• 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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Woman Wins $1.5M in STD Transmission Case |
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In what may be one of the larger verdicts of its kind, an Iowa jury has awarded $1.5 million to a woman who sued a man for infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease after telling her he was disease-free.
Karly Rossiter, 25, has been diagnosed with both strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), one of which causes genital warts and the other cell abnormalities that can lead to cervical cancer. In a petition filed in March 2007, she alleged that Dr. Alan Evans, a Muscatine, Iowa, dentist, infected her during their 18-month relationship and failed to warn her to take appropriate steps to protect herself from infection.
Evans denied having HPV and Rossiter was not able to prove he actually knew he was infected. The FDA has not approved an HPV test for men and some men may have the virus without developing symptoms.
But after more than 10 hours of deliberations, a Muscatine County District Court jury last week found Evans liable for negligent transmission of HPV, awarding Rossiter $700,000 in compensatory damages and $800,000 in punitive damages.
“That's a lot of money for Iowa,” says Rossiter attorney Jeffrey R. Tronvold (Eells & Tronvold, Cedar Rapids, Iowa). Based on the average annual income in Muscatine County, the jury “gave her 30 years of work.”
Rossiter also alleged that Evans infected her with bacterial vaginitis. But that disease, unlike genital warts, is permanently curable.
Actual knowledge of infection is usually not a requirement for the tort of negligent infliction of an STD. Those who, "under the totality of the circumstances, have reason to know they are infected" may be liable under the standard of "constructive" knowledge.
But there does not appear to be any precedent for finding constructive knowledge of an HPV infection. In McPherson v. McPherson, 712 A.2d 1043 (1998), the Maine Supreme Judicial Court cleared a man of liability for infecting his wife with the virus, in part because –- like Evans -– he had no medical diagnosis of any STD.
According to Rossiter's petition, she met Evans in December 2004 when she went to his office for dental work. They began dating and sometime before the New Year, he “volunteered that he was free from any type of sexually transmitted disease.”
On New Year's Day 2005, the suit said, they had a sexual encounter with genital contact but “did not have intercourse.” Then a few days later,
Evans raised the topic of sexually transmitted diseases again, and specifically inquired as to whether Karly had ever been specifically tested for Human Papilloma Virus.
As a result of that inquiry, Rossiter went to her gynecologist and got tested. In April 2005, she learned that she could have the virus and about a year after the New Year's Day encounter with Evans she developed genital warts.
Tronvold questions why Evans would have asked Rossiter about being tested for HPV “if he didn't have something ... It's a bizarre question to ask somebody.” By not warning her to take precautions, he says, “he failed to do what a reasonable person would have done under the circumstances.”
The verdict form shows that $500,000 of Rossiter's compensatory damages was for future mental pain and suffering. The punitives were for Evans's "willful and wanton disregard" of her safety.
The jury rejected a battery claim which required the plaintiff to prove Evans deliberately infected her.
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UPDATES
Evans filed a notice of appeal in November 2008.
As On Point reports here, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict in a Dec. 30, 2009 opinion.
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COMMENT
"I have no idea why the jury seem[s] to have overlooked the testimony and medical records showing the lady had a bad pap [smear] two years before meeting the man ... Did anyone hear the male's testimony that he did not have sex with her until months AFTER her Jan. 11, 2005 positive HPV finding?” -- Ruth
"This seems like a fair decision. More importantly, it demonstrates that our existing tort laws are sufficient to cover even negligent, but unknowing, transmission of an STD. This should be another nail in the coffin for any calls to create a new legal scheme for 'intentional sex torts.'” -- Legal Satyricon
"[T]he notion that this infection is worth $1.5 million is beyond belief.” -- from Medskool.com
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By Matthew Heller
8/7/08 
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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...
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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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