After Donald A. Bregin was discharged from his employment at Liquidebt Systems, Inc. (LSI) he filed this lawsuit, contending that his discharge was in retaliation for his refusal to participate in illegal accounting practices or, alternatively, for being a whistle-blower, and that SIRVA, Inc. (in conspiracy with LSI) tortiously interfered with his employment. The district court granted summary judgment for both... ... ... companies, and Bregin appeals. Our review is de novo. Alexander v. Wis....  

Rodney Sykes and Walter Fox pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Each disagrees with the application of the Sentencing Guidelines to the facts of his case and contends that his sentence is unreasonable. Sykes argues that the district court improperly increased his base offense level on the basis that he was an organizer of the offense, and Fox contends that the drug quantity for which he was responsible... ... ... was miscalculated....  

Scott Air Force Base Properties, LLC ("the Company"), brought this action against the County of St. Clair, Illinois ("the County") seeking a declaratory judgment that its leasehold interest in two parcels of land located on the Scott Air Force Base is not subject to the property tax which the County assessed. The... ... ... district court held that the Tax Injunction Act ("TIA" or "the Act"), 28 U.S.C. § 1341, divested it of subject matter jurisdiction and...  

This case requires us to determine whether the defendant, Cadleway Properties, Inc., is a "debt collector" under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq. ("FDCPA"). If it is, then the FDCPA applies, and our second question is whether the "validation of debt" notice Cadleway sent to the plaintiff was clear or confusing on its face... Reverend Versia McKinney's Chicago home was damaged by a flood in 1996. To help with repair costs, she......  

An Illinois jury convicted Defendant-Appellant Demmaro D. Perkins (Perkins) (also known as Demarco D. Perkins, Demario D. Perkins, and Demario D. Morris) of: (1) possession with intent to distribute cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B); (2) possession with intent to distribute... ... ... marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(D); (3) possession of a firearm as a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); and (4)...  

This appeal from the dismissal of a civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 requires us to interpret Rule 25(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs the substitution of a party who has died. The rule was revised last year, after the district court proceedings relating to this appeal, so our references will be to the unamended rule. The committee note states that the changes made by the amended rule are only stylistic... ... ... The rule provides that if the claim on...  

The plaintiffs have appealed from the dismissal of their suit for failure to state a claim. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The suit is based on 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which provides in pertinent part that everyone "shall have the same right... ... ... to make and enforce contracts... ... as is enjoyed by white citizens." The appeal presents issues relating to pleading, res judicata, and the meaning of section 1981... The principal plaintiff (the other plaintiffs needn't be...  

Business Systems Engineering, Inc. ("Business Systems") brought this diversity suit against International Business Machines Corp. ("IBM"). Business Systems alleged, among other things, that IBM had an agreement with Business Systems to provide Business Systems with $3.6 million in work as a subcon-tractor on a project IBM was completing for the Chicago... ... ... Transit Authority ("CTA"). Because IBM had provided Business Systems with only $2.2 million in work, Business...  

Choose Life Illinois, Inc. ("CLI"), collected more than 25,000 signatures from Illinois residents interested in purchasing a "Choose Life" specialty license plate and applied to the Secretary of State for issuance of the plate under 625 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/3-600(a) (amended effective 2008). That statute prohibits the... ... ... Secretary from issuing a new line of specialty plates unless he has a minimum number of applications on file, and CLI's 25,000 signatures far exceeded the...  

Sanjay Andonissamy worked as technician for Hewlett-Packard, assigned to the Qwest Cyber Center in Chicago, Illinois, from April 2001 to June 2003. He brought an employment discrimination suit against Hewlett-Packard in the Northern District of Illinois after his termination, alleging that Hewlett-Packard... ... ... created a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII, retaliated against him for reporting the hostile work environment to his superiors, and denied him medical leave in...  

Michael Marrs sued Motorola, Inc., Motorola Disability Income Plan, Motorola Post-Employment Health Benefits Plan, and Motorola, Inc. Pension Plan (collectively "Motorola") for alleged violations of ERISA. The parties filed a stipulation agreeing to class action certification. The case proceeded as a class action with Marrs serving as class representative. Eventually the district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit, and Marrs... ... ... filed...  

Pacific Employers and two other insurers issued policies to Outboard Marine Corporation... ... ... covering workers' compensation, automobile liability, and general liability. These policies (which the parties call "program agreements") require Outboard Marine to post irrevocable letters of credit as security for its obligations to pay premiums and reimburse the insurers for specified outlays... After Outboard Marine entered proceedings under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, its...  

The defendant pleaded guilty to committing a bank robbery in 2007. Before sentencing, he moved under 18 U.S.C. § 3006A for the appointment of a mental health expert to evaluate him for diminished mental capacity. The district judge denied the motion. The defendant asks us to vacate the sentence and direct the district judge to appoint a mental health expert and upon receiving the report to resentence the defendant... ... ... Section 5K2.13 of the federal sentencing guidelines provides that...  

In 1995, a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Wisconsin returned an indictment charging Udara A. Wanigasinghe with six counts of bank fraud. A warrant for his arrest was entered into the National Crime Information Center database on the day after the indictment was returned. Over 11 years later, on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, Wanigasinghe was arrested. He entered a guilty plea, was sentenced to four months of... ... ... imprisonment, and was ordered to pay $20,327 in restitution. He...  

Tracy Trigillo, the manager of procurement at the Illinois Department of Corrections, disagreed with some of the department's procurement practices. She raised her concerns to her supervisors, sought guidance from outside agencies, and even reported what she thought was misconduct to the FBI. But her disagreements with her supervisors proved more enduring than her job—when her term of employment... ... ... expired, the department declined to renew it. After she was cut loose, Trigillo...  

Jerome Maher sued the City of Chicago ("the City"), alleging, as pertinent here, that the City wrongfully demoted him in 1991, 1993, and 19981 for... ... ... being absent from work while on active duty in the Naval Reserves, in violation of the Veterans' Reemployment Rights Act and its successor legislation, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ("USERRA"). The district court granted summary judgment to the City on the 1991 and 1993 claims, and a jury...  

An alien who knowingly presents a frivolous application for asylum, after being warned that every representation must be truthful, is "permanently ineligible for any benefits" under the immigration laws. 8 U.S.C. §1158(d)(6). A regulation defines a frivolous application as one any material element... ... ... of which has been fabricated. 8 C.F.R. §1208.20. See also Matter of Y— L—, 24 I.&N. Dec. 151, 155 (2007). Both an immigration judge and the Board of...  

The plaintiff in this case, the Iowa Physicians' Clinic Medical Foundation, which does business under the name Iowa Health Physicians (IHP), asks us to predict that the Illinois Supreme Court, if confronted with the issue, would hold that the tort of bad faith in refusing to settle a claim at or within the policy limits... ... ... of a medical malpractice insurance policy extends to a noninsured under the policy. Because we think it is doubtful that the Illinois high court would go that far, we...  

Pursuant to section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), the plaintiffs-appellants brought suit in the district court alleging that defendant-appellee DaimlerChrysler Corporation ("Chrysler") breached its contractual obligations to certain workers laid off in the late 1970s and early 1980s by failing to recall these workers for job openings at Chrysler's plants in Kokomo, Indiana. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Chrysler,... ... ......  

Codell Jackson was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court, focusing on Jackson's unusually extensive criminal history, imposed a sentence of 96 months' imprisonment, which exceeded the top of the advisory guidelines imprisonment range by 18 months. Jackson appeals, challenging the reasonableness of his sentence, and we affirm... ... ... I. Background... In the early afternoon of November 1, 2006, Rockford, Illinois...