Instapundit: America's IP Laws Need to be "Pruned Back"
Key Takeaways - The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently issued a decision providing new guidance on how to draft amicus briefs that the court will accept for filing. The court stressed the...more
From the standpoint of class action practice, 2017 was as important for what did not happen as for what did. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the 2017 class action scorecard, with a look forward to how the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In early September of 2017, Judge Richard Posner announced his retirement from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a position he had held since his appointment by President Reagan in 1981. ...more
When Judge Richard Allen Posner abruptly retired from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last month, we were so caught off guard that it took a few weeks to get our tribute machine up and running. Why a tribute to Posner...more
The health care market has recently seen a resurgence in narrow network products. To a significant degree, the resurgence of these products has been driven by the need for managed care plans looking for new avenues to help...more
In an opinion written by Judge Posner, the Seventh Circuit on Friday gave its stamp of approval to a “must-have” hospital’s bargaining to exclude competitors from certain narrow-network payor contracts in and around Peoria,...more
In a landmark en banc decision rejecting its earlier panel ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit became the first federal appellate court to hold that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits...more
On April 4, 2017, an en banc decision in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, the Seventh Circuit became the first federal Court of Appeals to hold that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on...more
Federal law—specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on a number of protected characteristics, including sex, race, national origin, and religion....more
Those who practice regularly before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit know that the court has not been reluctant to punish a misbehaving lawyer....more
Last week, the Seventh Circuit declined to review the asylum application of a bisexual individual who applied for fear of persecution. Ray Fuller, 51, told an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals that he...more
Limiting a plaintiff’s pretrial discovery can be the key to defending an employment discrimination lawsuit. This point was aptly demonstrated in a federal appellate court ruling approving a district court’s denial of...more
A Seventh Circuit panel recently overruled its own precedent to hold that a defendant’s offer of full compensation in an offer of judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 does not moot the litigation. While the...more
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, religious land use disputes often take a long time to resolve. World Outreach Conference Center v. City of Chicago, Nos. 13-3669, 13-3728 (7th Cir. 2015) is no exception to the...more
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a class action settlement because class counsel would have received generous attorney fees for conferring only meager benefits to the class. Writing for the Court, just as he did...more
Over the last several months, Judge Richard Posner has authored a triumvirate of opinions reversing the district courts’ approval, over objections, of consumer class action settlements—Eubank v. Pella Corp., 753 F.3d 718 (7th...more
Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit continues to be prolific in authoring class action-related opinions. I enjoy blogging about these decisions because they are entertaining to read and usually relatively short and to the...more
The topic of potential self-dealing in class action settlements has been written about extensively. While class counsel may be fully aligned with the class in seeking to maximize the settlement, their interests diverge...more
Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. - In another scathing opinion against the Sherlock Holmes estate, Judge Richard A. Posner ordered the estate to pay attorneys’ fees for bringing “nonexistent copyright claims” as a...more
Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit is a frequent author of class action-related opinions. His most recent one reversed an order approving a class action settlement because the attorneys’ fee award was too high. The case...more
Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. - The original character of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, along with his sidekick, Dr. John H. Watson, are no longer subject to copyright protection. In an opinion by Judge...more
On June 2, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected a class action settlement in Eubank v. Pella Corp., Nos. 13-2091, -2133, 2136, -2162, 2202 (7th Cir., June 2, 2014) that the Court labeled...more
At the end of every episode of the People’s Court, viewers were admonished: “Don’t take the law into your own hands. You take them to court.” But what happens when you do take them to court, and the judge takes the facts into...more
On February 4, 2013, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (includes Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) issued an Opinion authored by Judge Richard Posner that is very favorable to employers. The Court ruled that employees...more