Free Republic

...The problems began last fall when [principal David] Davis, who did not return phone messages from The Associated Press, admonished the senior, who is identified only as "Jane Doe" in court records and whose friends say she doesn't want to talk about the experience. The friends donned gay pride T-shirts and rainbow-colored clothing when they found out how Davis had treated her, and he questioned many of them about their sexuality and association with gay students. Some were suspended. "Davis embarked on what can only be characterized as a 'witch hunt' to identify students who were homosexual and their supporters,...

The city has agreed to pay $2,007,000 to end a lawsuit brought by 52 people who were swept up in a mass arrest along a Midtown sidewalk during a protest against the invasion of Iraq. They were charged with blocking pedestrians, but videotapes show that at their most annoying, they might have slowed a few people carrying coffee into work. Public order did not seem to be in unusual danger that morning — certainly nothing that called for rounding up 52 people, or spending millions of dollars. Only two people were tried; they were acquitted, and charges against the other...

LANSING, Mich. — AARP, the national advocacy group for older Americans, is being accused of age discrimination. Bonita Brady, a 63-year-old from Michigan, says the group passed her over for a series of jobs because she was too old, despite excellent job reviews. She joined AARP in Chicago in 1996 as a health representative. She also worked for AARP in Washington before moving to the Lansing office in 2007. Brady says she lost her job in a reorganization and was passed over for nine vacancies. She sued last week in federal court in Michigan and is seeking more than $25,000.

Report: Hospital Patient Died After Being Left in Chair for 22 Hours Tuesday, August 19, 2008 E-Mail Print Share: RALEIGH, N.C. — Investigators say a North Carolina mental patient died after nurses at a state mental hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours and failed to feed him or help him to the bathroom, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Security video showed Steven H. Sabock, 50, as he died in April after he choked on medication at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro and a nurse stood nearby without helping, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. The newspaper said the...

An American lawyer has offered to represent Iran in an international lawsuit against Israel and his own government in an effort to stop Washington and Tel Aviv from initiating further sanctions against Tehran. Francis A. Boyle says following Washington's latest ultimatum to Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment within two weeks or face further isolation, Iran needs to act quickly. At weekend talks in Geneva, the United States delivered what it describes as a "clear and simple message" that Iran must choose between cooperation and confrontation. In an e-mail interview with Press TV, Boyle urged Iran to begin drafting lawsuits for...

A judge has now assessed attorney’s fees in the suit filed by Wharton County Republican County Chairwoman Debra Medina against the Republican Party of Texas. The suit, which alleged irregularities in how party convention delegates were selected in three counties, was dismissed just before the state convention in June. The plaintiffs were assessed $14,500 in attorney’s fees so far with the judge specifying further fees depending on how far the plaintiffs choose to appeal the original ruling. If the plaintiffs unsuccessfully appeal all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, their attorney’s fees could run as high as $39,500.

ANN ARBOR, MI — Today, July 31st at 10:00AM EST, a New Jersey Federal Court heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to a public school district’s policy totally banning Christmas music, including simple instrumentals without words, during year-end celebrations in its schools. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan filed the federal lawsuit on the grounds that the school district’s ban on religious music conveys a government-sponsored message of disapproval and hostility toward religion in violation of the Establishment Clause. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center,...

Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence. In a unanimous ruling...The Associated Press PORTLAND — Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence.

LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline)-Singer and songwriter Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit against Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and the Republican National Committee for using his 1977 hit song "Running on Empty," in a television ad. The ad criticizes Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama for telling Americans they can increase their gas mileage by keeping their car tires inflated to the proper pressure. In court papers filed in Los Angeles, Browne said the TV spot violates copyright law and falsely suggests that he endorses McCain's candidacy. The lawsuit says Browne throughout his career has "closely associated himself with liberal causes...

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday he plans to meet with Chevron Corp officials and lawyers for 30,000 jungle residents who are suing the U.S. oil giant for up to $16 billion over environmental damages. Peasants and Indians are suing the U.S. company in an Ecuadorean court over charges its Texaco unit polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 18 billion gallons of oil-laden water from 1972 to 1992. < > Chevron, which calls the case a "judicial farce" plagued by government interference, said on Friday it was open to reaching an amicable solution...

A federal judge ruled Friday that a Wichita Catholic school policy requiring students to speak only English didn't break any civil rights laws.

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A federal appeals court today rejected lawsuits by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against Saudi Arabia and senior members of the Saudi royal family, alleging that they helped foster al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruling in Manhattan, said Saudi Arabia and members of its royal family were protected from being sued because the State Department had not officially designated the desert kingdom as a supporter of terrorism. Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, foreign governments are immune from such lawsuits unless the State Department finds in advance that...

WICHITA, KN -- A lawsuit boiling in Wichita, Kansas over an English-only policy could have major ramifications for a Catholic school. Saint Anne's Catholic school, its principal, the church and the diocese are being sued for implementing an English only policy at school. When some students refused to sign a pledge to honor the policy they were expelled and their parents filed suit. Three families are suing alleging that the policy discriminates against those who speak other languages and lawyers for the families say it's racial discrimination and therefore violates their civil rights. The school says the policy was a...

Barack Obama and John McCain are scheduled to make a joint appearance Saturday at Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif. No other candidates have been invited, which has ticked off Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. Russ Verney, campaign manager for the former Georgia congressman, has just sent out a mass e-mail saying Barr will seek a court order to require the church to invite him, too. Which perhaps is an odd thing for a Libertarian to do — asking a judge to determine whom a church should invite into its sanctuary.

Jonathan King told teachers at his north Georgia alternate public school that he couldn’t stand being locked within the four concrete walls of a small seclusion room. In 2004, just weeks after threatening suicide, the 13-year-old eighth-grader hanged himself in the room, using a cord a teacher provided him to hold up his pants, court records show. Now, four years later, as the Alpine Program in Gainesville starts its new school year, Jonathan’s parents are suing the program and the agency that oversees it. Don and Tina King of Murrayville, just outside Gainesville, say the treatment their son received at...

A Kentucky college student has hired a lawyer after she was escorted out of a mall by security on Sunday because her dress was deemed too short, MyFOXBoston reports. Kymberly Clem, a 20-year-old student at Eastern Kentucky University, wore the dress Sunday after purchasing it from the mall in Richmond the previous day, the Richmond Register reported Tuesday. After just a few minutes inside of the mall, a security guard approached her and expressed concerns over the length of the garment. According to MyFOXBoston, the guard informed her that several female patrons had complained that she was disrupting their shopping...

August 13, 2008 Tonight's Maryland Independent Party conference call was a humdinger We had some guests from out-of-state on tonight's Maryland state conference call, including Markham Robinson of California. I invited Markham to join us and discuss the lawsuit announced today which contends that John McCain is ineligible to serve as president, and thus should not be allowed to be placed on the ballot in California. Callers had many questions and comments, and Markham answered all comers with scholarship and good humor. Listen to the mp3 recording of the call by clicking here -- http://www.marylandindependentparty.org/archive/Maryland_Independent_Party-conf_call-20080813.mp3 It's a tad over an...

A carved post and a boulder mark the place where Eddie Mies gunned down his dad last year on the family's rustic homestead in Shingle Springs. Up the hill a little farther, among the dusty pines and chaparral, stands another wooden post and a cairn of smaller rocks. This is where Mies, who was 34, died of bullet wounds from the ensuing gun battle with El Dorado County deputies. Three deputies and a police dog also were hit in the firefight that morning; all survived. The bloody date was June 5, 2007. Karen Mies, staggering under the news that her...

Parents Of Starved Teen Suing City OfficialsPHILADELPHIA (CBS3/AP) ― The parents charged along with city workers in the starvation death of a bedridden teenager have sued Philadelphia officials in her death. A prosecutor blasts Andrea and Daniel Kelly for trying to profit from their daughter's August 2006 death. Andrea Kelly is charged with murder in the death of her 14-year-old daughter, Danieal, who suffered from malnutrition and severe bedsores. The father, Daniel Kelly, is charged with endangerment. Kelly, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was found starved to death in a sweltering, filthy West Philadelphia home in August 2006. "It's absurd,...

Valerie Plame was dealt another setback Tuesday when a U.S. court of appeals upheld a federal judge's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration. Given the media's fascination with this former CIA operative who has claimed for years she was illegally outed by the White House for political reasons, it will be interesting to see just how much attention this ruling gets in the next 48 hours.

Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses.

Governor To Ask For Legal Immunity For Teachers FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels says teachers should have legal protections if they act in good faith to maintain discipline and order in their classrooms. Daniels said Monday that if he is re-elected, he would ask the General Assembly next year to give legal immunity to teachers who may become the target of litigation. For example, one Indiana student sued a principal for attempting to restrain the student after he was separated during a fight. Another student filed a tort claim after a gym teacher required the student to...

Richard Dreyfuss sues father, uncle over loan 1 day ago LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Dreyfuss is suing his father and uncle over an $870,000 loan he claims was never repaid. The lawsuit centers around a loan Dreyfuss claims he made to his relatives in 1984, who owned an interest in a downtown Los Angeles office building. Roughly 24 years later, Dreyfuss says that loan — and interest — remains unpaid.

LOS ANGELES - -- A state appeals court reversed itself today and ruled that parents in California have the right to home school their children even if they lack a teaching credential. The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles had ruled Feb. 28 that the state's compulsory education law requires parents to send their children to a full-time public or private school or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. The ruling caused an uproar among home-schooling advocates and could have made truants out of an estimated 166,000 children in California who are taught at home by...

Victory for Free Speech in DeJohn v. Temple by Kelly Sarabyn August 4, 2008 The Third Circuit Court of Appeals filed an opinion today in DeJohn v. Temple University, et al. The opinion provides an eloquent defense of free speech rights on university campuses and concludes with an unambiguous finding that Temple's speech code is facially unconstitutional. Today's ruling is a great victory for Sergeant Christian DeJohn, the Temple master's student and member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard who brought the challenge to Temple's speech code. Christian's willingness to take a stand for his First Amendment right to free...

A story that's not getting a lot of attention, but might blow up in a big way before the election, is that the DNC is getting sued for firing a gay staffer. The Austin American-Statesman has gotten their hands on Dean's deposition and it's great watching Dean kind of squirm on the witness stand, at one time telling his lawyer "I'm used to much worse from Tim Russert." (The deposition was from March of this year.) An excerpt from the article: But an increasingly nasty lawsuit against the DNC, brought by Donald Hitchcock after he was fired as the party’s...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts announced today it is suing the Secretary of State's office for refusing to put Libertarian Bob Barr on the presidential ballot in November.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Deutsche Bank executive is suing a son and a brother of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for at least $10 million over a deal they had to buy into a hedge fund, according to court documents. Stephane Farouze, who is global head of fund derivatives for Deutsche Bank and lives in London, claimed that Biden's son Hunter and brother James broke a May 2006 contract and defrauded him after agreeing to buy his membership interests in New York-based Paradigm Companies LLC. The lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in June names Washington...

The state of Alaska has sued the U.S. government, arguing that listing polar bears as a threatened species will hurt Alaskan oil and gas exploration, fisheries and tourism. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, seeks the withdrawal of a May 14 decision to list the big Arctic bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because climate change is melting their sea ice habitat. "We believe that the ... decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said in a statement. Polar bears...

Can a crankiness land you in court? The case of Sandra Brown v. Victoria Osteen is the story of a chance encounter on an airplane that turned into a nasty legal battle. Osteen is the wife of popular self-help author and television minister Joel Osteen, who heads the Lakewood Church, Houston's largest congregation. Brown is a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. The lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court in Houston, alleges that Victoria Osteen "shoved, grabbed and pulled the flight attendants." The suit goes on to claim that Osteen elbowed Brown, who was the flight manager, while allegedly trying...

VALPARAISO-The very much alive Jackson Township woman declared dead by Porter hospital in January filed suit last week against the hospital. Diane Wright, 67, and her husband are suing for damages caused when Porter staff declared her dead after a 46-year-old North Judson woman with her name died in the hospital on Jan. 25. Since then, Wright had had her Social Security and Blue Cross/Blue Shield terminated. The federal government billed her husband, Delbert Wright, $2,941.80 for Social Security paid into their joint account.

August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin announced today the State of Alaska has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This action follows written notice given more than 60 days ago to Secretary Dirk Kempthorne of the Department of the Interior and Director Dale Hall of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking that the regulation listing the polar bear as threatened be withdrawn.“We believe that the Service’s decision to list...

A new feature on the Google Internet site allows anyone with a computer and Internet access to look at street-level views of towns and cities throughout the world. Although it's a useful tool for drivers planning car trips and curious folks who want to explore the globe, at least one lawsuit has been filed from a couple who said their privacy was violated after Google's cameras took a picture of their home as the company mapped the United States. Google offers the map service free of charge for people with access to a computer. After the company's Google Earth program...

Scientists have been warning us about the devastating impact global warming could have if human-made greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, and many believe that these impacts are being felt now. Because of this sense of urgency to reverse global warming, pressure has been mounting on the three branches of government at state and national levels to take action to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, corporations that emit greenhouse gases, ranging from energy companies to toymakers, are becoming increasingly exposed to regulatory orders and lawsuits for which they will tender claims to their insurers. Enter an era of...

Think you're in good hands with your insurance company? Think again. A recent research study by the American Association for Justice, "The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America," makes it clear that one of the main reasons the top insurance companies are doing so well is that they have consciously embarked on aggressive policies to avoid paying out claims, whether the claims are justified or not. In other words, they will take your money, but when it's time for them to pay you, watch out. Bottom line: insurance companies are more interested in collecting premiums than in paying claims. The...

Several newspapers and The Associated Press have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against the operator of a collection of Web sites, the news organizations announced Friday. The Police News Publishing Co., Breck Porter and six affiliated Web sites had been accused of accessing the news content of the organizations without their authorization and posting it on the Web sites, where advertising appears. The content was then archived; the archiving, publication, distribution and display of the content all violated the news organizations' copyright, according to the suit. Porter, of Galveston, was the editor of the various Web sites. In addition to...

George Juelch was in Baghdad, about to embark on a hazardous eight-hour road trip to Mosul, when he got a disturbing phone call from his wife in Pismo Beach. She told him she had just opened a letter from the California Military Department. The department runs the National Guard and had hired Juelch as a cook at Camp San Luis Obispo before he was mobilized for Iraq duty. The Guard was writing Juelch to tell him it was shutting down the dining facility at the camp, and would no longer need his services. In other words, he was being laid...

After years of barging over husky defenders on the gridiron, ex-Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown is attempting to tackle two serious video game heavyweights in court. According to Bloomberg, Brown has filed suit against Sony Computer Entertainment America and Electronic Arts over using his likeness in the popular Madden football series. He seeks a court order preventing either company from continuing to use his likeness in the franchise as well as damages stemming from trademark violation. At issue is the starting running back on Madden's "All Browns Team." The character is African-American and bears the same jersey number Brown...

Mayor Daley today cracked the door open to abandoning the costly fight to uphold Chicago’s 1982 handgun freeze—if he can fashion a replacement ordinance that protects the safety of first-responders. Until now, Daley had emphatically promised to defend Chicago’s ordinance—all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if need be—despite what he called the dangerous precedent set by the nation’s highest court...

A former state employee living as a transgender woman on Friday filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against leading Georgia lawmakers and the supervisor who fired her. Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn, a former employee in the General Assembly Office of Legislative Counsel, was fired after she told supervisors she no would no longer come to work as a man. The lawsuit names the office's director, Sewell Brumby, House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Senate President Pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). Glenn is represented by lawyers with Lambda Legal, a gay rights advocacy group. According to the lawsuit, Brumby...

Supporters of Proposition 8, the proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, said they would file suit today to block a change made by California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to the language of the measure's ballot title and summary. Petitions circulated to qualify the initiative for the ballot said the measure would amend the state Constitution "to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." In a move made public last week and applauded by same-sex marriage proponents, the attorney general's office changed the language to say that Proposition 8...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a judge's ruling that a company that hired a man shortly before he murdered a woman and her 4-year-old daughter is not liable in their deaths. Despite not checking into Fredrick Baer's criminal history -- which includes burglary and theft convictions -- the appeals court ruled July 24 that there wasn't enough evidence to show that Aris Inc., should have suspected that Baer was capable of killing while on the clock. Baer, 36, was working as an Aris traffic controller at a construction site in February 2004 when the Indianapolis man...

More News on the Tolkien vs. New Line Lawsuit July 20th, 2008 by Altaira Thanks again to Voronwe_the_Faithful for posting another update on the Tolkien vs. New Line Lawsuit on our message boards: The plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint last Monday (which I believe was the last day for them to do so). They have dropped the fiduciary duty cause of action (as expected), but they have asserted new allegations to support the fraud cause of action. They added more specific claims as to how they contend that New Line misrepresented the amount of expenses that it had in...

A jury this week ordered RoseMary Shell's ex-fiance, Wayne Gibbs, to pay her $150,000 after he broke off their engagement three days before the wedding by leaving her a note in their bathroom. Do you think she should receive financial compensation?

His dad made it big in politics, but Andrew Giuliani’s dreams veer toward a career as a professional golfer, he explained as he smacked golf balls Thursday on Randalls Island, which is one reason, he said, that he sued Duke University and its head golf coach for pushing him off the varsity team this spring... ...In the lawsuit, he acknowledged that he may have misbehaved in February when he tossed an apple in a teammate’s face, flipped his putter a few feet, threw and broke a club and gunned his engine in a parking lot......An e-mail message to Andrew Giuliani...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against an Islamic civil rights group over its use of a portion of his show in which he called the Quran a "book of hate." Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, for copyright infringement and racketeering lawsuit late last year, claiming the group violated his rights by using a segment of his "Savage Nation" show in a letter-writing campaign to get advertisers to boycott the program. In the broadcast used by CAIR, Savage also called the Muslim holy...

Most of you will remember a few years ago when I blogged about the story of Mark Edward Marchiafava, who was unlawfully detained, had his property confiscated and was subsequently told that his right to keep and bear arms was little more than a privilege subject to the interpretation of the Gonzales, La. police, despite what the Supreme Court or the laws of Louisiana say. Many of you will also remember a blurb by Say Uncle a few days ago that gave a small preview of the fact that Mark's case has finally been settled - AFTER MORE THAN TWO...

After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant. The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago. "The idea of waging a war on drugs is to protect people and here it seems like we're putting people in harm's way," said Lance Block, a lawyer hired by Rachel's parents. The Florida Attorney General's office says it is reviewing the procedures and...

Two women claim in a lawsuit that a Michigan McDonald's refused to hire them because they wear the hijab, or Muslim headscarf. Toi Whitfield of Detroit and Quiana Pugh of Dearborn say they were both told by managers at a McDonald's in Dearborn they would have to take off their hijabs to work, the Detroit Free Press reports. They filed a discrimination lawsuit Thursday in Detroit. The Detroit area has one of the biggest Muslim communities in the United States, and the Dearborn McDonald's is one of only two restaurants in the chain that serves halal Chicken McNuggets that meet...