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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A law school professor has withdrawn a lawsuit accusing the legal blog Above the Law of publishing a "viciously racist series of rants" after reporting the professor's arrest for suspicion of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...

Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way. Albert Freed (pictured) won a trip to Hawaii (not pictured). As part of the vacation celebration, Mrs. Freed bought her husband some new Hanes brand briefs. But Mr. Freed is a husky gentleman, and apparently the new trunks couldn’t contain all of his junk. He sued Hanes, claiming they made “defective” underwear.

The “innocent until proven guilty” concept is at the very heart of our legal system. Government ought not be able to exact punishment for a crime until proof has been established, beyond a reasonable doubt, by a jury of one’s peers.But this foundational principle of justice has been tossed out the window in recent years, at least in one realm, that of civil or asset forfeiture. Civil forfeiture allows police to seize more than $1 billion worth of property each year — cash, cars, boats, etc. — that is alleged to have been used in the furtherance of a crime.The...

Tremayne Durham still wants his money back. Three years ago Durham killed one man and held another hostage in an unsuccessful attempt to get back $18,000 he thought he was due. He is now serving a life sentence in the Oregon State Penitentiary, but he hasn't given up trying to collect. Today, he's using the courts instead of a .357 magnum -- and so far, he's having more success. Durham has filed suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court against Rob Chambers, whom he paid nearly $18,000 to build a soft-serve ice-cream truck in December 2005. Durham changed his mind a...

Disney's Sorry It Couldn't Make Your Kid Smarter Blame Disney for your kid's poor test scores. The giant entertainment conglomerate Friday said it will offer refunds on its "Baby Einstein" serious of videos, conceding in a lawsuit that the video exercises didn't increase infants' intelligence despite claims it would. Lawyers threatened Disney last year that it would sue unless Disney offered a full refund -- $15.99 per video -- to customers who wished to cash in on their "Baby Einstein" stash, the New York Times reported Friday. Customers can get a discount coupon, exchange the video for a different title,...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Cameras don't lie, so how do you argue with a picture that shows you breaking the law? A Clarksville attorney is going to try. A Redflex camera caught Mark Burton running a red light, and for the first time in middle Tennessee, the issue is being taken to court. At around 5:30 a.m., Burton ran a red light and a Redflex camera caught him the act. Still, Burton's attorney Greg D. Smith said there's no way his client should receive a ticket. "If you're on the road in the middle of the night, and you're not hurting...

High school student Chad Farnan, 17, speaks at a campaign fundraiser for Shawn Black, a GOP candidate for the 70th Assembly District, earlier this month. The legal group that represents Farnan, Advocates for Faith & Freedom, has been ordered to pay $19,688 in legal fees. SANTA ANA – In a legal twist that challenges the notion of what a prevailing party is, a federal court clerk on Friday awarded $19,688 in court-related fees to the attorneys who represented high school teacher James Corbett, sued two years ago for making anti-Christian comments in class. Milli Borgarding, the deputy in charge of...

One of Madonna's New York neighbors says the superstar's loud music and frequent dance sessions are causing a commotion. Karen George, of Manhattan, lives above Madonna in a building on Central Park. She said in a lawsuit filed Friday against the building's co-op board that the Material Girl is using her apartment as a rehearsal studio, forcing neighbors to endure "blaring music, stomping and shaking walls," for up to three hours each day.

NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday threatened to sue conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for writing in a column that the civil rights leader played a role in two New York race riots. In a column published by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday about his derailed bid to become part-owner of the St. Louis Rams, he accuses Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson of making comments that helped get him booted from a group that was trying to buy the NFL team. Limbaugh derided Sharpton as having played "a leading role in the 1991 Crown...

Say you're sorry, Rush - or the the Rev. Al Sharpton is suing. The civil rights activist, angered by a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece written by Rush Limbaugh, threatened a defamation lawsuit Saturday against the conversative talk radio host. "Unless Mr. Limbaugh apologizes and clarifies his statements, attorneys for Rev. Sharpton will move forward with a lawsuit," said a statement from Sharpton. Limbaugh lashed out at Sharpton over his failed attempt to purchase a piece of the St. Louis Rams. Sharpton "played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews 'diamond merchants') and 1995...

WASHINGTON – A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the case of a former lobbyist caught up in the Jack Abramoff affair, the biggest setback in the government's long-running prosecution of the influence-peddling scandal. The jury deadlocked over allegations that Kevin Ring lavished thousands of dollars worth of tickets and meals on employees of then-Republican Reps. John Doolittle of California and Ernest Istook of Oklahoma and on Justice Department officials in return for congressional appropriations and other assistance for Abramoff's clients. The panel of seven women and five men also was unable to reach a verdict on another count, on...

A statement emerged tonight from AP concerning its long battle with artist Shepard Fairey over his use of an AP photo as the basic image for his famous Obama campaign poster. AP claims that Fairey's attorneys admit he tried to destroy some evidence, faking others and that his attorneys have sought to get off the case. Statement from Srinandan R. Kasi, VP and General Counsel, The Associated Press, follows. * Striking at the heart of his fair use case against the AP, Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying...

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal judge has ruled that Virginia violated the voting rights of military service members and other Americans overseas when officials failed to mail more than 2,100 absentee ballots in time for last year's presidential election. U.S. District Judge Richard Williams also ordered Friday that the Virginia Board of Elections count and certify the absentee ballots. The ballots from military service members and others living outside the state were the focus of a lawsuit filed by Republican candidate John McCain's campaign, which alleged that they weren't mailed in time for overseas voters to return them before the...

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- A nonprofit group filed a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking a decision about whether to grant added protections for the delta smelt. The Council for Endangered Species Act Reliability alleges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to make a timely decision about the tiny silver fish. It filed suit in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. Executive director Craig Manson said the federal agency should classify the threatened smelt as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

What was billed as Italy's first gay cruise took place last month, and by all accounts it was a resounding success. There was just one small hitch: Somehow a heterosexual couple ended up on board -- and they're not happy about it. News outlets in Europe this week are all atwitter over the story of the Italian couple, who now are suing the cruise line after reportedly being flummoxed by the experience. The UK's Daily Mail today reports the middle-aged husband and wife, who have not been named, said they booked the trip directly with the line and claim they...

Today, I offer evidence suggesting Ben Barnes, lobbyist for the plaintiff in a lawsuit that could cost San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron $27 billion, has been reading this blog. It takes a while to explain, but I think you’ll find it offers worthwhile and relevant information about the Chevron lawsuit now being tried in a thoroughly-corrupt Ecuadoran legal system.

A federal judge refused today to dismiss a lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the nation's first trial on the constitutionality of a law allowing only opposite-sex couples to wed. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, in a ruling from the bench in San Francisco, said a trial was needed to resolve crucial issues, including whether gays and lesbians are persecuted minorities entitled to judicial protection from discriminatory laws. He has scheduled the trial for January. Sponsors of Proposition 8, approved by 52 percent of the voters in November, argued that the initiative was clearly...

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Two former investors are suing the Securities and Exchange Commission for $2.4 billion in damages, claiming the agency acted with negligence while examining Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff's investment business. The 63-page complaint, filed by Phyllis Molchatsky and Dr. Steven Schneider, claims the agency engaged in "serial, gross negligence" over the course of 16 years. It alleges that because the SEC's negligence occurred during the course of its regular functions, rather than when crafting policy, the agency is not shielded by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. .....

Dear Diocesan Family, A panel of the Virginia Supreme Court will hear our petition for appeal on October 21 and, while it is unfortunate that these legal proceedings were necessary, I trust that this hearing will bring us one step closer to resolution. I am proud that the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church have chosen the path consistently to defend loyal Episcopalians, and to safeguard and to protect the Church's legacy and the Church from unwarranted governmental and legislative interference. It is with the same determination to stand by the people, traditions and legacy of our diocese that...

Singer Carly Simon is suing Starbucks Corp., saying the coffee company's now-defunct music venture didn't adequately promote her 2008 album, dooming the record before it was even released. The singer, whose biggest success came during the 1970s and '80s with hits like "You're So Vain" and "Anticipation," is seeking unspecified damages related to the release of the 14-track "This Kind of Love" in April 2008.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The mother of a 7-year-old boy with autism and a severe peanut allergy has filed a lawsuit claiming a teacher tossed her son a peanut-filled Mr. Goodbar candy bar in hopes of sickening him and keeping him from going on a zoo field trip. The boy didn't eat the candy bar, but Anita Young said her son suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his teacher, and filed a lawsuit in Marion County against her son's Indianapolis school. Young also wants criminal charges filed against teacher Trinda Barocas.

(NaturalNews) Health freedom attorney Jim Turner is filing a lawsuit in Washington D.C. mid-day Friday in an urgent effort to halt the distribution of the swine flu vaccine in America. On behalf of plaintiffs Dr. Gary Null and other licensed health care workers of New York State, the lawsuit charges that the FDA violated the law in its hasty approval of four swine flu vaccines by failing to scientifically determine neither the safety nor efficacy of the vaccines. "The suit will seek an injunction against the FDA from approving the vaccine," attorney Jim Turner told NaturalNews on Thursday evening's Natural...

The Supreme Court joined in a fight between the ACLU and the federal government over a World War I memorial in the shape of a cross. While neither legal team hit the ball over the fence, the majority seems inclined to save this cross in what will be the first religious liberty case of the new Court. On Oct. 7, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Salazar v. Buono. This case is a decade-long fight over the so-called Mojave cross, pitting Obama Solicitor General Elena Kagan against the ACLU’s Peter Eliasberg. (This doesn’t mean Barack Obama necessarily wants to protect...

Prince William County decided not to join Arlington County in its lawsuit against high-occupancy toll lanes on Interstates 95 and 395, citing what it characterizes as race-baiting and class warfare in the suit. The county considered joining the suit because it shared concerns about the HOT lanes’ proceeding without a proper environmental study and their effect on traffic, but Board Chairman Corey Stewart, R-At large, said the board unanimously agreed Arlington’s suit raised too many concerns. “The board had a closer look at the suit and there are allegations in there about Pierce Homer, the secretary of transportation, and about...

Deep in the heart of the Mojave National Preserve in California stands a five foot cross carefully disguised in a plywood box. The U.S. Park Service was forced to cover the cross until the Supreme Court decides whether the cross can remain in its place as a monument to fallen soldiers during World War I, or whether it must come down because its presence violates the Constitution. The case is the latest in a recent flurry of challenges to religious symbols placed on public property. The cross was constructed more than 70 years ago by the Veterans of Foreign Wars....

By Alan Keyes October 7, 2009Loyal to Liberty  I just received a call from Orly Taitz, my attorney in the case seeking proof of Obama's eligibility for the Office of President of the United States. Judge Carter has released a statement declaring that the dates he set for the hearing and trial on the eligibility issue are confirmed, and it will move forward as scheduled. Apparently he was not swayed by the Obama lawyer's arguments.Loyal to Liberty ...

General Douglas MacArthur famously noted that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away." Sometimes, though, before they fade away, they get angry. And a case being argued in the Supreme Court Wednesday has veterans seeing red, white, and blue-but mostly red. Unsurprisingly, the case will go to the court courtesy of an ACLU lawsuit. The object at the center of the case is a small, unadorned cross sitting in a remote part of the Mojave Desert Preserve in Southeast California. A veterans' group erected this memorial cross on private land in 1934 to honor the dead of all wars....

CIMA, California -- Driving along a pockmarked road amid rocks and Joshua trees in a lonely southern California desert, religious controversy might be the last thing you'd expect to encounter. And if you don't look too closely, you're likely to zip right past the focus of a hotly contested Supreme Court battle. A federal judge has ordered the Mojave Cross, a war memorial erected by a veterans group 75 years ago, to be covered. It's boxed in plywood.

A federal judge in California today listened to government lawyers argue that a lawsuit over President Obama's eligibility should be immediately dismissed but refused to grant their request, saying he would make his decision and announce it later. The result came this morning from U.S. District Judge David Carter, who already has set a tentative trial date for the dispute Jan. 26, 2010. The judge also already had lawyers draw up a tentative schedule for hearings and deadlines in preparation for the trial. WND previously reported on plans for the hearing handled by attorneys Orly Taitz and Gary Kreep, each...

Michael Newdow Concord, N.H., Oct 4, 2009 / 06:09 pm (CNA).- A federal judge in New Hampshire has thrown out an atheist activist’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in Hanover, New Hampshire public schools. He reasoned that the Pledge is voluntary and is not a prayer.Activist Michael Newdow’s suit was dismissed by Judge Steven McAuliffe in response to a motion of Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The motion was filed on behalf of three Hanover families and the Knights of Columbus, the Becket Fund reports.The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization,...

A Michigan man has filed suit against the Lansing office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) seeking damages for “bad business advice.” Rodney Mack, a would-be whorehouse entrepreneur, says that local ACORN representatives “did not adequately advise me of all the risks that I would be exposed to when I set up my ‘performance art’ business. I got the loan from the bank like they said I would and I was able to bring in the undocumented workers. But a business rival stole my money and beat up my ‘hos. I lost everything.” The suit is...

Does the Second Amendment give one the right to keep and bear arms (even allowing one to invoke that right against the government itself), or is it a freedom only as it concerns the federal government? As Amy Goodman reported on her Democracy Now! program, that question will now be taken up by the United States Supreme Court, and the Court’s decision could have nationwide ramifications. Said Goodman yesterday: The Supreme Court has decided to rule on whether state and local handgun laws violate the Second Amendment right to gun ownership, which it recognized last year, when the Court struck...

A federal court in New Hampshire has tossed a lawsuit against school districts in that state alleging that they improperly coerced children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a decision that the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented members of Congress in an amicus brief, praised. "We’re extremely pleased with the sound and well reasoned decision issued by the court – a decision that rejects another attempt to rewrite history by targeting the Pledge and the phrase 'under God,'" said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, yesterday. Michael Newdow

Heller lawyer Alan Gura revived the Second Amendment. Can he do the same for the 14th? It has been only a year and a season since the Supreme Court shook the world of Second Amendment jurisprudence with the historical D.C. v. Heller decision. In that case, the court declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms against infringement by the federal government — at least commonly used arms, for self-defense in the home. Heller opened the gates for a flood of new lawsuits by gun-rights friendly attorneys and organizations, most prominently the...

Madoff Family Members Sued For $198 Million Published: Saturday, 3 Oct 2009 | 1:37 AM ET By: Scott Cohn Senior Correspondent, CNBC The bankruptcy trustee trying to recover assets from the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme says Madoff's relatives used the firm "as if it were the family piggy bank." Irving Picard is suing Bernard Madoff's sons Mark and Andrew, his brother Peter, and his niece Shana for $198.7 million. That is the amount Picard says the family members received from Madoff's investment advisory business — $141 million of it in the last six years. All four of the family members...

A Christian organization in Maine has filed a lawsuit to challenge a bureaucratic decision to impose a $4,000 fine for its "criticism" of Islam, expressed in a mailing to supporters. The issue developed following a Christian Action Network fundraising letter several months ago. The letter exposed "how some public schools were promoting Islalm by providing instruction on the Five Pillars of Islam and the Quran," according to the complaint against the state.

Dan Rather's legal wrangling slogs into its third year: His lawyer vows he will appeal a New York court ruling Tuesday that tossed out the former evening news anchor's $70 million breach-of-contract suit against CBS Corp. The complaint "must be dismissed in its entirety," ruled the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, saying there was no breach of contract because CBS had honored the "pay or play" clause in Rather's contract. That is to say the company had continued to pay Rather his annual salary -- $6 mil -- even after he left the "CBS Evening News"...

NEW YORK – A New York court on Tuesday dismissed Dan Rather's $70 million breach of contract lawsuit against CBS Corp., noting that the network continued to pay the anchor $6 million a year even after he left the evening news broadcast.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state appeals court on Tuesday dismissed former TV newsman Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS Corp in which Rather claimed he was made a scapegoat in a scandal over a 2004 report on then-President George W. Bush's military record. The ruling by a panel of judges of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division said Rather's $70 million complaint should be dismissed in its entirety and that a lower court erred in denying CBS's motion to throw out the lawsuit. CBS said it considered the legal fight "effectively over" and put an end...

Here is the full text of the ACORN complaint against James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Breitbart.com. ACORN is suing for over $3,000,000 plus litigation costs and requesting appropriate punative damages. They demand a jury trial. The complaint asks the court to enter a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permament injunctions requiring the defendants to cease distributing and broadcasting the oral communications intercepted in the Baltimore offices of ACORN in July 2009, and to make their best efforts to prevent others from distributing and broadcasting said communications. Hannah Giles has launched a legal defense fund. You can donate here.

A Chicago man has filed a lawsuit against McDonald's Corporation after he says he swallowed a gold earring in his sandwich. The man purchased the sandwich on Aug. 11 from the McDonald's at Chicago's Navy Pier, according to the suit filed on Wednesday in the circuit court of Cook County, Ill. The plaintiff, Boguslaw Nedza, claims after he ate the sandwich "the earring became lodged in his throat and stomach and efforts to remove it by emergency personnel were unsuccessful." Nedza is now suing McDonald's for the injuries he sustained from ingesting the jewelry.