Counterclaim Dismissal

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Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and CUDAHY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges

Counterclaim Dismissal

No. 14-3075 Firestone Financial Corp. v. John R. Meyer

District court fails to explain why appellant’s counterclaims were insufficient to preclude summary judgment.

“In awarding summary judgment, the district court did not specifically discuss either of these defenses. Rather, at the hearing on Firestone’s motion, the court simply stated that none of the arguments “advanced by Mr. Meyer really undercut the entitlement of Firestone to summary judgment” and that the court did not “see any need … to expend time and effort for purposes of knocking out the arguments advanced by Mr. Meyer.” Likewise, the court’s subsequent judgment order simply stated that the court had “reviewed all memoranda and related documents filed by the parties and [had] orally expressed its conclusion that Meyer [had] not met his burden of proving his affirmative defenses.””

Reversed and Remanded

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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.