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.




Alltop_125x125.jpg







Man Sues Fertility Clinic for Wrongful Sperm Use Print

A prospective father has filed what could be a landmark case of mistaken insemination, claiming a Portland, Ore., fertility clinic used the sperm he intended for his fiancée to get another woman pregnant.

The plaintiff, identified only as MH, was “deprived of an opportunity to have children with this sperm,” says the complaint, which raises such tricky issues as whether a man who can still reproduce suffers an injury if his sperm is misused and whether the misappropriation of sperm is compensable under property law.

MH seeks at least $2 million in damages for emotional distress and the loss of his sperm which, he says, “were of special value.” The suit includes a claim for conversion, a tort that applies to the unlawful appropriation of another's property.

“It's still not settled in most jurisdictions that sperm is property capable of conversion,” says Judith D. Fischer, a law professor at the University of Louisville who has written about the misappropriation of genetic material.

The wrongly inseminated woman had a child and MH has filed a separate paternity action. “He just wants to know if he is the father,” says his attorney, Jane Paulson (Paulson Law Firm, Portland).

According to MH, he deposited sperm at an Oregon Health & Science University clinic for use in inseminating his fiancée. But in September 2005, he alleges, the clinic

negligently used [the] sperm to inseminate a woman who was not MH's fiancé presumably causing that woman to become pregnant.

The sperm, moreover, “was the property of MH,” the suit says, and the defendants “wrongfully converted [it] by inseminating a woman other than his fiancé.”

A Portland jury in 1997 awarded $1.25 million to Robert Eubanks, a cancer survivor who suffered the loss of sperm he had banked at a hospital for starting a family. The sperm in that case was irreplaceable since chemotherapy treatment had left Eubanks sterile.

MH, on the other hand, has not lost the chance to get his fiancée pregnant. But Fischer can see him making the argument that “he doesn't want children out in the world that he never intended to have.”

“The problem is getting the law to recognize that there is an injury,” she adds.

While there is no case law directly on point (see table below), a California appeals court ruled in Hecht v. Superior Court, 16 Cal.App.4th 836 (1993), that the frozen sperm of a dead man satisfied the “property” requirements of the Probate Code. Other courts have allowed conversion claims in cases involving a frozen embryo and human cell lines.

Fischer said in a law review article that “The misappropriation of eggs and embryos ... involves an injury to aspects at the very core of human dignity, sexuality and reproduction.” MH may have to show that the loss of sperm was a similar affront to his dignity.

THE BODY AS PROPERTY

Case

Claim

Ruling

Hecht v. Superior Ct., 16 Cal.App.4th 836 (1993)

Woman claimed access to frozen sperm of deceased boyfriend.

Sperm can be treated as property under probate law.

Moore v. Regents of University of California, 51 Cal.3d 120 (1990)

Hospital misused cells from patient's spleen.

Plaintiff held to have "abandoned" spleen after its removal from his body.

U.S. v. Arora, 860 F.Supp. 1091 (1994)

Researcher intentionally destroyed cell line.

There is "no reason why a cell line should not be considered a chattel capable of being converted."

York v. Jones, 717 F.Supp. 421 (1989)

Couple sued fertility clinic for refusing to transfer pre-embryo.

Plaintiffs had "property rights" in the pre-embryo under contract with clinic.

By Matthew Heller
9/20/06

 
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.
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  • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

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  • 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.
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  • '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.”
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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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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