United States Seventh Circuit

In a suit alleging that plaintiffs-employees were harmed when defendant-employer forced them, upon termination, to choose within 90 days whether to elect a lump-sum cash distribution equivalent to the value of their pensions, dismissal for lack of standing is affirmed as a dismissal on the merits, and appeal is dismissed as to award of attorneys' fees, where: 1) plaintiffs asserted an injury and therefore had standing to bring their claim; but 2) defendant did not impose a significant detriment on plaintiffs for choosing a cash distribution; and 3) the award of attorneys' fees was not final, and thus not appealable, prior to the determination of an amount.

Appellate Information

• Argued 05/28/2008
• Decided 09/02/2008
• Published 09/02/2008

Judges

• EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge., Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Andrea Bierstein (argued), Hanly Conroy Bierstein Sheridan Fisher & Hayes, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Todd G. Smith (argued), Kendall W. Harrison, Godfrey & Kahn, Madison, WI, for Defendants-Appellees.