Norma L. Cooke v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company

Where the district court awarded fees to Petitioner under state insurance law for Respondent’s unreasonable litigation conduct, did the Seventh Circuit err in reversing the award by holding the Federal Rules of Procedure provide exclusive remedies for conduct in federal court?

Where the Seventh Circuit dismissed Respondent’s first appeal as premature but denied Petitioner’s Rule 38 motion alleging that appeal was frivolous, and where the panel made the following accompanying statement: If it were permissible for a court to order both sides to pay a penalty—say, into the law clerks’ holiday-party fund—we would be inclined to do so. But there’s no such appellate power and no good reason for us to order Jackson to pay something to Cooke as a result of a problem that both sides missed. did the panel show a deep-seated antagonism toward the widow-Petitioner and favoritism toward InsurerRespondent requiring disqualification for apparent bias on Petitioner’s later motion under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a)?

Where Respondent’s initial appeal was dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction, in part, because that judgment was unsigned in violation of Rule 58(b)(2)(B), did the Seventh Circuit err in holding Petitioner’s later cross-appeal to be untimely after the signed judgment was entered?