seventh circuit

Last week, an Illinois federal district court granted the defendant’s motion to stay in Stegmann v. PetSmart, No. 1:22-cv-01179 (N.D. Ill.).  The case implicates the evolving law surrounding the scope of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) and  a pending Illinois Supreme Court case that could provide an important defense to certain BIPA suits.Continue Reading Federal Court Stays Suit Implicating Accrual of Claims Under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act

In a recent decision, the Seventh Circuit answered a key question in Rule 23 commonality analyses: whether at the certification stage plaintiffs need to establish the terms of an allegedly common policy, or only its mere existence.  Ross v. Gossett, — F.4th —-, 2022 WL 1421315 (7th Cir. May 5, 2022).

The putative class consisted of all Illinois Department of Corrections inmates housed in April through July 2014 at four IDOC correctional centers.  They sued various IDOC officials for alleged constitutional violations stemming from prison-wide “shakedowns” executed by the defendants for purposes of sanitation and to discover and remove contraband.  They further alleged that the shakedowns were conducted pursuant to a single, unified policy across all four prisons. 


Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Explains That for Commonality Purposes Plaintiffs Need Not Establish the Content of a Uniform Policy, Only Its Existence

The Seventh Circuit recently shed light on what defendants need not do when invoking an affirmative defense that the defendant contends undermines predominance:  establish that the affirmative defense would, on the merits, defeat at least some class claims.Continue Reading Must Defendants Prove Some Class Claims are Subject to an Affirmative Defense Undermining Predominance?  The Seventh Circuit Says No.