• 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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Court Gives Big Apple Nothing to Dance About |
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Monica Malpass
After an engagement that lasted less than a month, the ex-fiancé of a Philadelphia TV news anchor has sued her for the return of a very expensive “conditional gift” -- a $78,000 diamond engagement ring.
Stephen Thorne, an auto-parts dealer, believes he is entitled to recover the 5.06 carat rock under a “bright line rule” of Pennsylvania common law. But Monica Malpass of WPIV-TV has allegedly refused to return it since he “unequivocally” advised her in January that they would not be getting married.
“The ring was a conditional gift made to Malpass,” Thorne says in a complaint filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas last month. “The condition for the making of the gift, marriage, did not occur and will not occur in the future.”
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UPDATE ... Court records indicate that the case was settled March 16.
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According to the suit, Thorne, 52, actually broke up with Malpass, 45, in July 2006, but -- to spare her “undue public embarrassment as a result of the breakup of such a short engagement” -- agreed she could keep the ring until she was “'comfortable' with the public's perception of her broken engagement.
Once he sensed Malpass had become comfortable, the chivalrous Thorne asked her several times to return the ring. Now his patience has apparently run out and he is willing to subject her to the public embarrassment of a suit for “replevin” (recovery of personal property claimed to be unlawfully taken) and unjust enrichment.
Under the Pennsylvania Supreme Court precedent of Lindh v. Surman, 742 A.2d 643 (1999), the giving of an engagement ring is conditional on performance of a marriage ceremony, not acceptance of a marriage proposal, and the donor may recover it no matter who is at fault for the breakup.
In a similar case filed in 2005, a Pennsylvania woman argued she was not liable for selling her $35,000 engagement ring because her ex-fiancé had presented it to her in the fulfilment of a contract. The case of Mele v. Grace settled before a judge could rule on that defense.
Thorne alleges his ex is also trying to find a way round Lindh. Citing a letter he wrote her shortly after he first called off the engagement,
Malpass apparently contends that Thorne's sensitivity to her feelings about the brevity of the engagement converted the engagement ring into an unconditional gift.
The donor of an unconditional gift has no expectation of receiving anything in return. Whatever was in his letter, Thorne says he expected Malpass would
either (a) give back the ring, (b) give back the ring after receiving some amount of money from Thorne or (c) sell the ring and give some or all of the proceeds to Thorne.
Lindh was a close case, decided on a 4-3 vote with one of the dissenters saying "fairness dictates" that the innocent party in an "ill-fated romantic connection" should retain the engagement ring. Thorne, a divorced father of two, says he jilted Malpass after changing his mind about wanting to have children with her.
Pennsylvania State Sen. Joe Conti reacted to the Mele case by saying he would draft legislation to educate couples about the implications of Lindh. But he has yet to introduce a bill.
By Matthew Heller
3/6/07
With New Yorkers already banned from smoking and eating trans-fatty foods in restaurants, you'd think the courts would give them a break and finally abolish a Prohibition-era restriction on social dancing. But alas, no judicial relief appears to be in sight.
A New York appeals court last month affirmed a trial judge and rejected a constitutional challenge to the 1926 law, which requires bars and restaurants to be licensed as a cabaret before three or more patrons can dance. Mayor Rudy Giuliani stepped up enforcement in the late 1990s as part of his campaign to clean up the Big Apple.
“Recreational dancing is not a form of expression protected by the federal or state constitutions,” the Appellate Division, First Department ruled, and the challenged regulations “bear the requisite rational relation” to the legislative purpose of protecting public health, safety and welfare. Festa v. New York City
The law may seem “grossly ridiculous,” as one blogger put it, and the plaintiffs -– four social dancers and the Gotham West Coast Swing Club -- are considering an appeal to the state’s highest court. But they have so far not managed to convince a court that social dancing deserves the same heightened protection as performance dancing.
“[P]laintiffs ... offer no consistent, practical framework that would classify social dancing as expressive conduct while excluding other physical, athletic, or recreational activities that are arguably similar to social dancing,” Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Stallman said in his April 2006 decision summarily dismissing the case.
A North Carolina woman who claimed the First Amendment protected her dirty-dancing gyrations suffered a similar defeat in 2005 as the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled she was “not a performer in any meaningful sense.” Willis v. Town of Marshall, 426 F.3d 251
Given the legal landscape, New York dancers might be better off focusing on legislative action. Stallman suggested as much, saying, “The Big Apple is big enough to find a way to let people dance.”
But city legislators may be too preoccupied with other matters –- such as banning the use of the N-word –- to worry about accommodating social dancers.
By Corie Rosen
3/6/07
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Jurors' Comments Fuel New Trial Bid in Bullying Case
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.
Read more...
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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.
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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...
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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.
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Marsh v. Air Tran Airways
Subject: Roaches on a plane
Document: Complaint
Classic Media v. J.G. Wentworth
Subject: "Lassie" copyright
Document: Complaint
Kardashian v. Old Navy
Subject: Publicity rights
Document: Complaint
McKee v. Laurion
Subject: Doctor defamation
Document: Opinion
Francis v. U.S.
Subject: Bear attack
Document: Decision
more
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Doe v. Discovery Day Care
Court: Miami-Dade Circuit
Subject: Child molestation
Verdict: $3,000,000
Hoback v. City of Chattanooga
Court: USDC, E. Tenn.
Subject: PTSD discrimination
Verdict: $680,000
more
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Brown v. Herbert
Date: 12/16/11
Court: USDC, Utah
Hearing: Motion to dismiss polygamy case
more
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