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Amtrak likely faces hundreds of millions of dollars in claims from victims of the derailment of a northeast regional train at Frankford Junction in Philadelphia Tuesday night, according to personal-injury lawyers who specialize in transportation accidents. Because Congress capped such payouts for Amtrak in 1997, money to compensate victims probably will fall short of what is needed, these lawyers say. Under the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act, damages paid by the government to people injured in Amtrak derailments and families of those passengers killed was limited to $200 million per crash. But with eight killed and about 200 of the...

UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo is suing Rolling Stone and writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely for statements in Rolling Stone’s now-retracted “A Rape on Campus” story. How will courts likely deal with this lawsuit? Here are a few early and tentative thoughts, though of course much depends on facts that are not yet known. 1. Federal vs. state court: Eramo sued in Virginia state court, but it seems likely that Rolling Stone and Erdely will want the case removed to federal court: The conventional wisdom is that libel defendants are procedurally better off in federal court, where it’s easier to get...

RICHMOND, Va. — A University of Virginia associate dean sued Rolling Stone magazine on Tuesday for more than $7.5 million, saying a debunked and retracted account of an alleged gang rape on campus cast her as the “chief villain.”... A report published by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism said Rolling Stone failed at virtually every step of the process, from the reporting by Sabrina Rubin Erdely to an editing process that included high-ranking staffers.... No one at Rolling Stone was fired or disciplined as a result of the article, titled “A Rape on Campus.” Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will...

RICHMOND, Va. – A University of Virginia associate dean is seeking more than $7.5 million from Rolling Stone magazine in a defamation lawsuit stemming from a debunked account of an alleged gang rape on campus. The suit was filed Tuesday by Nicole Eramo, who is the top administrator dealing with sexual assaults at the Charlottesville school.

Congressional Republicans have joined the legal battle over President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration, which he announced late last year. Currently, 26 states have challenged the president’s executive order, which temporarily stops deportations and grants work permits to specific groups of immigrants living in the country illegally. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, and Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia filed an amicus brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to counter the executive actions. “Congress has created a comprehensive immigration scheme — which expresses its desired policy as to classes of...

Top Republicans in Congress on Monday entered the court battle over President Obama's latest moves to ease deportations for immigrants living in the country illegally. Texas and 25 other states have challenged the legality of the unilateral actions, arguing that the president overstepped his executive power with programs halting deportations and granting work permits to certain groups of undocumented immigrants. The Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (Va.), are siding squarely with the states, arguing that Obama's action "changes the law and sets a new policy, exceeding the executive’s constitutional authority...

Two fans filed a class action lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao and his team for failing to disclose a serious shoulder injury prior to the fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last weekend. After losing to Mayweather by unanimous decision, Pacquiao’s camp said the fighter was trying to compete despite a severe shoulder injury. They blamed the Nevada Athletic Commission for denying him a painkilling injection prior to the fight. The severity of Pacquiao’s injury seemed to be confirmed when it was reported Monday he would undergo surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder. But what doesn’t add up is that...

Raleigh, N.C. — Attorneys for a Raleigh police officer began making the case Monday that he should be compensated the burns, blisters and emotional damage he suffered when a hot cup of coffee spilled on his lap in January 2012. In the morning, a judge heard motions from representatives of Matthew Kohr, a lieutenant with Raleigh police's special operations division, and Starbucks.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today that could lead to a constitutional right for gays to marry. Many court watchers believe it's a done deal already. In addition to the 4 liberal judges, Justice Anthony Kennedy has already ruled with the majority 3 times against maintaining a ban on same sex marriage. He would appear to be the 5th vote that would make gay marriage the law of the land. But nothing is certain, which is why some observers believe that Chief Justice John Roberts may be a pivotal vote on the question of same sex marriage. New...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A Columbia University senior filed a lawsuit against the school Thursday, claiming that the university failed to protect him from harassment amid claims that he had raped a fellow student. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Manhattan U.S. District Court by Paul Nungesser. The German citizen said the student’s campaign to muddy his name by dragging a mattress around campus and demonstrating has isolated him and hurt his job prospects and ability to stay in America.

A group representing atheists has decided to end its attempt to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. The American Humanist Association allowed its 45-day window to appeal a Monmouth County Superior Court judge's ruling to pass, according to a report on APP.com. The group didn't say why it chose to stop its legal challenge. The judge had tossed the group's lawsuit, which demanded the phrase be taken out of the pledge recited each morning in the Matawan-Aberdeen school district. Superior Court Judge David Bauman said the reference to God in the Pledge is more of a...

There were many horrendous moments for the American hostages held by Iranians for 444 days at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. One of the worst occurred when Iranian captors showed a hostage a photo of the school bus that took his son to and from school. If the hostage didn’t cooperate, his son’s fingers would be chopped off and sent, one a day, to his wife. On January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan became president and Jimmy Carter departed, the crisis lifted and 52 Americans came home. And a few other good things happened. U.S. banks with investments in...

Walmart's right to sell firearms and ammunition is being threatened by a lawsuit. Fox Business Network reporter Adam Shapiro reported on "Fox and Friends First" this morning that a court decision could stop the retail giant from selling guns, which could change the way publicly traded companies do business in the United States. Shapiro said that Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City owns stock in Walmart. "The church sued the Walmart when they refused to place a proposal on the shareholder ballot at the annual company meeting," he explained. "That proposal could be interpreted to force Walmart's board...

The New York Post reports Lucie Bauermeister, 23, and Anna Ramotowska, 26, filed suit on Monday in Bronx Supreme Court. The two claim they were "severely injured, both physically and mentally." Court documents say Bauermeister and Ramotowska are specifically suing Con Ed, 121 Second Ave. landlord Maria Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic and Hyeonil Kim, owner of Sushi Park. The roommates were able to safely exit their apartment on March 26, and witnessed seeing a severe burn victim and several dramatic last-minute rescues, Jezebel reports. After being interviewed on Fox 5's "Good Day New York" the day after the seven-alarm fire,...

If you get your news primarily from entertainment shows or social media, you might think that same-sex marriage has already been recognized as a constitutional right. In fact, the Supreme Court held just the opposite in 1972 and has since refused several opportunities to revisit that ruling. A new hearing will be held on April 28, and defenders of the traditional definition of marriage are just now having their say. On Friday, dozens of briefs were filed in the Supreme Court, urging the Court not to take the step that liberals have declared to be inevitable. The first of those...

<p>The University of Virginia chapter of Phi Kappa Psi announced Monday that the fraternity house will file a lawsuit against Rolling Stone, calling the magazine’s reporting that described an alleged gang-rape by some of its members “reckless.”</p> <p>The lawsuit comes a day after Rolling Stone editors retracted a Nov. 19 story “A Rape on Campus,” that portrayed the chilling account of brutal sexual assault allegedly occurring in the Phi Kappa Psi house at U-Va. in 2012. A Columbia University report issued Sunday described significant lapses by the magazine’s staff while reporting the gang-rape allegations and the story’s writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, and the publication’s managing editor, Will Dana, apologized for the deeply flawed account. But the fraternity noted that Erdely did not apologize directly to the Phi Psi chapter at U-Va.</p>

Friends, This article was published in my snail-mail newsletter on March 20, 2015 but I have decided to publish it here as well in light of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act debacle http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/changes-to-indiana-law-largest-step-ever-toward-gay-rights/ which confirms my thesis. I take no joy in being right in this prediction. Satan’s Superbowl During the 1992 election cycle I was the Communications Director for Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) during the Measure 9 campaign to amend Oregon’s constitution to define homosexuality as “abnormal, unnatural and perverse” (the Biblical perspective in secular terms). From the initial filing of the ballot measure language in April, 1991...

A federal judge on Thursday ordered California's corrections department to provide a transgender inmate with sex reassignment surgery, the first time such an operation has been ordered in the state. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco ruled that denying the surgery to 51-year-old Michelle-Lael Norsworthy violates her constitutional rights. Her birth name is Jeffrey Bryan Norsworthy.

A manager at a Forever 21 in New York told Alexia Daskalakis, a transgender employee, that she was a “hot mess” and “disgusting,” that she looked “offensive,” and that “in my eyes and in the company’s eyes, you’re still a male.” Those are the allegations in a lawsuit Daskalakis filed against Forever 21 in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. The lawsuit accuses the fast fashion retailer of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Forever 21 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Daskalakis started working as a sales associate at a Forever 21 store in Brooklyn in May 2011 and...

On March 27, 2012, JetBlue pilot Clayton Osbon had a mid-air breakdown, running through the aisles of a Las Vegas -bound flight and making terrifying comments like "Pray f***ing now for Jesus Christ […] this plane will never make it to Vegas." Three years later, he has filed a $14.9 million lawsuit against JetBlue, alleging that the airline allowed him to fly despite knowing that he was mentally unfit. In the lawsuit, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in New York, Osbon claims breach of contract and negligence, alleging that JetBlue should've known that he was incapable of piloting...