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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Cops Seek Immunity for "Flipping Off" Citation Print

"Flipping the bird" is clearly protected speech. But the city of Pittsburgh is continuing to fight the civil rights suit of a motorist who was cited for directing his middle finger at a police officer.

The citation alleged that David Hackbart violated a subsection of Pennsylvania's disorderly conduct statute which applies to a person who “uses obscene language, or makes an obscene gesture” with an intent “to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating the risk thereof ...”

Hackbart flipped the bird at Sgt. Brian Elledge during an altercation over a parking space with another motorist in April 2006. After prosecutors dropped the disorderly conduct charges, he sued the city in February 2007, arguing that Elledge retaliated against him for “engaging in constitutionally protected speech.”

Courts have found that the display of the middle finger is not “obscene” and falls “squarely within the protective umbrella of the First Amendment.”

In October 2006, the Pennsylvania state police settled a similar case. But the city of Pittsburgh is hanging tough and has filed a motion for summary judgment which says giving the finger to a police officer was not the reason for Hackbart's citation.

Elledge's “objective reasons for writing the citations were because Plaintiff was obstructing traffic and refused to move when told,” the motion says, and

It makes no difference to the existence of probable cause if Sgt. Elledge incorrectly wrote the citation for disorderly conduct, rather than for obstruction of traffic.

To support this argument, the city cites Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146 (2004), in which the U.S. Supreme Court said the offense establishing probable cause need not be “closely related” to the offense the police officer invoked at the time of arrest.

The evidence here is not as clear-cut as in the case against an Arkansas police officer who cited a driver for giving him the finger and admitted that he “gave him what he deserved, a citation” for disorderly conduct. Nichols v. Chacon, 110 F. Supp. 2d 1099 (2000).

But Hackbart alleges that Sgt. Elledge was quite specific about why he pulled him over. “During the vehicle stop, Sgt. Elledge ... continued to shout at Plaintiff: 'You don’t flip me off!'” he said in his complaint.

As in the Pennsylvania state police case, that should at least “raise sufficient suspicion [as to the officer's] motives for issuing the citation that summary judgment in [his] favor is inappropriate.” Corey v. Nassan.

According to Hackbart, moreover, what happened to him was not an “isolated incident.” Between March 2005 and October 2007, he says, Pittsburgh police issued 188 disorderly conduct citations for using obscene gestures or language -– none of which “involved language or gestures that were 'obscene' under the statute.”

“Such a large number of citations issued for First Amendment-protected expression in a twenty-month period demonstrates a pattern of underlying constitutional violations,” Hackbart argues in his own summary judgment motion.

In Maine, a snowmobiler recently sued two state game wardens who cited him for disorderly conduct after he flipped one of them off.

UPDATES

  • In a March 23, 2009 opinion, U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone granted summary judgment against Elledge for violating Hackbart's constitutional rights.

  • As On Point reports here, the City of Pittsburgh agreed in a settlement to pay Hackbart $50,000 and "provide additional training to all officers on the Constitutional rights of an individual to use profane language and gestures."


  • By Matthew Heller
    7/14/08

     

     
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