22 results for 'judge:"Jackson-Akiwumi"'.
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly granted qualified immunity to two probation officers who failed to release a man jailed for a probation violation months after his probation should have been over. The officers' jobs involved correcting unlawfully long probation terms, but they did nothing when they discovered the error, not even tell someone about the problem. Their decision to do nothing about the mistake was egregious and unreasonable. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 21-3332, Categories: Civil Rights, Immunity
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly enhanced defendant's sentence for possession of a firearm under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Defendant's prior Florida conviction for aggravated assault no longer qualifies as a violent felony after the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Somers v. U.S., which ruled that the Florida crime of aggravated assault covers reckless conduct. To qualifies as a violent felony, a prior crime must be intentional not reckless. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 21-1325, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
[Consolidated.] J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of inciting a riot in Champaign, Illinois during the weekend of unrest following the police murder of George Floyd. The panel declined to revisit the Seventh Circuit's 1972 decision in U.S. v. Dellinger upholding the Anti-Riot Act as constitutional under the First Amendment. Further, the offense is covered by the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act as an "offense against property." However, the government failed to meet its burden of showing that defendant directly caused all damages to businesses in the restitution order, so the lower court must revisit its $1.6 million restitution order. Affirmed in part.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 21-2572, Categories: Constitution, Restitution, Property Crimes
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court finds that the landlord's successor in interest is entitled to collect damages for unpaid rent from Saks, which guaranteed it would pay rent on a department store retail space if the tenant did not pay. Saks waived the right to present affirmative defenses to liability in the guaranty it signed. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 23-1489, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Contract
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly found for the college, ruling it did not discriminate against the employee when it fired her after nearly 20 decades of employment. The employee fails to show a causal link between her filing of a petition with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and her termination, as the record supports the college's claim that it fired her after becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her performance. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 22-2516, Categories: Education, Employment Discrimination
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J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly found for the employer on a warehouse manager's age discrimination claims. The employee was considered an exemplary worker until a new supervisor came on board who managed to fire the employee within 25 days of joining the company. His reasons for being dissatisfied with the employee's performance within such a short time period do not hold up to scrutiny, and emails suggest the supervisor was searching for reasons to support a decision he had already made. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 22-1180, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the bankruptcy court properly disallowed the creditor's claim in its entirety because the matter of the loan's repayment was already decided by a consent agreement. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 22-1424, Categories: Bankruptcy
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly dismissed a securities fraud suit alleging that a proxy statement disclosing the terms of a merger contained materially misleading statements. The proxy statement contained all required disclosures, and the shareholders cannot save their claims by arguing that the disclosures were not emphasized enough. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 21-3234, Categories: Fraud, Securities
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly sentenced the transgender defendant to 18 months in prison, below the statutory maximum of 24 months months, for violating her supervised release. The court adequately took into consideration the heightened risk of sexual assault she would face in prison. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: October 23, 2023, Case #: 22-2061, Categories: Constitution, Sentencing
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly awarded the parents' attorney's fees after they won an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act suit against the school over their child's special education services. The parents do not qualify as the "prevailing party" as defined by the Supreme Court. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 22-1277, Categories: Education, Attorney Fees
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that board properly denied the Kyrgyzstani man's application for asylum alleging he faced persecution at home for protesting a government mining rights deal. The man's account of events leading him to flee Kyrgyzstan contains numerous inconsistencies, supporting the board's finding that he was not credible. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 22-1973, Categories: Immigration
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly dismissed the police association's "novel" claim against the AP and Indianapolis Star demanding that the news outlets remove previously published libelous information from their websites. The news organizations had previously published articles reporting that police departments around the country took issue with fundraising mailers the association sent residents, characterizing the solicitations as deceptive. There is no basis for the association's theory of liability. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 22-1639, Categories: Public Record, Defamation, Technology
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly denied a veteran's application for long-term disability benefits under his employer's group policy. The court clearly erred when it failed to consider the veteran's inability to sit at his desk for eight hours a day as required by his occupation. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 22-1121, Categories: Erisa
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances. The state presented sufficient evidence to prove that defendant knew the bus contained controlled substances. Further, there is no clear evidence that the jury engaged in premature deliberations, so it is presumed the jury abided by the court's instruction not to talk about the case with anyone until deliberations began. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 21-2434, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Jury
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly sentenced defendant to 15 years in prison for illegally possessing a firearm. Defendant had three prior convictions for Indiana burglaries, which qualify as predicate offenses under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 22-1926, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly applied statutory mandatory minimum penalties at defendant's sentencing for his role in a large-scale heroin conspiracy. The sentencing judge entirely skipped defendant's safety valve argument, and improperly imposed a 5-year period of supervised release. These errors require vacating and remanding the case for resentencing. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 21-3010, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of Medicare fraud. A witness's invocation of the Fifth Amendment was proper, and the government's refusal to issue immunity to that witness did not distort the fact-finding process. However, the defendant's sentence was unreasonable as it was based on a faulty calculation of Medicare's loss attributable to her actions. Affirmed in part.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 21-3270, Categories: Fraud, Sentencing, Medicare
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly dismissed this trade secrets case, which was originally filed in Canada, against one of the defendants but not the other. One defendant's contract with the software company had a forum selection clause agreeing to litigate claims in Canada, but the other defendant's contract contained no such language. Reversed in part.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 22-1583, Categories: Trade Secrets, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court improperly convicted defendant of conspiracy to sell heroin without instructing the jury on the difference between a drug conspiracy and a simple buyer-seller relationship. To convict on drug conspiracy charges, the state was required to show the parties engaged in a joint criminal objective of further distributing heroin to others. One sale to the defendant on credit is not enough evidence on its own to prove a conspiracy - it could just indicate he was a loyal customer. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 4, 2023, Case #: 21-3221, Categories: Drug Offender, Conspiracy
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly dismissed a woman's challenge to the DEA's seizure of $33,000 in cash she was carrying at Chicago's O'Hare airport. The woman failed to timely challenge the DEA's determination that the cash was forfeited due to its link to illegal drug activity. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 1, 2023, Case #: 22-2087, Categories: Administrative Law, Agency, Forfeiture
J. Jackson-Akiwumi denies a request by a Mexican national to halt his removal to Mexico because he fears a gang based in Mexico City will make good on threats to kill him. The immigrant failed to meaningfully challenge the two dispositive issues in his case before the Board of Immigration Appeals or the federal appellate court — the findings of no past persecution by governmental officials under international torture protocols and his ability to relocate beyond the gang upon returning to Mexico.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 21-2088, Categories: Evidence, Government, Immigration
J. Jackson-Akiwumi affirms a district court ruling dismissing a former police officer’s First Amendment suit against the police chief of a Wisconsin police department for allegedly retaliating against him for critiquing the chief’s leadership. The ex-cop’s remarks were made in his capacity as a public employee, not a private citizen. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 22-1467 , Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Employment Retaliation