District Court, N.D. Illinois — appointed by William Jefferson Clinton
Van Straaten v. SHELL OIL PRODUCTS CO., LLC
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2011-12-08 · cited 6×
The case concerns a proposed class action by plaintiff Natalie Van Straaten against Shell Oil entities alleging that Shell violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) by printing more than the last five digits of card numbers on electronically generated receipts for its proprietary credit and debit cards at gas stations. The court denied Shell's motion for summary judgment after examining the statute's truncation requirements, the distinction between magnetic-stripe PAN data and embossed card numbers, and Shell's unique numbering system. Core reasoning focused on whether Shell's practice of masking non-terminal digits complied with FACTA's plain language and whether factual disputes precluded judgment. The court also granted Shell's request to certify the denial order for interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), finding the statutory interpretation issue controlling and contestable.
business & regulatory
ZIMMER, INC. v. Scott
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2011-02-14
This case arose from a licensing dispute between Zimmer, Inc. and orthopedic surgeon Dr. W. Norman Scott over royalty payments for artificial knee devices, which led to arbitration proceedings. After Zimmer withdrew its defenses on the eve of a hearing and agreed to pay royalties, the arbitration panel awarded Dr. Scott approximately $350,000 in attorneys' fees, finding bad faith conduct and relying on its inherent authority under the Federal Arbitration Act and the parties' broad arbitration clauses that permitted 'any relief' the panel deemed proper. Zimmer moved to vacate the award in state court (later removed on diversity grounds), arguing that the panel exceeded its powers because neither Illinois nor Indiana law allowed fee awards absent contractual or statutory authorization. The court granted Dr. Scott's motion to confirm the award and denied Zimmer's motion to vacate, holding that the expansive language in the agreements authorized the relief and that judicial review was limited to whether the arbitrators interpreted the contract rather than the correctness of their decision.
business & regulatoryprocedure
McCADD v. Murphy
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2010-12-21 · cited 2×
The case involves Harold McCadd and his 91-year-old mother suing Chicago police officers and the city after two 2009 searches of their home—one allegedly based on disputed consent and the other on a warrant obtained from a John Doe informant—along with Harold's arrest on drug charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence. The plaintiffs alleged constitutional violations including unreasonable searches and false arrest, plus malicious prosecution. The court granted summary judgment only on the strip search claim but denied it on the remaining claims. The core reasoning was that disputed facts about probable cause, consent, and the officers' actions prevented summary judgment, and qualified immunity could not be resolved in defendants' favor at this stage.
criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure
National Jockey Club v. Ganassi
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2010-09-14 · cited 1×
The case involved disputes arising from the conversion of Sportsman’s Park into the Chicago Motor Speedway, where National Jockey Club and Ganassi Group formed an LLC, financed construction via loans and contributions, and executed a lease with Chip Ganassi’s personal guaranty limited to $10.5 million. A jury awarded damages to NJC on its breach of contract claim against Ganassi based on the guaranty and to Ganassi Group on its counterclaim for breach of the operating agreement. The court denied NJC’s and Ganassi’s post-trial motions for judgment as a matter of law or new trials, as well as Ganassi’s equitable claims for rescission or set-off. It reasoned that the evidence supported the jury verdicts, that Ganassi Group maintained a separate legal existence from Ganassi despite his payments, and that no grounds existed for equitable relief after considering the parties’ contracts and conduct.
business & regulatoryprocedure
Cable v. Agence France Presse
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2010-08-18 · cited 8×
Photographer Wayne Cable sued Agence France Presse (AFP) alleging that AFP copied his photographs of a Chicago property (including views of President Obama's home), displayed and distributed them online without permission, removed his copyright notices and credits, and purported to license them to others. Cable asserted nine counts including violations of the DMCA (removal of copyright management information), the Lanham Act, Illinois consumer fraud statutes, unfair competition, and copyright infringement. AFP moved to dismiss the first five counts under Rule 12(b)(6), arguing among other things that the removed information did not qualify as copyright management information under the DMCA and that Dastar barred the Lanham Act claim. The court denied the motion to dismiss, concluding that Cable's allegations were sufficient to state claims, and later denied AFP's motion to reconsider the Lanham Act ruling because it would require resolving factual questions beyond the pleadings.
propertybusiness & regulatoryprocedure
Vulcan Golf, LLC v. Google Inc.
District Court, N.D. Illinois · 2010-06-09 · cited 7×
The case involved plaintiffs suing Google over its AdSense for Domains program, alleging that Google knowingly profited from advertising on domain names confusingly similar to the plaintiffs' trademarks by generating sponsored links and search results on undeveloped sites registered by third parties. After dismissing some claims and denying class certification, the court addressed Google's motion for partial summary judgment on the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act count. The court denied the motion, finding genuine issues of material fact as to whether Google qualified as a licensee or registrant of the disputed domains under its agreements with parking companies and partners, which would trigger liability under the statute.
business & regulatory