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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LC_ExtraPoints

• 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's Rare Turnaround Revives Race Bias Case Print

A former oilfield company worker whose supervisor allegedly harassed him because of his race has scored a surprise victory at the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals as two judges, turning against a colleague, ruled that he has a triable discrimination case.

Three-member appellate panels rarely withdraw a unanimous opinion, let alone come to a different conclusion second time around. But that is exactly what has happened in the case of Lewis Herrera, who sued Lufkin Industries after quitting his job as a service center manager in Casper, Wyo.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul G. Cassell of Utah, sitting by designation, wrote for a 3-0 majority in May that Herrera had failed to present sufficient evidence of a hostile work environment to survive summary judgment -– even though the supervisor, Buddy Moore, allegedly referred to him repeatedly as “the fucking Mexican.”

The opinion emphasized the “general atmosphere” at Lufkin, noting that “Vulgarity and other socially unacceptable behavior that might lead to termination in a typical office setting were commonplace in the oilfields.”

But without explanation, the 10th Circuit withdrew that decision the day after issuing it. And now Chief Judge Deanell Reece Tacha and Senior Judge David M. Ebel have switched their votes and broken with Cassell, a controversial appointment of George W. Bush.

Although a “close question,” Herrera “has established a genuinely disputed issue of fact as to the pervasiveness of the racially-charged hostility in this work environment sufficient to be entitled to have a jury decide the issue,” the new majority opinion said.

The “fucking Mexican” comments, Ebel wrote, “did not happen just once or twice. Rather, there is evidence that Moore made such comments every two to three days.”

In a dissent, Cassell again cited “the coarse environment that prevailed at Lufkin” with profanity and ethnic jokes the norm. Ebel, however, concluded that

Herrera has presented evidence of racially derogatory treatment, well beyond being sworn at and joked with, that was specifically directed at Herrera because of his national origin.

Lufkin could still petition for en banc review. But the panel majority has made the right call here in allowing a jury to decide whether the “rough-and-tumble” oilfield environment cancels out the evidence of racial hostility.

By Matthew Heller
1/5/07



Taking time off from flashing her privates and "falling asleep" in nightclubs, Britney Spears has appealed the dismissal of her sex-video defamation lawsuit against Us Weekly.

A Beverly Hills judge ruled in November that the pop tart could not sue the magazine for reporting that she had made a sex tape with now-estranged husband Kevin Federline. Spear has insisted the tape does not exist and claimed that the report wounded her reputation as a "married woman who is enjoying her life with husband and baby.”

“Given contemporary standards of defamation, which evolve over time, the court cannot find that the statements made in the Us Weekly article about this Plaintiff are defamatory as a matter of law,” Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole concluded in granting Us Weekly's anti-SLAPP motion to strike.

It's not clear yet what the grounds for appeal are, but Findlaw columnist Julie Hilden has argued that the judge “wrongly slighted” Spears in part of her decision.

Us Weekly also reported that Spears and Federline "acted goofy" in their lawyers' office when discussing the possibility of the video's unauthorized public release. Hart Cole did not, though, examine whether that statement was defamatory, saying only,

It is clear that Plaintiff did not bring this lawsuit because she was falsely accused of acting goofy.

According to Hilden, the “acting goofy” claim was “far from legally baseless” as it suggested that Spears “thought being transformed from pop star to porn star was no big deal. Such a claim can plainly be damaging.”

But Hilden wrote that column before Spears ended the married life she obviously had not been enjoying and embarked on her experiments in public nudity.

Other Britney Case Sources

By Matthew Heller
1/5/07


 
rc_insidestories
  • 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...
  • 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.
    Read more...
  • '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.”
    Read more...
  • 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.
    Read more...
  • 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...
RC_OnFile

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

RC_OnTrial

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

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RC_OnTheDocket

Brown v. Herbert
Date: 12/16/11
Court: USDC, Utah
Hearing: Motion to dismiss polygamy case

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