Freeman v. United States of America

Filing 33

MEMORANDUM Order Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 2/15/2013. Mailed notice.(srb, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
ALVIN J. FREEMAN, etc.,
Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

No.

10 C 8141

MEMORANDUM ORDER
Following the mid-January bench trial in this Federal Tort
Claims Act action, counsel for both parties have complied with
this Court’s post-trial direction to submit proposed findings of
fact (“findings”) and conclusions of law (“conclusions”).

As the

tenor of this Court’s questions and comments during the course of
the trial had suggested, it expects to rule in favor of Executor
Alvin Freeman and against the United States.

Although counsel

for the presumptively successful plaintiff has submitted proposed
findings and conclusions in a narrative form rather than by
successively numbered paragraphs (the latter procedure being this
Court’s normal preference), there is no specific format
prescribed by Fed. R. Civ. P. (“Rule”) 52(a)(1) or by the caselaw
(see, e.g., Rucker v. Higher Educ. Aids Bd., 669 F.2d 1179, 1184
(7th Cir. 1982)) or by any local rule, so that this Court will
work with and from plaintiff’s submission.
That said, however, one aspect of that submission--its
treatment of the damages issue--plainly calls for further input

from plaintiff’s counsel.

As the United States’ submission (its

¶¶109-24) indicates, such opinions as Jutzi-Johnson v. United
States, 263 F.3d 753, 758 (7th Cir. 2001) and Arpin v. United
States, 521 F.3d 769, 776 (7th Cir. 2008) call for studied
analysis by the court, rather than its merely issuing an ipse
dixit announcing a bottom line figure, with that analysis drawing
on “awards in similar cases, both in Illinois and elsewhere”
(Arpin, id. at 776).

Accordingly plaintiff’s counsel is ordered

to provide a supplementary submission citing authorities that
would tend to justify an award of damages in the $3 million range
(as requested) on or before February 27, 2013.

________________________________________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date:

February 15, 2013

2