7th Circuit Court

7th Circuit limits attorney fees in lawsuit against faxing lawyer to percentage of actual claims

Class-action lawyers who sued on behalf of accountants who received unsolicited legal newsletters aren’t entitled to fees based on the total $4.2 million in funds that is available to claimants, a federal appeals court has ruled. Instead the lawyers are entitled to fees based on the number of accountants who…

Jul 12, 2016 2:16 PM CDT

7th Circuit: Federal judge wrongly relied on news stories in tossing suit against cops as frivolous

A federal judge in Chicago improperly relied on newspaper accounts when he dismissed as frivolous an excessive-force case against police, a federal appeals court has ruled. The June 28 decision by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals doesn’t identify the judge, but this story by Law.com (sub. req.)…

Jun 30, 2016 10:05 AM CDT

7th Circuit: Judge should have appointed lawyer for mentally ill woman who missed appeal deadline

A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived the untimely appeal of an imprisoned Indiana woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend in 2001. Anastazia Schmid was found guilty but mentally ill, which removed capital punishment as a possibility in her sentencing. Because Schmid was determined to be mentally ill, a federal…

Jun 8, 2016 2:50 PM CDT

Lawyer can appeal sanction order though fine has been paid by her employer, Posner opinion says

A former prosecutor appealing a sanctions order has standing, though the fine has already been paid, but she loses on the merits, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on Monday in an appeal by Mary McClellan, a former assistant state’s…

May 25, 2016 9:19 AM CDT

Lawyer for former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle asks 7th Circuit for reduced sentence

A lawyer for former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle told a federal appeals court on Friday that Fogle’s sentence should be reduced because it was partly based on his fantasies that were never carried out. The lawyer, Ron Elberger, told the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Fogle’s sentence…

May 20, 2016 3:23 PM CDT

Posner criticizes majority opinion’s legal jargon in his concurrence

What has discretion got to do with it? That’s one of the questions Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked in a May 17 concurrence (PDF) that criticizes legal jargon such as “abuse of discretion.” The “verbal formulas” in the majority opinion, Posner says,…

May 19, 2016 7:45 AM CDT

This federal appeals court has been waiting more than six years for a judge

The prospect that the current Supreme Court vacancy will be delayed has been getting a lot of press. Getting less attention is a vacancy on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that has gone unfilled for more than six years. A Huffington Post article blames the delays on…

Apr 22, 2016 2:40 PM CDT

Posner says Bluebook is ‘560 pages of rubbish,’ suggests changes to improve jury trials

Judge Richard Posner acknowledges his reputation as a “naysayer” and “faultfinder” yet proceeds to find fault with The Bluebook (it is “560 pages of rubbish”) and the uneven quality of trial lawyering. Lawyers often differ greatly in quality, and that distorts the trial process, according to Posner, a judge on…

Mar 29, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

Posner op-ed: SCOTUS is of course politicized; political ideology and religion influence justices

Republicans’ refusal to consider a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court serves as a reminder that it is “a politicized court,” according to Judge Richard Posner. In a Washington Post op-ed, Posner says the justices appear to be influenced by political ideology and attitudes toward religion when interpreting unclear provisions…

Mar 10, 2016 7:13 AM CST

7th Circuit blasts US case, cites turn signal seen on police dashcam in reversal of drug conviction

Reversing a trial court and criticizing government lawyers, a federal appeals court Tuesday nixed the drug conspiracy conviction of a man initially pulled over in a traffic stop. A police dashcam video helped save defendant LeShawn Stanbridge by showing that he activated a turn signal just before pulling to the…

Feb 25, 2016 12:50 PM CST

Posner opinion upholds lifetime GPS bracelet for sex offender who isn’t ‘just a harmless old guy’

A federal appeals court has upheld a Wisconsin law requiring convicted sex offenders to wear a GPS ankle bracelet for the rest of their lives after their release from civil commitment. The Jan. 29 opinion (PDF) by a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was…

Feb 3, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Courts use special masters, mediation to help solve e-discovery issues

Robert Moore got an education during his time with a special master for e-discovery and electronically stored information. Moore, the managing partner of Heaton and Moore in Memphis, Tennessee, was in the discovery phase of a wrongful death suit. He retained an information technology expert to find data requested by…

Jan 1, 2016 2:00 AM CST

Posner advises disability office to clean up its act, says expert testimony was ‘worthless’

A federal appeals court says an administrative law judge “inappropriately ‘played doctor’” in denying disability benefits for a 56-year-old woman who had worked more than 13 years in a factory where she carried steel sheets weighing up to 100 pounds. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the…

Dec 9, 2015 6:00 AM CST

Posner explains his changing views on gay marriage; should public opinion matter?

In 1997, Judge Richard Posner reviewed a book advocating a right to same-sex marriage through changes in state laws and through constitutional rulings by courts. Posner, a judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, thought the author, Yale law professor William Eskridge, made a powerful argument for…

Dec 2, 2015 5:45 AM CST

7th Circuit overturns abortion regulation; Posner says health benefit is ‘nonexistent’

The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a Wisconsin abortion law that required abortion doctors to have admission privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. Writing for the majority in the 2-1 opinion (PDF), Judge Richard Posner said the law would shut down one of the…

Nov 24, 2015 7:30 AM CST