Weekly Case Digests August 26, 2019 August 30, 2019.

Byline: Rick Benedict

7th Circuit Digests

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: John McCottrell, et al. v. Marcus White, et al.

Case No.: 17-2295

Officials: ROVNER, HAMILTON, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 8th Amendment Violation

The plaintiffs were inmates at Stateville Correctional Center when they were struck by buckshot fired by the defendant prison guards. The plaintiffs sued under 42 U.S.C. 1983, asserting that the guards violated their rights under the Eighth Amendment when they discharged their shotguns over a crowded prison dining hall. The guards countered that they fired the shots as a necessary warning to two other inmates who were fighting with each other and resisting the efforts of other guards who were trying to break up the conflict. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. We vacate and remand.

Vacated and remanded

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Anna Chronis v. United States of America

Case No.: 17-3093

Officials: RIPPLE, ROVNER, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 8th Amendment Violation Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies

Before bringing a tort claim against the United States, a plaintiff must first exhaust her administrative remedies by presenting her claim to the appropriate federal agency. This means, among other things, that the plaintiff must demand a sum certain from the agency. Anna Chronis did not make such a demand before she sued, so the district court properly dismissed her complaint.

Affirmed

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Timothy J. Fast v. Cash Depot, LTD.,

Case No.: 18-3571

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Attorney Fees

Cash Depot underpaid employees for their overtime work. Timothy Fast, a former employee, filed this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act on behalf of himself and other Cash Depot employees. In response, Cash Depot hired an accountant to investigate the matter and subsequently issued checks to all underpaid current and former employees covered by the suit. The company also issued checks to Fast for his underpaid wages, an amount for liquidated damages under the FLSA, and the amount of Fast's disclosed attorney fees to that point in the litigation. Fast and his attorney never cashed their checks.

Cash Depot then moved to dismiss the suit as moot or, alternatively, for summary judgment. The district court denied the motion to dismiss because Fast contested whether Cash Depot correctly calculated the amount it owed him and other employees. However, the court granted partial summary judgment for Cash Depot, "to the extent that [it] correctly calculated" what it owed Fast. Eventually Fast's attorney conceded that Cash Depot correctly paid the missing wages and urged that only a dispute over additional attorney fees remained.

After Fast's demand for additional attorney fees went unanswered, he filed a motion for attorney fees. Cash Depot responded in kind with a motion to dismiss or, alternatively, a motion for summary judgment. The court determined that because Fast was not a prevailing party for the purposes of the FLSA, he was not entitled to attorney fees, and granted Cash Depot's motion for summary judgment. Fast appeals, arguing that he was a prevailing party and is entitled to reasonable attorney fees. But because he never received a favorable judgment, we affirm.

Affirmed

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Douglas D. Jackson, et al.

Case No.: 15-3693; 14-2898

Officials: RIPPLE, KANNE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Resentencing

In United States v. Cardena, 842 F.3d 959 (7th Cir. 2016), we held that 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(B) which partially defines "crime of violence" for 924is unconstitutionally vague. On February 24, 2017, we relied on Cardena to vacate Antwon Jenkins's conviction under 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). United States v. Jenkins, 849 F.3d 390, 394 (7th Cir. 2017). We vacated Douglas Jackson's conviction under the same statutory provision on August 4, 2017. United States v. Jackson, 865 F.3d 946, 954 (7th Cir. 2017). Those opinions provide a summary of the underlying conduct and procedure that brought the appeals before us.

In accordance with our February 24, 2017, opinion, we VACATE Jenkins's conviction for using or carrying a firearm to commit a federal crime of violence and REMAND for resentencing. 849 F.3d at 395. Likewise, we VACATE Jackson's conviction for using or carrying a firearm to commit a federal crime of violence and REMAND for resentencing. 865 F.3d at 956. And, for the reasons expressed in our August 4, 2017, opinion, we also VACATE and REMAND for resentencing without the organizer or supervisor adjustment under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1. Id. at 95456.

Vacated and remanded

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Tara L. Crump V. Andrew M. Saul

Case No.: 18-3491

Officials: KANNE, HAMILTON, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: ALJ Error Disability Benefits

Tara Crump applied for disability benefits based on numerous mental health impairments, including bipolar disorder and polysubstance abuse disorder. An administrative law judge denied benefits, finding that Crump, despite her severe impairments, could perform work limited to simple and repetitive tasks. The district court affirmed. Because the ALJ did not adequately account for Crump's difficulties with concentration, persistence, or pace in the workplace, we vacate the judgment and remand the case to the Social Security Administration.

Vacated and remanded

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: W. James Mac Naughton v. Ishaihu Harmelech, et al.

Case No.: 18-2389; 18-2467; 18-2468; 18-2855

Officials: RIPPLE, MANION, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Consolidated Appeal

The complex background of these consolidated appeals burrows through over a decade of litigation. Russian Media Group sued Ishaihu Harmelech and his company ("Harmelech Defendants") in 2006. Attorney W. James Mac Naughton actively represented the Harmelech Defendants in this case ("RMG Action") for ten weeks ten years ago. The relationship ended in a dispute over his fees. After he withdrew, the case settled with the entry of a consent judgment against his former clients ago. The relationship ended in a dispute over his fees. After he withdrew, the case settled with the entry of a consent judgment against his former clients. Mac Naughton then pursued his former clients for money in myriad ways. One maneuver he used was acquiring rights to the judgment entered against his former clients in the RMG Action, the very matter in which he previously represented them. He then sought to collect this judgment by filing multiple other cases and by seeking to reopen the RMG Action.

In December 2014, Mac Naughton and Casco Bay (his company) sued Harmelech and his son to collect the RMG Judgment and to set aside the conveyance of property on Sunnyside Avenue ("Sunnyside Action"). In March 2015, Judge Holderman disqualified Mac Naughton from attempting to collect this judgment personally and from representing Casco Bay in its attempts to collect it. But Mac Naughton defied that order and continued his efforts. In June 2018, Judge Feinerman (to whom this case had been transferred) dismissed the claims predicated on this judgment as a sanction for Mac Naughton's willful defiance of the Holderman Order.

In September 2016, Mac Naughton sued Alden Management and others to collect for himself money owed to his former client ("Alden Action"). Judge Blakey dismissed this case as a sanction for violating court orders. In January 2017, Mac Naughton sued his former clients to set aside a conveyance of property in Palm Harbor ("Palm Harbor Action"). Judge Durkin dismissed this case on the same grounds as Judge Feinerman dismissed the Sunnyside Action. Judge Durkin also rejected Mac Naughton's attempt to...

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