Free Republic

"James Woods is continuing to pursue a $10 million defamation lawsuit against an anonymous individual who tweeted Woods was a "cocaine addict." Not even the reported death of the defendant is stopping the actor. On Tuesday, over objections that Woods was looking to harass a dead man's family, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that the attorney for the defendant must identify his deceased client."

"... U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor issued a preliminary injunction on New Year’s Eve stopping the Obama administration from denying the right of Catholic institutions to live by their religious tenets. Texas, and other states, along with the Franciscan Alliance, and other religious entities, sued the federal government for violating basic religious rights. Judge O’Connor ruled that the Obama administration’s regulation barring discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” could not be enforced. The defendants also sought to force Catholic institutions to perform, and pay for, abortions. Joining the Franciscan Alliance as a plaintiff was the Christian Medical &...

<p>The ex-wife of energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens ​told her African-American chef to whip up “black people food” ​— describing her ideal menu as fried chicken, BBQ ribs and corn bread — for the guests at her $2,000-a-night Nevada ranch, a lawsuit charges.</p>

FULL TITLE: Gay man who unsuccessfully sued San Diego cops for arresting him for wearing a butt-exposing gladiator costume 'commits suicide' after racking up $1m in legal bills A man who lost a grueling, five-year lawsuit against San Diego police after being arrested for nudity during a gay pride festival has died in an apparent suicide, two weeks after the verdict. Police found 35-year-old Will X Walters dead at his Hillcrest apartment Wednesday but it's unclear how long he'd been dead, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The medical examiner is examining the case. Walters was arrested in 2011 during a...

Michael Brown’s parents are objecting to a request from Ferguson for their son’s medical and academic records as the city defends itself against a lawsuit the parents filed over the 2014 police shooting death of the unarmed 18-year-old. Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden, in December court filings, asked U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber in St. Louis to at least limit if not scuttle altogether a push by the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, its former police chief and the officer who shot their son to turn over the documents. The parents say the documents are irrelevant and that...

The plaintiff filed suit in a California court in early December in regards to a road accident that occurred on Christmas Eve in 2014. The driver was " distracted while using the 'FaceTime' application on an iPhone 6 Plus during the operation of his motor vehicle," and hit the back of a stationary vehicle while going 65 miles per hour, per the court documents obtained by AppleInsider.SNIP Apple was sued for not implementing a technology that could have prevented the driver from using the app while driving. The Cupertino-based company applied for the patent on the technology in 2008 and...

The family of a Spokane woman who was murdered along with her son can pursue a lawsuit over whether the killer’s psychiatrist should have done more to protect them, the Washington Supreme Court held in a case with implications for mental-health professionals around the state.

Parents of a young woman and man who were killed in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire sued the owner and operators of the converted warehouse Friday for maintaining a “death trap” that caused 36 people to lose their lives.

Google, Facebook and Twitter are facing a lawsuit filed by the families of three victims killed by Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen in Orlando. The plaintiffs are accusing the tech titans of providing "material support" to Mateen, who was known to have pledged allegiance to ISIS and its leader. According to their lawsuit, the families are suing the companies for allowing the terrorist group to create accounts to raise funds and to spread propaganda with the intention of attracting new recruits. The material support these tech giants provide, the lawsuit says, "has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out...

The Justice Department filed suit Monday contending that Culpeper County, Va., acted in a discriminatory manner in denying an approval needed for the construction of an Islamic house of worship there.

Gustavo Parker and La Trina Patton filed the motion, as they are among 5.9 million people who are eligible to receive the law's cost-sharing reductions. Former House Speaker John Boehner in 2014 filed the lawsuit that challenged the administration over Obamacare's cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers. Insurers are required by law to lower the copays and deductibles for certain low-income Obamacare customers. The administration reimburses the insurers for the cost-sharing reductions.

Militant atheists at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) are threatening to sue St. Bernard, Ohio, over the city’s Nativity scene — a Christmas display depicting the scene of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem in the Holy Land. If FFRF follows through and files in federal court, that case could result in a historic restoration of religious liberty nationwide. St. Bernard is a suburb of Cincinnati. For many years, the city has displayed a crèche — i.e., a Nativity scene — during the Christmas season. It is accompanied by non-biblical seasonal holiday displays as well, making this outdoor crèche similar to the...

The conservative legal group Liberty Counsel is claiming that the public school district violated the Constitution by censoring the anti-abortion student group’s poster. The poster, which took over 25 hours to make, included hand-painted hearts and the phrase “3,000 Lives Are Ended Each Day.” . . . Administrators also asked the students to refrain from using the word, “abortion,” in club material, in written or oral communications, or on social media. Administrators even went as far as asking students from the club to sign an agreement that would bar them from seeking legal assistance to protect their right to express...

A Hillary Clinton supporter has sued Alaska’s three electoral college voters, trying to prevent them from casting votes for President-elect Donald Trump. Janice Park claims in her civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage that their votes will violate her Fifth Amendment right of equal protection and deny her the principle of one person, one vote. Lawyers for the state of Alaska in a late Thursday hearing said the case should be dismissed because it doesn't have merit. …

By leaving it for Congress to dismantle, the Chief Justice ultimately set the stage for a better solution I’m not going to lie to you. I was as mad as anyone at Chief Justice Roberts when he - not once but twice - saved ObamaCare by engaging in legal gymnastics to avoid finding it unconstitutional - which it clearly was. First he pretended individual mandate fine was a tax, even after the Obama Administration had explicitly said it was not while trying to sell it to the public. Then he ignored clear language about who had to run the exchanges...

A group of information technology workers laid off by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts claims they were victims of discrimination. The say they were forced to train their replacements from India before they were fired. On Monday, the 30 former IT workers filed a suit against the company in an Orlando federal court. They’re seeking punitive damages. The lawsuit contends that 250 IT workers in Florida were told they would need to train their replacements before they were fired at the end of 2014. Each replacement worker was of Indian origin, and was either brought from overseas or working outside...

A lawsuit filed in Colorado by two Democratic electors “threatens to undermine” the results of the 2016 election, says an attorney representing President-elect Donald Trump. The lawsuit challenges a state law requiring electors to vote for the winner of the state’s popular vote. “Of course, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence have more than enough electoral votes to secure their respective offices,” wrote attorney Christopher Murray in a filing submitted to the court, as reported by POLITICO. “Plaintiffs’ lawsuit, however, threatens to undermine the many laws in other states that sensibly bind their electors’ votes to represent the...

Melania Trump, the incoming first lady, appeared at a court hearing on Monday in her defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail and a Maryland blogger. The hearing in Rockville, Maryland was a scheduling conference, according to a statement from her attorney, but her case is unusual in that presidential candidates and their spouses rarely pursue libel lawsuits in the heat of a campaign. “Mrs. Trump was not required to attend the court conference, but chose to do so, to meet the judge, meet opposing counsel, and show her commitment to the case,” said Charles Harder, her attorney. “Mrs. Trump looks...

Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein received another defeat Monday morning, in her efforts to force a recount of election ballots in Pennsylvania. U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond said “No,” on Monday, rejecting the case completely. Out of the 6 million votes cast in Pennsylvania, Trump had won over Clinton by about 44,000 votes. Stein had gone after the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The battle over Sofia Vergara’s embryos took an extraordinary turn Tuesday — when a right-to-live lawsuit was filed on behalf of the fertilized eggs against their mom. The female embryos are listed as plaintiffs “Emma’’ and “Isabella” in the Louisiana court papers, which come amid her knock-down, drag-out legal battle with former fiancé Nick Loeb, sources told The Post.