19 results for 'judge:"Sykes"'.
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly found for the village on a developer's claims that it was singled out for unfavorable treatment. The developer failed to show that the village's decisions lacked any conceivable rational basis. Rather, the village's imposed development conditions were rationally related to its interests in promoting its land-use objectives. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 21-3237, Categories: Civil Rights, Real Estate
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly found for the insurer, ruling that its policy with a dialysis provider contains a bacteria exclusion that precludes coverage of a $2 million judgment against the provider stemming from a patient's sepsis diagnosis after suffering repeated infections resulting from his dialysis treatment. The bacteria exclusion plainly applies, and the insurer was not required to conduct any further investigation into the man's claims before denying coverage. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 22-1983, Categories: Insurance, Indemnification, Contract
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of running a heroin-distribution ring inside an Indiana prison and sentenced him as a career offender based on two prior convictions for cocaine distribution. The sentencing commission has the authority to interpret the career offender guidelines to include conspiracy under the definition of "controlled substance offense." Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 22-2014, Categories: Sentencing, Conspiracy
J. Sykes grants the customer's motion to exclude Costco's expert witness from testifying in her personal injury and premises liability lawsuit due to the expert's late disclosure report and the late date of his deposition. A decision "by counsel to schedule and take a vacation just three days before trial, when said counsel knew a deposition and an expert report remained outstanding, cannot be substantial justification for a late disclosure." The customer's counsel did not receive the report until the last day before trial in this matter began.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: December 16, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv4470, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Experts, Discovery, Premises Liability
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J. Sykes finds that the agency properly found the recipient at fault for failing to report his work income while receiving disability benefits and ordered him to repay $50,000 in overpaid benefits. The record reflects that the SSA repeatedly reminded the recipient of his obligation to immediately report changes in his work activity, so it was unreasonable for him to assume he could keep his benefits checks despite his gainful employment. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: November 14, 2023, Case #: 20-2508, Categories: Social Security
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly dismissed the debtor's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act suit because she sustained no injury from the collector's alleged use of a third-party vendor to print and mail its collection letters. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: October 23, 2023, Case #: 22-1202, Categories: Debt Collection
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied the Venezuelan distributor's request for discovery against the American heavy equipment giant, Caterpillar, in a breach of contract suit filed in Switzerland. The parties' agreed to resolve their disputes in Swiss courts, knowing that Swiss law has more circumscribed discovery procedures. The distributor cannot circumvent that decision now. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: October 10, 2023, Case #: 22-1463, Categories: International Law, Discovery, Contract
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied the two cannabis entrepreneurs' motion challenging Illinois' licensing system for cannabis dispensaries which originally favored long-time Illinois residents. The entrepreneurs waited too long to challenge the residency requirements for the first allocation of licenses in 2021, and the state has deleted the provisions favoring Illinois residents under the 2022 allocation. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: 22-2050, Categories: Commerce, Licensing
J. Sykes finds that the lower court improperly sentenced defendant to 108 months in prison for robbery and conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery. The general federal conspiracy statute caps any term of imprisonment at 60 months, which defendant's sentence far exceeds. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 21-2296, Categories: Robbery, Sentencing, Conspiracy
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly reinstated a $5 million restitution award in a consumer fraud action against a company that purported to offer consumers a "free" credit score, but then signed them up for a $29/mo subscription service. The Federal Trade Commission Act permits the refund of money in order to make consumers whole, and so the ruling appropriately refunds to customers the amount not yet returned by the company to victims of this fraud. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 21-2945, Categories: Damages, Consumer Law
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied the employer's motion for judgment on the pleadings in an Illinois Biometric Privacy Act suit. The Illinois Supreme Court answered a certified question from this court and confirmed that a separate claim accrues under the Act each time a private entity scans or transmits an individual's biometric information. Therefore, the employee's lawsuit is timely because her claim did not accrue in 2008 when the company first scanned her fingerprint, but continues to accrue every time she clocks in to work with a fingerprint. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 20-3202, Categories: Employment, Privacy, Technology
J. Sykes dismisses the suspect's claim that the city's officers unreasonably used a police canine to bite the suspect's lower left leg during the course of his arrest. Although the bite was a relatively moderate intrusion on the suspect's Fourth Amendment interests and lasted approximately 37 seconds, the first 27 seconds consisted of the suspect crawling out of the doghouse while the officer cautiously approached to secure his arms, at which point the officer immediately began removing the dog.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: July 25, 2023, Case #: 8:17cv2263, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Police Misconduct
J. Sykes finds that the investors did not prove their securities fraud claims alleging that the attorney is liable for damages regarding their $360,000 investment into a failed jet fuel proposition. The investors do not prove that the attorney sold or offered to sell the investors security. They provide only an email from the attorney and the company's managing member soliciting investment money for the jet fuel transaction, which does not qualify the attorney as a seller for the purposes of a securities or fraud claim.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: July 17, 2023, Case #: 8:21cv389, NOS: Securities/Commodities/Exchange - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Securities
J. Sykes finds the lower court properly dismissed a class action against Google and the University of Chicago over the university medical center's sharing of anonymized patient data with the tech giant as part of a research effort to develop software capable of anticipating patients' future healthcare needs. The inpatients failed to plausibly allege they suffered any concrete injury as a result of the data-sharing, and the patient signed a release approving the university's use of his medical information for approved research purposes. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: July 11, 2023, Case #: 20-3134, Categories: Health Care, Privacy, Class Action
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's successive habeas petition. Under this year's Supreme Court ruling in Jones v. Hendrix, a defendant cannot bring a statutory claim in a habeas petition via the savings clause. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: July 7, 2023, Case #: 19-2504, Categories: Prisoners' Rights
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's successive habeas petition. Under this year's Supreme Court ruling in Jones v. Hendrix, a defendant cannot bring a statutory claim in a habeas petition via the savings clause. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: July 7, 2023, Case #: 21-1004, Categories: Prisoners' Rights
J. Sykes finds that the lower court improperly dismissed the man's Bivens lawsuit against a DEA agent who punched him twice in the face, breaking his orbital bone, without provocation during an arrest. While the Supreme Court has consistently refused to recognize new Bivens claims for damages against torts committed by federal officers, the arrestee's claim is not meaningfully different from that in Bivens itself, so it may proceed. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 21-1463, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. Sykes finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence of a firearm found in his car. Defendant argues that police committed an unlawful search by using his key fob to identify his car. However, this appeal does not require deciding whether activating a car's key fob is a search, because police recovered the gun in the car through independent, lawful means - namely, a warrant. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Sykes, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: 22-1896, Categories: Firearms, Search