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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Alleged Victim Challenges Ban on Saying "Rape" Print

 

Judge Cheuvront

A federal judge in Nebraska has given a hostile reception to an alleged sexual assault victim who sued a state judge for barring her from using the word “rape” in the trial of the suspect.

“There is something profoundly disturbing about the notion that a federal judge has the power to tell a state judge how to do his job, particularly when that state judge is presumably trying to do nothing more than protect the rights of a citizen who may have been wrongly accused of rape,” U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf said in ordering the plaintiff to explain why her suit should not be dismissed as filed for an improper purpose.

He also suggested the suit was "insufferably arrogant" and “all too typical of the thinking of those who view the federal courthouse as the proper forum for the advancement of their particular brand of gender politics.”

Tory Bowen's declaratory relief action is the latest twist in a longrunning battle of words with Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, who is presiding over the case of the man who allegedly raped her in October 2004. Prosecutors say she was too intoxicated to consent to having sex with Pamir Safi.

Cheuvront issued a pretrial order in January 2006 barring Bowen and all other witnesses from using certain words and phrases including “rape,” “victim,” “assailant,” and “sexual assault kit.”

If Bowen violates the order, Cheuvront has threatened to jail her for contempt of court. So with a third trial in the case pending after two mistrials, she took the unusual step of suing the judge in federal court.

“The actions of Judge Cheuvront have caused and threaten to continue to cause the Plaintiff to suffer injuries that chill her ability to exercise constitutionally protected activity,” the complaint, filed Sept. 4, says.

While judicial officers are immune from claims for damages, some courts have found they can be sued for declaratory relief under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act. Bowen alleges violations of her rights of freedom of speech, assembly and due process.

Kopf indicated some sympathy for her predicament. “[T]here is also something profoundly disturbing about a judge telling a citizen that she cannot say she was raped when testifying as a victim in a criminal case, particularly when the victim is presumably trying to do nothing more than describe what happened to her,” he said in his order to show cause issued last week.

“This brings to mind the blue burkas of a distant place,” Kopf added, citing a book about living in Afghanistan under fundamentalist Islam.

But he went on to express “serious reservations about whether this action was commenced for the improper purpose of forcing Judge Cheuvront to recuse himself from presiding over the state criminal matter or for the improper purpose of generating pretrial publicity about the plaintiff and the criminal case. Still further, I seriously doubt whether the plaintiff’s suit has any legal basis whatsoever.”

Kopf gave Bowen until Sept. 18 to respond to his order. He also said Cheuvront does not have to answer the complaint “until I am satisfied that progression of this case is appropriate.”

UPDATE

  • In her response to Kopf's order, Bowen says her "case stands in the eye of a perfect legal storm in terms of offering this Court a unique opportunity to resolve an important, and thus far unredressed anywhere, legal controversy."

  • By Matthew Heller
    9/16/07


     
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    • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

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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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