John Doe A v. Penn State
First Penn State scandal lawsuit says Coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a boy more than 100 times and the abuse was enabled by the school's "negligent oversight."
Bradley v. Lohan
Former Betty Ford Center employee sues Lindsay Lohan for assault, alleging the actress threw a phone at her and yanked her wrist while refusing to be breathalzyed.
N.D. v. New York Post
Hotel maid allegedly raped by French politician sues the New York Post for falsely reporting that she is a prostitute who "routinely traded sex for money" with male guests.
Reinhart v. Mortenson
Two Montana residents allege the author of "Three Cups of Tea" "fabricated material about his activities and work in Pakistan and Afghanistan" to sell the book.
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• Maryland appeals court says dog owners can be held strictly liable for pit bull attacks. "Because of its aggressive and vicious nature and its capability to inflict serious and sometimes fatal injuries, pit bulls and cross-bred pit bulls are inherently dangerous." Tracey v. Solesky

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Barksdale v. Egg Harbor Township Bd. of Ed.

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Lisnoff v. Stein

• Class action alleges the YMCA deceives consumers by representing that it practices "Christian" values while allowing its gyms to be used for gay sex trysts. "YMCAs around the country ... are currently being used as brothels for cruising, with the YMCA's knowledge and implicit consent."
Keister v. YMCA

• Social workers are not liable for a sexual assault on a 5-year-old boy by a 16-year-old male placed in an adoptive home. "To rule against the individual defendants in this case would definitely break new ground."
Doe v. Braddy

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Blankmeyer v. Stonehill College

• School district can be sued over a guidance counselor's sexual relationship with a student who was over the age of consent. "The inherent imbalance of power between a guidance counselor in a public school and a student may render opportunistic sexual predation sufficiently shocking, even with a 'consenting' student over sixteen, to form the basis of a substantive due process claim."
Doe v. Fournier

• Utah judge finds a "credible threat" that Utah County officials will prosecute a polygamist and his wives for bigamy. The officials' acts "suggest that an actual prosecution of Plaintiffs is forthcoming."
Brown v. Herbert

• Louisville, Ky., strip club sues a competitor for displaying an electronic sign outside a convention center that said "Don't go to Godfathers, their girls are ugly and have crabs."
The Godfather v. Trixie's Lounge

• A lawyer cannot sue two women he dated for posting derogatory comments about him on liarscheatersrus.com. "[W]hen viewed within the larger context of the website on which they were posted, there can be no doubt that a reasonable reader would understand the comments to be opinion." Coulotte v. Ryncarz

• Oglala Sioux tribe sues beer makers and Whiteclay, Neb., bars for enabling alcohol abuse on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The illegal trade in alcohol has "caused devastating injuries to the Lakota people and massive financial damages to the [tribe]."
Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Schwarting




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All Bets Off for Fantasy Sports Anti-Gambling Suit Print

 

Chuck Humphrey

A first-of-its kind lawsuit against operators of fantasy sports leagues has turned out to be a bit of a fantasy itself as a New Jersey judge ruled that the leagues “do not constitute gambling as a matter of law.”

Chuck Humphrey, a Colorado attorney and professional poker player, sought recovery of “all money lost by players” participating in the leagues, which he described as “unlawful gambling schemes.” Since fantasy sports are games of chance not skill, he argued, the entry fees that players pay in expectation of a prize are bets or wagers.

Under a law passed in 1797, New Jersey allows third-party recovery of “wagers, bets or stakes made to depend upon any race or game, or upon any gaming by lot or chance.” Humphrey named the operators of the Sportsline, ESPN, and TSN leagues as defendants in a complaint filed in June 2006.

But U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh granted the defendants' motions to dismiss a case which was always a long shot, finding that entry fees paid to enter a contest with a guaranteed prize are not bets or wagers as a matter of law.

Congress, he noted in a June 20 opinion, had specifically omitted fantasy sports from an anti-gaming law passed last year, and

This Court will not ... extend the coverage of a 200-year old statute to an activity far removed from the traditional gaming it was intended to cover.

More than 15 million people spend an estimated $1.5 billion a year to play fantasy sports and no state has ever prosecuted fantasy sports league operators or players for illegal gambling.

Citing a lottery case precedent, Humphrey argued that fantasy sports “has all of the necessary elements of gambling: prize, chance and consideration;” the league operators, for their part, said players compete against each other “in a test of team management skills.”

Cavanaugh did not address that issue, however. Humphrey, he said, had sued under New Jersey's betting and wagering law, not its lottery statute, and, therefore, “Plaintiff’s argument that fantasy sports leagues are games of chance is without effect.”

The judge also said the suit “lacks the most basic factual allegations necessary to support” Humphrey's claim of recoverable gambling losses. “Plaintiff fails to allege the purported amount of alleged 'losses,' or when those alleged losses were purportedly sustained.”

 

Editor's note: On Point's RSS feed has moved to this link.

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