Daily Opinion Summaries U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals

TABFG, LLC v. Pfeil Docket: 12-3557 Opinion Date: March 20, 2014 Judge: Rovner Areas of Law: Contracts, Injury Law, Labor & Employment Law In 2003, a joint venture formed between llcs, TABFG and NT Prop, to trade securities. TABFG was responsible for trading and was comprised of three individual traders. NT Prop was to fund the venture, and included two limited liability corporations: NT Financial and Pfeil Commodities. The sole member of Pfeil Commodities was Richard Pfeil, the “money man.” NT Prop was managed by Pfeil’s attorney, and another. NT Prop provided $2 million start-up money and the traders earned profits of $3.4 million. Before forming TABFG, the traders were employees of SIG and were subject to restrictive covenants. The Agreement provided for payment of attorneys’ fees and costs necessary to escape the restriction. The traders sought a declaratory judgment. SIG responded by adding TABFG and NT Prop to the lawsuit, seeking disgorgement of profits. SIG obtained an injunction covering nine months after their departure from SIG, ending the joint venture. The parties failed to agree to a final accounting, but TABFG needed funds for a defense in the SIG lawsuit. Pfeil caused NT Prop to distribute $360,000 to TABFG, $533,023.69 to NT Financial, and $2,742,182.02 to Pfeil Commodities. TABFG sued, alleging that Pfeil, who was not an officer, director or manager of NT Prop, engineered a distribution of the bulk of the joint venture funds to himself and tortiously caused NT Prop to breach its obligations to TABFG under the Agreement. The district court judge agreed and awarded $957,659.68. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. http://j.st/Z4ZU View Case On: Justia  Google Scholar

United States v. Houston Docket: 13-2713 Opinion Date: March 20, 2014 Judge: per curiam Areas of Law: Criminal Law Houston, age 44, was caught with more than 1,000 pornographic images of children on his computer; he pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252A(a)(1), (a)(5)(B). The probation officer calculated a guidelines sentence of 360 months, the statutory maximum for the two counts. At the sentencing hearing, the government presented evidence that on four occasions Houston sexually abused a neighbor when she came over to play with his daughter. In a videotaped police interview the girl, then five years old, described how Houston touched his “private” to her “private,” made her touch his “private,” and then covered her stomach, crotch, and hands in a substance coming out of his “private” that she referred to as “wax.” She described Houston’s home and his appearance. She stated that these events happened when she was three or four years old. The government provided a chat log from his computer in which he asked someone to fulfill his “fantasy” by ejaculating on a picture of an unidentified young girl. A 12-year-old girl said that Houston exposed himself to her and a three-year-old boy reported that someone in Houston’s home licked his penis. The court imposed a sentence of 216 months. He appealed a five-level increase tied to the sexual abuse of a minor, U.S.S.G. 2G2.2(b)(5). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting Houston’s claim that the five-year-old girl’s statements were unreliable based on conflicting dates about when the girl informed her mother and different reasons for why the parents delayed in reporting the abuse. http://j.st/Z4ky View Case On: Justia  Google Scholar

Mulholland v. Marion Cnty. Election Bd. Docket: 13-3027 Opinion Date: March 20, 2014 Judge: Hamilton Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Election Law, Government & Administrative Law The major political parties in Marion County, Indiana followed a tradition of “slating” candidates that have the financial and organizational backing of party leadership in the primaries. Indiana enacted an “anti-slating” statute, prohibiting distribution of a list endorsing multiple political candidates during a primary election unless all such candidates have given written consent, Ind. Code 3-14-1-2(a). More than 10 years ago, that law was challenged as violating the First Amendment, resulting in a federal injunction against its future enforcement and a consent decree in which all parties stipulated and the court declared that the law was facially unconstitutional. The Marion County Election Board was a defendant, but nonetheless enforced the statute against a candidate running for state representative in the 2012 primary. That candidate sought an injunction. The district court dismissed the case under the “Younger” abstention doctrine, citing a still-ongoing Election Board investigation. The Seventh Circuit reversed. The Election Board’s investigation is too preliminary a proceeding to warrant Younger abstention, at least in light of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision, Sprint Communications, Inc. v. Jacobs. Even if Younger abstention were theoretically available, the previous final federal judgment against the Election Board would amount to an extraordinary circumstance making Younger abstention inappropriate. http://j.st/ZZvR View Case On: Justia  Google Scholar