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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Jury Awards $28M in Cops Fatal Shooting of Boy Print

Michael Ellerbe

An unarmed, 12-year-old boy fleeing from two Pennsylvania state troopers was not a threat to them when they shot him to death and his family should receive more $28 million in damages, a Pittsburgh jury has ruled.

The award in the excessive force case -– which included $24 million in punitive damages -- is one of the largest of its kind in Western Pennsylvania history. It was also a victory for controversial plaintiffs' attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who represented the family of Michael Ellerbe.

One of the officers, Cpl. Juan Curry, claimed his gun fired accidentally, missing Ellerbe, as he and Trooper Samuel Nassan chased him through a neighborhood of Uniontown, Pa., on Christmas Eve 2002. Nassan said he shot Ellerbe in the belief that the boy had opened fire on his fellow officer.

But neither of the officers ever saw Ellerbe with a gun during a pursuit which lasted about two minutes, and eyewitness testimony and physical evidence supported the plaintiffs' theory that they simply shot him to stop him from escaping. Nassan shot Ellerbe in the back and the plaintiffs argued that another shot fired by Curry grazed his arm.

“The jury has determined unanimously that these officers shot a little boy in the back and arm and lied about it,” Fieger said.

During a pivotal cross-examination, Fieger asked Nassan, “Why didn't you turn to Trooper Curry and say, 'Are you shot?' before you shot a child?”

“I had to stop the action, sir,” the trooper replied, using police jargon.

“He never turned around,” Fieger said. “He was running away. What action were you stopping? Some imaginary action?”

The pursuit began when the officers saw Ellerbe driving an SUV which had been reported stolen. He came to a stop in an alley, got out of the vehicle and ran away, with Nassan and Curry giving chase on foot.

Curry testified his gun went off as he climbed over a fence into the backyard of a home and insisted that “I never shot Michael Ellerbe.” A serration in the fence, he said, protruded into the trigger guard of the weapon, causing the trigger to pull.

But no gun residue was found along the fence and a forensics expert testified the trigger was pulled by Curry's trigger finger. “A reasonable juror could conclude defendant Curry’s testimony was not credible and determine that he intentionally fired his gun towards Ellerbe,” U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti said in an opinion denying summary judgment.

Conti also ruled that “viewing the disputed facts in the light favorable to plaintiff, defendants had no reason to believe that the 5'2", 110 pound Ellerbe was armed, nor did they perceive an immediate threat to themselves or anyone else when they fired.”

An attorney for the troopers said they will appeal and a police union official called the verdict “an incredible injustice.” What may be incredible is that the state ever imagined a jury would buy Curry's explanation of how his gun fired.

UPDATE

  • The parties settled the case for $12.5 million in November 2008 with the state's appeal pending.


  • Fieger's recent record in civil-rights cases is mixed. Last month, an Indiana jury rejected his case against a former police officer who shot a college student whom a homeowner had mistaken for a burglar.

    By Matthew Heller
    3/13/08


     
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