The state Supreme Court has reinstated an accounting firm's lawsuit alleging telecommunications companies inserted unauthorized charges its bills.

Tagged with: 1st District Court of Appeals Court of Appeals lawsuit Supreme Court United States Court of Appeals

Sentencing Discretion Where the sentencing court did not address any mitigation factors offered by the defendant, the sentence is vacated. “We have recognized that the need for explanation typically is diminished when a sentence falls within the guidelines range, United ...

Tagged with: Discretion Sentencing Digest United States Court of Appeals

Habeas Corpus Ineffective assistance The State of Wisconsin’s motion to stay the mandate is denied. “Harrington addresses the situation in which a state-court decision ‘is unaccompanied by an explanation.’ Here, the state appellate court issued an opinion and wrote: ‘We ...

Tagged with: 09-3940 Habeas Corpus Ineffective assistance Sussman v. Jenkins United States Court of Appeals

Insurance ERISA Where an ERISA claimant failed to file a timely administrative appeal, the plan is not required to consider the appeal. “In this case, the Plan has fixed a clear deadline of 180 days for filing administrative appeals from ...

Tagged with: ERISA Insurance Digest United States Court of Appeals

Employment Race discrimination; EEOC subpoenas Where almost all of a company’s African-American employees are in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, the EEOC’s subpoena requesting information regarding employees who expressed an interest in sales work at other offices was properly enforced. “Nothing ...

Tagged with: Employment Digest Race discrimination United States Court of Appeals

Employment Public employees Where a teacher used school computers to access pornography, summary judgment was properly granted to the school district on his claim that he was terminated for engaging in union activity. “Zellner argues that the history of animosity ...

Tagged with: Employment Digest Public employees United States Court of Appeals

Sentencing Sophisticated means enhancement Where a fraud lasted for seven years, the court properly enhanced the sentence for using sophisticated means to perpetrate the scheme. “Landwer’s conduct, however, falls within our interpretation of sophisticated means. Application of the adjustment ‘is ...

Tagged with: Sentencing Digest United States Court of Appeals

Sentencing Separation of powers It did not violate the separation of powers doctrine for a sentencing court to educate himself about the crime and prepare a memorandum about it, where the court gave the parties the opportunity to respond to ...

Tagged with: Sentencing Digest United States Court of Appeals

Search and Seizure GPS tracking devices It does not violate the Fourth Amendment for police officers to place a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s car. “The aspects of the search in Maynard that affected the court’s decision are absent ...

Tagged with: Search and Seizure Digest United States Court of Appeals

Criminal Procedure Ineffective assistance Where the defendant never informed his attorney of facts giving rise an alleged Fourth Amendment violation, counsel was not deficient. “But even if Koons’s allegations about the search are true, his appeal is foreclosed by the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Ineffective assistance United States Court of Appeals

Civil Procedure Personal jurisdiction A state cannot exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant who only created a website that has 20 users in that state. “The record before us does not show that Ivanov deliberately targeted or exploited the Illinois ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Digest Personal jurisdiction United States Court of Appeals

Habeas corpus Appointed counsel When an attorney believes that a claim not certified for appeal is arguable, counsel should move the court to expand the certificate to include the claim. “Counsel has no obligation to argue claims that are not ...

Tagged with: Habeas Corpus United States Court of Appeals

United States Court of Appeals CRIMINAL OPINIONS Habeas Corpus Confrontation Clause Where a state court judge admitted double hearsay against a defendant as substantive evidence to prove the defendants’ guilt, his federal habeas corpus petition should have been granted. “To ...

Tagged with: Habeas Corpus United States Court of Appeals

Sentencing Reasonableness Where the district court did not find that a life sentence was sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with sec. 3553(a)(2), the sentence must be vacated. “The essence of Kimbrough is to permit district courts to ...

Tagged with: Johnson reasonableness Sentencing Digest U.S. United States Court of Appeals

Criminal Procedure Right to counsel It did not violate a defendant’s right to counsel for the court to make disparaging remarks about how many different lawyers he had had. “We agree that it would be constitutionally problematic for a district ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest right to counsel U.S. United States Court of Appeals

Criminal Procedure Miranda warnings Where police interrogated a suspect for 45 minutes without reading him his Miranda rights, his incriminating statements should have been suppressed. “When the officers arrested Swanson they presented an arrest warrant stating that he was charged ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Miranda warnings U.S. United States Court of Appeals

RICO Damages Where the plaintiffs alleging bid-rigging in a RICO case made a prima facie case of $5 million in damages, summary judgment was improperly granted to the defendants. “The statistical evidence in this case would be enough, when combined ...

Tagged with: United States Court of Appeals

Bankruptcy Denial of discharge Where the debtors made numerous material omissions, displaying a reckless disregard for the truth, they were properly denied discharge of their debts. “Some bankruptcy courts examining ‘ordinary course,’ both in the section 727 context and in ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Digest United States Court of Appeals

I arrived at work the other morning, all caffeinated and nicotined-up, excited about corrupting the youth of Milwaukee, the same as I do every other day.

Tagged with: 7th Circuit United States Court of Appeals

United States Court of Appeals CIVIL OPINIONS Immigration Removal Even if aliens did not engage in fraud in obtaining I-551 passport stamps, they are removable where they did not obtain them leally. “The Mozdzens argue that they were lawfully admitted ...

Tagged with: Immigration removal United States Court of Appeals