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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• 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

• Massachusetts appeals court says 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

• Oregon judge rules that a self-proclaimed "investigative blogger" is not "considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim." Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• 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.




Alltop_125x125.jpg







Judge to Hear Challenge to $6M Herpes Case Award Print

Patricia Behr's relationship with Thomas Redmond was the focus of a trial that ended with a jury finding he negligently infected her with genital herpes. Her relationship many years earlier with another man could determine whether the jury's $6.7 million verdict stands.

Ronald Ramsdell

A Riverside County (Calif.) Superior Court judge will hear Redmond's motion for a new trial April 17. And Redmond appears to be pinning his hopes on Ronald Ramsdell, a Minneapolis entrepreneur who came forward as a witness after he heard about the verdict, alleging Behr infected him with herpes long before she met Redmond.

“In 1989, Patricia Behr not only admitted she had herpes, she also gave it to me,” Ramsdell said in an affidavit.

Redmond began a sexual relationship with Behr in October 2003. After an 11-day trial, the jury found him liable in January for failing to tell her he had herpes before their first sexual encounter and awarded her $2.75 million in punitive damages.

“[T]here can be no more material evidence than that Thomas Redmond could not have infected Patricia Behr with herpes because she already had it,” defense attorney Robert M. Frisbee has said in a brief.

But Behr attorney Shaun M. Murphy filed a blistering response to Ramsdell's affidavit, saying it “presents nothing more than hearsay, speculation and lies” and portraying him as a “violent abuser of women and children” who has “seized on an opportunity to further harass and abuse [Behr].”

Two of Behr's sons provided affidavits, with Andrew Behr saying he witnessed an incident in 1992 when Ramsdell pinned his mother to the floor and choked her. “I think Ron is a very disturbed and dangerous man,” he concluded.

Another of Behr's sons is actor Jason Behr. He has so far remained silent in the no-holds-barred litigation, which was kept under wraps until Murphy issued a press release about the verdict in February.

Behr tested positive for herpes after she broke up with Redmond. But according to Ramsdell, the founder of College Aid Consulting Services in Minneapolis, he confronted her while they were dating after noticing “some small white blisters in my groin and pubic area.”

She initially denied having herpes, Ramsdell said in his affidavit, but when he suggested they both get tested, she “stopped arguing, said there was no need to have tests, and admitted that she did in fact have herpes.”

In the response brief filed March 30, Murphy said Redmond had failed to present evidence showing that “Behr previously had herpes and that Ramsdell got it from her. There is no medical proof that Ramsdell has herpes, when he contracted it, or that he even contracted it from Behr.”

Since then, Ramsdell has filed a doctor's report showing he visited a doctor March 19 and tested positive for the virus. He also denies choking Behr, claiming she “had a vile temper” and “was physically abusive to me.”

“None of Behr's affidavits address the core issue -– whether Behr gave Ramsdell herpes long before she ever met Tom Redmond,” Frisbee says in a brief.

But Ramsdell's medical report does not address when he contracted herpes or show he got it from Behr. So in what amounts to a credibility contest, Retired Judge William E. Burby may well decide not to disturb the jury's verdict.

UPDATES

  • Judge Burby denied the new trial motion at the April 17 hearing, finding substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict. He declined to consider the "newly discovered evidence" obtained from Ramsdell because Redmond did not include it in the original new trial motion.

  • Redmond filed a notice of appeal May 12, 2009.

  • In a March 2, 2011 decision, the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the jury's finding of liability but reduced the damages award to $4.3 million.



  • This story linked by:


    By Matthew Heller
    4/16/09


     
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