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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Fashion Mogul's Style on Trial in Harassment Case Print

 

charney

Dov Charney

An employment law case going to trial this week in Los Angeles presents the issue of what, if anything, constitutes sexual harassment in the “sexually charged” workplace of a clothing company that caters to young hipsters.

The eccentric behavior of American Apparel CEO Dov Charney is legendary within the fashion industry. But Mary Nelson, who worked as an independent contractor in the sales department, alleges he “openly operates his company as a despot wearing nothing but his underpants.”

“AA's workplace under Dov Charney's reign is and has been a hostile work environment based on sex,” she says in a trial brief. “As such, this emperor's reign of sexual terror must end.”

Jury selection in Nelson's case against American Apparel (AMEX: APP) and Charney is scheduled to begin Jan. 23 and the specific incidents of harassment allegedly include a meeting at Charney's home during which he changed out of his underwear into “an even more revealing outfit, a 'cock sock.'”

The defendants' theory of the case is that in the context of a workplace where explicit sexuality is the norm, Nelson cannot show any harassment was directed at her because of her gender.

“American Apparel is a workplace where employees of both genders deal with sexually charged imagery, conduct, speech and photographs as part of their jobs,” the defense's trial brief argues, and “such conduct and speech does not constitute sexual harassment.”

The brief also depicts Nelson as a participant in the general vulgarity who “freely used curse words and foul language” and even “exposed and fondled her own breasts in front of numerous American Apparel employees.”

The California Supreme Court recently endorsed the “context” defense in finding that a former writer's assistant could not sue the producers of the TV show “Friends” for sexual harassment. Such a claim “requires careful consideration of the social context in which particular behavior occurs and is experienced by the target,” it said in Lyle v. Warner Bros. Television, 30 Cal.4th 264 (2006).

Similarly in a former editor's case against The Source, a New York jury in October 2006 agreed with the defense that sexually charged behavior was to be expected at a hip-hop magazine “about a lifestyle where sexual comments, jokes and innuendo were the norm.”

Charney's attorneys aren't saying it was normal for him to parade around the workplace in his underwear, but that he did so “occasionally” as American Apparel's “fit model for male undergarments.” He modeled the “infamous” cock sock, they say, to “decide whether or not to include” it in the company's product line.

Nelson also alleges Charney is liable for retaliation because he fired her after learning she had consulted an attorney about filing a harassment complaint. The defense, however, insists he was “dissatisfied with Nelson's personal skills as a salesperson” and that she spent too much of her time at work discussing her romantic problems.

Among other things, the defense says, Nelson talked about her long-time boyfriend cheating on her with the actress Lara Flynn Boyle.

UPDATE

  • The case has been referred to a private judge for arbitration, meaning there will be no public airing of Dov Charney's dirty laundry -- or underwear.

  • By Matthew Heller
    1/21/08


     
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