You are here

Opinions

Below is a list of opinions specially selected for public release by judges in the district.  For a detailed search, enter the keyword or case number in the search box above.

Note:  This database does not contain all decisions issued by all judges and is not intended to replace PACER or other more comprehensive case law sites.  The PACER system provides a report of written opinions as defined by the Judicial Conference.  Access to both the report and the opinions is free.  In order to access court records via PACER you must have a PACER account.  For PACER access and online registration, please click here.

21-CV-848 Estate of Antonio Gonzales v Mensah et al, 21-CV-1179 Estate of Alvin Cole v Mensah et al, 22-CV-856 Estate of Tracy Cole v Mensah et al

Decision and Order

The family members and estates of three individuals fatally shot by former Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah bring these consolidated actions alleging Mensah, former Wauwatosa police chief Barry Weber, and the City of Wauwatosa violated their constitutional rights. Defendants in two of the cases filed motions to dismiss, arguing that plaintiffs had not alleged a basis of liability for Weber and the City of Wauwatosa. The court determined that the complaints stated an individual capacity claim against Weber and Monell claims against the City of Wauwatosa.

File:
PDF icon 21-CV-848, 21-CV-1179, 22-CV-856 Estates of Antonio Gonzales, Alvin Cole & Tracy Cole v Mensah et al.pdf
Judge:
Lynn Adelman
Date:
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

22-CV-333 Syrstad et al v. NECA-IBEW Welfare Trust Fund

Decision and Order

The court granted a motion to transfer an ERISA claim for benefits due under a welfare plan to a different federal district court pursuant to the plan’s forum selection clause. The court determined that because the clause picked one of the venue options in ERISA’s venue provision, it was consistent with ERISA. Further, the court determined that the clause was enforceable even if the plan did not “reasonably communicate” the clause to plan participants before it took effect. The court found that the reasonable-notice factor that is sometimes applied in ordinary contract cases did not apply to ERISA plans, which are governed by statutory notice requirements that allow plan modifications to take effect before they are formally disclosed to participants.

File:
PDF icon 22-CV-333 Syrstad et al v. NECA-IBEW Welfare Trust Fund.pdf
Judge:
Lynn Adelman
Date:
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

20-CV-1783 Berube v. Rockwell Automation Inc et al

Decision and Order

Plaintiff alleged that a pension plan violated ERISA by using outdated actuarial assumptions to convert benefits into “qualified joint and survivor” annuities, which ERISA requires to be actuarially equivalent to a single annuity for the life of the participant. Plaintiff moved for class certification and proposed to represent participants who accrued pension benefits in two different forms: a single life annuity and a ten-year certain and life annuity. The court determined that the claims of the class members who accrued benefits in the form of a ten-year certain and life annuity presented a question of statutory interpretation that the claims of the class members who accrued benefits in the form of a single life annuity did not. For this reason, and because the named plaintiff accrued benefits in the form of a single life annuity, the court determined that the named plaintiff’s claim was not “typical” of the claims of the proposed class, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(3). The court denied the motion for class certification.

File:
PDF icon 20-CV-1783 Berube v. Rockwell Automation Inc et al (63).pdf
Judge:
Lynn Adelman
Date:
Monday, April 3, 2023

20-CV-1914 Abushawish et al v. Milwaukee County et al

Decision and Order

Defendant Deputy Michael Galezewski moved for reconsideration of the court’s ruling that he was not protected by qualified immunity when he impounded a van under a the community caretaker rationale despite the presence of a licensed driver willing to move the van who was legally entitled to do so. The court denied the motion because the Seventh Circuit held, years before the incident,  in U.S. v. Duguay, 93 F.3d 346 (7th Cir. 1996) that it was patently unreasonable for an officer to impound a vehicle under the community caretaker rationale when a licensed driver was available and willing to move it.

File:
PDF icon 20-CV-1914 Abushawish et al v. Milwaukee County et al (40).pdf
Judge:
Lynn Adelman
Date:
Monday, March 20, 2023

20-CV-407 Triggs v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections

Order

Tina Triggs brought a claim for race and sex discrimination against her former employer, Wisconsin Department of Corrections. In late 2018 Triggs was promoted from Officer to Sergeant at Racine Youthful Correctional Facility, where she had worked since 2006. Several months after her promotion, however, the facility’s Warden informed her that the first shift Sergeant post she occupied had been offered to her in violation of certain department policies, and that she would have to move to another Sergeant post. The only other Sergeant posts available were second and third shift posts, which required working hours that did not suit Triggs. The court granted summary judgment to the DOC, finding that Triggs’s reassignment from first to third shift did not qualify as an adverse employment action on which a Title VII discrimination claim could be based because it did not come with a reduction in pay, change in responsibility, or decrease in job prospects.

File:
PDF icon 20-CV-407 Triggs v Wisconsin Department of Corrections.pdf
Judge:
William E. Duffin
Date:
Thursday, February 16, 2023

Pages