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.




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Wind Gusts Make Homeowners Liable for Auto Accident Print

Iowans might need to keep a closer eye on their weather after the state Supreme Court ruled that property owners who left trampoline parts unsecured in their yard can be sued over an accident caused by the parts being blown onto an adjacent road.

A passing motorist who lost control of his car and crashed on encountering the trampoline parts in the road sued James Kaczinski and Michelle Lockwood for negligence, alleging they had a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent their personal property from obstructing the road and to remove it within a reasonable time.

During the night of Sept. 16, 2006 and the following morning of Sept. 17, a severe thunderstorm had passed through rural Madison County, Iowa, and wind gusts from the storm blew the top of the trampoline onto the road. Later on Sept. 17, Charles Thompson drove his car into a ditch while swerving to avoid the obstruction.

Kaczinski and Lockwood argued they could not be held liable for Thompson's injuries because the risk that the trampoline would be displaced from the yard to the road by the wind was not foreseeable. A trial court judge agreed with them and summarily dismissed the case in March 2008.

But in a Nov. 13 opinion, the Iowa Supreme Court said the case could go to trial on the issue of whether “a serious injury to a motorist was within the range of harms risked by disassembling the trampoline and leaving it untethered for a few weeks on the yard less than forty feet from the road.”

Justice Hecht

“A reasonable fact finder could determine Kaczinski and Lockwood should have known high winds occasionally occur in Iowa in September and a strong gust of wind could displace the unsecured trampoline parts the short distance from the yard to the roadway and endanger motorists,” Justice Daryl Hecht wrote for the court.

Kaczinski and Lockwood were sleeping when the injured Thompson awoke them with his screams at about 9:40 a.m. on Sept. 17. “Although they were in their home for several hours after the storm passed and approximately two-and-a-half hours after daybreak, Kaczinski and Lockwood did not discover their property on the nearby roadway, remove it, or warn approaching motorists of it,” Hecht noted.

According to meteorological records, the storm packed gale-force winds gusting to more than 40 mph. The defense could argue at trial that those gusts were above what would normally be expected at that time of year in Iowa.

The Supreme Court set a major precedent in Thompson v. Kaczinski by declaring its approval of the “risk standard” for determining “proximate cause” in negligence cases. The standard requires courts to consider the range of harms risked by the defendant’s conduct and whether the plaintiff's injury was a result of any of those risks.

Iowa had previously applied the test which, under the Restatement (Second) of Torts, says that “[t]he actor’s negligent conduct is a legal cause of harm to another if (a) his conduct is a substantial factor in bringing about the harm, and (b) there is no rule of law relieving the actor from liability.”

That test “causes considerable confusion for juries,” Hecht said, and “We ... are persuaded by [the] explanation of the advantages of applying the risk standard as articulated in the Restatement (Third), and, accordingly, adopt it.”

UPDATE

  • A jury on Oct. 14, 2010 returned a defense verdict, finding no liability against Kaczinski and Lockwood.


  • By Matthew Heller
    11/15/09


     
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      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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      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.
      Read more...
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