City of South Bend v. South Bend Common Council

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

The caption of this case says much of what is necessary to its resolution: the City of South Bend, Indiana, is suing one of its constituent parts.

As a matter ordinary business, South Bend’s Police Department (part of the City rather than a distinct juridical entity) records some of the desk phones supplied to officers as official equipment at its headquarters. In 2005 Rick Bishop, then a Captain in the Risk Management Bureau, asked that his phone be added to those being recorded, and this was done. The line’s phone number does not matter; we call it the Line. In…