Suzanne Barnard Conlon
How Judge Conlon rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Conlon no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Conlon
Suzanne B. Conlon is an inactive senior judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, she received her commission in 1988 and assumed senior status in 2004. A court order recorded her inactive status effective May 31, 2013.
How Judge Conlon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In CardioNet v. LifeWatch, Conlon held that Illinois trade-secret preemption barred tort claims based on misappropriated information but did not bar conversion of physical cardiac-monitor kits with independent value or claims based on separate fraud and contract interference.
“CardioNet's conversion claim with respect to the MCOT kits is not preempted. ... The MCOT kits have intrinsic value apart from the information it contains.”
In Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. v. Intercounty National Title Insurance Co., she dismissed the fraud-based counts without prejudice because the complaint grouped defendants together and omitted dollar amounts and relevant dates.
“Counts I, III, V, and IX are dismissed without prejudice.”
The court allowed a contract claim against nonsigning owners to proceed where the agreement named them and alleged they accepted its benefits.
“Drawing reasonable inferences in Antech’s favor, the complaint states a basis for liability against both individual defendants.”
Procedural preferences
In Job v. Illinois Department of Human Services, she considered the plaintiff's summary judgment submissions only insofar as they complied with Local Rule 56.1 after finding her fact response argumentative and reliant on long deposition excerpts.
“The court considers Job’s submissions only to the extent they comply with Rule 56.1’s requirements.”
Cautions
In Nesbitt v. Villanueva, she granted summary judgment for failure to exhaust after finding that the plaintiff waited nearly a year to file another grievance and did not follow up or appeal when he believed the first was lost.
“The court therefore concludes that Plaintiff has not exhausted administrative remedies.”
In Job v. Illinois Department of Human Services, Conlon granted summary judgment after finding that Job had not shown her performance evaluations affected her responsibilities, pay, or benefits. The evaluations rated her acceptable, and she had received a raise.
“Job presents no evidence her performance evaluations affected her job responsibilities, salary, or other benefits.”
In a summary judgment dispute, speculation and unsupported beliefs could not establish a genuine factual issue.
“Speculation and unsupported beliefs do not create genuine issues of fact.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants' motion to dismiss is granted in part. Count VII is dismissed in its entirety. Counts II and III are dismissed to the extent they allege defendants converted and fraudulently misappropriated information contained in the MCOT kits.”
“The motions to dismiss [36-1], [33-2], [26-1], [25-1], [24-1], [17-1] are granted in part and denied in part. Counts I, III, V, and IX are dismissed without prejudice. The motions are denied in all other respects.”
“Del Re's summary judgment motion is granted on Count II with respect to Perez-Garcia's incarceration from November 9, 2003 to the afternoon of December 1, 2003, when the Lake County Circuit Court ordered his release. The motion is denied as to his incarceration following the court release order until 2:00 p.m. on December 2, 2003, when he was actually released.”
“Defendants are entitled to summary judgment in their favor on the national origin discrimination and retaliation claims because Job fails to present a genuine issue of material fact that she was subjected to an adverse employment action, was treated less favorably than similarly situated employees, or that the reasons for defendants' decisions are pretextual.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“Plaintiff Milagros Perez’s petition for attorney’s fees and costs [52] is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Medline’s motion to dismiss the second amended complaint is denied.”
“TSI's motion for summary judgment on McCready’s Sherman Act claim is granted”
“Buczkiewicz's motion for summary judgment is granted with respect to the ALJ's step three, residual functional capacity, step four, and step five determinations.”
“The summary judgment motions are denied in all other respects.”
“The plan’s motion for partial summary judgment is granted.”
“Wagner’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment is denied.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.”
“defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 51.0 days (N = 9).
The reviewed 2007 through 2012 filings, drawn from Judge Conlon's senior-service years, include many same-day administrative terminations involving agency enforcement, arbitration, and miscellaneous petitions. The litigated civil matters span employment and civil rights, immigration delay, insurance and transportation, contracts, and personal-liability disputes.
A historical record
Judge Conlon 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.