40 results for 'judge:"Scudder"'.
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly found for DISH and DirecTV Network in a race discrimination suit alleging the broadcasters declined to pay for rights to carry two Indianapolis-based TV stations because the majority owner is Black. The broadcasters presented clear, race-neutral reasons for their decisions, and the company falls shorts of demonstrating pretext in these proffered explanations for their business decision. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 23-1787, Categories: Civil Rights, Communications, Business Practices
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim in connection with his unsuccessful motion to suppress evidence of possession of child pornography. It was reasonable for defendant's attorney not to pursue a claim that the agent signing the search warrant acted in bad faith by omitting the state court's suppression ruling from his federal search warrant affidavit because it would have faced a high bar to prove materiality to the charges. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 22-1179, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Search, Child Pornography
J. Scudder finds that the administrative judge properly denied a woman's application for disability benefits based on her back pain. The judge was not required to review hyper-detailed physician accounts of the woman's surgeries rather than relying on summaries of the medical evidence in making her decision. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 23-1632, Categories: Evidence, Social Security
J. Scudder finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of transporting child pornography for sending hundreds of videos depicting sexual assaults of children to an undercover FBI agent. Defendant was convicted of transporting child pornography and received an enhanced mandatory sentence of 15 years imprisonment due to a prior conviction in Wisconsin of possession of child pornography. Defendant argues that his prior conviction doesn’t qualify him to receive an enhanced sentence as a repeat sex offender, arguing there is a distinction in definition of possession between the state and federal law. The instant court finds no distinction and finds defendant’s prior conviction qualifies him for the enhanced sentence. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 21-3225, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender
En banc, J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly imposed an enhanced mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison for transporting child pornography. Defendant's prior conviction seven years prior for possession of child pornography in violation of Wisconsin law qualifies as a predicate conviction under federal law, which prescribes enhanced penalties for recidivist child sex offenders. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 21-3225, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of providing material support to a terrorist organization by creating a computer program that allowed ISIS to rapidly duplicate terrorist propaganda videos online. Defendant did not simply engage in independent advocacy for a terrorist organization, but closely coordinated his activity with the terrorist organization by providing them with a software tool to disseminate media to a wide audience and circumvent censors. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 22-3140, Categories: Constitution, Terrorism
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly found for the city in a dispute over the school's installation and use of nighttime lights at its athletics field. The school failed to show that other master plan institutions received permission to install lighting and it is "a bridge to far" to say that the school's inability to host nighttime athletic competitions poses a substantial burden on its Catholic mission. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 23-1175, Categories: Municipal Law, First Amendment
J. Scudder certifies a question to the Delaware Supreme Court regarding whether last year's ruling in Cantor Fitzgerald v. Ainslie precludes reviewing forfeiture-for-competition provisions for reasonableness in circumstances outside the limited partnership context, and whether it applies in circumstances with unsophisticated parties in a clawback situation.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 23-2330, Categories: Corporations, Securities
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly declined to issue sanctions against the U.S. government for failing to produce technical information about the software program used by Australia and New Zealand to identify his computer in a multinational investigation of a dark web child pornography site called The Love Zone. The U.S. does not have an obligation to produce documents held exclusively by foreign authorities, upon showing that it made a good faith effort to obtain the information. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 23-1010, Categories: Sanctions, International Law, Child Pornography
[Consolidated.] J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly dismissed a woman's state law claims against her insurer arising out of coverage requests following a fire that destroyed her restaurant. Under the terms of the policy, the woman agreed to resolve part of the dispute through an appraisal process resembling arbitration, and there is no merit to her claim that the appraisal umpire did not understand his assigned task to calculate the actual cash value of the restaurant. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 23-2282, Categories: Insurance, Contract
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly dismissed parents' challenge to the school district's Administrative Guidance for Gender Identity Support, which is a policy that provides direction to schools encountering students with questions about their gender identity. The parents level a broad pre-enforcement attack on the policy, without identifying any specific instance of the district applying the policy in a way that infringes on parental rights. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 23-1534, Categories: Civil Rights, Education
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly found for the restaurant in a slip and fall suit that left a patron with a dislocated hip. The patron testified that she slipped after stepping in some liquid, which left a wet spot on her dress. This is enough to create a disputed issue of fact as to whether a wet floor caused her fall. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 23-2213, Categories: Tort
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly sentenced defendant to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. After the Indiana Supreme Court declined to address a certified question, the panel found that defendant's conviction under Indiana's 2002 arson statute does not constitute a violent felony. Therefore, he does not qualify for the mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 22-2278, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, Arson
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant on firearms and drug offenses. The court's order threatening both defendant and his counsel with criminal contempt if either testified in any way about the domestic violence call that led to the discovery of the gun and drugs is "unsettling" but did not affect the outcome of defendant's trial given the substantial evidence against him. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 22-3306, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Contempt
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly denied the class's motion to remand this class action against the insurer accusing it of retaining more than $3.5 billion in profits by giving excessive compensation to its directors and officers. The case belongs in state court under the Class Action Fairness Act's internal-affairs exception because the allegations raise issues of corporate mismanagement that require application of Illinois law in an analysis of the discretion afforded to corporate officers of an insurance company to make decisions about surplus distributions. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: 23-2507, Categories: Corporations, Jurisdiction, Class Action
[Consolidated.] J. Scudder finds the district court properly convicted defendants for providing material support to ISIS. The court rejected defendant’s contention that evidence showed that the government induced his commission of the offense through its “sting” tactics arising from the FBI’s monitoring of defendant’s online activity. The district court properly instructed the jury on the elements of entrapment, and the jury’s firsthand determination is given deference. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 21-1482, Categories: Terrorism, Entrapment
J. Scudder finds that the IRS properly disallowed the partnership's request for a 2012 tax deduction on $10.7 million in deferred compensation. The tax code does not allow the partnership to take this deduction because it did not pay employees during that year. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 22-2012, Categories: Tax
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly dismissed the doctor's Telephone Consumer Protection Act suit alleging the company sent him unsolicited fax advertisements. The doctor plausibly alleged the company's faxes indirectly encouraged him to buy its services by asking him to join its network of preferred medical providers. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 22-1540, Categories: Communications, Consumer Law
J. Scudder certifies a question to the Indiana Supreme Court asking whether Indiana arson requires a fire or burning as an element of arson. This element marks the difference for whether defendant's arson conviction qualifies as a violent felony or not.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 22-2278, Categories: Arson
[Consolidated.] J. Scudder finds that the immigration board properly declined to reopen the immigrant's case after he was removed to Poland for committing a crime of moral turpitude, despite receiving a pardon on this conviction from the Illinois Governor. A pardon can protect a removable non-citizen against removal proceedings, but cannot render an otherwise inadmissible non-citizen admissible. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: 22-1086, Categories: Immigration
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly denied defendant's request for a new trial without holding a hearing on his claims that counsel's heroin addiction affected his representation. Counsel overdosed on heroin less than three weeks after trial, and defendant is entitled to a hearing on whether counsel's addiction impacted his representation of defendant on serious criminal charges. Further, defendant was improperly convicted of two gun charges, when the record shows defendant made a single choice to possess a firearm over a 30-minute period that included sale of heroin to a confidential informant. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 22-1195, Categories: Firearms, Ineffective Assistance
J. Scudder finds that the district court improperly denied defendant's motion for a new trial on drug and gun charges without holding an evidentiary hearing. Defendant's trial counsel was addicted to heroin before, during and after the trial. The district court decided without a hearing that the effects of trial counsel's addiction on defendant's trial did not need further exploration in a hearing, but "way too much is at stake to forgo that modest step." Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 22-1195, Categories: Drug Offender, Ineffective Assistance, Sentencing
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly issued a permanent injunction against a state confinement center for dangerous sex offenders requiring it to provide inmates with a minimum of 7.5 hours of therapy per week, and use independent evaluators to perform discharge evaluations. The injunction is overbroad under the Prison Litigation Reform Act because it places requirements on the state that are greater than what the constitution requires, and is too specific, without leaving the facility flexibility to base its programs on actual need. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 22-1368, Categories: Constitution, Commitment, Restraining Order
J. Scudder vacates a lower court injunction requiring a prison’s Sexually Dangerous Persons Program to provide a minimum of 7.5 hours of “core” group therapy per week to detainees confined under civil commitment. The injunction is overbroad, inflexible, and beyond what is necessary to remedy a constitutional violation. The lower court must reconsider the scope of its injunction. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 22-1368, Categories: Constitution, Health Care, Injunction
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly denied a defendant's Brady claim based on the government's failure to disclose that defendant's son was testifying against his father pursuant to a cooperation agreement. This information was clearly required to be disclosed by the prosecution. However, because the evidence would not have affected the outcome of his sentencing, the failure was not material. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 22-2268, Categories: Habeas, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Witnesses
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly found for the transportation logistics company on a widow's claims it negligently hired the trucking company that employed the driver of the truck that caused the accident killing her husband. Imposing state negligence standards on brokers would have significant economic costs, and her state-law negligent hiring claims are preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which does not impose this liability on brokers. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 18, 2023, Case #: 22-1805, Categories: Preemption, Transportation, Negligence
J. Scudder upholds the IRS lien on the taxpayers' property to collect $500,000 in outstanding tax liabilities stemming from their interests in two partnerships. The taxpayers received notice of the deficiency and had a prior opportunity to contest the partnership tax liabilities before the IRS imposed a lien. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 22-1084, Categories: Tax
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly dismissed a student class action over the cancellation of in-person classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence presented by the students, including course catalogs, the class registration system, and pre-pandemic practices, can all suffice under Illinois law to allege the existence of an implied contract between a university and its students for in-person instruction. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: 21-2988, Categories: Education, Covid-19, Class Action
J. Scudder finds that a lower court improperly ordered the convicted sex offender to pay a $5,000 special assessment, finding him not qualified as "indigent," without considering his financial prospects for repaying the assessment in future years. Although defendant qualified for appointed counsel, he claims he spent all his money on private counsel. At sentencing, the district court must consider both whether defendant is eligible for appointed counsel and whether defendant lacks the resources to provide for himself going forward before finding them "indigent" or not. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: 22-1473, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly dismissed a False Claims Act suit against a tribal health care center alleging she was fired for flagging fraudulent billing practices. Although the health care center is not the tribe itself, it is an arm of the tribe and entitled to sovereign immunity. The individual employees named as defendants to the complaint are also entitled to immunity because they are sued in their official capacities. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 22-2077, Categories: Native Americans, False Claims