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.




Alltop_125x125.jpg
Court Denies Claim for 'Surreptitious' Sex Act Print

The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that a priest did not sexually abuse a high school student by masturbating in his presence, but a dissenting judge said the majority had disregarded the priest's “evil intent.”

David Schmidt sued the Archdiocese of Portland in 2002 under a law that extends the statute of limitations for child abuse claims. ORS 12.117, he argued, applied to his case even though Louis Charvet, a priest at the Mt. Angel Abbey seminary, had no physical contact with him during the alleged masturbation incident in 1958.

A 2-1 majority of the appeals court disagreed, saying in a March 19 opinion that “even assuming that Charvet was masturbating during the encounter, that conduct was not 'child abuse' within the definition of ORS 12.117.”

That definition includes, among other things, intentional conduct by an adult that results in mental injury to a child “caused by cruelty to the child” and sexual exploitation of a child. “[T]he conduct alleged here was essentially surreptitious and, although plaintiff was present, it did not directly involve him,” Presiding Judge Darleen Ortega wrote.

But Judge Walter I. Edmonds took a far more nuanced and sympathetic approach than the majority. “[A] jury could reasonably infer from the evidence that Charvet masturbated in plaintiff's presence in order to induce him to participate in future sexual conduct with Charvet,” he said in his dissent.

He also argued that at the time ORS 12.117 was enacted, the term “cruelty” was understood to include "acts that by their very nature were of such wanton disregard for the welfare of a child that they evidenced an evil intent on the part of the actor."

“As a matter of common sense, I would conclude that masturbating in front of a child is conduct” that meets that standard, Edmonds said.

Schmidt remembered the masturbation incident some time after he began seeing a mental health counselor in 1999. ORS 12.117 tolls the statute of limitations if an abuse claim is filed “not more than three years from the date the injured person discovers ... the injury or the causal connection between the child abuse and the injury.”

According to Schmidt's deposition, Charvet began to masturbate after summoning him to his office, instructing him to stand in front of the desk and asking whether he had ever masturbated.

“I could see that there was a lot of motion going on under [Charvet's] cassock and I assumed what I was seeing was he was masturbating and it became frightening to me,” Schmidt testified.

Judge Ortega found there was “no evidence from which a jury could find or infer that Charvet directed any action toward plaintiff” and made much of the fact that Schmidt “testified that, during the incident, Charvet 'became very distracted in what he was doing to himself.'"

But no matter how “distracted” Charvet may have been, he exploited the vulnerability of a minor for his own sexual gratification while, as Judge Edmonds put it, “exercising his authority over him by virtue of their faculty-student relationship.”

Earlier this month, the Oregon Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in a sex abuse case, finding the statute of limitations on an abuse claim against a government employee begins to run when the victim realizes the government was involved, not when the actual abuse occurred. T.R. v. Boy Scouts of America.

COMMENT

  • "I find it interesting that in a deposition in this matter, the plaintiff (myself) stated that Charvet was talking in a very disgusting, dirty manner and not simply about sexuality and the birds and the bees as most news reports and the [superior] court concluded. Even the appeals court justices (excepting one) in this matter seemed to miss the point on that.” -- David Schmidt

    		•

    UPDATES

  • In a Dec. 24, 2009 opinion, the Oregon Supreme Court reinstated the case. "[A] jury reasonably could find that Charvet was using plaintiff's presence and plaintiff's reactions to Charvet's questioning for his own sexual stimulation," it said.

  • In a June 9, 2010 opinion, the Oregon Court of Appeals said Schmidt could sue the Archdiocese under a theory of vicarious liability because "the case presents a question of fact for the jury as to whether acts that were within the scope of Charvet's employment resulted in the acts that caused plaintiff's injury."

    		•

    By Matthew Heller
    3/23/08

     
    rc_insidestories
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      Jurors may have opened the door to a new trial in a Maryland school bullying case by saying they returned a verdict for the defense because they were afraid of setting a bad precedent for school systems throughout the country.
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    • Abuse Victim Can Sue Ex-DA Over 'Sexting' Messages

      A Wisconsin judge has protected a domestic violence victim from a rogue prosecutor, finding that she can sue him for sending her text messages in which he pressured her to have sex with him.
      Read more...
    • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

      The maker of Four Loko has previewed its defense of a slew of product liability lawsuits, arguing that the physical effects of the energy drink's mixture of alcohol and caffeine — far from being an undisclosed risk to consumers — are precisely what made it so popular.
      Read more...
    • Mortician Sued for Speaking Ill of the Dead

      In a first-of-its-kind unprofessional conduct lawsuit, a woman has sued her former boss at a Michigan funeral home for making an indecent comment about the body of a dead man in front of her.
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    • 'Next Friends' of Orcas Bid to Stop SeaWorld Slavery

      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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    • Jury Finds No Harm to Boy From Wrongful Circumcision

      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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