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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Medical Student Wins More Time for Breast-Pumping Print

A Massachusetts appeals court judge has ordered the National Board of Medical Examiners to “respect and adequately accommodate” a Harvard student's right to breastfeed by giving her extra time to pump milk during a licensing exam.

“In order to put the petitioner on equal footing [with] the male and non-lactating examinees, she must be provided with sufficient time to pump breast milk and to address the same physiological and other functions to which those other examinees are able to attend,” Justice Gary S. Katzmann ruled.

One blogger called the decision “an incredible victory for lactating moms everywhere.” But Sophie Currier, who is breastfeeding her 4-month-old daughter, isn't in the clear yet to take an additional hour's break on each of the two days she sits her exam next week.

“Our position remains that the exam’s sponsors have in no way violated Ms. Currier’s rights,” the NBME's attorney said in announcing that the board will appeal to a three-judge panel.

Examinees are normally allotted 45 minutes of rest periods during the nine-hour test and some have suggested Currier is gaming the system -- the NBME had accommodated her dyslexia and attention deficit disorder by giving her an extra day to complete the exam.

“She’s already getting an extra day and she wants even MORE time? Outrageous,” fumed a Wall Street Journal reader.

But Katzmann focused only on whether the board's refusal to provide Currier with additional break time amounted to a “knowing, and therefore, intentional interference with her right to breastfeed.” And he gave the issue a much more thorough review than the trial judge who denied her motion for injunctive relief last week.

Nursing mothers who do not express their milk at least once every three hours can suffer painful breast engorgement or mastitis, an infection caused by blocked milk ducts. Noting that a pumping session takes 25 to 30 minutes, Katzmann said a 45-minute break is “patently insufficient to allow [Currier] to express the requisite breast milk, let alone satisfy her other bodily functions.”

Without the additional hour's rest period, he continued,

the petitioner must make a significant Hobbesian choice: use her break time to incompletely express breast milk and ignore her bodily functions, or abnegate her decision to express breast milk, resulting in significant pain.

In ruling for the NBME, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Patrick F. Brady stressed that it had offered to provide Currier with, among other things, a private room equipped with a power outlet so she can pump her milk in private.

Those accommodations, Katzmann said, “are entirely insufficient to permit the petitioner a full opportunity to express milk during the course of the exam and thereby place her on a common footing with her peers.”

UPDATES

  • Currier has postponed taking the exam pending the outcome of the board's appeal. A three-judge panel heard the case Oct. 2 and stayed Katzmann's order.

  • A three-judge panel affirmed Katzmann's decision Oct. 5, finding no abuse of discretion or clear error of law. The board says it will appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

  • Currier was scheduled to take the test Oct. 11-12 after the Supreme Judicial Court denied the board's request for expedited review.

  • By Matthew Heller
    9/27/07


     
    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.
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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.
      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...
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    RC_OnTrial

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