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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Judge Backs $2M Award in 4-Year-Old's Mower Death Print

mowerPrevailing industry design standards are not a defense to liability for a lawn-mower accident that killed a four-year-old boy, a Virginia judge has ruled in affirming a $2 million jury award to the child's family.

The award was one of the largest of its kind, finding MTD Products liable for the death of Justin Simmons at his daycare center in April 2004. The husband of the center's operator drove a 1988 model MTD mower over him as it rolled backwards on an incline.

The defense called it a “nonsense” verdict since no mower is designed to automatically stop its blades when it rolls backward. But Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Clifford R. Weckstein said the jury properly relied on a plaintiffs' expert who testified that technology to detect rearward motion and stop spinning blades was available at the time of the accident.

“[I]t would be a rare court, in an extraordinary case, that would accept 'no one else does it' as conclusively establishing lack of duty,” he said in an opinion (excerpted here) that denied MTD's motions for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

Weckstein also quoted Judge Learned Hand as saying that “there are precautions so imperative that even their universal disregard will not excuse their omission.”

The jury awarded $1 million to Justin's brother and $500,000 to each of his parents. The plaintiffs dropped the daycare operator, Roberta Reedy, and her husband from the case during the trial, leaving MTD as the only defendant.

The world's largest mower manufacturer had equipped the 1988 model with a device which prevents the blades from turning when in reverse gear. When Orvil Reedy's mower rolled backwards, the blades continued to rotate because he had his foot down on the clutch.

Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Jeffery Warren, a mechanical engineer, testified that the risk of “child rollover” was a “known, specific hazard” with the mower and, if it had been addressed by a blade brake, the blades would have stopped “in a couple of seconds” and Justin would not have been killed.

No mower has been constructed with such a safety feature, but Weckstein rejected the argument that trade practices should be the standard of care for product manufacturers as they are for doctors, lawyers and other professionals:

As the Arizona Supreme Court stated, trades “will be allowed to create their own standards of reasonably prudent conduct only when the nature of the group and its special relationship with its clients assure society that those standards will be set with primary regard to protection of the public rather than to such considerations as increased profitability.”

The defense argued at trial that the Reedys were to blame for the tragedy. Roberta Reedy was changing another child's diaper inside her house when the accident happened and her husband had never read the manual for the mower, which instructs users not to depress the clutch while going backwards.

MTD attorney Nick Leitch said the company is considering an appeal. “MTD has been a real leader and has literally set the standard for safety for this industry,” he told The Roanoke Times.

UPDATES

  • MTD filed a notice of appeal May 13, 2008 with the Virginia Supreme Court.

  • The parties settled the case in March 2009 after the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal.

  • By Matthew Heller
    3/7/08


     
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