4, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3324
Justia Opinion Summary: The defendant appealed a sentence of 40 months after pleading guilty to illegal reentry of a removed alien following conviction for an aggravated felony. Sentencing guidelines provide a range of 46 to 57 months. The…
Date: April 4, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3608
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for distribution of more than 50 grams of crack cocaine. The Seventh Circuit vacated the conviction. The trial court properly dismissed a juror, based…
Date: April 1, 2011
Docket Number: 08-3975
Justia Opinion Summary: After selling cocaine to a police informant, the defendant pled guilty to two counts of distribution and was sentenced to 141 months. The district court designated him as a career offender. He had prior Illinois…
Date: April 1, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3940
Justia Opinion Summary: After exhausting state challenges to convictions for multiple counts of possession of child pornography and repeated sexual assault of an elementary school boy, the defendant was denied habeas corpus by a federal…
Date: April 1, 2011
Docket Number: 11-8003
Justia Opinion Summary: Medical groups alleged that the insurer used software that pays providers less than required by policies. The district court remanded to state court. The Seventh Circuit vacated and remanded for a decision on the merits.…
Date: March 31, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3577
Justia Opinion Summary: After exhausting state appeals of his conviction and 240-year sentence for a 2004 Indiana home invasion that resulted in four deaths, the defendant unsuccessfully sought a writ of habeas corpus. The Seventh Circuit…
Date: March 30, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3446
Justia Opinion Summary: More than 500 female employees at an Indiana Rolls Royce plant were denied class certification under Rule 23 (b)(2) and the court entered summary judgment, rejecting their discrimination claims on the merits. The Seventh…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 08-2805
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, injured in a 1997 Jerusalem suicide bombing, obtained a $71 million default judgment against the Republic of Iran for its role in the attack. They registered the judgment in Illinois in order to attach…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 09-1874
Justia Opinion Summary: Residents of Missouri contracted with a Texas franchisor to operate tax preparation franchises near St. Louis. The contract contained an arbitration clause and identified Texas as the forum for both arbitration and…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3425
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine (21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) and 842(b)(1)(C); possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking (18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A)); and being a felon in…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1953
Justia Opinion Summary: The company was established in 1998 to develop systems for high-speed Internet connections for home computers. After a decision to not respond to an acquisition offer, the company was in financial trouble by 2000 and…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2489
Justia Opinion Summary: After selling a subsidiary, the company no longer had employees participating in the multi-employer pension plan and sought to withdraw. The underfunded plan claimed that the company owed about $5 million. An arbitrator…
Date: March 29, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3396
Justia Opinion Summary: The Board of Education laid off about 1,300 teachers in 2010. When additional funds became available, the Board recalled 715 teachers, but did not have any policy on recalls. The union obtained an injunction rescinding…
Date: March 28, 2011
Docket Number: 07-2932
Justia Opinion Summary: Three white police officers, in good standing, resigned and later sought to be rehired. They were required to reenter the force as entry-level officers with respect to compensation and seniority. An African-American…
Date: March 28, 2011
Docket Number: 09-1032
Justia Opinion Summary: After arguing by phone, Graff, who was having an affair with Kerr's wife, went to Kerr's house. Neighbors called the police, but Kerr sent them away, claiming that Graff was a friend. Kerr subsequently shot and killed…
Date: March 28, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2194
Justia Opinion Summary: The Seventh Circuit affirmed the Tax Court holding that the Coles omitted income from their 2001 return and imposed a fraud penalty. Because the Coles had not maintained adequate records of income from a "confusing maze…
Date: March 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1388
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007 Rowe paid Rennell about $300,000 for his interest in a joint venture that managed manufactured housing communities. Rennell viewed the transaction as extortion and filed suit under the Racketeer Influenced and…
Date: March 25, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1691
Justia Opinion Summary: Ni was smuggled into the United States in 1990 and sought asylum in 1994. His petition was denied and the case was closed. Some years later, facing deportation, Ni attempted to establish fear of religious persecution.…
Date: March 24, 2011
Docket Number: 10-3062
Date: March 23, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1352
Date: March 21, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3271
Date: March 17, 2011
Docket Number: 10-1376
Date: March 16, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2701
Date: March 15, 2011
Docket Number: 09-8019
Date: March 14, 2011
Docket Number: 10-2568
Date: March 11, 2011
Docket Number: 09-2964
Date: March 11, 2011
Docket Number: 09-3673
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