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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LC_ExtraPoints

• 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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Jury Sees No Harm in Reporters' 'Locker Room' Antics Print

A New York jury has found a TV news anchor was not harmed when her fellow reporters circulated a digitally enhanced picture of her with huge breasts — a verdict based in part on testimony that sexually charged pranks and banter were part of the milieu of the newsroom.

During a two-week trial in Brooklyn federal court, Adele Sammarco, a former reporter for Time Warner’s 24-hour news station New York 1, was discredited by former colleagues, including Jeff Simmons, the reporter who created the picture for a contest at an office picnic. He told the jury that Sammarco talked to him “openly and candidly about her breasts.”

“As a gay man, she and I had these conversations because she knew it wasn’t offensive to me,” Simmons said.

Sammarco claimed she felt humiliated by the photo but a Time Warner attorney said she laughed when she saw it and posed for a New York Post article holding it in her hand

The case is yet another where a plaintiff has failed to prove that a media workplace constitutes a hostile work environment. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the hostile environment standard requires "careful consideration of the social context in which particular behavior occurs and is experienced by its target."

In 2006, a New York jury said a co-founder of The Source did not sexually harass the hip-hop magazine's female editor-in-chief, apparently agreeing with the defense that salacious behavior is part and parcel of hip-hop culture. That same year, the California Supreme Court rejected claims that writers on “Friends” harassed an assistant when they bounced around sexually explicit ideas for the show.

Sammarco, 43, filed her lawsuit in 2002, alleging that NY1 ran its newsroom like “a high school boys' locker room.” During her nine-year career at the station, she testified, her news crew ridiculed her by calling her "BBB," for "Big Butt Booty."

She was fired in 2001 after complaining that fellow reporter Gary Anthony Ramsay groped and kissed her during a drive home. “He proceeded to ram his tongue down my throat so hard it felt like it was almost at my Adam’s apple,” Sammarco told the jury. Ramsay insisted he only gave her a “peck on the cheek.”

But testimony during the trial may have been more humiliating for Sammarco than any of the disputed incidents that occurred in the workplace. Two NY1 reporters slammed her abilities as a journalist, with Rebecca Spitz saying she had a “persecution complex.”

Defense attorneys portrayed Sammarco as a chronic complainer who presented the enhanced breasts photo as evidence of harassment only after she was notified that her performance was below par.

After just 40 minutes of deliberations, the jury rejected both Sammarco's sexual harassment claim and her claim that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about the alleged assault by Ramsay. Juror Marie Gorini singled out Simmons's testimony about the photo.

"I listened to him long and hard, because it just seemed like it was a joke between two really close friends,” she told the New York Post. “That's what you do with friends — you banter, you play a trick, you play a joke.”

Nevertheless, Sammarco, who admits that she may never work in television again, was upbeat after the verdict. She told the New York Daily News she was glad “the truth had emerged” and that she had made her parents proud by standing up to her former employer.

By Matt Reynolds
5/11/10


 
rc_insidestories
  • Jurors' Comments Fuel New Trial Bid in Bullying Case

    Jurors may have opened the door to a new trial in a Maryland school bullying case by saying they returned a verdict for the defense because they were afraid of setting a bad precedent for school systems throughout the country.
    Read more...
  • Abuse Victim Can Sue Ex-DA Over 'Sexting' Messages

    A Wisconsin judge has protected a domestic violence victim from a rogue prosecutor, finding that she can sue him for sending her text messages in which he pressured her to have sex with him.
    Read more...
  • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

    The maker of Four Loko has previewed its defense of a slew of product liability lawsuits, arguing that the physical effects of the energy drink's mixture of alcohol and caffeine — far from being an undisclosed risk to consumers — are precisely what made it so popular.
    Read more...
  • Mortician Sued for Speaking Ill of the Dead

    In a first-of-its-kind unprofessional conduct lawsuit, a woman has sued her former boss at a Michigan funeral home for making an indecent comment about the body of a dead man in front of her.
    Read more...
  • 'Next Friends' of Orcas Bid to Stop SeaWorld Slavery

    An animal rights lawsuit against SeaWorld for enslaving five killer whales at its aquatic theme parks in San Diego and Orlando may sink even though humans are representing the orcas as their “next friends.”
    Read more...
  • Jury Finds No Harm to Boy From Wrongful Circumcision

    In a blow to supporters of male “genital integrity,” an Indiana jury has ruled that a doctor did not injure a boy by circumcising him when he was an infant even though his mother wanted him to be left intact.
    Read more...
  • Guest Can Sue Motel 6 Over Attack by Woman's Pimp

    A guest who paid for sex with a prostitute at a Motel 6 did not assume the risk of being attacked several hours later by the prostitute's pimp, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled in an unusual premises liability lawsuit against the motel operator.
    Read more...
RC_OnFile

Marsh v. Air Tran Airways
Subject: Roaches on a plane
Document: Complaint

Classic Media v. J.G. Wentworth
Subject: "Lassie" copyright
Document: Complaint

Kardashian v. Old Navy
Subject: Publicity rights
Document: Complaint

McKee v. Laurion
Subject: Doctor defamation
Document: Opinion

Francis v. U.S.
Subject: Bear attack
Document: Decision

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RC_OnTrial

Doe v. Discovery Day Care
Court: Miami-Dade Circuit
Subject: Child molestation
Verdict: $3,000,000

Hoback v. City of Chattanooga
Court: USDC, E. Tenn.
Subject: PTSD discrimination
Verdict: $680,000

more


RC_OnTheDocket

Brown v. Herbert
Date: 12/16/11
Court: USDC, Utah
Hearing: Motion to dismiss polygamy case

more