It’s an issue that leaves employment lawyers and their clients scratching their heads: Must an employer reassign a disabled employee to a vacant position that would have otherwise been filled by a competitive process?
Read More »Tag Archives: 7th Circuit
Repeated Taser use may have been excessive, rules 7th Circuit
Police may have violated a woman’s civil rights when they shot her twice with a Taser for allegedly interfering with the arrest of her son, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
Read More »High court fight looms over right to carry a gun
The next big issue in the national debate over guns -- whether people have a right to be armed in public -- is moving closer to Supreme Court review.
Read More »Illinois conceal-carry law unconstitutional, says 7th Circuit
An Illinois law prohibiting individuals from carrying loaded guns outside the home violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
Read More »Judge allows electronic poker at Madison Ho-Chunk casino
A federal judge says the Ho-Chunk tribe can continue to offer electronic poker at its Madison casino.
Read More »Asbestos manufacturer may have immunity, says 7th Circuit
A manufacturer that supplied turbines to the U.S. Navy may be immune from a former seaman’s asbestos claims, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
Read More »Former Wis. Supreme Court Justice Coffey dies at 90
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice John L. Coffey died Saturday at the age of 90.
7th Circuit says life sentence for crack dealer doesn’t violate Eighth Amendment
The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not preclude a mandatory life sentence for dealers who possess a smaller quantity of crack cocaine than the quantity of powder cocaine necessary to trigger a similar sentence, the 7th Circuit has ruled.
Read More »Mother can’t sue state for son’s suicide, rules 7th Circuit
The duty to take more active anti-suicide measures arises only when the risk is imminent, the 7th Circuit has ruled, affirming summary judgment for state officials who treated a teenager who hung himself while in a youth detention facility.
Read More »Employers push back on FMLA abuse
In an effort to root out employee abuse of Family and Medical Leave Act violations, employers are increasingly relying upon the “honest suspicion” defense – and winning.
Read More »7th Circuit: Disabled employees entitled to reassignment
United Airline workers who lose their jobs due to disability are entitled reassignment to vacant positions for which they are qualified, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
Read More »Transgender-inmate ruling is movement’s latest win
A court ruling that ordered Massachusetts to pay for an inmate's sex-change surgery is being seen as another milestone for transgender people.
Read More »7th Circuit reinstates $3.5M punitive award in Title VII case
A Chrysler employee produced sufficient evidence of recklessness to justify a substantial award of punitive damages in a Title VII hostile environment case, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reinstating a $3.5 million jury verdict.
Read More »Atheist faces new setback in suit over Ill. cross
An atheist said Friday he may take his legal fight over state funds used to renovate a towering southern Illinois cross to the U.S. Supreme Court now that his latest federal appeal has failed.
Read More »7th Circuit: Investors can’t sue medical device manufacturer
Investors could not sue a medical device manufacturer for fraudulently downplaying the significance of one surgeon’s report that one of the company’s hip replacement parts had a high failure rate, the 7th Circuit has ruled in affirming a dismissal.
Read More »Defense lawyers flub ‘planted gun’ case, rules 7th Circuit
A convicted felon may get a new trial because his lawyers misread the Fourth Amendment implications of their client’s contention that a gun found on his person was planted by police.
Read More »Debt collector can be sued for autodialed cell phone calls, rules 7th Circuit
A debt collector may have violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when its automated dialing system contacted cell phone users with reassigned numbers, the 7th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment.
Read More »7th Circuit: Police officers’ use of baton launcher was excessive
Police used excessive force when they fired a baton launcher four times in order to arrest a nonviolent drunk driver who was mistakenly suspected of being a car thief, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing a defense verdict.
Read More »Police may be sued for releasing mentally ill detainee, rules 7th Circuit
Police officers who arrested a woman who exhibited symptoms of a mental health disorder in a safe location but released her into a dangerous neighborhood may be sued under §1983, the 7th Circuit has ruled.
Read More »Justices tackle credit bidding in bankruptcy ‘cramdown’ plan
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court took up a complicated bankruptcy case Monday, parsing the language of the Bankruptcy Code to determine if a Chapter 11 debtor must give a secured creditor the right to credit bid items being sold at auction.
Read More »Obama could alter stance of federal appeals courts
A second term for President Barack Obama would allow him to expand his replacement of Republican-appointed majorities with Democratic ones on the nation's appeals courts, the final stop for almost all challenged federal court rulings.
Read More »Court says convicted pot pilot can appeal
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An appeals court has ruled that a failed script writer sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for flying $500,000 worth of marijuana to Wisconsin on his private plane should have been allowed to appeal his conviction. Trevor Ryan of Ukiah, Calif., was sentenced by a federal judge in Madison to 65 months in ...
Read More »Police misconduct not grounds for new trial
Despite evidence that the police withheld exculpatory evidence and witnesses were not truthful at trial, a state prisoner convicted in 1994 of sexual assault and attempted homicide will not get a new trial.
Read More »Federal court upholds Wis. graduations in church
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal appeals court says two Wisconsin public high schools properly held graduation ceremonies in a church. Brookfield Central and Brookfield East held their graduations at Elmbrook Church for most of the last decade. A group of anonymous students and parents represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued in 2009, saying using ...
Read More »BLAWG LOG: DiMotto on the roles and duties of a judge with a jury; O’Hear on the 7th Circuit
One of the great advantages I have gained from my twitter account is a vast amount of information about juries, jury issues and jury problems.
Read More »Striking jurors based on gender is ineffective assistance
If a criminal defense attorney uses his peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors because of race or gender, he violates the Equal Protection Clause, the Rules of Professional Responsibility and provides ineffective assistance of counsel.
Read More »Standards set for fast-track adjustments
The 7th Circuit has issued standards that a defendant charged with illegal reentry must meet to be considered for a lower sentence based on the lack of a fast-track program.
Read More »Government can disqualify counsel of choice
The government can deny a defendant his counsel of choice, merely by asserting its intent to call his attorney as a witness.
Read More »Cocaine base ruling triggers longer penalties
“All crack is cocaine base but not all cocaine base is crack,” Judge Diane S. Sykes noted in U.S. v. Edwards, 397 F.3d 570 (7th Cir. 2005).
Read More »Federal courts split on case retroactivity
Under 7th Circuit precedent, federal courts in Wisconsin are bound to apply the old mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine offenses occurring before the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 went into effect.
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