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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LC_ExtraPoints

• 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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MySpace Turning into Fertile Territory for Lawsuits Print

myspaceThe way things are going, enterprising attorneys should be thinking about practicing MySpace law. Over the past six months, at least five lawsuits (see table below) related to the social networking Web site have surfaced around the country, the latest involving the rock group Buckcherry.

In the Los Angeles County Superior Court case filed last week, MySpace itself is not a defendant. But the plaintiff, a teenage girl identified only as Jane Doe, alleges that Buckcherry coerced her into participating in the filming of a pornographic video after advertising for music video extras on MySpace.

The band “advertised the casting call for the making of the music video ... through their 'myspace' website knowing this was a convenient forum for attracting young, impressionable women,” the complaint says.

On Point has previously reported on the case of a 14-year-old Texas girl who claims MySpace has a duty to protect underage users from adult sexual predators. A 19-year-old man sexually assaulted the plaintiff about a month after first contacting her on MySpace, where she had a user profile.

Elsewhere, a private school in Utah and the president of a sporting goods retailer in California have sued MySpace on claims relating to the posting of allegedly defamatory material on the site.

And in Connecticut, a teacher claims he lost his job at a high school for no other reason than that he “used myspace.com as a communications medium.” Jeffrey Spanierman is only suing school officials for civil-rights violations.

Case

Court

Claim

Chick v. Kuziw

San Bernardino (Calif.) Superior

MySpace user posted defamatory material about sporting goods retailer.

Jane Doe v. MySpace

Travis County (Texas) District

MySpace failed to protect teen from sexual predator.

Jane Doe v. Warner Music Group

Los Angeles County Superior

Rockers used MySpace to lure girls into making porn video.

Sorensen's Ranch School v. MySpace

USDC, Utah

MySpace user posted defamatory material about private school.

Spanierman v. Hughes

USDC, Conn.

Teacher fired for using MySpace to communicate with students.


By Matthew Heller
9/12/06



A Baltimore restaurant is not liable for injuries suffered by guests when an old-fashioned Ukrainian wedding reception turned into an old-fashioned brawl, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has ruled.

Edward Veytsman and his wife, who were dining at the New York Palace with another couple, were assaulted in August 2001 by patrons attending the wedding reception. The restaurant had provided alcohol for the reception and some guests had brought their own vodka with them.

The brawl began after one of the Veytsmans' party, Svetlana Barmak, had an altercation in the women's restroom with the bride's sister. Things escalated from there, with Edward Veytsman suffering such a severe injury to one of his eyes that it had to be surgically removed.

In the typical “dram shop” case, intoxicated persons injure an innocent third party or themselves outside the place where they got drunk. The Veytsmans, however, sued the New York Palace for failing to protect them from other patrons on the premises.

“We have not found a Maryland case that is factually analogous to this one, in which a patron of a restaurant or tavern sued the establishment for negligence after he was injured by the violence of another patron inside the establishment,” the appeals court observed.

A trial judge granted the New York Palace's motion for judgment as a matter of law. And the appeals court affirmed, finding the assault was not foreseeable to the restaurant owners.

“[T]here is no evidence allowing a reasonable inference that the New York Palace was made aware of the potential for, to use the Veytsmans’ term, 'a volatile situation' until the actual assault began,” the opinion said.

Allowing guests to bring their own booze was a violation of Maryland liquor law. But Court of Special Appeals Judge Sally D. Adkins found no evidence that the restaurant's permissiveness “by itself, created an unreasonable risk of physical harm to the Veytsmans.”

By Matthew Heller
9/12/06


 
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.
    Read more...
  • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

    The maker of Four Loko has previewed its defense of a slew of product liability lawsuits, arguing that the physical effects of the energy drink's mixture of alcohol and caffeine — far from being an undisclosed risk to consumers — are precisely what made it so popular.
    Read more...
  • 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.
    Read more...
  • '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.”
    Read more...
  • 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...
RC_OnFile

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

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RC_OnTrial

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


RC_OnTheDocket

Brown v. Herbert
Date: 12/16/11
Court: USDC, Utah
Hearing: Motion to dismiss polygamy case

more