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Monday, March 01, 2004
Law - Wal-Mart Tries Patience of 7th Circuit Panel
In Hart v. Wal-Mart, an opinion issued today, the Court begins its opinion thusly:
Before CUDAHY, KANNE, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.
CUDAHY, Circuit Judge. Yogi Berra might describe this case as “deja vu all over again.” For if the case seems familiar, it may be because we have decided the precise question presented in this appeal twice before—both times under virtually identical circumstances—and most recently, against the same appellant. See Speciale v. Seybold, 147 F.3d 612 (7th Cir. 1998); Blackburn v. Sunstrand Corp., 115 F.3d 493 (7th Cir. 1997). In both of these earlier cases we held that a petition to apportion claims to a settlement fund between an ERISA plan subrogation claim and other lienholders was not preempted by ERISA’s civil enforcement provision and the allocation of the funds was a matter for determination in the state court. In the present case, Wal-Mart asks us to re-reconsider the issue, this time in the context of an award of $11,500 in attorney’s fees, which the district court taxed against Wal-Mart under 28 U.S.C. §1447(c). After serious consideration (mainly of the possibility of sanctioning Wal-Mart for bringing this presumptuous appeal), we reaffirm our previous holdings in Blackburn and Speciale and affirm the order of the district court.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 1, 2004 01:33 PM
Posted to General Law Related