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.




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Landlord-Tenant Battle Takes Novel Tweet Libel Twist Print

A first-of-its-kind defamation lawsuit over a Chicago apartment renter's 16-word Twitter post appears to be the poisonous fruit of a tenant-friendly housing ordinance that landlords say punishes them unfairly for petty violations.

Horizon Realty Group, which manages 15 buildings in Chicago, reacted to the run-of-the-mill tenant gripe of Amanda Bonnen by suing her last week for libel damages of at least $50,000. Bonnen wrote in a now-infamous May 12 Twitter post:

Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay.

It is believed to be the first libel suit involving a single tweet –- a case filed against rock singer Courtney Love in May alleged she defamed a fashion designer in 10 Twitter postings. Tweets cannot exceed 140 characters.

According to Horizon, no mold was ever found in Bonnen's apartment in the Buena Terrace building and she moved out “on her own volition” on June 30. “The statements in the Tweet concerning Plaintiff were and are wholly false,” Horizon says in its complaint. “By reason of the publication of them, Plaintiff has been greatly injured in its reputation as a landlord in Chicago.”

The nationwide publicity over the suit has turned Horizon into a symbol of landlord villainy. Bonnen's Twitter page only had 22 followers, making it implausible to say the least that Horizon could have suffered a great injury.

“[T]his company is digging themselves into the worst PR nightmare on earth!” one Chicago Tribune reader exclaimed.

But Bonnen actually struck the first blow in the legal battle, filing a housing law class action against Horizon on June 24 that takes advantage of the tenant-friendly provisions of the Chicago Residential and Landlord Tenant Ordinance (CRLTO).

The complaint alleges two claims –- that Horizon violated the ordinance by failing to pay interest on Bonnen's $250 security deposit and by failing to include “mandatory porch safety language” in her rental agreement. The porch safety provision was added to the law after a porch attached to the rear of a Chicago apartment building collapsed in 2003, killing 13 people.

“The city wanted to spread the word to tenants: Don't overload your porch,” explains Chicago renters' attorney Mark Silverman, an expert on the CRLTO.

A violation of the porch safety provision carries an automatic $100 fine and Bonnen is also eligible for statutory damages of twice the value of her security deposit plus interest. Since Horizon has more than 1,500 tenants, it could be facing a class action liability of more than $500,000.

In a statement, Horizon spokesman Jeffrey Michael said Bonnen's suit “is completely baseless and  was waged merely as a pretext to address an underlying disagreement” over water damage to her apartment. “This is a classic example of tenants trying to manipulate the controversial RLTO for their benefit,” he added.

Renters' attorneys in Chicago have become expert in scouring leases for violations, however inconsequential they may seem. But Silverman insists Bonnen didn't do anything manipulative in filing a CRLTO suit rather than pursuing what would have been a far more complicated mold case against Horizon.

“It makes a lot more sense to sue them for strict liability [CRLTO] violations that come with automatic penalties,” he tells On Point.

In a major victory for tenants, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Regent Realty Group, 754 N.E.2d 334 (2001), that a landlord's violation of the CRLTO need not be willful for a tenant to recover damages. A dissenting justice said he did not believe that “the Chicago city council intended to punish landlords for inadvertent mistakes and violations of the Ordinance.”

Horizon's libel suit against Bonnen, meanwhile, looks more pretextual than substantive. “I think they're trying to use [it] to scare her out of her case,” Silverman says.

But the publicity storm has probably cost Horizon any leverage it might have had. Michael didn't do his cause any good by telling a Chicago Sun-Times reporter, "We're a 'sue first, ask questions later' kind of an organization."

Horizon could also face an award of attorney fees under Illinois' anti-SLAPP law for filing a suit in retaliation for Bonnen's exercise of her free-speech rights.

This story linked by:


By Matthew Heller
7/30/09


 
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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

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RC_OnTheDocket

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

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