RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. In February 2006, Susan Killian learned that she had lung cancer, which had spread to her brain. After physicians at Delnor Community Hospital determined that they could not operate, she sought a second opinion from a physician at Rush University Medical Center ("Rush") and soon afterward was admitted for emergency brain surgery. Although the surgery successfully removed the most serious tumor, her cancer treatment was ultimately unsuccessful, and she died a few months...
WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge. Adebisi T. Adigun was charged with three drug offenses after officers seized crack and cocaine powder from him on two separate occasions. On the day of his scheduled trial, Adigun pled guilty in open court and was later sentenced to 151 months' imprisonment. On appeal, Adigun argues that the district court erred by failing to suppress contraband seized from his car and by incorrectly calculating a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence. We find that Adigun waived any...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. The plaintiffs — the estate of a decedent, Kamonie Slade, and his parents — brought suit against administrators of the Wisconsin public school that the boy was attending at the time of his death from drowning at a class outing. The suit is based on 42 U.S.C. 1983 and claims that the defendants deprived Kamonie of his life in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district judge granted summary judgment for the defendants and having done so...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. This is a class action suit under section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 1, that after certification of the class was dismissed on the merits when shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin the district judge ruled that the case could not go to trial on a theory of per se liability. The plaintiffs could have gone to trial on a theory of liability under the rule of reason, but preferred to appeal the dismissal, hoping we would order the reinstatement of their per...
BAUER, Circuit Judge. On July 10, 2011, a jury found Fairly W. Earls ("Earls") guilty of making a false statement on a passport application, aggravated identity theft, and knowingly transferring a stolen identification document in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1542, 1028A(a)(1), and 1028(a)(2). On October 5, 2011, the district court sentenced Earls to thirty-six months' imprisonment on Counts One and Three with a consecutive sentence of twenty-four months' imprisonment on Count Two. Earls' base...
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. After the government alleged Appleton Papers Inc. ("API") and seven other companies caused $1 billion in contamination in the Fox River near Green Bay, Wisconsin, the government hired a consultant that prepared reports on the companies' responsibility for the contamination. API unsuccessfully sought discovery of these reports by challenging a consent decree between the government and another company. Determined to see the content, it filed a Freedom of Information Act ("...
WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge. The labor unions in this consolidated appeal allowed non-union members who were part of their bargaining units to file objections if they wished to opt out of paying dues used to support political and other activities unrelated to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment, pursuant to CWA v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 , 108 S.Ct. 2641, 101 L.Ed.2d 634 (1988). However, the unions required that these objections be renewed on an annual basis if...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. This appeal requires us to consider the enforceability of a forum selection clause by entities not named as parties to the contract in which the clause appears. The plaintiffs are 250 purchasers of timeshare interests in villas at a resort known as Club Regina, or alternatively as the Residence Club at Grand Regina. The resort is in San Jos del Cabo, a resort area on the Pacific Coast in Baja California (which despite its name is part of Mexico). The plaintiffs...
ROVNER, Circuit Judge. After he pleaded guilty to a felon-in-possession charge, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), James Elliott was sentenced as an armed career criminal based on the district court's finding that a series of three robberies he perpetrated in a five-day period when he was eighteen years old were "committed on occasions different from one another," 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(1). Elliott challenges that finding, contending that he had a right to have a jury, rather than the judge, assess the nature...
ROVNER, Circuit Judge. This appeal concerns a civil action brought under 42 U.S.C. 1983 by Christopher Parish seeking damages for his wrongful conviction based on a violation of the Due Process Clause. The appeal, brought by Parish who prevailed in his 1983 action, focuses on the adequacy of the damages award and the district court's restriction of evidence relating to it. Parish's ordeal began on Halloween 1996, when he was arrested by Elkhart police officers as he prepared to take his...
RANDA, District Judge. Blazej Wasilewski ("Wasilewski") stole over $40,000 from the bank he worked for as an assistant branch manager. Wasilewski pled guilty to one count of embezzlement, and at sentencing the district court applied a two-level enhancement for abusing a position of trust under U.S.S.G. 3B1.3. The district court then sentenced Wasilewski to six months' imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release with six months of home confinement. On appeal, Wasilewski argues...
DeGUILIO, District Judge. This appeal is the latest chapter in the story of the Environmental Chemical and Conservation Company ("Enviro-Chem"), a defunct Indiana corporation with an expensive environmental legacy. Enviro-Chem conducted waste-handling and disposal operations at three sites north of Zionsville, Indiana, until it closed its doors in the early 1980s, and it left considerable amounts of pollutants behind. The plaintiffs in this action are the trustees of a fund created to finance...
EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge. After this suit had been pending for 14 years — indeed, after final judgment had been entered — four persons sought to intervene in order to upset the judgment and improve their own fortunes at the expense of other members of the class. The district court deemed the proposed intervention untimely and denied the motion. Appellate review is deferential, see Sokaogon Chippewa Community v. Babbitt, 214 F.3d 941 , 945 (7th Cir.2000), and we conclude that the district...
RIPPLE, Circuit Judge. Brian Burd alleges in this action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 that prison officials deprived him of access to the courts by preventing him from using library resources to prepare a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. As the case comes to us, he seeks damages from the prison officials. The district court held that such a claim is barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 , 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994). We agree with the district court and therefore affirm its...
MANION, Circuit Judge. In the early morning hours of July 19, 2005, Rudy Escobedo became suicidal and ingested cocaine. He dialed 911 and told the operator he had taken cocaine, had a gun to his head, and wanted to kill himself. An emergency response team was dispatched to negotiate with Escobedo and to try to get him to put down his weapon and leave his apartment voluntarily. Negotiations proved unfruitful and the police opted to deploy a tactical response to remove Escobedo from his...
FEINERMAN, District Judge. Illini Concrete, Inc., formally ceased doing business in October 2009 and sold certain of its assets, including delivery trucks, to Kienstra Precast, LLC. According to the complaint filed against Kienstra by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 50 ("Local") — which represents concrete mixer drivers and others employed by Illini Concrete and then by Kienstra — Kienstra proceeded to lay off fourteen employees, declined to make good on Illini...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. These two appeals, consolidated for oral argument, challenge denials of declaratory and injunctive relief sought in materially identical suits under the Second Amendment. An Illinois law forbids a person, with exceptions mainly for police and other security personnel, hunters, and members of target shooting clubs, 720 ILCS 5/24-2, to carry a gun ready to use (loaded, immediately accessible — that is, easy to reach — and uncased). There are exceptions for a person on his...
WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge. Mauricio Gonzalez-Lara, a Mexican national, was deported following a 1999 state conviction for selling $50 worth of cocaine. In 2001, he unlawfully returned to the United States and was charged with illegal reentry. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 66 months' imprisonment. On appeal, Gonzalez-Lara challenges the district court's application of U.S.S.G. 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(i), which requires an offense level increase of sixteen levels if, prior to deportation, the...
CONLEY, District Judge. Plaintiffs Timothy L. Harney and Patricia A. Muldoon brought this civil action against the City of Chicago and one of its police officers, Joseph Midona, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that defendant Midona entered their residence and arrested them without a warrant or probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The district court granted summary judgment to defendants on all claims. Agreeing that there are no genuine...
POSNER, Circuit Judge. The plaintiff owns three tracts of land zoned agricultural in Winnebago County, Illinois. Her suit attacks on a variety of grounds, both federal and state, a 2009 amendment to the County's zoning ordinance that makes it easier than it was before the amendment for an owner of such property to obtain permission to build a wind farm on it. She worries that a wind farm on land adjacent to property of hers would damage the property in a rather frightening variety of ways,...
