Michael Patrick McCuskey
How Judge McCuskey rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge McCuskey no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge McCuskey
Michael Patrick McCuskey was a judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge McCuskey received a commission on April 3, 1998. Judge McCuskey assumed senior status on June 30, 2013 and retired on May 31, 2014.
How Judge McCuskey decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Jimmy John’s Franchise v. Kelsey, McCuskey upheld an arbitration award after finding a possible contractual route to the arbitrator’s decision, and granted the award recipient summary judgment over the franchisor’s challenge.
“Due to the deference this court must afford the Arbitrator’s decision, this court must grant summary judgment in favor of Kelsey.”
PLRA administrative exhaustion is mandatory and enforced under a strict-compliance standard. A prisoner who used the wrong form (a Sick Call Slip, which only the medical department receives) rather than the required Inmate Grievance Form failed to exhaust, even alleging confusion: especially where he had filed proper grievance forms before.
“under the Seventh Circuit's strict compliance approach to exhaustion, summary judgment for the Defendants is mandatory due to Plaintiff's failure to properly comply with JCDC's grievance procedures.”
Procedural preferences
At summary judgment he frames it as the litigant's 'put up or shut up' moment: the non-movant cannot rest on pleadings, allegations, or speculation and must come forward with definite, competent record evidence on each essential element.
“the nonmovant must present definite, competent evidence in rebuttal.”
In Karraker v. Rent-A-Center, McCuskey treated the unanswered class-representative compensation motion as unopposed under Local Rule 7.1(B)(1) and granted it.
“if no response is filed the court will ‘presume there is no opposition and may rule on the motion without further notice to the parties.’”
Cautions
Winning an injunction or a favorable legal ruling does not by itself make a plaintiff a 'prevailing party' for fees: the relief must materially alter the parties' legal relationship and directly benefit the plaintiff. A de minimis win (removing test results that were already locked away and no longer used) is not enough.
“this court concludes that Plaintiffs' success on their ADA claim was de minimis and insufficient to support prevailing party status.”
In Kauffman’s ADA case, McCuskey granted the nursing home summary judgment after finding that transporting residents was an essential part of the beautician’s job and that assigning the task to someone else was not a reasonable accommodation.
“In this case, based upon the applicable case law, this court agrees with Mason Point that Plaintiffs proposed accommodation, having someone else transport the residents for her, was not reasonable.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiffs’ Petition for Attorney Fees and Costs (# 249) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to Set Compensation for Steven Karraker (# 255) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike (# 259) is denied as MOOT.”
“William Kelsey's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED and Jimmy John's Franchise's Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (#29) is GRANTED. The clerk of the court is directed to enter judgment in favor of the Defendants and against the Plaintiff pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 56. This case is terminated in its entirety.”
“Mason Point's Motion for Summary Judgment (# 23) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion for Relief from Judgment (# 112) is DENIED.”
“THEREFORE, Defendant Illinois Department of Revenue’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint (d/e 26) is DENIED.”
“Following this careful and thorough review, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Complaint (# 8) is GRANTED.”
“Following careful consideration of the parties’ arguments and the documents provided to the court, the Motion for Summary Judgment (# 55) is GRANTED.”
“Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment (# 52, # 53) are GRANTED.”
“ADM’s Petition to Vacate Arbitration Award (# 1) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion for Hearing (# 19) is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motion to File Oversize Reply Brief (# 18) is GRANTED.”
“the Motion to Cite Newly-Issued Authority (# 22) filed by Defendant Regis Paillardon is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (# 24) is GRANTED and Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (# 26) is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (#25) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 143.5 days (N = 18).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 87 days (N = 2).
Descriptive from the nature-of-suit and cause fields across the enumerated Jan-Feb 2011 cohort; not an exhaustive census. No administrative case-disposition baseline loaded on this closed record.
A historical record
Judge McCuskey no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.