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.




Alltop_125x125.jpg







Suit Would Allow Teacher to Pack Heat on Campus Print

An Oregon teacher suing school officials who have barred her from carrying a concealed handgun on campus is portraying her case as a product of court decisions that have made it harder to sue police agencies for failing to protect domestic abuse victims.

“Defendant has no duty to defend plaintiff,” the high-school teacher, a mother of two identified only as Jane Doe, says in a motion for a preliminary injunction against the Medford School District's policy of forbidding employees from being armed on campus.

The brief includes a copy of a Sept. 13 decision in which the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the summary dismissal of the case of a woman whose husband, himself a police officer, shot her after she had obtained restraining orders against him.

Under Pennsylvania law, police “shall arrest a defendant for violating an order.” But the 3rd Circuit said the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005), that “a statute’s mandatory arrest language should not be read to strip law enforcement of the discretion they have traditionally had in deciding whether to make an arrest.”

Burella v. City of Philadelphia is “the latest example of [a] domestic violence victim who has been barred from obtaining relief from the police officers who failed to protect her from her husband,” the teacher's motion says.

The teacher has a concealed weapons permit and claims she needs a handgun on campus to defend herself from her violent ex-husband. A restraining order that prohibited him from contacting her has expired and she says she “remains in fear” of him.

“Plaintiff prays for a permanent injunction prohibiting defendant from regulating, restricting, or prohibiting her possession, transportation, or use of a firearm for as long as defendant has a valid concealed handgun license,” her complaint says.

Cases like Castle Rock, Burella and other progeny of DeShaney v. Winnebago County, 489 U.S. 189 (1989), certainly demonstrate the formidable hurdles in the way of domestic abuse victims pursuing federal due process claims against police officers. But the pistol-packing teacher fails to mention her potential remedies under state law.

In Nearing v. Weaver, 670 P.2d 137 (1983), the Oregon Supreme Court said a woman could sue police for not enforcing a restraining order against her husband because her case was based on “a specific duty imposed by [Oregon's mandatory arrest law] for the benefit of individuals previously identified by a judicial order.”

“Despite the Supreme Court's Castle Rock ruling, protective orders are still an important tool for keeping victims safe,” the director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association has said.

The teacher's motion for an injunction will be heard Oct. 11 in Jackson County Circuit Court. The Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation is paying for her lawyer and gun rights advocates have been denouncing the school district for interfering with her right to self-protection.

But unless she can find a satisfactory response to Nearing, the courts are unlikely to buy her argument that the law has left her otherwise defenseless.

By Matthew Heller
9/25/07




 

Judge Cheuvront

A Nebraska federal judge refused today to "jump right into the middle" of a pending rape case and protect the alleged victim from a state judge who will not let her say "rape" in the trial of the suspect.

"[I]nvoking federal jurisdiction seeking a declaratory judgment against a state court judge who is presiding over a state criminal case is serious business requiring far more legal support than Ms. [Tory] Bowen and her counsel have provided," U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf said in dismissing the case before the defendant had even responded to it.

Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, who is presiding over the case of the man who allegedly raped Bowen, has issued a pretrial order barring her and all other witnesses from using certain words and phrases including “rape,” “victim,” “assailant,” and “sexual assault kit.”

Bowen alleged in her unusual declaratory relief action that the order violated her rights of freedom of speech, assembly and due process. And Kopf suggested Cheuvront had gone too far.

"For the life of me, I do not understand why a judge would tell an alleged rape victim that she cannot say she was 'raped' when she testifies in a trial about rape," he said in his ruling. "... In my opinion, no properly instructed jury is going to be improperly swayed because a woman uses the word 'rape' rather than some tortured equivalent for the word."

But he went on to note that he has never presided over a rape trial and

If the plaintiff’s lawyers are really serious about me “guiding” Judge Cheuvront, they might want to think again. Trust me, federal judges are no smarter (or dumber) than their state counterparts.

 

UPDATE

  • Bowen filed a notice of appeal Oct. 23 with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

  •  

    Other Bowen Case Sources

    By Matthew Heller
    9/25/07

     
    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.
      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

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    RC_OnTheDocket

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

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