Kiesewetter v. Caterpillar Inc.

295 F. App'x 850
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 9, 2008
DocketNo. 08-2140
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 295 F. App'x 850 (Kiesewetter v. Caterpillar Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kiesewetter v. Caterpillar Inc., 295 F. App'x 850 (7th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

Order

Caterpillar fired Martin Kiesewetter in 2005 after he behaved unacceptably at a training session. Kiesewetter attributes his words and actions to the manic phase of his bipolar disorder and contends that the Americans with Disabilities Act required Caterpillar to accommodate his conduct by tolerating it. The district court granted summary judgment to Caterpillar, finding that Kiesewetter’s mental condition is not a “disability” as the ADA uses that term. The district judge did not reach other questions, such as whether Kiesewetter is “qualified” if he cannot meet the employer’s legitimate expectations about conduct toward superiors and co-workers.

After the district court entered its judgment, Congress amended the ADA’s definition of “disability.” See § 3 of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (Sept. 25, 2008). Section 8 of this statute provides that the legislation’s effective date is January 1, 2009, so it does not apply to this appeal. We use the laws and interpretations that were in force when the complained-of acts occurred. See Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994).

A “disability” is a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities”. 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A). Bipolar disorder is a mental impairment, but the district judge concluded that the record did not create a material dispute about whether it had substantially limited any of Kiesewetter’s major life activities. He contends that the condition limits sleeping and working. Effects on sleep may be granted, but the judge found that these effects are mild (i.e., not “substantial” limitations) and did not bear any causal connection to Kiesewetter’s difficulties at work. Kiesewetter points to a letter from his physician saying that sleep disorders can cause problems at work, but no evidence in this record implies that they did cause problems for Kiesewetter in particular.

As for working: We shall assume, as we have done before, that “working” was a major life activity under the preamendment version of the ADA. See Squibb v. Memorial Medical Center, 497 F.3d 775, 781 (7th Cir.2007). (The 2008 amendments specify that “working” is among the covered “major life activities”.) A substantial limitation means “inability to work in a broad range of jobs, rather than a specific job.” Toyota Motor Mfg., Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184, 200, 122 S.Ct. 681, 151 L.Ed.2d 615 (2002); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(j)(3). Kiesewetter contends that his bipolar disorder prevents him from working as an engineer at Caterpillar but has never tried to show that it prevents him from working at a “broad range of jobs”. Bipolar disorder can be more or less severe. People with less severe manifestations of this disorder, which afflicts approximately 1% of the population, hold many different jobs across the economy. To prevail in this suit, Kiesewetter had to show that his condition is sufficiently severe that he is unable to work in a broad range of jobs, yet sufficiently mild that he is “qualified” to perform his duties at Caterpillar. He has not produced evidence from which a reasonable jury could find in his favor on these subjects.

Kiesewetter contends on appeal that he was fired, not because of his condition, but [852]*852because of Caterpillar’s misapprehensions about bipolar disorder. He did not make such an argument in the district court, however, so this contention has been forfeited.

Affirmed.

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION This case was not selected for publication in the Federal Reporter To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R.App. P. 32.1

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.

Michael E. LUEPKE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 07-3711.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 8, 2008.

Decided Oct. 10, 2008. Background: Defendant plead guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Barbara B. Crabb, Chief Judge, of conspiracy to distribute mixture containing methamphetamine, and defendant appealed. The Court of Appeals, 495 F.3d 443, remanded for resentencing. On remand, the District Court sentenced defendant 220 months imprisonment, defendant appealed, and defense counsel moved to withdraw. Holdings: The Court of Appeals held that:

(1) court correctly calculated sentence by considering statutory factors and defendant’s request for below-guidelines sentence;

(2) case was not extraordinary, as to warrant acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment when defendant had already

received adjustment for obstruction of

justice; and

(3) upward adjustment for possession of

weapon was warranted.

Appeal dismissed and motion to withdraw granted.

1. Sentencing and Punishment <§=»66,103

Sentencing court correctly calculated defendant’s sentence for conspiracy to distribute mixture containing methamphetamine by considering the statutory factors and defendant’s request for a below-guidelines sentence because he took methamphetamine to alleviate his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) before concluding that defendant’s distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine to numerous people warranted within-guidelines sentence. 18 U.S.C.A. § 3553(a).

2. Sentencing and Punishment <©=’765

Defendant’s guilty plea and assistance to law enforcement did not make his case extraordinary, as required to warrant acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment when defendant had already received adjustment for obstruction of justice in sentencing for conspiracy to distribute mixture containing methamphetamine, where defendant threatened to have an associate beaten if the associate talked to the police about him, continued to distribute methamphetamine long after he became aware of the investigation into his activities, and kicked and damaged the door of the vehicle transporting him to the courthouse the day of his arrest. U.S.S.G. § 3El.l(a), 18 U.S.C.A.

3. Sentencing and Punishment <©=’726(3)

Upward adjustment for possession of weapon in defendant’s sentencing for conspiracy to distribute mixture containing methamphetamine was warranted, regardless of whether defendant actually brand-

[853]*853ished or used weapon, where defendant possessed a gun during a drug transaction when he traded guns for methamphetamine, and when he answered the knock of a drug customer with a gun in his pocket. U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l), 18 U.S.C.A.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 06-CR-091-C-01. Barbara B. Crabb, Chief Judge.

Peter M.

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295 F. App'x 850, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kiesewetter-v-caterpillar-inc-ca7-2008.