John Cyrus Shabaz
How Judge Shabaz rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Shabaz no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Shabaz
John C. Shabaz was a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Shabaz received a commission on December 10, 1981. Judge Shabaz assumed senior status on January 20, 2009 and served until death on August 31, 2012.
How Judge Shabaz decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Shabaz deferred a fact-dependent trade-secret preemption issue until both sides could develop evidence.
“such an inquiry is better addressed on summary judgment where both parties have the opportunity to develop the record and submit evidence to the Court in support of their respective positions.”
Shabaz applied a demanding pleading-stage standard before ending an antitrust claim.
“A complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim only if it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the plaintiffs can prove no set of facts in support of the claim which would entitle the plaintiffs to relief.”
Procedural preferences
Shabaz used the statutory appointment mechanism to move an arbitrable dispute forward.
“plaintiffs motion for the appointment of an arbitrator is GRANTED.”
Shabaz required a Rule 59 movant to identify a misunderstood claim or manifest legal error.
“plaintiff failed to meet its burden of establishing that the Court either misapprehended its claim or committed a manifest error of law”
Cautions
Shabaz treated the timing of an immigration adjustment decision as a discretionary matter outside district-court jurisdiction.
“The Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction of Bugulu’s claim concerning the delay in processing his adjustment status application because it is a discretionary action by the Attorney General”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the order of the Bankruptcy Court upholding the objection to plaintiffs claim is REVERSED only insofar as it denies plaintiff an unsecured claim for a deficiency as determined pursuant to state law.”
“the decision of the Bankruptcy Court granting appellee Education Credit Management Corp. relief from the September 11, 1997 discharge order is AFFIRMED.”
“defendant’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“defendants’ motion to dismiss count two of plaintiffs amended complaint is DENIED.”
“plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is GRANTED”
“defendant’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“defendants’ motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted is DENIED.”
“Black Wolfs motion for summary judgment is DENIED”
“Great Wolfs motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“defendants Gu-thier, Vogts, Rumpza and Cowell’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“defendant’s motion to dismiss or alternatively for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“plaintiffs motion for the appointment of an arbitrator is GRANTED.”
“defendants’ motions for summary judgment are GRANTED.”
“plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The twenty returned records included six tax matters, three post-conviction sentence challenges, two contract actions, one fraud action, and eight criminal records without subject-matter labels. The archive returned parallel records for four criminal case numbers, so these counts describe returned records rather than unique cases.
A historical record
Judge Shabaz no longer hears cases. 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.