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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• 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

• Massachusetts appeals court says 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

• Oregon judge rules that a self-proclaimed "investigative blogger" is not "considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim." Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• 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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Police Dog Sued for Biting Woman on Butt Print

If Inez Starks goes to trial in her lawsuit against Warren, Mich., police officers, the judge may have to order one of the defendants not to bark in the courtroom.

Starks, 55, is suing over a dog bite she received during an altercation with police in April 2007. The suit names 10 individual defendants -- nine human officers, plus Liberty, the canine officer who injured her right buttock, allegedly leaving her with nerve damage.

“The K9 went out of control and viciously and brutally bit Inez Stark's [sic] right buttocks cheek, as well as biting Warren Police Officer [Scott] Taylor's leg,” the complaint, filed last month in Macomb County Circuit Court, says.

Preposterous as it may seem, this is not the only case of its kind. In November 2005, a convicted marijuana dealer sued an Athens County, Ohio, sheriff's department dog for illegally searching his furniture business.

The court docket in that case shows that "Canine Andi" was served with the complaint and was represented by the same counsel as the county sheriff. The dog was still listed as a defendant when the case was voluntarily dismissed in March 2006.

Starks attorney Lawrence N. Radden of Detroit says Liberty, a German shepherd who has worked for the City of Warren since 2002, is a legitimate defendant because it is a licensed police officer. But he admits that for the most part, he included the dog in the suit “to make people aware that this dog is vicious.”

“There's something wrong with this dog,” Radden insists, noting its alleged assault on Taylor.

The suit alleges a statutory dog bite claim against only the City of Warren and Liberty's handler, Officer Randy Baird. Liberty is accused with Baird, Taylor and the other police officers of assault and battery and gross negligence.

Starks says she was bitten outside the home of her daughter where police had gone on a truancy complaint. “She got a little loud, a little angry,” Radden told the Macomb Daily. “She was concerned for her daughter, and I think the police were out of line.”

The dog bite allegedly damaged Starks's sacroiliac nerve, impairing her ability to walk. “Ms. Stark also sustained severe and permanent injury and is forced to take Vicodin and other pain medications,” the suit says.

Whether or not the case proceeds with Liberty as a defendant, it faces the severe obstacle of the city's governmental immunity from tort liability. Radden is hoping the immunity will not apply to the strict liability dog bite claim, but a Michigan appeals court ruled in Tate v. City of Grand Rapids, 671 N.W.2d 84 (2003), that such a claim is “still a tort action seeking to impose tort liability.”

Gross negligence, though not subject to the immunity shield, requires Starks to prove that the defendants' conduct was “so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results.”

UPDATE

  • A Macomb County Circuit Court dismissed Starks' claims against the dog as frivolous and ordered her to pay $500 in sanctions for frivolously naming it as a defendant.


  • By Matthew Heller
    9/4/08


     
    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

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    Document: Complaint

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    RC_OnTrial

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    Subject: Child molestation
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    RC_OnTheDocket

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

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