Nancy Jo Rosenstengel

Monell liability requires affirmative record evidence of an inadequate policy AND causation; a plaintiff who leaves that 'evidentiary hole' loses at summary judgment, and derivative claims (respondeat superior, indemnification) fall with the individual claims.

“the record reveals no evidence of inadequate suicide prevention policies. And without such evidence, there can be no Monell liability here.”

Section 1983 requires personal involvement: a defendant must have caused or participated in the deprivation; supervisory roles, signing off, and denying grievances do not create liability.

“An individual cannot be held liable in a [Section] 1983 action unless he caused or participated in an alleged constitutional deprivation.”

In Love v. Hughes, Rosenstengel denied summary judgment on the prisoner’s RLUIPA claim because repeated out-of-pocket food purchases could establish a substantial burden and the defendants had not shown they used the least restrictive means. She separately granted judgment on a First Amendment claim against a chaplain who lacked responsibility for meal timing.

“Because Defendants have not upheld their burdens of production or persuasion, they are not entitled to summary judgment on Count II.”

In Doe v. Apple Inc., she ordered Apple to produce executive Craig Federighi for a deposition after finding it had not shown good cause to prevent it, but declined to require an in-person deposition in Illinois or award sanctions.

“Because Apple has not met its burden of showing good cause to prevent Federighi’s deposition, its motion for protective order (Doc. 168) is denied, and Plaintiffs’ motion to compel (Doc. 164) is granted.”

In Daul v. HSHS Holy Family Hospital, Inc., she denied a motion to dismiss that challenged the sufficiency of a medical-malpractice certificate under Illinois Section 5/2-622, explaining that summary judgment was the proper vehicle for that challenge in federal court.

“In federal court, a motion to dismiss is not the proper vehicle for disposing of a medical malpractice claim for failure to comply with Section 5/2-622.”

In Baity v. Johnson & Johnson, she dismissed non-Illinois plaintiffs for lack of personal jurisdiction and nonresident plaintiffs for improper venue after finding no reasonable basis for suing in Illinois and no identified forum for transfer.

“Accordingly, the Court finds it is proper to dismiss non-Illinois Plaintiffs for lack of personal jurisdiction and dismiss nonresident Plaintiffs for improper venue.”

In Mitchell v. Murray Energy, Rosenstengel adopted an unopposed recommendation and denied inherent-authority sanctions over a withdrawn summary judgment motion based on revised employee counts. She found haste and poor review insufficient to establish bad faith.

“Any sanctions imposed pursuant to the court's inherent authority must be premised on a finding of bad faith”

In the Paraquat products liability MDL, she declined to dismiss public nuisance claims across 726 member cases in one order. She addressed trial-selection plaintiff Fuller's claim and deferred the remaining claims for individual consideration.

“With these considerations in mind, the Court is reluctant, at this time, to issue an omnibus order dismissing all public nuisance claims in 726 individual member cases.”