As autumn settles in, the Seventh Circuit remains anything but quiet. In this episode of Seventh Circuit Roundup, hosts Kian Hudson, Mark Crandley, and Lara Langeneckert break down three decisions from late summer and early fall that each touch on a different corner of constitutional and civil-rights law: Schoenthal v. Raoul (a Second Amendment case that, in addition to the merits, raised a difficult standing issue), Neita v. City of Chicago (a Section 1983 wrongful-arrest case arising from an Illinois animal-neglect prosecution), and Hadley v. City of South Bend (a Takings Clause case involving the destructive search of an innocent woman’s house).

They begin with Schoenthal v. Raoul, a challenge to Illinois’s ban on carrying loaded firearms on public transportation. The episode overviews the Court’s merits decision (the panel unanimously upheld the law) and then explains how the panel addressed the defendants’ argument that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they would not be able to carry guns on trains even if the Illinois law were invalidated (because the train operator separately bans carrying guns).. Writing for the majority, Judge Kolar concluded that the plaintiffs’ sought-for relief would redress their claimed injury—facing prosecution under the Illinois statute. Judge St. Eve’s concurrence likewise addressed the standing issue and highlighted the difficult questions that arise where a plaintiff defines her injury as the inability to engage in protected activity, rather than the threat of prosecution under the challenged law.

The episode then moves to Neita v. City of Chicago, a case brought by a man who claimed that Chicago police officers lacked even arguable probable cause to arrest him for neglecting his pet dog. The panel’s majority opinion (written by Judge Jackson-Akiwumi) agreed with the man, rejecting the officers’ qualified-immunity defense because a jury could conclude that the officers lacked a sufficient basis to believe the man had violated Illinois’s animal-neglect statute.

Finally, in Hadley v. City of South Bend, the Seventh Circuit addressed whether property damage caused during the execution of a lawful search warrant can amount to a compensable taking. The court reaffirmed its existing rule — aligned with several other circuits — that such damage generally falls outside the Takings Clause. Adopting a broader theory, the panel noted, would require courts to assess “innocence” and draw difficult lines about when police-caused damage amounts to a “taking.”

In this month’s episode, the crew tackles three notable decisions from the Seventh Circuit.

First up, Lara walks us through Lukaszczyk v. Cook County, a case involving a vaccine mandate, claims under Section 1983, and some strategic forfeitures that ultimately doomed the plaintiffs’ case.

Next, Kian digs into Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Illinois Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund, a jurisdictional dispute involving long-ago mining activity, subsidence claims, and whether Union Pacific can shut the door on future lawsuits.

Finally, Mark unpacks Ollison v. Gossett, a case that hits on both qualified immunity and arbitration. Can a police officer avoid liability under Section 1983? And who gets to decide whether a party waived arbitration through litigation conduct — the court or the arbitrator?

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The podcast returns with our monthly dose of Seventh Circuit opinions.

First, Lara tackles a complex insurance coverage case with wide-ranging implications in Starstone Insurance SE v City of Chicago. The case starts with an esoteric jurisdictional question: Is a “societas Europaea” more like a corporation or a partnership for purposes of diversity jurisdiction? It then analyzes whether the insurer needed to pay the defendant’s legal fees in the underlying lawsuit as part of the “ultimate net loss” covered by the policy.

Lara then addresses Griffith Foods v. AIG, another important insurance case where the court (in its own words) tackled an “important question of Illinois law about the meaning and scope of the pollution exclusion in standard form commercial general liability policies.” It resolved some of the issues in the case by sua sponte certifying issues to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Next, Kian discusses Garage Door Systems v. Blue Giant Corp., an international arbitration case. The case begins by addressing the enforceability of international arbitration agreements. While the Seventh Circuit has held that a district court generally cannot compel arbitration to occur outside its geographic district, courts can still compel arbitration under international agreements — so long as the signatories are citizens of contracting states under the New York Convention — regardless of where the arbitration is to be held.

On the merits, the Court found that a text box on an “Order Acknowledgment” form stating that “Terms and Conditions can be found” on the company’s website was sufficient to incorporate those terms by reference. If those terms include an arbitration provision, the parties can be bound to arbitrate.

Lastly, Mark discusses an objection to a class action settlement in the Broiler Chicken nationwide antitrust case. The Court examines when a class settlement may bind class members on claims that the class representative chose not to pursue in the suit.