Civil procedure — attorney fee award, federal law

Posted April 4, 2019 3:26 PM

Where a U.S. District Court justified a fee award based on a state statute, the court acted improperly in giving state law precedence over federal law with respect to procedural issues.The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo.In a suit decided in 2017, a Northern District of Illinois court ordered Jackson National Life Insurance Co. to pay $191,000 on a life insurance policy to Norma Cooke, the widow of decedent Charles Cooke.The court found that the insurer had …

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