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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Rocker Love Says Her “Vile” Tweets Warned Public Print

In a somewhat incoherent argument for dismissing a first-of-its-kind libel case against her, rocker Courtney Love says she was providing a “warning to consumers” when she denounced a fashion designer in several Twitter postings.

"As a musician and artist, I believe strongly in free speech rights, and I further believe strongly in the right of consumers to publicly warn other consumers about unscrupulous vendors,” Love says in a court declaration in which she accuses Dawn Simorangkir, aka “Boudoir Queen,” of a “malicious attempt” to “gouge” money from her.

The declaration is attached to an anti-SLAPP motion to strike what is believed to be the first Twitter-libel lawsuit. Simorangkir alleged in the complaint that Love defamed her by, among other things, saying in "vile" Twitterings that she “has a history of dealing cocaine” and calling her an “asswipe nasty lying hosebag thief.”

California's anti-SLAPP law protects “any written or oral statement or writing made in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest.” If a defendant makes a threshold showing that the challenged statement is subject to the law, the plaintiff must demonstrate a probability of prevailing on her claims.

Love argues that Twitter is a public forum and she spoke on a matter of public interest by warning “other consumers about her nightmare experience with Simorangkir and Simorangkir's pattern of criminal and bad faith conduct.” She says she hired Boudoir Queen to make custom pieces of clothing from raw materials she gave her but the designer held the clothing “hostage” after she refused to pay an inflated invoice.

But the motion goes on to say that Simorangkir cannot show a probability of prevailing because

every single one of the allegedly defamatory statements made by Love for which Plaintiff has brought suit constitutes “rhetorical hyperbole,” “vigorous epithet[s],” “lusty and imaginative expression[s] of... contempt,” and language used “in a loose, figurative sense” that has been accorded free speech protection as a statement of opinion rather than an actionable statement of fact.

The problem here is how Love can argue her statements constituted a warning to consumers about Boudoir Queen's business practices -– if those very same statements cannot be “reasonably construed as stating an 'actual fact.'”

Making matters still more confusing, Love goes on to say that “To the extent that the statements do contain provably false facts that are reasonably understood as regarding Plaintiff, they are true and accurate as far as Love understood them.” From conversations with Boudoir Queen, she “had personal knowledge of some of these facts -- the theft, 'blackmail,' breach of contract, price gouging, drug and alcohol abuse.”

The case is certainly shaping up as a no-holds-barred battle, with each party being represented by high-profile attorneys. Bryan J. Freedman, for Simorangkir, has represented gossip blogger Perez Hilton in several lawsuits; Keith A. Fink, for Love, is well-known for filing sexual harassment suits against American Apparel CEO Dov Charney.

If Love is to prevail on her anti-SLAPP motion, she may need to sharpen her arguments. As things stand now, she seems to be trying to have her cake and eat it, too.

UPDATE

  • A Los Angeles judge denied Love's anti-SLAPP motion to strike the complaint after a hearing Oct. 26, 2009.


  • This story linked by:


    By Matthew Heller
    8/26/09


     
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