By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 26, 2014//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Civil
Contracts — fraud in the inducement
Where a claimant accepted a $100,000 settlement, the district court properly rejected his claim in the defendant’s bankruptcy that the settlement was the product of fraud.
“Claimant A-49 has not developed an argument that Cusack’s misrepresentations were objectively material. Instead, his argument relies entirely on his assertion that Cusack’s answers to his questions about other reports of abuse by Father Hanser were ‘very important’ to him emotionally, and that he believed her and thought the Archdiocese had his ‘best interests at heart … during the mediation.’ These generalized assertions about the emotional stakes of the mediation do not establish the kind of “special circumstances” that could support a conclusion that Cusack’s misrepresentations were a substantial factor in Claimant A-49’s decision to accept the settlement.”
Affirmed.
12-3689 In re Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Randa, J., Sykes, J.