• 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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Student Fights for Right to Wear "Rebel Flag" |
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 Unless a Missouri high school really has a “history of racial tension,” school officials may not be able to show they had a legitimate reason to discipline a freshman for displaying the Confederate flag on his clothing.
In a civil-rights suit filed in November, Bryce Archambo, 14, alleges his sartorial expression is protected under the First Amendment and seeks a court order enjoining the Farmington R-7 School District from conditioning his attendance on how he dresses.
Officials suspended Archambo from Farmington High in September, the complaint says, after warning him that he “could not wear any clothing with the 'rebel flag' or any representation of the Confederate States, due to the alleged inherent message of racism that such insignia sends.”
The offending clothing included a belt buckle and t-shirt that featured the Confederate flag and the words “Dixie Classics.” Archambo's mother removed him from the district “as a direct result of Defendants' censorship of [his] speech” and he has been home-schooled ever since.
Under Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), school officials may forbid student speech that they reasonably believe would “substantially interfere with the work of the school or impinge upon the rights of other students.”
Cases involving representations of the Confederacy have boiled down to the possible effect on school discipline. In West v. Derby Unified, 206 F.3d 1358 (2000), the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the suspension of a student who drew a picture of the Confederate flag, citing, among other things, past verbal confrontations between black and white students.
Farmington R-7 “has a history of racial tension," the district's attorney, Thomas A. Mickes, argues in a court brief, "which makes it substantially likely that allowing [Archambo] to wear t-shirts and other clothing with the confederate flag symbol will cause disruption to the work of the District."
The pleading does not provide any details, but Mickes told the Daily Journal newspaper of Park Hills, Mo., that the state investigated a case of racial remarks made during a basketball game in a neighboring school district.
“Schools have become far too violent,” he lamented. “We want to remove any of those potential sources.”
But Mickes' evidence of racial tension looks weak in comparison to West. And Tinker makes clear that "undifferentiated fear or apprehension" of a disturbance is not enough to overcome a student's free-speech rights.
The population of Farmington, a small town 60 miles south of St. Louis, is 90 percent white and only seven percent black.
By Peyton Burgess
2/26/07
 The owner of a Hooters restaurant in Alabama agreed to pay $15,600 to a former employee who alleged he was illegally fired for complaining about lewd comments made to waitresses by a training manager, On Point has learned.
The waitresses asked Jarman Gray to intercede with the management of Alabama Wings, which operates Hooters of Auburn, after a trainer identified only as Cat allegedly told them they were “the ones with the pussys” and “If you need the extra money, go ahead and suck a dick or fuck the customer if the money is right.”
Gray contacted the head of the franchise division at Hooters' corporate office. But according to a complaint filed in April 2006, franchise owner Darrell Spikes terminated him, saying, “I'm top dog. You don't call corporate.”
The parties agreed to the $15,600 settlement in December, but the terms were not made public until the plaintiff filed a motion claiming Alabama Wings had failed to make the first two of three installment payments.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Russ Walker last week ordered the company to pay $12,275 -– consisting of the remaining amount due under the settlement plus penalties and attorney's fees -- no later than March 10.
Hooters and its franchisees have settled a series of high-profile harassment cases in recent years (see table below). Alabama Wings accused Gray in a counterclaim of making false representations to six Hooters girls to induce them to quit their jobs.
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HARASSMENT AT HOOTERS
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Case
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Claim
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Outcome
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Anenberg v. Hooters of America (Los Angeles Super. Ct. 2004)
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Manager secretly videotaped applicants for waitress jobs while they were changing into uniforms.
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Most of the plaintiffs settled in April 2006.
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Ciesielski v. Hooters Management (USDC, N. Ill. 2003)
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Workers spied on waitress through peepholes in changing room wall.
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Case settled in June 2005 after jury awarded $275,000 to plaintiff.
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Colangelo v. Hooters of America (USDC, E. Pa. 2005)
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Manager made comments about waitress's breasts and required her to wear tight tank tops.
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Case settled in September 2006.
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Gray v. Jarman (USDC, M. Ala. 2006)
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Owner fired manager for complaining about lewd comments to waitresses.
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Case settled for $15,600 in December 2006.
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Steinhoff v. Upriver Restaurant (USDC, E. Ky. 1999)
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Two managers made unwanted sexual advances toward waitress.
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Case settled in January 2001 after judge reduced jury award from $275,000 to $25,000.
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By Matthew Heller
2/26/07
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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...
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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.
Read more...
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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...
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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.
Read more...
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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.”
Read more...
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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...
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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...
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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
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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
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Brown v. Herbert
Date: 12/16/11
Court: USDC, Utah
Hearing: Motion to dismiss polygamy case
more
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