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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Sweat Lodge Suit Says Guru Barred Escape From Heat Print

The first two of what could be many such lawsuits have been filed against “self-help by sweating” guru James Arthur Ray, with a survivor of his sweat lodge ceremony in the Arizona desert alleging he prevented her from leaving before she passed out.

Of the roughly 60 people who took part in the Oct. 8 ceremony offered by Ray as part of a five-day Spiritual Warrior program at a retreat center near Sedona, three died and more than 20 suffered breathing difficulties, vomiting and other symptoms. The ceremony took place in a 415-square-foot enclosure covered with blankets and tarps.

News reports have said Ray stood by the door of the enclosure. But in one of the two premises liability lawsuits filed Oct. 30 in Coconino County (Ariz.) Superior Court, survivor Sidney Spencer goes further, alleging Ray and unnamed employees were

negligent in denying participants, like the Plaintiff, from exiting the lodge when they became uncomfortable and instead intimidating them and cajoling them to not leave the sweat lodge despite the excessive heat and fumes.

Spencer, 59, was treated in a Flagstaff hospital for kidney failure. Her complaint also says the defendants deprived her of food, water and hydration during the three days before the sweat lodge ceremony.

The family of Lizbeth Neuman, a Minnesota woman who died Oct. 17 of multiple organ failure after participating in the ceremony, filed the other suit.

The Spiritual Warrior event (which costs $9,695 a person) is one of six expensive programs in Ray's Journey of Power Experience. All program participants are required to sign a waiver of liability which says, “I am fully aware that I may suffer physical, emotional, financial and other injury during any of the activities.”

But under Arizona law, a waiver does not protect against gross negligence. And Spencer could certainly argue Ray was grossly negligent in not allowing her to leave the ceremony.

She makes numerous other allegations of negligence, among them that the defendants:

  • “ignored her even after she lost consciousness in the sweat lodge” and failed to provide her with timely medical care.

  • constructed the sweat lodge without adequate ventilation, light, or a temperature monitoring device.

  • conducted the ceremony without a licensed health provider in the sweat lodge.

  • had too many people in the sweat lodge at the same time, “making it impossible to properly monitor their health.”

A case for gross negligence may also be supported by Spencer's allegation that Ray knew of the risk because “Defendants had similar experience in running a sweat lodge in the past where participants had passed out and otherwise suffered physical injury.”

She appears to be referring to an incident at the same Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Center in October 2005 when paramedics treated a 42-year-old man who had lost consciousness after spending time in a sweat lodge.

“Defendants were aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that Sidney Spencer's injuries would result from her participation in the 'sweat lodge' ceremony,” she alleges.

Neuman's family do not claim anyone stopped her from leaving the sweat lodge.

UPDATE

  • Dennis Mehravar, a Canadian man who passed out in the sweat lodge, has joined Spencer in her suit.


  • This story linked by:


    By Matthew Heller
    11/1/09


     
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