State Law Rights – Collective Bargaining – Prison Litigation Reform Act

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Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: EASTERBROOK, RIPPLE, and TINDER, Circuit Judges

State Law Rights – Collective Bargaining – Prison Litigation Reform Act

No. 10-2746 Jimmy Doe v. Teamsters Local 700

District court order approving staffing plan reversed.

“The lack of factual findings in this case—both the lack of findings about the existence of a violation and the absence of findings about the necessity for a particular remedy to cure any violation—contrasts with the elaborate findings the district court made in Brown v. Plata, 131 S. Ct. 1910 (2011), the Supreme Court’s only extended consideration of §3626(a) and (b). The Justices divided five to four about whether even 184 pages of findings and analysis by a district court satisfied the statutory burden; the difference from this case could not be more stark. It follows that the order approving the new staffing plan must be reversed. The plan has been in effect for years, and restoring the Union’s members to their old positions would not be possible, because those positions are gone. But other forms of relief, including financial compensation and preferential hiring for future openings, may be appropriate, and we leave that subject to the district court on remand.”

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.