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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P&G Exorcises Devil Rumors with $19M Verdict Print

amwayIt may be hard to have much sympathy for Amway distributors, but a $19.25 million jury verdict seems grossly disproportionate to any injury five distributors may have caused by spreading a rumor that Procter & Gamble is in league with the devil.

The consumer products giant won what may be one of the largest false advertising awards on record after no less than 12 years of litigation against Randy Haugen and four members of his Ogden, Utah-based Amway distribution group. Amway itself was dismissed from the case in 2001.

In an April 1995 message posted on the Amvox internal phone-mail system, Haugen said P&G's president had appeared on a TV talk show and “stated that a large portion of the profits from [P&G] products go to support his satanic church.” The message listed 43 specific products.

P&G's rumored associations with Lucifer go back to the 1980s when some claimed that its man-in-the-moon logo was a satanic symbol. But a federal jury in Salt Lake City last week found Haugen and his co-defendants liable for perpetuating the rumor to gain an unfair advantage over their competitor.

The Lanham Act's false advertising provision applies to any use of a “false or misleading representation of fact ... in commercial advertising or promotion” which “misrepresents the nature, characteristics, [or] qualities ... of ... another person's goods, services, or commercial activities.”

A major issue in the case was whether the Amway distributors used the satanism rumor in a “promotion” and, if so, how they could have specifically damaged P&G when it had already been circulating for so long before Haugen's Amvox message.

“Hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people had been taken in by it between 1980 and April 20, 1995,” the defense said in a motion for judgment as a matter of law, going on to argue that the distributors

directly forwarded the message to fewer than fifty people. This is not enough to constitute sufficient dissemination to be an advertisement or promotion.

P&G used Amway's pyramid-sales structure against the defendants. “The dissemination issue must be examined in the unique context of the Amway distribution organization and culture,” it said in a brief, claiming the jury could infer the rumor spread to “many thousands, and even hundreds of thousands, of people.”

Even if the dissemination did go that far, Haugen retracted his message within a week of posting it. And P&G's evidence of a causative link between the rumor and lost profits was speculative to say the least.

The company's expert estimated damages at $545 million by comparing the sales growth of the products mentioned in the Amvox message to all other P&G products. P&G had profits of nearly $13 billion during the alleged damage period.

The jury didn't buy the expert's number, but still punished the distributors severely for what amounted to, as the defense put it, “a small blip among a surge in Internet rumor activity.”

An appeal would be no surprise -- the case has so far generated three published opinions (see table below). "We are stunned," Haugen said of the verdict. "All of us."

A DEVIL OF A CASE

Citation

Decision

P&G v. Haugen, 222 F.3d 1262 (2000)

Reversed summary dismissal of Lanham Act claim against all defendants and tortious interference claim against Amway.

P&G v. Haugen, 317 F.3d 1121 (2003)

Upheld dismissal of all claims against Amway.

P&G v. Haugen, 427 F.3d 727 (2005)

Reversed dismissal of remaining Lanham Act claim against distributors.

By Matthew Heller
3/22/07

 
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.
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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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  • 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.
    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

more

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