Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Judge strikes down California's same-sex marriage ban, finding that "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians."
U.S. v. Arizona
Arizona judge enjoins enforcement of a new immigration law's requirement that police determine the immigration status of
every person who is arrested.
McGuire v. United Airlines
Michigan woman says a United Express flight crew locked her in a plane for nearly four hours after it landed because they failed to ensure that all passengers had disembarked.
R.H. v. Schenectady Sch. Dist.
Middle school student says he was suspended for wearing rosary beads because the rosary "is considered a gang-related symbol" and cannot be worn in school.
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• Nevada man sues the Mormon church over a back injury he suffered performing baptisms for the dead. The church was negligent in not warning Daniel Dastrup that "the repetitive motion required for performing baptisms for the dead could cause serious damage to a person's back."
Dastrup v. LDS Church

• Attorney says he was harassed by his boss at a Newport Beach, Calif., law firm because refused to attend a seminar "where he would be stripped naked, not allowed to leave, be required to discuss details of his sex life, handle a wooden dildo, and potentially allow other men to touch his genitals."
Eggleston v. Bisnar/Chase

• Parents of a 10-year-old boy who witnessed a killer whale's fatal attack on a trainer sue Sea World Orlando for infliction of emotional distress. "Without question, it was reasonably foreseeable and in fact predictable that an attack such as this one by a killer whale with the tendencies of Tilikum was inevitable." Connell v. Sea World

• Denver judge dismisses Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols's civil rights claims against prison officials for denying him a high-fiber diet.
Nichols v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

• Illinois teenager with cerebral palsy sues the Special Olympics for refusing to let her play basketball with the help of a service dog.
Youngwith v. Special Olympics

• Montana judge sets aside a government decision removing protections for the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf. The Endangered Species Act "was not intended to sow the dragon's teeth of strife or to plant the seeds of future conflicts that have given rise to this case."
Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar

• San Francisco judge dismisses a cereal consumer's false advertising suit. "[T]here is nothing in the packaging or marketing of Cap’n Crunch that would in any way deceive a reasonable consumer into believing that the cereal contains or derives nutritional value from real fruit." Werbel v. PepsiCo

• Iowa judge says a sheriff denied the applications of a father and son for concealed weapons permits in retaliation for their political activism. "This is a great reminder that the First Amendment protects the sole individual who may be a gadfly, kook, weirdo, nut job, whacko, and spook, with the same force of protection as folks with more majoritarian and popular views." Dorr v. Weber

• 5th Circuit rules that a school district violated the religious freedom of a Native American boy by requiring him to wear his long hair in a bun on top of his head or in a braid tucked into his shirt. The boy "has a sincere religious belief in wearing his hair uncut and in plain view."
A.A. v. Needville Ind. Sch. Dist.




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Injury Claims

Talk Host Cites "Aggressive" Reporting Defense Print

Some might view Nancy Grace as anything but a journalist. But in response to a lawsuit filed by the parents of a woman who killed herself after being grilled by Grace, the histrionic talk-show host claims she was only practicing “aggressive newsgathering.”

Melinda Duckett

Nancy Grace

“Courts around the nation have acknowledged the well-established right of journalists to ask questions aggressively,” Grace attorney Judith M. Mercier says in a motion to dismiss the talk-show tort case of Beth and William Eubank.

The plaintiffs' daughter, Melinda Duckett, taped a phone interview with Grace about the disappearance of Duckett's two-year-old son. She committed suicide with a shotgun a day later and, according to the Eubanks' suit, CNN, Grace and her producers are to blame for the emotional distress “which was a cause or the proximate cause of her death.”

During the interview, the complaint alleges, Grace subjected the “anguished mother” to “severe interrogation, fist-pounding, and veiled accusations that she was responsible for her child [Trenton's] disappearance and death.”

A claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is actionable “where the conduct has been so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency.”

But Mercier argues in her brief that her client was merely responding to the evasiveness of Duckett, who would not reveal whether she had taken a polygraph test and what specific stores she had visited with Trenton on the day of his disappearance.

“[O]nly when the mother's answers were less than forthcoming did the host repeat the questions in an effort to secure more informative responses,” the brief says, and

it is simply not ... in any sense “outrageous” for a journalist to attempt to unearth clues about a child's disappearance by asking questions of his mother in a voluntary interview.

Grace, of course, was trained as a lawyer, not a reporter. But that distinction isn't likely to deny her protection from the Eubanks' claim.

"I think the question of who's a journalist and who's not is less relevant nowadays than the question who's involved in active journalism,” the president-elect of the Society of Professional Journalists told the Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner.

Other Sources


By Matthew Heller
8/10/07


 
rc_insidestories
  • Court Raps Judge Over 'Moral' Views in Adoption Case

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has rejected the reactionary views of a family court judge who ruled that a foster parent could not adopt a child because her out-of-wedlock relationship with a man was “immoral.”
    Read more...
  • Off With His Head! Woman Sues 'Mad Hatter' Actor

    Experimental theater clashes with premises liability law in the case of a Kentucky woman who claims she was injured while watching a performance of a circus-inspired play when one of the actors balanced his knee on her head.
    Read more...
  • Charity Worker Accuses CEO of Hypnotic Seduction

    A former charity worker may be pushing the limits of sexual harassment law by alleging that her boss required her to participate in “relaxation sessions” on his “magic couch” during which he hypnotized and molested her.
    Read more...
  • Appeal is Expert's Latest Challenge to Judges

    Expert witness Dr. David Egilman was previously successful in showing he had standing to appeal a judicial order in a case in which he was not a party — but that case may not help him in his latest challenge to a trial judge.
    Read more...
  • Plaintiff's Expert Files Appeal in 'Popcorn Lung' Lawsuit

    A controversial expert witness for plaintiffs has filed an unusual non-party appeal of a Washington state judge's decision finding his theory that snackers can contract lung disease from exposure to microwave popcorn is not scientifically sound.
    Read more...
  • Philly School Sued Over Race Attack on Student's Mom

    Taking civil rights law to what may be an extreme, an Asian-American woman is alleging a Philadelphia high school's tolerance of racism rendered her “helpless prey” to African-American students who attacked her when she picked her child up from the school.
    Read more...
  • 'McSteamy' Sex Tape Suit Cools off With Settlement

    Acting couple Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have dropped a $1 million lawsuit against Gawker.com for publishing a videotape featuring them in a nude threesome with a friend after the gossip website agreed to take down the much-viewed posting.
    Read more...
RC_OnFile

LaRocco v. McDonald's
Subject: Hot chocolate scalding
Document: Complaint

Stovell v. James
Subject: LeBron's paternity
Document: Motion to dismiss

Arnaout v. Warden
Subject: Muslim inmate prayer
Document: John Walker Lindh declaration

Marriage of J.B. and H.B.
Subject: Same-sex divorce
Document: Opinion

Rosenberg v. Google
Subject: Negligent navigation
Document: Complaint

more

RC_OnTrial

McCourt v. McCourt
Court: L.A. Superior
Subject: Dodgers divorce

Pom Wonderful v. Welch Foods
Court: USDC, C. Calif.
Subject: False advertising

more


RC_OnTheDocket

McCourt v. McCourt
Date: 8/30/10
Court: L.A. Superior
Hearing: Dodgers divorce trial

more