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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• Roommate referral website does not discriminate by allowing users to list their preferences for roommate characteristics. "Holding that the [Fair Housing Act] applies inside a home or apartment ... would be a serious invasion of privacy, autonomy and security."
Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com

• Student alleges a prank involving a bottle rocket and another student's anus backfired, causing him to fall off the deck of a frat house.
Helmburg v. Alpha Tau Omega

• 5th Circuit reinstates a jury verdict finding a man employed by an engineering firm was sexually harassed by a male supervisor. "The text message 'I want cock' could be taken as an explicit sexual proposition." 
Cherry v. Shaw Coastal

• The ex-wife of a man who fatally shot himself with a gun he had stolen cannot sue the gun's owner for wrongful death. "We conclude that public policy dictates that [Charles] Milot's criminal conduct acts as a bar to recovery."
Ryan v. Hughes-Ortiz

• Pennsylvania woman alleges her former employer discriminated against her because she wore a fake penis to assist her in her female-to-male transition. "Plaintiff's use of the prosthetic device was concealed and in no way interfered with the ability of Plaintiff to do her job." Davis v. J&J Snack Foods

• Son of a woman charged with murdering her husband cannot use the proceeds from the victim's life insurance policy to fund his mother's criminal defense. "[A]llowing the distribution of these proceeds to a third party who has clear intentions to transfer part of these proceeds to her, undermines the principles underlying the Slayer’s Act and federal common law."
In Re: Estate of Michael Burkland

• Seattle judge says an actress cannot proceed anonymously in her suit against the IMDb.com website for publishing her age. "[W]hile Plaintiff may face public ridicule and embarrassment if she elects to go forward under her real name, the injury she fears is not severe enough to justify permitting her to proceed anonymously."
Doe v. Amazon.com

• Family of an 11-year-old girl who was crushed by a boulder of ice says forest ranger negligence caused her death. Rangers "did not warn users of the risk of harm associated with the dangerous, unstable snow and ice" at the Big Four Ice Caves in Snohomish County, Wash. Tam v. U.S.

• 3rd Circuit dismisses a breach of data security case against a payroll-processing company. "Appellants' allegations of an increased risk of identity theft as a result of the security breach are hypothetical, future injuries."
Reilly v. Ceridian Corp.

• Oregon judge denies First Amendment protections to a blogger. "Defendant cites no cases indicating that a self-proclaimed 'investigative blogger' is considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim."
Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• A transsexual who was fired from her government job while she was in the process of becoming a woman wins her sex discrimination suit. "[A] government agent violates the Equal Protection Clause’s prohibition of sex-based discrimination when he or she fires a transgender or transsexual employee because of his or her gender non-conformity."
Glenn v. Brumby

• New York man sues a Texas fertility clinic for wrongful insemination, alleging it failed to obtain his consent before using a sample of his sperm to impregnate his ex-girlfriend.
Pressil v. Advanced Fertility

• Nebraska judge rules that school officials may have illegally disciplined students for wearing t-shirts in honor of a slain friend suspected of gang membership. "[Q]uestions of fact remain whether Plaintiffs’ speech occurred in a context likely to provoke gang violence or other disruptions of school activities."
Kuhr v. Millard Public Sch. Dist.




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Jail Settles With Inmate Over Access to Satanic Bible Print

A Satanist has won at least a symbolic victory in a prisoner rights case as officials at a Montana jail agreed to pay him $100 for denying his requests for a copy of The Satanic Bible.

Jason Indreland

The minimal settlement resolved Jason Indreland's only remaining claim arising from his incarceration at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility between March 2007 and July 2008. He is now serving five years in a state prison, with two years suspended, for felony drug possession.

During the litigation of the case, the jail chaplain noted that the themes of The Satanic Bible “include the promotion of vengeance, self-gratification, the killing of individuals who Satanists believe “deserve” to be killed, symbolic destruction of victims, living according to individual desires without regard for conscience or consequences, and rebellion against law.”

Those themes, Chaplain Sam Kinser argued in a brief, “are all directly contrary to the desired goals of incarceration which is [sic] the rehabilitation of the individual and preparing him to be a productive member of society.”

But courts around the country have split over whether corrections officials have a “legitimate penological interest” in not allowing inmates access to The Satanic Bible. And a June 14 court filing shows that Kinser and Yellowstone County each agreed to pay Indreland $50 rather than contest the matter further.

In a pro se complaint filed in November 2008, Indreland said he had been “a practicing Satanist for the past 10 years” but was unable to freely exercise his First Amendment rights while he resided at the Yellowstone County jail. Officials denied his requests for items including The Satanic Bible and a Satanic medallion.

A U.S. district judge summarily dismissed most of the case in March, adopting a magistrate's finding that officials had a legitimate interest in prohibiting an inmate from having a medallion with a chain that is thick enough to be used to strangle someone.

As far as The Satanic Bible, county officials argued that it “advocates violence, manipulation, disregard for authority and revenge.” But U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby said they had cited “no evidence for this proposition, nor is there anything in the record to indicate that this was the reason Indreland’s request was denied.”

“The Court understands that this justification has been upheld by a number of other courts finding there is a legitimate penological interest in not allowing inmates access to the Satantic [sic] Bible,” she continued, but “there is also authority for finding no such legitimate penological interest.”

In McCorkle v. Johnson, 881 F.2d 993 (1989), the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Alabama prison officials did not violate the free exercise rights of an inmate by denying him access to The Satanic Bible. “The teachings of The Satanic Bible ... present a significant threat to security and order within the prison,” it warned.

But as an Illinois judge has noted, the plaintiff in that case “held an extreme view on Satanism that called for human sacrifice, drinking of blood, wrist slashing and consuming the flesh of humans while they were still alive.” Semla v. Snyder.


This story linked by:


By Matthew Heller
7/5/10


 
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