Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Judge strikes down California's same-sex marriage ban, finding that "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians."
U.S. v. Arizona
Arizona judge enjoins enforcement of a new immigration law's requirement that police determine the immigration status of
every person who is arrested.
McGuire v. United Airlines
Michigan woman says a United Express flight crew locked her in a plane for nearly four hours after it landed because they failed to ensure that all passengers had disembarked.
R.H. v. Schenectady Sch. Dist.
Middle school student says he was suspended for wearing rosary beads because the rosary "is considered a gang-related symbol" and cannot be worn in school.
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• Parents of a 10-year-old boy who witnessed a killer whale's fatal attack on a trainer sue Sea World Orlando for infliction of emotional distress. "Without question, it was reasonably foreseeable and in fact predictable that an attack such as this one by a killer whale with the tendencies of Tilikum was inevitable." Connell v. Sea World

• Denver judge dismisses Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols's civil rights claims against prison officials for denying him a high-fiber diet.
Nichols v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

• Illinois teenager with cerebral palsy sues the Special Olympics for refusing to let her play basketball with the help of a service dog.
Youngwith v. Special Olympics

• Montana judge sets aside a government decision removing protections for the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf. The Endangered Species Act "was not intended to sow the dragon's teeth of strife or to plant the seeds of future conflicts that have given rise to this case."
Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar

• San Francisco judge dismisses a cereal consumer's false advertising suit. "[T]here is nothing in the packaging or marketing of Cap’n Crunch that would in any way deceive a reasonable consumer into believing that the cereal contains or derives nutritional value from real fruit." Werbel v. PepsiCo

• Iowa judge says a sheriff denied the applications of a father and son for concealed weapons permits in retaliation for their political activism. "This is a great reminder that the First Amendment protects the sole individual who may be a gadfly, kook, weirdo, nut job, whacko, and spook, with the same force of protection as folks with more majoritarian and popular views." Dorr v. Weber

• 5th Circuit rules that a school district violated the religious freedom of a Native American boy by requiring him to wear his long hair in a bun on top of his head or in a braid tucked into his shirt. The boy "has a sincere religious belief in wearing his hair uncut and in plain view."
A.A. v. Needville Ind. Sch. Dist.

• 11th Circuit denies a challenge to an ordinance restricting handouts of food to the homeless in Orlando parks. "[W]e are unpersuaded that the conduct of simply feeding people ... is expressive for First Amendment purposes."
First Vagabonds Church v. City of Orlando




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Injury Claims

Tenant's Gripe Tweet Too Vague to be Libel, Judge Says Print

A Chicago judge has dismissed the first libel case involving a single Twitter posting, finding that an apartment renter's gripe about her landlord was too vague and imprecise to be construed as defamatory.

Horizon Realty Group, which manages 15 buildings in Chicago, filed the libel suit in July after Amanda Bonnen wrote in a Twitter post, “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay.” The suit seeks at least $50,000 in damages, alleging the Tweet was “wholly false” and damaged Horizon's reputation.

The case raises the issue of whether Tweets are “pointless babble” that an average reader would not take literally. “When one considers Ms. Bonnen's allegedly defamatory tweet in the social context and setting in which the statement was published, its nature as rhetorical hyperbole is apparent,” Bonnen argued in a motion to dismiss.

In October, a Los Angeles judge refused to dismiss a Twitter-libel case against rocker Courtney Love, who described a fashion designer as an “asswipe nasty lying hosebag thief” in a series of Tweets.

But after a hearing last week, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane J. Larsen found Bonnen's Tweet was “nonactionable as a matter of law” and granted the motion with prejudice -– which means the case cannot be amended and refiled.

Larsen did not issue a detailed ruling but Bonnen attorney Leslie Ann Reis says the judge “found the Tweet to be vague, imprecise, having no [factual] context in that it was not sufficiently connected to the plaintiff, and could be innocently construed.”

Illinois law allows judges to find a statement is not defamatory if it is capable of being reasonably interpreted in an “innocent” way. “This really wasn’t a case about Twitter,” Reis tells On Point. “It was a case about defamation and whether the content of Ms. Bonnen’s Tweet fit the legal definition of defamation under Illinois law.”

Reis's comments suggest Larsen did not put much weight on the broader argument about the “social and literary context” of Twitter postings in general.

Bonnen's Tweet was certainly less personal than Love's Twitter-tirade against designer Dawn Simorangkir, aka “Boudoir Queen,” which consisted of no fewer than 10 allegedly defamatory tweets posted within the space of 21 minutes.

“She provides no background for her statement, nor does she accuse Plaintiff of any action,” Bonnen said in her motion. “She simply speculates about 'Horizon realty's' thoughts without any context.”

According to Horizon, no mold was ever found in Bonnen's apartment in the Buena Terrace building. In a brief opposing dismissal, the company argued that the term “moldy” is libelous and “the 'mere opinion' rationale Bonnen asks this Court to adopt should not serve to save a person making a libelous statement from responsibility.”

Bonnen struck the first blow in the legal battle, filing a housing law class action against Horizon in June. Another Chicago judge denied a motion to dismiss that case in November.

In another Twitter-libel case, the creator of the Cookie Diet weight-loss program has sued reality TV star Kim Kardashian for describing the diet as “unhealthy” in a Tweet. Dr. Sanford Siegal alleges Kardashian had a “commercial motive” to defame him because she is a paid spokesperson for the Quick Trim diet.


By Matthew Heller
1/29/10


 
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RC_OnFile

Arnaout v. Warden
Subject: Muslim inmate prayer
Document: John Walker Lindh declaration

Marriage of J.B. and H.B.
Subject: Same-sex divorce
Document: Opinion

Stovell v. James
Subject: LeBron's paternity
Document: Complaint

U.S. v. Arizona
Subject: Illegal immigration
Document: Complaint

Rosenberg v. Google
Subject: Negligent navigation
Document: Complaint

more

RC_OnTrial

McCourt v. McCourt
Court: L.A. Superior
Subject: Dodgers divorce

Pom Wonderful v. Welch Foods
Court: USDC, C. Calif.
Subject: False advertising

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RC_OnTheDocket

McCourt v. McCourt
Date: 8/30/10
Court: L.A. Superior
Hearing: Dodgers divorce trial

more