Justia U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plain-clothes narcotics officers visiting a park observed Lickers, alone in a parked car, looking at his phone and watching children on a playground. Based on his movements, the agents thought Lickers was “tweaking,” and approached to offer him drugs. Lickers had a towel covering his lap and a cellphone on the passenger seat. The agents acknowledged that they were police, Lickers became nervous and attempted to knock the cellphone off the seat but continued placing his hands under the towel. Concerned that Lickers might have a weapon, they directed him to remove the towel. Lickers did so, exposing his genitals. An officer then smelled marijuana and radioed for a K9. The unit arrived 20-30 minutes later. A dog alerted. Lickers admitted he had marijuana. The officers found marijuana and placed Lickers under arrest. An inventory search of the car resulted in the officers recovering Lickers’s electronic devices. With a warrant, agents found sexually explicit videos of young children on Lickers’s phone. The state court granted his motion to suppress, concluding that the police lacked sufficient justification to remove Lickers from his automobile and lacked reasonable suspicion to detain him for 20-30 minutes. Weeks later, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Lickers’s phone, submitting a copy of the state search warrant application and disclosing that the prior search uncovered child pornography. A search of Lickers’s phone found pornographic images of very young children, including one video of a girl less than a year old. The district court denied his suppression motion. Lickers pled guilty. The court sentenced Lickers to 132 months’ imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. No aspect of the encounter in Monmouth Park offended the Fourth Amendment. The process of application for, and execution of, the federal search warrant reflected good faith. View "United States v. Lickers" on Justia Law

In 2002, Condominium sued TSS, claiming defective building design and construction. TSS never responded. In 2003, the state court declared TSS in default. In 2009, the court entered a default judgment and awarded damages of $1,356,435. Essex did not insure TSS until it sold TSS a policy for claims “first made” from May 2012 to May 2013. The policy defined “first made” to mean the time when TSS received either a “written demand for money damages” or “the service of suit or institution of arbitration proceedings.” In 2012, when TSS became aware of efforts to collect the judgment, no proof of service was found. The Illinois court vacated the judgment. Essex, with the mistaken belief that Condominium first made a claim in 2012, began funding and monitoring the defense. Essex rejected a settlement offer although Condominium had begun to compile evidence that TSS’s agent had been served. In 2014, the state court reinstated the judgment. Essex continued its defense but notified TSS that it was denying coverage. TSS, without any involvement by Essex, settled the case for $550,000. In 2015, Essex sought a federal declaratory judgment that it had no indemnification obligation. The district court granted Essex summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting an estoppel argument because TSS suffered no prejudice. TSS never lost control of its defense, was aware that Essex would not cover the matter if proof of service was found, and settled without Essex’s approval. View "Essex Insurance Co. v. Structural Shop, Ltd." on Justia Law

American Airlines hired Bilinsky in 1991. Bilinsky contracted multiple sclerosis (MS) in the late 1990s. In 2007 she became a communications specialist in the Flight Service Department, located in Dallas. According to Bilinsky’s medical records, excessive heat aggravates her MS, so American permitted Bilinsky to work from Chicago. She usually traveled to Dallas one day per week for tasks that required a physical presence. Bilinsky performed successfully for several years. American merged with US Airways in 2013. Under the new circumstances, the company decided to require all employees to be physically present at headquarters. This decision affected two other employees: one relocated to Dallas, but the other refused and was terminated. Negotiations between American and Bilinsky collapsed; American terminated Bilinsky. The district court, on summary judgment, rejected Bilinsky’s Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12111) lawsuit, finding that Bilinsky was no longer qualified for the position because of the changes in her responsibilities. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Although the change was slow and was not reflected in a written job description, the merger fundamentally changed the position’s nature. Consistent, physical presence became an essential function at some point after 2013. Bilinsky’s team evolved from working on independent activities (curating website content, responding to written questions, etc.) to team‐centered crisis management activities, involving frequent face‐to‐face meetings on short notice. View "Bilinsky v. American Airlines, Inc." on Justia Law

M.J.J. and J.K.J. were inmates at Polk County Jail at various times between 2011 and 2014. Christensen admits he engaged in sexual acts with the women individually. He urged the women not to discuss his sexual advances; his assaults were kept hidden from jail officials until a former inmate reported her own sexual encounters with Christensen to an investigator in a neighboring county. An investigation led to Christensen pleading guilty to several counts of sexual assault. He is serving a 30‐year prison sentence. J.K.J. and M.J.J. sued Christensen and the county under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment claims, with a state law negligence claim against the county. A jury found Christensen and the county liable and awarded each woman $2 million in compensatory damages. The jury also levied punitive damages against Christensen, $3,750,000 to each plaintiff. The Seventh Circuit affirmed as to Christensen. His assaults were predatory and knowingly criminal. The court reversed as to the county. To impose liability against the county for Christensen’s crimes, there must be evidence of an offending county policy, culpability, and causation. Christensen’s acts were reprehensible, but the evidence shows no connection between the assaults and any county policy. View "J.K.J. v. Polk County" on Justia Law

Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) inmate Palmer has a nub which terminates at his left wrist and does not have functional fingers. Before arriving at NRC, Palmer was at Shawnee Correctional Center, where the medical director issued Palmer a low bunk pass. When Palmer arrived at NRC, Franz conducted a routine intake screening. Franz noted his missing hand but ignored Palmer’s request for a low bunk permit and took no other steps in conjunction with Palmer’s deformity. Palmer had to use the top bunk. Palmer made two requests to see a doctor to get a low bunk pass; neither was acknowledged. Palmer fell while attempting to climb down from the upper bunk. He landed on his knee, sustaining a severe injury. Palmer then received a low bunk permit. Palmer filed grievances with IDOC based on the incident. With no response to his grievances, Palmer appealed to the Administrative Review Board, which also went unanswered. Palmer filed suit, alleging that Franz was deliberately indifferent to Palmer’s serious medical need. The district court granted Franz summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit reversed. The evidence is enough to allow a reasonable jury to conclude that: Palmer suffered from an objectively serious medical condition, Franz knew of the heightened risk of harm, and Franz deliberately failed to act in the face of that harm. View "Palmer v. Franz" on Justia Law

Orland Park fired police officer McGreal in 2010. McGreal sued, alleging that his termination was retaliation for remarks he made community board meeting. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment, finding that McGreal had advanced only speculation to support his claims. McGreal had more than 70 disciplinary complaints on his record. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court granted the defendants’ motion for attorney fees and directed McGreal’s attorney, DeRose, to pay the defendants $66,191.75 to the defendants--the cost incurred because DeRose fought the defense's summary judgment motion. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Defense counsel had repeatedly requested that DeRose end the litigation, pointing out the lack of evidence, and had threatened Rule 11 sanctions. DeRose’s summary judgment filings were not well grounded in fact or warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law. Discovery revealed an utter lack of evidentiary support for McGreal’s claims, but DeRose defended against summary judgment anyway. View "McGreal v. Village of Orland Park" on Justia Law

Fessenden’s employment was terminated after he began receiving short-term disability benefits. He then applied for long‐term disability benefits through his former employer’s benefits plan. The plan administrator, Reliance, denied the claim. Fessenden submitted a request for review with additional evidence supporting his diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. When Reliance failed to issue a decision within the timeline mandated by regulations governing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1132, he filed suit. Eight days later, Reliance finally issued a decision, again denying Fessenden’s claim. The district court granted Reliance summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit vacated. If the decision had been timely, the court would have applied an arbitrary and capricious standard because the plan gave Reliance the discretion to administer it. When a plan administrator commits a procedural violation, however, it loses the benefit of deference and a de novo standard applies. The court rejected Reliance’s argument that it “substantially complied” with the deadline because it was only a little bit late. The “substantial compliance” exception does not apply to blown deadlines. An administrator may be able to “substantially comply” with other procedural requirements, but a deadline is a bright line. View "Fessenden v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co." on Justia Law

Porter custom built a 40-foot Formula yacht for German businessman Schwaiger. The yacht and its lift cost approximately $1 million. Porter, as the manufacturer, was not a party to the purchase contract. The parties were German dealer Poker-Run-Boats and Schwaiger’s company, SelectSun. The contract required the boat to be CE certified: authorized for operation in the European Union. The order placed by IN, Porter’s domestic dealer, called for a switchable exhaust system that would allow the operator to divert exhaust either above or below the water line. EU regulations require exhaust expulsion below the water line. Porter caught this conflict and explained that the boat could not be both equipped with the switchable exhaust system and CE certified. Nonetheless, IN authorized Porter to manufacture the boat with the switchable system. Apparently Schwaiger knew nothing of that decision and believed the yacht would come CE certified. Schwaiger took delivery of the yacht in Germany and used the boat throughout much of the 2013 season, then became disappointed with the yacht, complaining to Poker-Run-Boats of problems with the engines, steering, exterior coating, and furnishings. Rather than seek repairs, Schwaiger returned the yacht to PokerRun-Boats for sale then sued Porter and IN. Both IN and Poker-Run-Boats ceased operations. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the rejection of all claims. SelectSun focused its evidence on contract formation and apparent agency authority but, with respect to damages, only established the cost of the yacht, offering no evidence of the current value of the yacht, the costs of repairs or the cost to render the yacht CE certified. SelectSune failed to prove its damages with reasonable certainty. View "SelectSun GmbH v. Porter, Inc." on Justia Law

Harmelech pled guilty to one count of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1341; the government dismissed the remaining count. Harmelech, who owned and operated multiple cable installation companies, admitted to setting up about 384 DIRECTV accounts under a fraudulent scheme that involved multi-family buildings. He pocketed money that should have been paid for servicing those accounts for six years. Harmelech involved several employees in his scheme and attempted to prevent DIRECTV from discovering his scheme by instructing the building managers not to cooperate in an investigation. At sentencing, Harmelech claimed his scheme actually benefited the company by bringing in additional business. The district court adopted the government’ loss calculation and found Harmelech owed: $108,000 in account delinquencies; $39,000 in unrecovered DIRECTV receivers; and $29,600 in promotional customer credits; $166,0001 for stolen channels and $35,000 for the price DIRECTV paid for its internal investigation. The court ordered $372,600 in restitution, assessed a four-level sentencing enhancement for Harmelech’s role as the organizer and leader of an otherwise extensive fraudulent scheme U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(a), and sentenced Harmelech to 48 months’ imprisonment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court’s loss calculation was concrete, specific, conservative in its results, and consistent with Seventh Circuit precedent. View "United States v. Harmelech" on Justia Law

In 2009, Beason pled guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm. He received a 15‐year mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e), based on his Wisconsin juvenile adjudication for armed robbery and two Wisconsin drug offenses. The Seventh Circuit dismissed Beason’s appeal in 2012, reasoning that it was enough that his drug offense carried a maximum penalty of at least 10 years and that Beason’s juvenile adjudication was a “violent felony” although Wisconsin armed robbery could be committed without a gun, knife, or explosive. In 2013 he unsuccessfully challenged his juvenile adjudication as a qualifying violent felony (28 U.S.C. 2255), making no arguments about the drug offenses. Four years later, Beason filed a 28 U.S.C. 2241 petition, arguing that neither of his drug offenses carried a sentence long enough to qualify as a “serious drug offense” and that his juvenile adjudication could not count as a “violent felony.” The district court agreed with Beason on the merits but concluded that Beason's section 2255 petition precluded section 2241 relief because he could have raised the exact arguments in his earlier petition. The Seventh Circuit reversed. Beason’s argument about his drug convictions was foreclosed to him at the time of his section 2255 motion; the Seventh Circuit subsequently addressed Wisconsin’s bifurcated sentencing system and held that only the term of initial confinement—not the term of extended supervision—counted towards ACCA’s threshold of 10‐years’ imprisonment for a “serious drug offense.” View "Beason v. Marske" on Justia Law