Free Republic

Former President Trump said he will miss the E. Jean Carroll trial on Thursday so that he can attend his mother-in-law’s funeral, blasting the judge presiding over the case as "nasty" for not delaying court proceedings for the day. ... "So, it happened very terribly as we asked to just delay the trial for one day so I could go to the funeral tomorrow and then we could start Friday or Monday or any time they want," Trump explained. "And he said, absolutely not, the trial will go on just as it is." Trump said the judge said, "You can...

A group of San Francisco police officers has been accused of "racial bias" in connection with the August 2022 arrest of a mentally ill man who pulled out a realistic prop gun and fired off multiple blanks, resulting in a 53-minute standoff that ended without anyone being hurt. Bodycam shows police repeatedly shouted at Corvera to drop the weapon and warned passersby to stay back. "Drop that gun on the floor or you will be shot," one officer shouts. "Put it on the floor!" Corvera fired blanks over the course of the standoff, and at least 17 officers responded to...

A transgender woman is suing a Manhattan yoga studio for $5 million because she was forced to use the men’s locker room. It’s the third gender-identity discrimination lawsuit Ali Miles, who also goes by the name Dylan Miles, has filed in the city in 13 months — and could be part of a coming tsunami of trans-rights lawsuits targeting small businesses. Miles claims to be in “the process of transitioning into [a] woman,” wearing women’s clothing and undergoing hormone therapies, according to court papers. The Arizona native turned up at Hot Yoga Chelsea on West 27th Street on May 4...

An Albany mother claims she was left “angry” and “betrayed” when the apple pie she thought she was buying from a local ShopRite turned out to be a cherry pie, leading her daughter to get sick when she ate a piece of it, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Albany County Supreme Court. The supermarket allegedly “misbranded and mislabeled” the pastry as an apple pie that she bought during a trip to the store on April 20, according to legal papers. For that alleged switcheroo, plaintiff Tiffany Brady wants $35,000 in damages. Brady, a mother of five, and her...

A popular Orlando restaurant that regularly features drag shows filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday, less than a week after he signed a bill that targets drag performances. The lawsuit filed in Orlando federal court by the owner of Hamburger Mary’s Orlando claims the state is depriving the business of its First Amendment rights to free expression. The restaurant is asking the court to temporarily stop the law from taking effect while the case moves forwardDeSantis has made anti-LGBTQ+ legislation a large part of his agenda as he prepares to seek...

A federal judge on Thursday imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on former President Donald Trump and his lawyer for filing a since-dismissed ‘frivolous’ lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and many others, which had claimed they tried to rig the 2016 presidential election in her favor by smearing Trump.“We are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” wrote Judge John Middlebrooks in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in his order sanctioning Trump.The judge in his...

A Florida woman is suing the parent company of Velveeta’s microwavable Shells & Cheese cups after claiming it takes longer to prepare the meal than the 3 1/2 minutes the box label says. The suit alleges that the statement of "’ready in 3 1/2 minutes’ is false and misleading because the product takes longer than the 3-and-a-half minutes to prepare for consumption." It goes on to quote the four steps to prepare the meal that are printed on the box label before alleging that the 3 1/2-minute ready time is "just the length of time to complete one of several...

A librarian in Louisiana filed a lawsuit against two men and a conservative organization alleging they defamed her when they attacked her for supporting the teaching of books involving the LGBTQ community. Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian and the president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, alleged in the lawsuit that a “public campaign” against her started after she spoke out against removing certain books from the Livingston Parish Library system at a board meeting. The lawsuit states that Citizens for a New Louisiana posted on its Facebook on July 20, the day after the meeting, criticizing “anti-censorship...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Homosexual rights advocates sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday to block a new law that forbids classroom instruction on homosexual and transgender topics in kindergarten through third grade. The law states: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” Parents would be able to sue districts over violations. The challenge filed in federal court in Tallahassee on behalf of Equality Florida and Family...

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has been served with a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), days after attorneys for Swalwell said they were having trouble tracking down the Alabama Republican, Brooks and a Swalwell representative confirmed. The lawsuit accuses Brooks and other allies of former President Trump of provoking the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Brooks tweeted on Sunday that he had been served with the suit and claimed members of "Swalwell's team" broke into his home and served the lawsuit to his wife. Speaking to CNN, Philip Andonian, an attorney for Swalwell, shot back at Brooks's...

Dominion Voting Systems announced Friday it sued pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, claiming she damaged the company’s reputation in her election lawsuits where she claimed votes in several swing-states were manipulated in favor of President-elect Joseph R. Biden. “Lies were told about government election officials, elections workers, and Dominion Voting Systems. Those lies have consequences. They have served to diminish the credibility of U.S. elections. They have subjected officials and Dominion employees to harassment and death threats. And they have severely damaged the reputation of our company,” said John Poulos, CEO of Dominion. “Today is the first step to restore our...

Voting equipment manufacturer Smartmatic on Monday sent legal notices to Fox News and other conservative media organizations threatening legal action if they do not retract stories that have promoted “false and defamatory” claims about the company and its products in the weeks following the presidential election. In the letters, which were also sent to One America News and Newsmax, an attorney for Smartmatic said Fox “engaged in a concerted disinformation campaign” as Fox hosts and guests have repeatedly pushed discredited conspiracy theories and other misinformation to claim, falsely, that the election was “stolen” from President Donald Trump. Misinformation about voting...

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said Thursday he has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city of Southfield and four of its paramedics on behalf of a woman who was declared dead and left at a Detroit funeral home for hours before anyone realized she was still alive. Fieger said he filed the suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The suit names the city and four city employees, Michael Storms, Scott Rickard, Phillip Mulligan and Jake Kroll. The woman, Timesha Beauchamp, 20, was in a body bag for at least two...

A property owner’s association is suing a retired Texas City couple for thousands of dollars over a dispute about flower beds that did not meet the HOA’s guidelines. Klaas and Dorothy Tadema moved into the Lago Mar neighborhood after their Dickinson home flooded during Hurricane Harvey. The Tademas said they installed flower beds on the property in November 2018. They said they were notified by the HOA in March 2019 that their home improvements did not meet the association’s guidelines, which the HOA calls “covenants.” The retired couple filed an application along with the $25 fee to get the improvements...

We haven’t seen E. Jean Carroll’s name in the headlines for a while, probably since she finished her recent book tour. But now she’s back, bringing a lawsuit against Donald Trump. But it’s not for sexual assault or anything related. It’s a defamation suit spurred by the President supposedly calling her a liar or at least suggesting she was being untruthful when she claimed that he had raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. She’s lawyered up and appears serious about moving this forward, so the tabloids should have a field day with it. (WaPo) A writer...

PHOENIX – The man shot in the groin with a non-lethal weapon by police during a protest outside a 2017 Phoenix appearance by President Donald Trump intends to sue the city. Joshua Cobin told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday that seeing Facebook posts by police officers that mocked the incident pushed him to file a precursor to a lawsuit this week. The posts were in the news after this week’s release of the Plain View Project, a database of public Facebook activity by current and former police personnel in eight cities, including Phoenix. The project’s website says the posts and comments selected were...

Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid told a Nevada jury Thursday that his career was cut short by injuries he suffered when a TheraBand exercise device slipped from his hand and he fell in his home bathroom in 2015. From a wheelchair on the witness stand in a product liability lawsuit against Ohio-based device maker Hygenic Corp., the 79-year-old longtime Democratic leader covered half his face with his hand to indicate the bones he said were “smashed” when he spun around and fell against cabinets in his bathroom. Despite surgeries, he said he has irreparable retina damage and can only distinguish...

The owners of a popular dinner cruise ship in Virginia are being sued by a customer who says the ship's no-skid flooring worked too well. The plaintiff, 66-year-old Jeffrey Makuch, says he took a cruise on the ship in June 2016 and fell while playing cornhole. He says the no-skid floor made it impossible for him to properly shift his weight while stepping to throw a beanbag.

An Oregon business has filed a complaint against a church that prohibited it from hosting an LGBT event in a building owned by the church, claiming that the fallout from that decision has harmed the company. In 2015, Ambridge Event Center, which once rented out a space owned by Holy Rosary Church for various events, was compelled to reject an LGBT group's request to hold an event on the property due to the church's "morals clause." In a lawsuit filed last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon, Ambridge alleged that the church's rules against them hosting the LGBT...

Preet Bharara, the legal troll most recently in the news for going after Dinesh D’Souza, the director behind a movie critical of Obama, and causing a major diplomatic incident with India by strip searching one of their female diplomats, has an even wackier case.Unlike many of the Indians targeted by the Sikh US Attorney, this time Bharara went after a building over a dog. This is a crazy case in a very literal sense.In December, Preet Bharara, who puts out more press releases than most spammers, announced that the government was suing a building for discriminating “against a disabled tenant”...