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.
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17-CV-862 Estate of Sylville K Smith v. City of Milwaukee et al
Decision and Order
Section 1983 claim for excessive force against police officer and city. The court determined that the defendants were not entitled to summary judgment where video evidence and precedent did not support theory that defendant-officer was entitled to qualified immunity.
07-CV-303 Burton v. American Cyanamid et al
Post Verdict Motions
The court held that Wisconsin public policy factors were not a bar to liability under risk contribution theory in white lead carbonate pigment cases, and that whether a product is fungible for risk contribution purposes is a question of law to be determined by the court as early as practicable in litigation.
18-CV-1366 Olsen v. Rafn et al
Decision and Order
The plaintiff filed an action to vindicate her First Amendment rights after Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) prohibited her from handing out Valentines to friends, fellow students, and staff at the college. She raised both facial and as-applied challenges to NWTC’s Public Assembly Policy, which the college claimed it was enforcing. The court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and directed the Clerk to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff for nominal damages in the amount of one dollar, declaring that the defendants violated her First Amendment rights by prohibiting her from handing out Valentines and enjoining the defendants from applying NWTC’s “Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Public Assembly Policy” so as to prohibit students from offering other students Valentines or similar notes.
15-CV-1157 Eaton Corporation v. Westport Insurance Corporation et al
Real Party in Interest Motion
The court addressed the meaning of “real party in interest,” as that phrase is used in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(a). The court concluded that Rule 17(a) generally does not apply to defendants. The court also concluded that to the extent Rule 17(a) applies to defendants, it does not require the defendant’s indemnitor to be substituted for the defendant as the real party in interest.
16-CV-0987 Edith Mae May v. Sara Christain
16-CV-1131 Edith Mae May v. Jason Jesky
16-CV-1150 Edith Mae May v. Ron Kellar
16-CV-1552 Edith Mae May v. Tightwad Magazine, et al
16-CV-1669 Edith Mae May v. Charles Brown, et al
Filing Fee Motion
The court interpreted 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915(b)(2) to require a prison to forward a monthly payment from an inmate granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis only in months in which either the balance of the inmate’s account exceeds $10 or the income credited to the account exceeds $10.
