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

The Seventh Circuit affirmed defendants' convictions for child pornography charges. On appeal, defendants argued that the warrant authorizing the Playpen child pornography website searches was invalid and that the fruit of those searches -- defendants' identities -- should have been suppressed. The court held that, even assuming without deciding that the federal agents' digital searches pursuant to a Network Investigative Technique (NIT) violated the Fourth Amendment, the good faith exception to the exclusionary ruled applied. View "United States v. Kienast" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the superintendent, in his official capacity, alleging that schools would not hire plaintiff while he was a teacher under investigation. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the complaint, holding that section 1983 does not authorize awards of damages against states and a state official in his official capacity; plaintiff's complaint failed to allege the deprivation of any liberty or property interest; the Constitution does not require a hearing before public notice that a charge is under investigation; probable cause was required to support custody but not to support a public charge of crime; and administrative investigations precede hearings. View "Fritz v. Evers" on Justia Law

Four Chicago police officers received an emergency call about a “male with a gun,” and arrived on scene at about 3:35 a.m. An unidentified man on the porch directed them to the first floor apartment, stating only, “He’s in there.” Upon entering, they encountered approximately 10 people milling around; one stated, “The man with the gun is in the back. He pointed it at my face.” When Officer Gentile looked up, a man saw him and fled into the first floor bedroom, slamming the door. After announcing their presence and knocking, the officers opened the bedroom door and saw Lindsey sitting on a mattress next to a woman. Gentile found a gun on the bedroom floor, about two feet in front of Lindsey. None of the officers saw the gun on Lindsey’s person. The state dismissed criminal charges against Lindsey for unlawful possession of a weapon. Lindsey filed suit, claiming false arrest, excessive force, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution under 42 U.S.C. 1983. The Seventh Circuit affirmed a verdict rejecting all of his claims. The district court was within its discretion in denying the jurors’ request for a copy of a potentially impeaching interrogatory answer and in refusing to modify its jury instruction on “possession” to stress that “mere proximity” to a gun is insufficient. View "Lindsey v. Macias" on Justia Law

The Seventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for conspiring to distribute cocaine. Defendant argued that the facts did not demonstrate that he agreed with others to buy and sell cocaine. The court held that the record showed not only that defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty, but that there was sufficient factual basis to support the plea. In this case, during defendant's plea colloquy, he confirmed that he understood the charge of conspiracy and that the government's factual proffer was sufficient. View "United States v. Neal" on Justia Law

After plaintiff filed class and collective actions against her former employer for wage and hour violations, the district court compelled arbitration pursuant to an agreement between the parties. The district court also struck as unlawful a waiver clause that appeared to forbid class or collective arbitration of plaintiff's claims. The arbitrator awarded more than $10 million in damages and fees to plaintiff and 174 similarly situated employees.The Seventh Circuit held that the availability of class or collective arbitration is a threshold question of arbitrability. Accordingly, the court remanded for the district court, rather than the arbitrator, to evaluate plaintiff's contract with her employer to determine whether it permitted class or collective arbitration. View "Herrington v. Waterstone Mortgage Corp." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against GC Services, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of GC Services' motion to compel arbitration and held that the company waived any right to arbitrate. In this case, GC Services did not discover the existence of the arbitration agreement for eight months, and then the company did not notify the court or move to compel arbitration for another five months. Furthermore, none of the explanations offered for the delays were adequate, and GC Services' decision to litigate the merits of plaintiff's legal theory and request for class certification was inconsistent with a desire to arbitrate. View "Smith v. GC Services LP" on Justia Law

A six month delay between a property inspection and notice of a municipal ordinance citation does not violate due process. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's amended complaint for failure to state a procedural due process claim under 42 U.S.C. 1983. The court held that the administrative and judicial proceedings available for plaintiff to challenge her citation for growing weeds greater than 10 inches tall in her garden satisfied due process, and the accuracy of the city's interpretation of its ordinance did not implicate the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, plaintiff failed to allege facts supporting a plausible violation of her due process rights. The court rejected plaintiff's alternative theory that the city misinterpreted the ordinance's plain text. View "Tucker v. City of Chicago" on Justia Law

The statutory provision that prohibits ordering restitution to a participant in defendant's offense, 18 U.S.C. 3663(a)(1)(A), does not prohibit ordering restitution to the participant's family members in cases in which the family members are victims in their own right, whose losses are not merely derivative of the participant's losses.The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's sentence and order of restitution after defendant was convicted of 13 criminal charges related to a heroin distribution conspiracy he operated. In this case, the family members were directly harmed by defendant's criminal conduct where they witnessed defendant commit murder and suffered incredibly traumatic injuries as a direct result of the event. View "United States v. Price" on Justia Law

The Seventh Circuit affirmed defendant's 20 year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to transporting methamphetamine as part of a 20-person conspiracy. The court held that the evidence, viewed apart from the base offense levels of defendant's coconspirators, was sufficient to support the district court's finding that defendant handled more than 1.5 kilograms of Ice. In this case, the decision not to treat defendant identically with his coconspirators did not plainly make a difference to his sentencing range or impair the fairness or integrity of the proceedings. The court also held that defendant was not entitled to insist on a minimal role for himself while still receiving credit for accepting responsibility. View "United States v. Castaneda" on Justia Law

The Seventh Circuit reversed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of heroin and a firearm. In this case, officers detained and frisked defendant after observing him and his brother load paper bags into defendant's garage. The officer who ordered the stop had a hunch that the bags contained drug-trafficking contraband, but the officer was wrong. Nonetheless, eight officers continued to detain defendant.The court held that when the officers seized and searched defendant, they did not have a reasonable suspicion that he was engaged in crime. Even if the original stop had been justified, the officers continued detaining defendant beyond the original justification for the stop. The court held that either violation was sufficient to undermine the validity of defendant's eventual consent to the search of his house. View "United States v. Lopez" on Justia Law