Free Republic

Teen in Lincoln Memorial protest sues Washington Post for $250 million Keith Coffman 3 Min Read (Reuters) - A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist in a January videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, 16, seeks $250 million in damages, the amount that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world’s richest person, paid for the Post...

Sometimes, it’s simply more cost-effective for companies to settle a civil lawsuit with a payoff than it is to pay the crushing legal costs of defending yourself in court. It’s sad that being in the right is utterly irrelevant, but that’s simply the way our sue-happy civil court system in this Republic is regretfully designed to operate. We’re seeing that play out in California right now, as Glock is settling a case with a former LAPD officer who sued Glock for a negligent discharge shooting that left him paralyzed. Attorneys for a gun manufacturer and a retired LAPD officer...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wanted to send a “message” by fining a department store almost $4 million after they failed to “report immediately” to the federal government that they were selling children’s clothing with drawstrings. Ross Stores, Inc. settled with the agency in June, agreeing to pay a $3.9 million civil penalty after they “knowingly failed to report to CPSC immediately, as required by federal law, that it sold or held for sale, about 23,000 children’s upper outerwear garments with drawstrings at the neck or waist.” The company said it settled to avoid costly litigation and denies...

Reporting from Atlanta— A former employee of a restaurant co-owned by Paula Deen has filed a lawsuit against the matronly celebrity cook, accusing her of condoning an atmosphere of sexual harassment and racism in her high-profile culinary empire. The suit also accuses Deen of casually referring to black people with a racial epithet. The civil complaint, which was filed Monday in state court in Savannah, Ga., was brought by Lisa T. Jackson, a former manager at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, one of five restaurants in Deen's group. The Savannah-based oyster house is co-owned by Deen and her brother, Earl W....

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign said on Tuesday that it is filing a lawsuit to get on the ballot in the Virginia primary election after state officials announced last week that he failed to turn in the requisite 10,000 signatures. "Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multicandidate election,” said Perry campaign Communications Director Ray Sullivan in a statement. “We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry today filed an emergency motion in U.S. District Court in Richmond seeking an injunction ordering the State Board of Elections to print presidential primary ballots with his name. Perry filed suit in federal court Tuesday challenging his exclusion from the March 6 primary ballot, naming the three members of the elections board and Pat Mullins, chairman of the state Republican Party. Perry is urging a judge to bar the elections board and Mullins from enforcing the state residency requirement for people who collect petition signatures for ballot access.

Perry's lawyers said a preliminary injunction was necessary since the deadline to print ballots in Virginia will be in two to three weeks. “In the absence of a preliminary injunction, plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm,” per filing. The case is Perry v. Judd, 3:11-cv-856, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has filed suit in federal court against the Virginia Republican Party and the Virginia Board of Elections in order to gain a spot on the Commonwealth's primary ballot. Perry was excluded after the party found he had not submitted enough valid signatures by the deadline last Thursday. His campaign submitted 6,000 of the required 10,000, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges that Perry's 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the requirement that those circulating the petitions also be eligible or registered voters of Virginia. Failure to get on the ballot is a major...

A Case, of Identity Thieving Attention, young people!! I am writing, this column to inform you that, there is someone on the Internet who is FALSELY IMPERSONATING me, Totally Meghan McCain. This person, clearly not having been matriculated – from a prestigious university like Colombia, as I had, is making me look like a TOTAL IDIOT. When I realized this, I was HORRIFIC. (PS – Am I, the only one who realizes, that word is completely sexist? It, was probably invented by some pasty old white male – Republican – instead of being invented, by someone cool like my dad)....

Potentially, very. Just ask Albin H. Gess of the Costa Mesa branch of the firm Snell & Wilmer. He’s making stupid and meritless censorious threats on behalf of Meghan McCain. Gess, or I, or most other lawyers could tell you that it is occasionally deeply revolting and embarrassing to be a lawyer, particularly at a big firm. Why? Well, because clients — especially clients with much money and influence — will sometimes demand that you do loathsome and humiliating things — sometimes thuggish and fundamentally un-American things. I’m not talking about illegal things, nor am I talking about grasping at...

Despite its backing by the billionaire Warren Stephens family, Las Vegas copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC warned today it may have to file for bankruptcy because of a series of setbacks in its litigation campaign. The warning came in an emergency request by Righthaven to a federal judge in Las Vegas that he stay his order that Righthaven pay $34,045 in legal fees to attorneys who successfully defended Kentucky message board poster Wayne Hoehn against a Righthaven lawsuit. Righthaven has already appealed U.S. District Judge Philip Pro’s fee award to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Righthaven is also...

Guest hosting for Chris Matthews on Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Jansing derided Rick Perry, wondering if the Republican presidential candidate is "too far off even for the GOP?" Jansing, who normally hosts supposedly straight news coverage for the cable network, attempted to generate controversy over statements Perry made on civil rights. A MSNBC graphic for the segment, mocked, "I have a scheme." According to Jansing, Perry's problem answer came in "comparing" the civil rights to cutting corporate tax rates. Here's Perry's full answer: RICK PERRY: America's gone a long way from the standpoint of civil rights and thank God we have....

Yes, another day and another judicial smackdown for Righthaven. In the case before Judge Roger Hunt, where he dismissed Righthaven for its sham copyright assignment claims and threatened sanctions against the company, it appears that Judge Hunt was not convinced by Righthaven's grovelling, that it was all the fault of former in-house attorneys, who failed to disclose that Stephens Media had a 50% stake in the outcome of any of these lawsuits. Hunt has gone forward with the sanctions, telling Righthaven to pay $5,000 for misleading the court. It seems that defendants in the 200+ other lawsuits now have reasons...

Farah, the CEO of WorldNetDaily.com, and Corsi, author of “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President,” have filed suit against Hearst, Esquire magazine and writer Mark Warren over a satirical article that they say defamed them and damaged their business interests. They’re seeking compensatory damages of $100 million and punitive damages of $20 million, plus legal costs. [Update: As a commenter points out, that's only for one of the five counts; the full amount sought totals more than $285 million.]

According to the New York Times’ David Brooks, Republican hardliners against tax increases are turning the GOP into a “psychological protest” rather than a “normal political party.” Brooks is upset that after having forced Democrats to come far closer to their position on taxes and spending in order to cut a deal to extend the national debt ceiling, there is little chance the House majority will embrace what he considers to be “the deal of the century.” To Brooks, the Democrats’ offer on the debt ceiling is the “Mother of All No-Brainers,” and his anger at the GOP’s insistence that...

Washington D.C., Jun 22, 2011 / 02:37 am (CNA).- The Catholic University of America says its plan to house men and women separately will withstand any legal challenge from John Banzhaf, known for his lawsuits over fast food and women's bathrooms. In a June 21 statement provided to CNA, the university said it “has not received service of any legal proceedings from Professor John Banzhaf regarding the University’s plan to phase in single-gender residence halls.” Earlier this week, a Fox affiliate in the District reported that Prof. Banzhaf had issued the school an “intent-to-sue” notice because of the plan. The...

The pro-business conservative group Americans for Job Security has bought up online ads in New Hampshire, touting Texas Gov. Rick Perry's work enacting "loser pays" tort reform laws. The web ads link to an AJS petition highlighting Perry's economic record: "Texas is leading the nation in job creation because of its pro-growth economic policies. In the last two years Texas, led by Gov. Rick Perry, has created more jobs than any other state . Loser-pays tort reform removes a harmful barrier to job creation." (See one of the web ads here.) AJS president Steve DeMaura, a former executive director of...

For 30 years it has been used to test the fitness of officers who police riots and other outbreaks of serious public disorder. The so-called 'shield run' involves officers covering a distance of 500 metres in less than two minutes, 45 seconds while wearing full riot gear and carrying a shield. But when Inspector Diane Bamber, 51, failed to meet the time limit, she claimed she had been left humiliated. She brought a sex and age discrimination case against her force, Greater Manchester Police, and now stands to win up to £30,000 after an employment tribunal ruled in her favour....

One year ago, U.S. newspapers and broadcasters could feel confident they controlled the news content they created. It was understood that competing and special-interest websites couldn't appropriate that content and post it without authorization. When such infringements occurred, they were dealt with swiftly and effectively with a simple phone call or email. Infringing websites typically had re-posted material out of ignorance they were violating the Copyright Act and agreed to remove the material or replace it with a link to the source newspaper or broadcaster. Then along came Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas, the self-appointed protector of the newspaper industry...

In June, Philip Alston, the independent U.N. investigator on extrajudicial killings, urged the United States to lay out rules and safeguards, publish figures on civilian casualties and prove it has tried other ways to capture or incapacitate suspects without killing them.