TINDER, Circuit Judge. Roundy's Inc. operates grocery stores throughout southeastern Wisconsin under the name Pick 'N Save. Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO (the Union), a central body of construction industry local unions in the Milwaukee area, met with Roundy's to discuss its concerns that Roundy's was using nonunion contractors who didn't pay employees the prevailing area standard wages in the construction and remodeling of its stores. Unsatisfied with Roundy's...
CUDAHY, Circuit Judge. This is a case about a search warrant based on an affidavit containing information provided by a confidential informant. Although the confidential informant could have provided additional information regarding any past interactions with the defendant or regarding the model of firearm the defendant illegally possessed, we believe the affidavit set forth sufficient facts to establish probable cause. For this reason we affirm. On July 1, 2009, Officer Andrew Matson of the...
CUDAHY, Circuit Judge. This case concerns the ways in which a defendant may acknowledge that he has understood and has waived his Miranda rights. Officer Turner Goodwin arrested Jimmy Brown for illegally possessing a firearm. While Brown was in the back of a squad car, Goodwin informed Brown of his Miranda rights. Goodwin asked if Brown understood those rights. Brown slightly nodded his head and responded "pshh." Brown proceeded to answer several of Goodwin's questions and requested a deal....
TINDER, Circuit Judge. Wisconsin medical provider Aurora Health Care, Inc. filed proofs of claim in an estimated 3,200 bankruptcy cases in the Eastern District of Wisconsin from June 2003 to December 2008 that listed the debtors' medical treatment information. The filings were public and available on the court's docket. Two groups of debtors filed separate class action lawsuits against Aurora under a Wisconsin statute that allows individuals to sue if their health care records are disclosed...
KANNE, Circuit Judge. In two separate suits, a total of four former Illinois Department of Transportation ("IDOT") employees alleged they were wrongfully terminated because of their political beliefs and party affiliation. In each case, the district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the ground that Illinois's two-year statute of limitations barred the plaintiffs' claims. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND The state of Illinois faced serious budgetary challenges near the...
KANNE, Circuit Judge. After a six-year investigation, an additional two-and-one-half years of discovery and pretrial posturing, and a nine-day jury trial, Marshall Pecore and Conrad Waniger (the "defendants") prevailed against civil charges that they violated the False Claims Act ("FCA"). Unsatisfied with just the trial victory and perhaps disturbed that the government spent nearly a decade chasing about $75,000, the defendants moved for attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act ("...
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. This appeal follows Jadwiga Malewicka's conviction for structuring transactions to avoid reporting requirements in violation of 31 U.S.C. 5324(a)(3). Malewicka raises two issues on appeal. First, she argues that the amount she is required to forfeit, $279,500.00, is excessive in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Next, she argues that the ostrich instruction given at trial was improper. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. I. Background A. Factual Background...
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. On September 24, 2010, George Pabey, former mayor of East Chicago, and Jose Camacho, East Chicago's head of the Engineering Department, were convicted of conspiring to embezzle government funds and embezzling government funds. According to the district court, Pabey and Camacho used government funds and government employees to renovate a house (the "Property") that Pabey and his wife purchased in October 2007. During trial, Pabey claimed that he was unaware of the scheme...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. Beginning in 1998, a number of class actions were filed charging the Trans Union credit-reporting agency with violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq., by selling information in its consumer credit files to advertisers without the consumers' authorization. The actions were consolidated for pretrial proceedings in the Northern District of Illinois and eventually settled for $75 million plus nonpecuniary relief, but not without producing...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. ATA filed this diversity suit for breach of contract against Federal Express (which the parties call "FedEx," as shall we, even though it's actually a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation), and obtained a jury verdict in the exact amount it had asked for: $65,998,411. FedEx has appealed. ATA has filed a cross-appeal that is conditional on our reversing the judgment; the cross-appeal challenges the district court's refusal to let ATA present evidence that it incurred $27,842,...
ROVNER, Circuit Judge. When most people think of fencing, the combat sport played with swords comes to mind. The defendants here, however, engaged in fencing of the criminal sort— namely, reselling high-end stolen goods to third parties at discounted prices. The defendants worked together to steal credit card information from retail establishments and fraudulently order merchandise that they then kept, resold, or returned for cash or merchandise credit. Their scheme unraveled in part because...
MAGNUS-STINSON, District Judge. While substance counts, procedure does too. This appeal arises out of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition of River West Plaza-Chicago, LLC ("River West"). The bankruptcy court disallowed the claim by Appellant, and purported creditor, Frank Schwab, erroneously in his view. As we explain below, however, two procedural impediments prevent us from reviewing the propriety of the bankruptcy court's disallowance decision because they foreclose any possibility of...
CLEVERT, District Judge. A towing ordinance of the City of Waukegan generated several rallies or marches in opposition. While dealing with protestors, City officials barred a citizen from speaking at a city council meeting and imposed outdoor assembly permit and fee requirements. Several individuals then sued the City, its mayor, and its police chief under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging violations of their First Amendment rights of free speech, of assembly, and to petition government for redress...
EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge. BCS Insurance Co. is owned by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers ("plans") across the nation (one in each state). BCS is a captive insurer, with the plans themselves as residual claimants. This creates the possibility of conflict if one or more of the plans attempts to have BCS reimburse it for an expense that the plans in other states have not incurred. Conflicts also can arise if some plans have purchased coverage that others did not. The contracts that govern...
BAUER, Circuit Judge. The plaintiff-appellant, Habibollah Tabatabai ("Tabatabai") sued defendant-appellee West Coast Life Insurance Co. ("West Coast Life") for breach of contract and for a violation of West Coast Life's implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. West Coast Life moved for summary judgment and the district court granted the motion on December 21, 2010. This appeal followed. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND On June 17, 2006, Tabatabai's wife, Firouzeh Keshmiri ("Ms. Keshmiri"),...
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. The underlying litigation in this case concerns a host of plaintiffs-appellants' civil rights and breach of contract claims against defendants-appellees—the owners of Baton Rouge Marriott and an individual employee of the Marriott (collectively, "Marriott"). Throughout the pre-trial discovery of this litigation, 224 of the 268 plaintiffs continually missed both formal and informal deadlines. 1 As a result, all but 44 of the plaintiffs had their claims dismissed by the...
SYKES, Circuit Judge. One of the factors affecting the amount of Medicare reimbursement a hospital receives from the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") is the average hourly wage of the employees in its geographic region. HHS currently includes paid lunch hours in that calculation. The plaintiffs here—more than 80 hospitals in Rhode Island, Kentucky, and greater Chicago—object to this practice because some hospitals in their regions give employees paid lunch breaks, which...
MANION, Circuit Judge. Keith Powers injured his back while working for USF Holland, Inc., but following a worker's compensation leave, he successfully returned to work as a long-haul truck driver and worked without incident for two years. As the birth of his child neared, Powers asked to switch from his long-haul driver assignment to a city driver route. After the switch, Powers began having problems with his back and asked to switch back, but the collective bargaining agreement did not allow...
KANNE, Circuit Judge. Michael J. DeGuelle, a tax employee of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., was terminated after reporting an alleged tax fraud scheme to the company and federal law enforcement agencies. Following his termination, DeGuelle filed suit asserting two civil claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. 1962(c) and 1962(d). The district court dismissed DeGuelle's RICO claims with prejudice, finding that the predicate acts alleged were either...
PER CURIAM. Curtis Shields, an Illinois prisoner, claims in this action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 that Illinois prison officials were deliberately indifferent in failing to protect him from an attack by other detainees at the Cook County Jail. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment because Shields did not demonstrate that the defendants acted unreasonably or knew of a substantial risk of serious harm. We affirm. This case stems from Shields' experiences as a...
