Free Republic

A legal firebrand whose work fighting corruption left both Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney on the defensive today took on Barack Obama, suing the president for secret meetings with Planned Parenthood and other lobbyists on his plans to nationalize health care. Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and, more recently, Freedom Watch USA, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The law requires disclosure of records of meetings between the executive branch and outside industry lobbyists. It also requires access to meetings. Klayman raised the same issues during the early years...

Conservative attorney Larry Klayman on Monday filed a lawsuit against the White House Monday demanding that it release information on healthcare meetings with lobbyists. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, charges the Obama administration violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by not providing relevant information about closed-door meetings on healthcare policy. Klayman’s suit refers to reports of meetings between administration officials on the Health Reform de facto Advisory Committee and lobbyists representing the pharmaceutical industry (PhRMA), Planned Parenthood, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AARP and others. Klayman said the advisory committee...

Chambliss: Abortion compromise 'sets up a Supreme Court challenge' By Michael O'Brien - 12/19/09 12:38 PM ET The Senate healthcare bill's language on abortion "sets up a Supreme Court challenge," one senator warned Saturday. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) asserted that the compromise on abortion contained within the bill, which would seek to segregate federal funds from subsidizing health plans covering abortion, is unconstitutional. "What this provision does that Sen. Nelson negotiated sets up a Supreme Court challenge. Roe v. Wade's pretty clear on federal funding for abortion," Chambliss said at a Capitol Hill press conference early this afternoon. The compromise...

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County jails will play Christmas music and holiday hymns throughout the season, continuing an annual tradition despite multiple lawsuits filed to prevent it, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has announced in a news release. The music is played all day in all jails and includes songs and melodies from all countries and faiths in many languages, KPHO-TV in Phoenix reported. In years past, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has personally chosen some of the songs and performers featured, including tunes from Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Bing Crosby and Doctor Demento. "People everywhere deserve a little...

Dan Rather says he's spent over $2 million of his own money in his ongoing lawsuit with CBS. Rather, in an interview on tvnewser.com, was cagey about the exact amount. "Respectfully I'm not going to tell you . . . I would say a whole lot," he said. "It's a lot more than I thought going in." When pressed, Rather relented a bit. "More than 2 [million]," he said about how much he's spent on the suit.

Woman Comatose for Month After Botched Abortion Gets $1.9 M Settlement Englewood, NJ -- An abortion business in New Jersey has settled a lawsuit out of court filed by a woman who was comatose for one month following a botched abortion. Metropolitan Medical Associates, based in Englewood, New Jersey and a center that does thousands of abortions annually, was responsible. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4638.html

STAR BULLETIN EDITION OF AUG. 14TH, ON FILE AT BERKLEY IDENTICAL TO PUBLISHED IMAGES by John Charlton The Post & Email has just received PDF files from a highly credible source, establishing that the birth annoucement in the Star Bulletin Edition of Aug. 14, 1961, for Barack Hussein Obama, is authentic. (Excerpt) Read more at thepostemail.com ...

Liza Minnelli has struck a secret deal to end the sordid $100 million sexual harassment lawsuit by her former right-hand man. M’Hammed Soumayah had filed suit against the Oscar winner back in 2004, charging she’d beat him during booze-fueled rampages and forced him to have sex with her. "After many repeated attempts by Minnelli to compel plaintiff to have sex with her," the married father of two "eventually succumbed" after she threatened to fire him from his $283,000-a-year job as her chauffeur, the suit said. The purportedly pugilistic performer — who’d also been accused of beating her oddball ex-hubby David...

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- A Fayette County woman who drank herself unconscious celebrating her 20th birthday said a hospital didn't properly treat her, resulting in partial amputations of both of her legs. Shanna Hiles' medical malpractice suit against Uniontown Hospital and one of its emergency physicians says she passed out while sitting on the floor with her legs tucked under her in May. Hiles was in that position for more than 12 hours, and she claims hospital officials didn't properly diagnose her condition and work to restore circulation to her legs.

Two lawyers have joined forces to assemble a case challenging in U.S. bankruptcy court the federal government's use of Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to bail out Chrysler and in doing so may have created a scenario that finally will bring to a head the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president. The attorneys are Leo Donofrio, who has launched cases directly challenging Obama's eligibility, and Stephen Pidgeon, who also has worked on the issue. Their new case questions the authority by which the federal government and administration officials intervened in the auto industry, specifically allocating some $8 billion-plus...

Zikerria Bellamy, 17, said two managers at an Orlando restaurant wouldn't give her an interview on two separate occasions in July. ... A spokeswoman for the local restaurant, Allison Garrett, said in a statement the employee who left the voice mail "acted outside the scope of his authority and was not responsible for hiring." He no longer works at the restaurant. ... Bellamy is a male who has been living as a female for about the past six years. She said she completed a job application online, then was called to the store for an interview. When one manager refused...

Washington (dpa) -- The United States on Tuesday agreed to pay 3.4 billion dollars to settle a long-running lawsuit brought by some 300,000 Native Americans who claimed they had been cheated out of land revenue for more than a century. The class-action lawsuit was first brought 13 years ago and has been the subject of 22 judicial decisions. Many past attempts to settle the claims have failed. "We are here to right a past wrong," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at a press conference in Washington. The settlement still has to be approved by Congress and in court. The dispute...

Washington - The Supreme Court agreed today to hear an appeal from a Christian student group in San Francisco which refused to admit gays and lesbians and decide whether the group's right to religious liberty and freedom of association can trump a university's ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. The case, to be heard next year, could set new rules for campus groups across the nation. The University of California's Hastings College of Law says its officially recognized student groups must be open to all of its students. The law school also has a general non-discrimination policy which applies...

The Environmental Protection Agency today finalized its finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act. CEI announced that it will file suit in federal court to overturn the endangerment finding on the grounds that EPA has ignored major scientific issues, including those raised recently in the Climategate fraud scandal. “EPA is clinging for dear life to the notion that the global climate models are holding up,” said Sam Kazman, CEI General Counsel. “In reality, those models are about to sink under the growing weight of evidence that they...

Uh Oh, Spaghettios.

Laguna Niguel attorney Orly Taitz had her lawsuit challenging Barack Obama’s presidency thrown out on Oct. 29, but that hasn’t stopped her from filling a new document in the case with a broad array of allegations. “There was a concerted and a well orchestrated effort by a number of individuals to assassinate my character, endanger my law license and ultimately derail my case against Mr. Obama,” Taitz writes in the document filed with the federal court today. “A number of criminal activities were perpetrated upon this court.”

"I think it's a fair question, just like I think past associations and past voting records - all of that is fair game"...

Updates in the BARNETT v OBAMA case in Judge Carter's court: Request for investigation of misconduct in legal proceedings, submission of perjured affidavits, submission of a letter to court by an attorney with improper purpose of covering up criminal activity and obstruction of justice, withholding evidence by attorneys, and US attorneys acting under conflict of interest From 11.11.09. to 11.22.09. I had the honor to be a delegate at the Continental Congress 2009. One of the guest speakers for the Continental Congress was a former Immigration officer and currently a private investigator in CO, Mr. John Samson. I have stated...

<p>As important as the outcome of this case is the precedent it could set for extending special treatment to Muslim employees to the exclusion of others -- essentially creating a second class of employees: workplace dhimmis. "Hertz sued over Muslim prayers," from (News Service That May Not Be Named)...Hertz Global Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. rental car company, was sued by former employees who say its policy of allowing Muslims to take daily prayer breaks discriminates against non-Muslim workers. Katie Barkley and Shirley Harris, who worked as part-time drivers moving Hertz cars from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to other locations, claim Muslim employees were given as many as three paid, 15-minute prayer breaks each shift while non-Muslim employees were denied equal time off, according to the suit filed Nov. 30 in federal court in Atlanta.</p>

San Francisco » The Mormon church and Boy Scouts of America were named as defendants in lawsuits Monday claiming childhood sexual abuse by youth leaders decades ago. Alleged victims filed suits against both organizations in San Francisco and Seattle, and against the church alone in Portland, Ore. The plaintiffs are all represented by Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who has brought similar suits against the church and the Boy Scouts in the past. In the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, three brothers claim the church ignored their complaints about being molested by their Silicon Valley Boy Scout and Mormon...

A new Rasmussen poll shows that 57% of voters want limits on the amount of money a jury can award a plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit. This once again puts what Democrats want directly at odds with what Middle America wants (who are the extremists here?). Frivolous lawsuits are the number one cause of skyrocketing costs...

Robin Williams went out on a limb defending Chicago's Olympic bid, and now Rio de Janeiro wants to sue him. Williams told David Letterman during an appearance on the Late Show that he wasn't surprised Rio won the bid instead of Chicago. "Chicago sent Oprah and Michelle Obama," Williams said. "Rio sent 50 Strippers and a pound of blow. It wasn't really fair, you know?" Williams' comments have been replayed several times on news shows across Brazil on Tuesday, while city mayor Eduardo Paes says Williams is envious of Rio's achievement.

A McMechen man whose mugshot won a measure of Internet fame is planning to sue companies he says are profiting from the image. Patrick Tribett was arrested in Bellaire, Ohio, in 2005. Police say he had been huffing the fumes from gold spraypaint, and the lower half of his face was golden in his mugshot. New Martinsville lawyer H. John Rogers says the image has appeared on T-shirts, coffee mugs and even a billboard in Europe. [snip]

U.S. sitting on $17 billion in unclaimed war bonds MANY REQUESTS FOR REPAYMENT Matching claimants to certificates a mighty task By David Cho Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 28, 2009 The seemingly endless stacks of filing cabinets inside a West Virginia warehouse could hold the answer to an unsolved mystery: Who owns nearly $17 billion in lost government bonds? The unclaimed treasure represents the amount of U.S. bonds that have matured but not been redeemed. Many of these outstanding bonds date to World War II, but over the years the certificates were forgotten in cellars, lost in fires or...

New Haven, Conn. (AP) -- A group of black Connecticut firefighters hopes to block promotions for white firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The black New Haven firefighters argue in papers filed Monday that they still have a right to challenge the validity of the promotional exam.

More details are now coming out from the lawsuit filed against the California Science Center by the American Freedom Alliance (AFA), filed in the Superior Court for the State of California for the County of Los Angeles (Central District). AFA's lawsuit contends that the California Science Center engaged in viewpoint discrimination when cancelling AFA's contract to screen the pro-intelligent design (ID) documentary Darwin’s Dilemma at the Center’s IMAX Theatre on October 25th. As discussed below, AFA's complaint contains e-mails from California Science Center staff revealing that the Center cared more about how it would be perceived by ID-critics in the...

Gov. Charlie Crist’s office is “looking into” the possibility of removing embattled attorney Scott Rothstein from the state’s Judicial Nominating Committee. Rothstein has offered to surrender his license to practice law. But, he may remain a member of JNC unless, or until, he’s charged with a felony crime. Gov. Charlie Crist named Rothstein to the JNC in August 2008. “Typically, the governor would only step in when felony charges are filed against a public official,” said Sterling Ivey, Crist’s spokesman. “Whether we will act before that point in this case is not clear yet. Our legal office is looking into...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An attorney who was a major fundraiser for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist allegedly conducted an investment scam that cost investors millions, a lawsuit alleges. A group of investors said in a suit filed against Scott Rothstein that the co-partner of the Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler law firm took part in a scheme that cost the plaintiffs more than $100 million, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

Disabled Iraq veteran, Luis Montalvan, says that he was repeatedly discriminated against at a Brooklyn McDonald's. According to Montalvan, these conflicts culminated in an assault that sent him to the emergency room. Now, Montalvan is suing McDonald's for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, discrimination, and assault and battery.

Here is a copy of the lawsuit ACORN filed in Maryland against James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles and Breitbart. I had to block out their address because this document had their personal addresses. You can see exactly what they are claiming. The Document is at link.

Eight British tourists are suing a South African safari park after they became trapped by a pride of wild lions when their tour vehicle overturned. The group are claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds for injuries and post-traumatic stress allegedly suffered when they were exposed to the “threatening conduct of the lions” at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve northeast of Cape Town. One of the animals also stole a boot from the tourists, they say. Papers lodged at Cape Town High Court claim that the injuries were due to the irresponsible actions of Natasha Van der Merwe, a park employee. According to...

Enfield (WTNH) - The ACLU of Connecticut is warning the Enfield school board to stop holding graduation ceremonies at a Bloomfield megachurch, claiming the graduates and their families are unconstitutionally being subjected to religious messages.

Application of Second Amendment to be decided by Supreme Court Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll Lawyer Alan Gura says that owning semi-automatic guns is constitutional. The man who successfully challenged a prohibition against handguns in the District of Columbia before the Supreme Court said last night during a local debate about the Second Amendment that some states have gone too far. That's what happened in the District of Columbia, which required that firearms either be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, said Alan Gura, a lawyer from Alexandria, Va., who argued the Supreme Court case. "If you have a...

In a first-of-its-kind litigation, the Ecological Rights Foundation ("ERF") has alleged in a Complaint brought in federal district court in San Francisco that Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is in violation of the Clean Water Act ("CWA") and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"). ERF alleges that the treatment of PG&E's utility poles treated with pentachlorophenol ("penta"), a wood preservative, has resulted in contamination of groundwater and surface water throughout four counties in Northern California -- Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco, including San Francisco Bay. The suit implicates all of the estimated 300,000 utility poles that...

It's natural to sympathize with the parents of Brandon Patch, the 18-year-old baseball pitcher who died after he was hit by a batted ball in 2003. Sooner or later, sympathy must yield to logic and reason, so when Brandon's parents sued the bat's manufacturer, Louisville Slugger, and a jury awarded them $850,000, they contributed to the terribly misguided notion that behind every tragedy lies a lawsuit. I haven't suffered what the Patches have suffered, and I pray that I never do. I understand that pursuing litigation gives them a sense that their son's random, pointless death was not so pointless....

Lou Dobbs' refusal to drop "birther" stories about challenges to President Obama's constitutional eligibility to hold office was a major source of contention with CNN management, leading the unconventional anchor to walk away from the network and more than $9 million, according to the New York Post. Dobbs, known for his strong stand against illegal immigration, surprised his loyal viewers Wednesday night by announcing his resignation and offering no indication of his next move. The Post, citing anonymous sources, said the beginning of the end of a long-simmering dispute came in July, when CNN President Jonathan Klein told Dobbs' staff...

ACORN, the criminal enterprise that has been partially funded with OUR tax money is following the advice of Jerrold Nadler, Congressman from NY and suing the government to get its funding back. It all started this past March when Heather Heidelbaugh, a Pennsylvania Attorney, testified before Congressman Jerrold Nadler's Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties subcommittee about the many criminal and fraudulent activities run by President Obama's favorite community organizing group, ACORN. Her testimony alleged violations of the election code, fraud and misrepresentation, and violations of equal protection and due process. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) was shocked at the testimony...

Mineola, NY –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Nassau County local law banning the possession of handguns mislabeled “deceptively colored” remains on hold indefinitely pending the outcome of a legal challenge by gun-rights activists. In June 2008, Nassau passed Local Law #5, criminalizing the possession and sale of “deceptively colored handguns” as a supposed danger to law enforcement. The law originally banned all handguns except for those that are “black, grey, silver, steel, nickel or army green.” It does not grandfather currently owned guns and mandates that gun owners surrender all banned guns for destruction without any compensation, and with no opportunity to sell...

As a parent of five children, I understand the responsibility I have for each of them. I am responsible for their health and welfare and everything that goes with it. I am responsible for good decision making that keeps them from danger. Which is why I find it repulsive that a father who not only allowed his eight year old son to handle an Uzi, but paid for the child's opportunity to fire it, would sue the gun fair where the child fatally wounded himself: According to the 32-page lawsuit, on Oct. 28, 2008, Charles Bizilj purchased the opportunity for...

Since it appears that the judicial branch is intent on abandoning it's duty to uphold the Constitution, perhaps it's time for the states themselves to individually pass legislation that will protect their citizens from the actions of anyone who illegally occupies the Oval office. There is nothing to prevent a state from passing a law requiring that the President must file his PROOF of meeting eligibility requirements with the state and that such a filing is open to public challenge in court. Such a law could stipulate that any legislation signed by a President who refuses or is unable to...

A former editor at the N.Y. Post says the paper is on a mission to destroy Barack Obama From the Politico Sandra Guzman, a former editor at the New York Post, has filed a lawsuit against her former employer with allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and "unlawful employment practices and retaliation."

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania woman was awarded $150,000 in a discrimination suit claiming she had to wear diapers to work due to a lack of toilets. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit against Danella Construction Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., said Lisa Drozdowski, 37, had to wear adult diapers while she was working as a flagger for the company in 2005 because officials refused to provide portable toilets, the Philadelphia Daily News reported Thursday. Drozdowski said her bathroom breaks, which involved walking a quarter mile to her car and driving several minutes to the nearest...

A law school professor has withdrawn a lawsuit accusing the legal blog Above the Law of publishing a "viciously racist series of rants" after reporting the professor's arrest for suspicion of soliciting prostitution. University of Miami School of Law professor Donald Marvin Jones dropped his lawsuit on Wednesday, nine days after he filed it pro se in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He did not respond to a request for comment.*** Above the Law Managing Editor David Lat declined comment on Thursday, but in a blog post on Wednesday wrote that there had been no...

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — A Michigan judge says a man who claims he was chased, shot and beaten by workers at a store he'd just robbed can sue the men.....The 23-year-old filed a lawsuit against the store, its owner and three employees in April. Zielinski was shot twice and claims he was excessively beaten.

There's a new SCOTUS suit you want and need to know about...case 09-6777. I'll win and when I do? YOU CAN SUE SITTING OFFICERS FOR LIABILITY THUS DISSOLVE THEM AS THE US DEFAULTED VIA FAILING TO RESPOND TO A PRIOR SCOTUS SUIT ON 11/05/08, the day after the election, lol. Actual default is the 2000 election and BVG; legal default occurred on 11/05/09. I then appealed to Roberts directly on 11/20/09 and forced direct action thus I won on paper. Now all I am doing is acting to collect my award: Hearing in person aka winning in person. You can...

The latest challenge to Prop 8 could be show on television. Ted Olson and David Boies, are suing saying Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The judge has reportedly 'hinted' that he may allow cameras..

The Democrats have beaten the Republicans to court in NY-23, obtaining an order to show cause that requires the impounding of voting machines for what is expected to be another tight congressional special election. "Most of the time, you don't bring this until the day after the election, and then only if you think the race will be close," said attorney Frank Hoare, whom I reached on his cell phone as he was driving back to Albany after filing the order in Elizabethtown. "The Republicans usually play games and start the action the day of the election; in an effort...

What's the cost of not showing up to court? For PepsiCo Inc., it's a $1.26 billion default judgment. A Wisconsin state court socked the company with the monster award in a case alleging that PepsiCo stole the idea to bottle and sell purified water from two Wisconsin men. Now the company is scrambling to salvage the situation. The damages award was handed down on Sept. 30. PepsiCo filed motions to vacate the order and dismiss the claims on Oct. 13, saying it wasn't even aware of the lawsuit until Oct. 6....

John Satawa's family has displayed a nativity scene on a street median in Warren, Mich., virtually every Christmas season since 1945, but following an intimidating letter sent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Satawa's county has put stop to the 63-year-old tradition. The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation proclaims its purpose in the letter to the Road Commission of Macomb County was to "protect the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of church and state." But Satawa contends there's nothing unconstitutional about his privately owned and maintained Christmas display. With the help of the Thomas More Law Center, Satawa has filed...

After King County Superior Court Judge Gregory Canova awarded Microsoft an $8.7 million judgment in a 2008 lawsuit involving unpaid software licenses, he might have been surprised to learn that Microsoft isn’t actually in the software licensing business in Washington – or at least that’s what it reports to the state Department of Revenue. For tax purposes, Microsoft reports that it’s earned its estimated $143 billion in software licensing revenue in Nevada, where there is no licensing tax. However, for legal purposes, Microsoft executes its licensing contracts so they are governed by and rely on the protections of Washington law...