• 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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Jury Awards $24M to Injured Railyard Trespassers |
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Two men injured while trespassing at a railyard were awarded $24.2 million in damages by a jury that found Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. liable for failing to warn of the dangers of overhead power lines.
Under the “attractive nuisance” theory of premises liability, a property owner can be held liable for injuries to trespassing children when the owner “fails to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger or otherwise to protect the children.” The theory usually applies to children not more than twelve years old.
The negligence case of Jeffrey Klein and Brett Birdwell was a bit of a stretch because they were 17 when they were shocked in August 2002 by an electrified catenary wire above a Norfolk Southern freight car at the Amtrak yard in Lancaster, Pa. They had climbed onto the roof of the car to admire the view of the city.
“[A]n extensive search of Pennsylvania case law has failed to produce a case where [attractive nuisance] was successfully applied to a 16- or 17-year-old plaintiff,” Amtrak lawyers argued.
But a federal jury awarded $17.4 million to Klein, who was burned over 75 percent of his body, and $6.8 million to Birdwell, who suffered burns to 10 to 19 percent of his body. Amtrak was found 70 percent liable and Norfolk Southern 30 percent liable.
The plaintiffs “had no idea there was an uninsulated 12,500-volt wire, which was totally unnecessary to be charged [at that time],” their attorney, Joseph F. Roda, told the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal. “Both Amtrak and Norfolk Southern knew a lethal danger existed but failed to post any warning signs.”
According to a plaintiffs' expert, catenary wires, which power locomotives, are a “hidden killer” because they can inflict a lethal shock due to “arcing” whereby voltage jumps from the source to a grounded object. Klein was shocked without touching the wire and Birdwell was injured trying to help his friend.
Federal regulations require that only the railroad owner's identifying mark and the freight car's number and manufacturing date be permanently stenciled on each side of the car. But Roda claimed the defendants could have put temporary signs either adjacent to or on the cars parked in the yard.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel denied a defense motion for summary judgment in March, finding, among other things, a triable issue as to whether the plaintiffs' youth excused their failure to recognize the risk of the overhead power line.
“The plaintiffs have presented some evidence that seventeen year-old males generally do not have fully mature brains, and as such can not fully control their impulses or appreciate some risks,” he noted in his opinion.
The reaction of some Intelligencer Journal readers to the verdict was scathing. “You break the law, get burned, and get millions because there was a hazard on the property on which you trespassed?” fumed one. “What kind of message does THIS send?”
But “attractive nuisance” is a clear and established exception to the general rule that a landowner owes no duty to a trespasser.
The verdict breaks down as follows:
|
Plaintiff
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Amtrak Damages
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Norfolk Southern Damages
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Compensatory
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Punitive
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Compensatory
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Punitive
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$7,797,223
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$4,375,000
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$3,341,667
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$1,875,000
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Jeffrey Klein
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Brett Birdwell
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$411,981
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$4,375,000
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$176,563
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$1,875,000
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UPDATES
Judge Stengel denied the defendants' motion for a new trial in a March 31, 2008 opinion.
The defendants withdrew their appeal Sept. 3, 2009 as part of a settlement — which, presumably, was lower than the jury verdict.
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By Matthew Heller
11/7/06
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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.
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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
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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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