USA v. Garcia, Ricardo U. (ND Ind., Judge Springmann)
Before POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and KANNE, CircuitDale, Curtis L. v. Lappin, Harley G. (SD Ind., Judge Barker)
Judges.
EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge. [Interesting facts, worth reading] * * * The district judge was led astray by the language the police used at the hearing. Officer Bonar, who stopped Garcia’s car, testified that he did not plan to arrest the driver unless he was unable to provide positive identification, and that even while in handcuffs Garcia was “detained” rather than “under arrest.” From this the district judge concluded that it must have been a Terry stop; there is no other alternative to “arrest.” Fourth amendment jurisprudence, however, is objective. [citations omitted] It does not matter what Bonar was thinking or planning. Reasonableness depends on facts, not labels. Officer Bonar evidently uses the word “arrest” to mean what the Supreme Court calls a “full custodial arrest”—a trip to the stationhouse for booking and incarceration. He uses the word “detention” to mean what the Supreme Court calls an arrest. Police officers’ diction does not affect the constitutional inquiry. Definitions do not matter either. The fourth amendment asks whether a particular search was “reasonable” rather than whether a suspect was “under arrest.” If a person in custody on probable cause elects to hunt for identification at home in order to reduce the custody’s duration, it is reasonable for police to keep him in view to ensure that credentials are the only object of the expedition. Thus the police were entitled to be in a place where evidence of crime was in plain view; their observations were lawful; and as they did not seize that evidence until a warrant had issued, the exclusionary rule has no role to play. REVERSED
Before COFFEY, ROVNER, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.Vallone, Michael v. CNA Financial Corp (ND Ill.)
PER CURIAM. Federal inmate Curtis Dale filed suit under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), alleging that the warden and several other Bureau of Prisons employees at the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment when they failed to protect him from an attack by fellow inmates. The district court screened the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, dismissed the warden, and later granted summary judgment for the remaining defendants on the ground that Dale had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. Because the defendants did not meet their burden of establishing the absence of disputed issues of material fact concerning this question, we vacate the judgment and remand to the district court for further proceedings.
Before CUDAHY, MANION and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.Doctors Associates v. David M. Duree (SD Ill.)
CUDAHY, Circuit Judge. This case involves another episode in the widespread efforts of corporations to reduce their liabilities by cutting back on retiree benefits. The law in this circuit is well-established, but this does nothing to cushion the hardship of pensioners faced with a new drain on their limited resources. * * *IV. Conclusion. This story does not have a happy ending. What this case comes down to, in the end, is the distinction between “lifetime” and “vested” welfare benefits—a legal distinction that understandably escaped many of Continental’s employees who elected to take early retirement under the VSRP. It is also a distinction that, as we have pointed out above, only relatively recently became important. But now this legal distinction has indeed become an important one, because the lack of a writing that expressly vests the “lifetime” HCA benefit combined with Continental’s reservation of the right to terminate benefits means that the plaintiffs’ claims of wrongful denial of benefits, breach of contract and estoppel must fail. As for the plaintiffs’ fiduciary duty claim, we agree with the district court’s observation that, in hindsight, Continental would have better served its employees by proactively clarifying its intent with respect to the HCA benefit during the time its employees were deciding whether to take early retirement under the VSRP. Its failure to do so has left the plaintiffs, and undoubtedly many other long-time former Continental employees, feeling betrayed. However, we also agree with the district court that, at least in this circuit, Continental’s failure is not actionable as a breach of fiduciary duty. For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants on all of the plaintiffs’ claims must be AFFIRMED.
Before DIANE P. WOOD, EVANS, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.R., Alex v. Forrestville Valley (ND Ill.)
DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge. * * * The court may have been contemplating full-blown abstention, but it is just as likely that the court simply wanted to see what happened in state court, as a courtesy or as a warning to the parties that it would be likely or perhaps required by the full faith and credit statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, to rule consistently with the state court. It is enough for present purposes to say that the district court is not finished with this case, and thus that the appeal is premature. We leave it to the parties and to the district court to consider what additional steps are appropriate once this case is returned to the district court, bearing in mind on the one hand the exceptional nature of Colorado River abstention and on the other hand the need to respect the parallel proceedings in the state courts.Because the district court’s order dismissing the counterclaims without prejudice was not a final judgment, this case is DISMISSED for want of jurisdiction.
Before EASTERBROOK, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.Posted by Marcia Oddi at July 15, 2004 03:32 PM
MANION, Circuit Judge. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1401, et seq., (“IDEA”), a state that accepts federal funding to educate disabled children must provide such children with an education that is free, public, and appropriate. Alex R.1, through his mother, appeals from the district court’s entry of judgment in favor of the Forrestville Valley, Illinois Community Unit School District # 221 (“the District”), arguing that the District did not provide him with an appropriate education from April through November 2001 and that it committed several other violations of the IDEA. We affirm.