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A motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Eastside Catholic School by an administrator fired in December after his same-sex marriage came to light has been rejected by King County Superior Court in Seattle. In a ruling read from the bench Friday, Judge Catherine Shaffer said it did not appear that proceeding with the case would interfere with the school's First Amendment rights, and that if facts outlined in the complaint by Mark Zmuda could be proven, "it looks like we would be entitled to relief," Zmuda attorney Rick Friedman told NCR. In a statement emailed to NCR, the law firm...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania's governor says he won't appeal a court decision that struck down the state's gay marriage ban. Gov. Tom Corbett's decision Wednesday means that same-sex marriage will remain legal in Pennsylvania, without the threat that a higher court will reinstate the ban. "I have thoroughly reviewed Judge Jones' opinion in the Whitewood case. Given the high legal threshold set forth by Judge Jones in this case, the case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal. Therefore, after review of the opinion and on the advice of my Commonwealth legal team, I have decided not to appeal Judge...

This may just be the biggest lawsuit of all time. Anton Purisima, 62, filed a lawsuit last month in Manhattan for $2 undecillion. That’s the number 2 followed by 36 zeros — otherwise known as more money than there is on Earth. The suit involves a series of events, including allegedly being bitten by a rabid dog on a city bus and a couple taking unauthorized photos of him while being treated at a local hospital. In addition to suing the city and the MTA, Purisima is also suing two New York hospitals, Kmart, LaGuardia Airport, a bakery and even...

A 14-year battle over the care of Feld Entertainment's circus elephants ended Thursday with the Humane Society of the United States and others paying a $15.75 million settlement.The lawsuit was filed by a company the Humane Society acquired, along with other animal rights groups, against Feld, parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, over the care of its 43 Asian elephants.The settlement follows $9.3 million that the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals paid in 2012 for its connection to false claims against Feld in U.S. District Court in Washington."We hope this settlement payment,...

EXCLUSIVE: Donald Sterling vows to take his fight for the LA Clippers to the Supreme Court and calls Obama 'flippant' for attacking his racist views Disgraced LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling insists that the NBA has no legal right to force him to sell his beloved basketball team and fine him $2.5m – and he’s willing to take the fight to the Supreme Court.Sterling’s resolute stance is revealed for the first time in recordings obtained by MailOnline in which he lays bare his true feelings towards basketball’s governing body. What’s more, the 81-year-old says he won't pay a $2.5million fine...

A former employee of Magic Johnson says the basketball legend fired her for being seven minutes late to work — a delay she blames on his request for a turkey sandwich. Lanita Thomas filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court this week saying her dismissal over tardiness was actually a “pretext” for ageism. She is 45 years old.

Milwaukee police who forced their way into a gun rights advocate's home without a warrant, took her for an emergency mental evaluation and seized her gun were justified under the circumstances and protected from her civil rights claims, a federal appeals court has ruled. "The intrusions upon Sutterfield's privacy were profound," Judge Ilana Rovner wrote for three-judge panel. "At the core of the privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment is the right to be let alone in one's home." But the court also found, that on the other hand, "There is no suggestion that (police) acted for any reason other...

Last May, Kelly was asleep in the passenger seat when his friend was pulled over for drunken driving on Interstate 71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, according to The Columbus Dispatch. When Ohio State Trooper Bryan Cook woke Kelly, he was startled and began flailing his arms, according to the lawsuit. Fayette County Deputy Clinton Sines then drew his Taser, opened the passenger door and shouted for Cook to get out of the truck and show his hands as he grabbed the back of Kelly's sweatshirt and tried to pull him out, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says Sines was apparently...

Atheist parents and students wanted the Pledge of Allegiance banned in schools in Massachusetts because it contains the phrase "under God," but the state's highest court has ruled that reciting it does not violate the commonwealth's constitution or laws. "We hold that the recitation of the pledge, which is entirely voluntary, violates neither the Constitution nor the statute [which prohibits discrimination in Massachusetts public school education] ...," the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said Friday in Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District. "Simply being offended by something does not make it a violation of the Massachusetts Constitution," said Senior Legal Counsel...

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 5 upheld the practice of voluntary prayer before public meetings by a 5-4 ruling, drawing praise from those who said such prayers are a long American tradition that avoids censoring religion. “Opening public meetings with prayer is a cherished freedom that the authors of the Constitution themselves practiced,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel David Cortman said May 5. “Speech censors should have no power to silence volunteers who pray for their communities just as the Founders did.” Cortman said the Supreme Court “affirmed that Americans are free to pray.” “In America, we tolerate a...

FULL TITLE: Will the infamous 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals make First Amendment exception for Islamists by forcing Google to remove Muhammad movie? By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Google on February 26, 2014 to remove the controversial movie “Innocence of Muslims” from Youtube.com. This movie that sparked protests across the Muslim world “depicts Muhammad as a feckless philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse, among other overtly insulting claims that have caused outrage. In a 13 minute 51 second trailer, the Islamic prophet is made to look like a...

Syracuse, NY -- An Ohio woman is suing Syracuse's Crowne Plaza Hotel after falling off a bar stool in the public lounge. Antoinette Allison, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, is seeking up to $1 million for her injuries after falling off the "defective" bar stool on April 14, 2011, according to her lawsuit.

Wife Of L.A. Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Sues His Mistress For Millions She Says He’s Spent On Her Posted on Apr 27, 2014 @ 8:32AM | By Radar Staff Rochelle Sterling is mad as hell and she’s not going to take it any more. Married to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for 50 years, Rochelle has watched him lavish millions of dollars on his new girlfriend, Vanessa Stiviano, the past few years. She wants the spending stopped and the money back.

A woman who hit three teenage boys on bikes while driving, killing one and injuring the other two, is suing the dead teen for the emotional trauma she suffered. Mother-of-three Sharlene Simon, 42, is also suing the other two boys and the dead boy’s family for $1.35 million in damages due to her psychological suffering, including depression, anxiety, irritability and post-traumatic stress.

Richard H. Hoggart, a pioneering British cultural historian who was most widely known outside academia as the star witness for “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” in a 1960 trial that ended British censorship of that novel, died on April 10 in London. He was 95. His death, at a nursing home, was announced by Goldsmiths College of the University of London, where Professor Hoggart was the warden, or provost, from 1976 until his retirement in 1984. Professor Hoggart was a senior lecturer in English literature and the author of a seminal analysis of changes in working-class culture in England when he was...

<p>OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Family members of an 86-year-old World War II veteran say he’s being harassed by a well-known golf course.</p> <p>Virgil Wesley has lived in his home since 1995. Family members say Brookridge Country Club is suing Wesley for $75,000, because they allege 60 square feet of his garage is on country club property, according to a survey.</p>

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s fierce defense of the affirmative action efforts like the ones that helped move her from a Bronx housing project to the upper echelons of American law found renewed voice Tuesday in an impassioned dissent that accused colleagues of trying to “wish away” racial inequality — and drew a tart response from Chief Justice John G. Roberts

A move is under way in the California court system to ban judges from belonging to the Boys Scouts of America because the youth organization discriminates against homosexuals. A proposed rule change by the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics would make the BSA no longer “excepted from the category of organizations that practice ‘invidious discrimination’ on the basis of sexual orientation.” Last May, the BSA’s National Council voted to allow acknowledged homosexuals to be in the program but not in leadership. It’s the ban on “gay” leaders that has prompted the California courts’ action.

General Mills is scrapping a controversial plan to strip consumers of their right to sue the food company. The company, which owns Cheerios, Progresso and Yoplait, had posted a notice on its website notifying visitors of a change to its legal terms—visitors using its websites or engaging with it online in a variety of other ways meant they would have to give up their right to sue. Instead, the new terms said, people would need to have disputes resolved through informal negotiation or arbitration. …