February 2016 Federal Civil Practice Newsletter

Plaintiff, a towing company, filed a lawsuit against the defendant county after the county removed the plaintiff from a list of towing businesses that were available on a rotating basis to recover vehicles on public roads. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant violated its procedural due process rights. The district court dismissed the complaint by finding that it did not plausibly allege that it had a protected property interest in a spot on the county’s towing rotation list. The Seventh Circuit agreed and affirmed. (ST. EVE and PRYOR, concurring)

Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security alleging that the department violated federal law by arresting non-citizens without reason to believe that they were likely to escape before warrants could be obtained. To resolve the lawsuit, the parties entered into a consent decree. On appeal, defendants did not challenge the validity of the consent decree or the authority of the district court to enter it, but objected to the district court’s decision to extend the consent decree by 118 days due to defendant’s substantial non-compliance and the district court’s order that the defendant release 13 class members as well as approximately 200 additional individuals whose arrests “potentially” violated the law. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the order extending the consent decree and affirmed the order for the release of class members to the extent that it ordered the release of class members for whom a determination was made that they were arrested without a warrant but reversed to the extent it required the release of “potential” class members. (PRYOR, concurring in part and concurring in judgment and KIRSCH, dissenting)

Petitioners purchased products from the respondent’s website and alleged that respondent engaged in false and deceptive marketing practices. Petitioners pursued relief pursuant to the website’s terms and conditions, which contained an arbitration clause. Respondent refused to file an arbitration agreement and petitioners filed a petition to compel arbitration in federal court. The district court denied the petition and petitioners appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the decision of the American Arbitration Association to terminate the arbitration proceedings followed the process the parties agreed to in their arbitration agreement. (SCUDDER, concurring and KOLAR, dissenting)

Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Homeland Security alleging that a stalled investigation into a background check the department performed in conjunction with his job application was not attributable to legitimate security concerns but instead was a pretext for retaliation in violation of the Rehabilitation Act. The district court dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and plaintiff appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, explaining that prior precedent forecloses judicial review of claims but does not affect the court’s adjudicative power. Thus, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal but on its merits as opposed to jurisdictional grounds. (LEE and KOLAR, concurring)

Plaintiff filed a lawsuit challenging a state law prohibiting instruction on “human sexuality” to grade school children as being facially overboard and vague in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court denied plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction and plaintiff appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that plaintiff had failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits. (JACKSON-AKIWUMI and PRYOR, concurring)