John Cyrus Shabaz

How Judge Shabaz rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
Position
district
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Commissioned
1981-12-10
Education
Marquette University Law School, LL.B., 1957
Signed orders read
20

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.

Dupaco Community Credit Union v. Robert L. (In Re Zehrung)
· 2006-10-16
Bankruptcy appeal (credit-union appellant) Granted in part

“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.”

Hanson v. Education Credit Management Corp. (In Re Hanson, Debtor)
· 2004-03-31
Bankruptcy appeal (debtor appellant) Denied

“the decision of the Bankruptcy Court granting appellee Education Credit Management Corp. relief from the September 11, 1997 discharge order is AFFIRMED.”

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Regal-Beloit Corp.
· 2006-11-21
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“defendant’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Genzyme Corp. v. Bishop
· 2006-12-01
Motions to dismiss (defendants) Denied

“defendants’ motion to dismiss count two of plaintiffs amended complaint is DENIED.”

Weismueller v. Kosubucki
· 2007-06-19
Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Denied

“plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Employers Insurance of Wausau v. American Re-Insurance Co.
· 2003-03-10
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is GRANTED”

Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“defendant’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Nicholson
· 2006-09-05
Motions to dismiss (defendants) 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.”

Foskett v. Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.
· 2007-04-24
Summary judgment (Black Wolf) Denied

“Black Wolfs motion for summary judgment is DENIED”

Summary judgment (Great Wolf) Granted

“Great Wolfs motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”

SAMUEL C. JOHNSON 1988 TRUST v. Bayfield County, WI
· 2007-01-19
Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Granted

“plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”

Masel v. Mansavage
· 2007-12-17
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“defendants Gu-thier, Vogts, Rumpza and Cowell’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”

Wisconsin v. Ho-Chunk Nation
· 2005-12-08
Motion to dismiss or summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“defendant’s motion to dismiss or alternatively for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Motion for appointment of arbitrator (plaintiff) Granted

“plaintiffs motion for the appointment of an arbitrator is GRANTED.”

Hastings v. Marciulionis
· 2006-06-06
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“defendants’ motions for summary judgment are GRANTED.”

Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“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.

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