29 results for 'judge:"Easterbrook"'.
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly ordered Wisconsin to release defendant on bail unless it retries him on murder charges within two months. Defendant's attorney abandoned him in 1996 when he sought post-conviction relief, and the transcript of his trial was destroyed after 10 years. The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that holding a new trial in the absence of a transcript is appropriate only if defendant first makes a valid claim of prejudicial error, ignoring the fact that defendant trusted his attorney to get a the necessary transcript and effectively denying him an appeal for 28 years. "Wisconsin's treatment of Pope is a travesty of justice." Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 23-2894, Categories: Civil Rights, Habeas
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court improperly found for the university on a male student's sex discrimination claims stemming from its investigation of sexual assault claims against him. The student never explained what remedy he seeks, and this suit is not a live claim unless compensatory damages are available for him. Further, it remains a question whether the student is entitled to proceed anonymously in this case, as the lower court must conduct a hearing on whether the revelation of the student's name will also identify his alleged victim. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 22-2925, Categories: Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Education
J. Easterbrook finds that the tax court properly found for the IRS in a dispute over a couple's claim for a research expense tax credit. There is no support for the couple's claim that the husband's salary and bonus as president of the wife's firm were research expenses, as there are no written records of how he spent his time. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 23-2681, Categories: Tax
On rehearing, J. Easterbrook finds that the bankruptcy court improperly found that it had jurisdiction to determine the amount of a debtor's tax obligations, when the debtor is unlikely to pay them. The bankruptcy court has jurisdiction only if the tax dispute is "related to" the payment of debtor's other debts, which must be determined at the outset of the dispute not after the bankruptcy court has already resolved other creditors' claims. On remand, the court must consider whether a decision could have affected the allocation of assets among creditors on the date the debtors asked the court to determine their tax liabilities. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 16-3244, Categories: Tax, Jurisdiction
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court improperly found for the school in a Title IX sex discrimination suit filed by a male medical student who was found to have physically abused a female student off-campus. The medical student was not expelled until he applied to the university's business school and described his mere suspension as an "exoneration," which the dean of the medical school found to be a falsification. The male student should have been given notice and an opportunity to defend himself before summary expulsion. However, in order to continue with this suit, the male student must disclose his full name, as he is neither a minor nor at risk of improper retaliation. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 22-1576, Categories: Civil Rights, Education
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[Consolidated.] J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court improperly denied an investor's motion to intervene in a dismissed securities class action. The investor seeks to challenge $300,000 in mootness fees paid by the corporation to counsel in a suit mooted after the company agreed to make supplemental disclosures about its proposed merger. He claims that the only purpose of the suit was not needlessly increase the cost of litigation to induce the company to pay fees to counsel, while not providing any real benefit to investors. While the court has already ordered the fees returned in this particular case, counsel are entitled to be heard, and the court may consider sanctions. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 18-2220, Categories: Securities, Attorney Fees, Class Action
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a search of his motel room found bullets that went along with a gun he dropped while fleeing from police. Defendant was on parole at the time he was found in possession of a weapon, and so he did not have an expectation of privacy in his motel room, so the bullets were properly admitted into evidence. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 23-2097, Categories: Firearms, Parole, Search
[Consolidated.] J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court improperly ordered the company to pay a $2 million withdrawal liability penalty. The company's contributions to the pension fund were not covered by a written agreement as the parties "Steel Mill Addendum" applied to steel mill operation work only, and not work hauling commodities. The fund must repay the withdrawal liability it collected from the company. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 23-1563, Categories: Pensions, Labor / Unions
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly rejected the company's suit seeking a $3.5 million tax refund for deductions based on revenues from software sales. The company cannot show that it sold "direct use" of the software for it to qualify as the sale of a service rather than as a product. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 23-1936, Categories: Tax
J. Easterbrook properly dismissed the debtor's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act suit against a collector for attempting to collect a $5,200 debt without announcing the bank had not verified the balance. The debtor claimed her injury was that the collection calls "interrupted my self-employment" to search her records for the asserted debt. While the interruption of self-employment may qualify as an injury-in-fact to establish standing, the debtor failed to produce any evidence about her self-employment income to support her claim. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 23-1308, Categories: Civil Procedure, Debt Collection
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of sex trafficking by force for compelling nine women to engage in prostitution and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. This sentence is correctly based on a straightforward reading of the law, and is not absurd even if it penalizes him more harshly than someone who trafficks a minor without force. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 21-3372, Categories: Sentencing, Prostitution
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly discharged a businessman's $499,000 judgment against his former partner in bankruptcy proceedings. The court reasonably rejected the businessman's claim the judgment reflected fraud, and did not challenge his partner's valuation of his membership interest in a cargo company. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 22-2947, Categories: Bankruptcy
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly rejected defendant's claim he was denied a speedy trial due to the general order that suspended criminal jury trials from March 2020 through April 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Social and epidemiological considerations permitted the delay of criminal jury trials during the pandemic and district judges may rely on institutional findings such as the general order without making defendant-specific findings in such circumstances. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 22-2470, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Jury, Speedy Trial
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly found for the insurer in a dispute over its responsibility to pay to replace a furnace refractory at a cost of $400,000 after the furnace failed. The insurer's investigation found that the refractory failed because of faulty welding, and the policy only covers damage to the refractory if it is damages by fire, wind, hail or explosion. Further, the insurer is not required to pay for damages due to the destructive testing on the damages refractory because the smelter agreed to the testing. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 22-2556, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly dismissed the real estate owners' attempt to move their appeal of a state court decision in the banks' favor to federal court. Illinois law forbids sequential litigation about the same claim even when the plaintiff offers new arguments in the second case. The state litigation is over, and the state court trial judge is entitled to immunity for his role in the case based on judicial immunity. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 22-3265, Categories: Civil Procedure, Jurisdiction, Foreclosure
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly dismissed this suit over a state Covid-19 order requiring personnel in schools to be regularly tested for the disease unless they had been vaccinated as barred by the rule against claim splitting. The school staff members chose to seek equitable relief in state court, but damages in another. However, Illinois law forbids sequential litigation in multiple forums. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 23-1421, Categories: Choice Of Law, Jurisdiction, Covid-19
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly declined to grant defendant a new trial after the court failed to get defendant's formal consent on record to a remote video sentencing hearing. The failure to obtain consent on the record to appearance by video does not satisfy the plain-error standard and defendant does not contend that he would have refused to appear by video had he been asked. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 21-3230, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Sentencing, Due Process
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly found that the city cannot compel Netflix, Hulu, Disney, and other streaming video providers to pay 5% of all revenues they receive under an Illinois law that requires cable services to pay a fee for using public rights of way. Even prior to an amendment, which explicitly excludes "streaming content", the law excludes "services offered over the public internet" which clearly applies to the defendants. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: October 13, 2023, Case #: 22-2905, Categories: Communications, Technology
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly found for the city on civil rights and wrongful death claims stemming from a jail detainee's suicide. The detainee spent less than 24 hours at the jail , which does not show an unreasonable delay in surrendering him to the county where he had an outstanding warrant. Further, he was screened for suicide risk and denied any thoughts of self harm, so the jail reasonably placed him with the general population. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: October 12, 2023, Case #: 22-2948, Categories: Wrongful Death, Prisoners' Rights
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly found for the village in a suit challenging its condemnation of the owner's property. The owner was given notice of the impending demolition, but chose not to respond to the village's communications until one week before the scheduled demolition and never filed in court to automatically block action on the property. It cannot now complain about the consequences of its inaction. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: October 5, 2023, Case #: 22-1775, Categories: Property
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly dismissed the attorney's suit against the Illinois Supreme Court for issuing an order suspending him for "dishonestly" holding himself out as licensed to practice law in Illinois. The court lacks jurisdiction to review the state Supreme Court's decision, and there is no merit to the claim that every single district court judge in Illinois is disqualified because he or she has a law license and is potentially subject to the authority of the state Supreme Court. The attorney has 14 days to show why he should not be subject to sanctions for this frivolous suit. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 22-3222, Categories: Defamation, Jurisdiction, Attorney Discipline
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court improperly dismissed a class action challenging a now-deleted clause of McDonald's franchise agreement which prohibited owners from hiring any person employed by another McDonald's franchise. Complex questions regarding the purpose of the "no-poach" clause remain, for which discovery is necessary to determine if McDonalds, as it claims, advertises as a single entity for workers and wants to prevent some franchises from free riding on the contributions of others. The answers to these questions will determine whether the employees have a valid anti-trust claim. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-2333, Categories: Antitrust, Employment
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly ruled the drivers cannot sue the insurer for revealing their drivers' license number to strangers via its online auto-fill system for insurance quotes. The drivers have not made any connection between the disclosure of their license numbers and any concrete injury. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: 22-1892, Categories: Insurance, Privacy
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly found for the banks made predatory loans to minority homeowners, then foreclosed on the loans in a way that injured the county. Damages under the Federal Housing Act are only available to those who suffered first-tier injuries as a result of the banks' conduct, which would be the borrowers in this case. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 22-1407, Categories: Housing, Banking / Lending
J. Easterbrook affirms a district court ruling finding that the Union Pacific Railroad is not bound by any contractual promise to keep providing rail services to Chicago’s public rail system for the indefinite future. The litigants’ contracts have start and end dates, which both sides can enforce. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 22-1445 , Categories: Government, Transportation, Contract
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly dismissed antitrust claims against the bank stemming from emails encouraging broiler-chicken producers to cut production. The plaintiffs do not allege the bank served as a conduit for chicken producers to act as a cartel, simultaneously cutting production to raise prices, but rather the bank set out to protect its interests - in the loans it issued to producers - through unilateral action. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: July 21, 2023, Case #: 22-1858, Categories: Antitrust, Banking / Lending
[Consolidated.] J. Easterbrook vacates the lower court's order declining to enter a permanent injunction, as this environmental suit should have been dismissed. The Fish and Wildlife Service revoked a permit originally granted to a utility allowing an electric transmission line to deliver wind energy from Iowa to Wisconsin to be constructed across the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Since the permit has been revoked, the matter remains before the agency and there is no record for the court to review. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 22-1347, Categories: Energy, Environment, Agency
J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of making a false statement on his application to buy a firearm. Defendant answered "no" to the question whether he was then under indictment for any crime punishable by a year or more, but he had been accused of battering a public safety official. His false answer was material to the lawfulness of the sale. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 22-3160, Categories: Firearms
[Consolidated.] J. Easterbrook finds that the lower court properly convicted defendants of conspiring to distribute heroin and meth in Indianapolis. The trial judge did not err in declining to dismiss a former police officer as a juror after he said he would be more likely to believe a police officer's testimony than a civilian's testimony. The judge sufficiently interrogated the juror as to whether he could be impartial and grant defendant's the right to be considered innocent before being proven guilty. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Easterbrook, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 21-2874, Categories: Drug Offender, Jury