Free Republic

Eight all at once and one separately. He’s not giving out details at this time, but says he has lawyers working on the briefs. Kreep has become much more outspoken about Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq., even while not mentioning her name. He trashed the main complaint she wrote for their case Barnett v. Obama to hell, calling it “terrible,” at the mildest. Andrea Shea King blog talk radio.

The U.S. Justice Department is urging a federal judge in California to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama to hold the office of president.

A Nevada school district agreed to pay $400,000 to a Muslim girl and her friend over allegations that other students threatened to kill her in the stairwell for wearing a religious head scarf and the staff did nothing to stop it.

A well-known California atheist says he and 17 others, plus atheist and humanist organizations, will file suit Tuesday in D.C.'s District Court to strip all references to God and religion from President-elect Barack Obama's January inauguration ceremony. Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, Calif., says he wants to remove the phrase "so help me God" from the oath of office, plus axe the invocation prayer from Pastor Rick Warren, already under fire from the left for his opposition to gay marriage. According to Newdow, any reference to God or religion violates the Constitution. "Equality is important to me," Newdow told The Examiner....

A former flight attendant for Continental Airlines who was fired for inappropriate behavior on a flight in 2002 has lost an attempt to sue the company for age discrimination. In a ruling released Monday, a state appeals court upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the lawsuit filed by Melissa Mersmann and ordering her to pay $2,500 in attorneys' fees to Continental. The lawsuit stemmed from events in early 2002, when Mersmann was fired for her conduct during a Feb. 17 flight from Aruba to Newark. In court filings, the company claimed Mersmann "as a result of being intoxicated, engaged in...

What started as a minor case over a pair of scratch marks less than 6 inches long on a Toyota RAV4 in Palo Alto has turned into a three-year legal odyssey involving a private investigator, an expert witness flown in at a cost of several thousand dollars and appeals all the way to the state Supreme Court. The $653 misdemeanor vandalism case of the People vs. Howard Herships began in 2005 when Steve Kirsch, a Silicon Valley tech millionaire and anti-junk fax crusader, took a woman to small claims court in Santa Clara County for sending him multiple unsolicited faxes....

The Bambu rolling-paper company is smoking mad at a Barack Obama-loving artist for using its iconic packaging on T-shirts that show the president-elect smoking a joint. Seamus McGovern and his "Love Fatigues" Web business were hit with a trademark-infringement suit for putting Obama's name and face on the beige and white cover of "the world's finest rolling papers." The Manhattan federal court case claims the $22 "Obambu" shirts expose Bambu to "criticism and scorn" because they show Obama smoking weed, and could "confuse the consuming public" into believing they came from the company.

Despite the fact that the film Obsession contains no political content and was made well before the 2008 election cycle began, CAIR, those paragons of Islamic moderation and honesty, would now have you believe that the national distribution of the DVD was an Israeli plot to elect John McCain. This is a very revealing action for CAIR to take. It reveals in particular two key aspects of CAIR's mindset: 1. It shows that CAIR is fully aware that the jihad against Israel is an integral part of the global jihad, and is not just a struggle to recover Palestinian "stolen...

Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against CBS is getting whittled down like a redwood at an Alabama beaver party. A Manhattan judge yesterday threw out two more of Rather's claims against the network, including his charge that his former bosses committed fraud by falsely promising to help restore his reputation after he became a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's military career. "We are extremely gratified that the court has now dismissed the vast majority of Mr. Rather's claims," CBS said in a statement. Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold, said that despite Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman's ruling striking...

Christian publisher Zondervan is facing a $60 million federal lawsuit filed by a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible.

The ABC network said on Monday it will go ahead with plans to air an episode of its new legal drama "Eli Stone" despite objections from pediatricians who say the show may discourage parents from having their children immunized. The debut episode features the show's title character and hero, a trial lawyer for big corporations who decides to fight for the little guy, convincing a jury that a mercury-based preservative in a vaccine caused a child's autism. On the show, a jury awards the boy's mother $5.2 million in damages after it is revealed the CEO of the vaccine maker...

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA   DON ADAMS, ET AL.,     PLAINTIFFS        v.   TEAMSTERS LOCAL 115, ET AL.,     DEFENDANTS   CIVIL ACTIONNO. 99-CV-4910   JUDGMENT AND NOW, this 4th day of Sept., 2007, judgment is hereby rendered in favor of defendant Teamsters Local 115 and against plaintiffs Don Adams and Theresa Adams in the amount of $450.10.   William H. Yohn, Jr., Judge IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA   DON ADAMS, ET AL.,     PLAINTIFFS        v.   TEAMSTERS LOCAL 115, ET AL.,     DEFENDANTS   CIVIL ACTIONNO. 99-CV-4910  ...

A Morgantown man, his mother and his friend are suing McDonald's for $10 million. The man says he bit into a hamburger and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese melted on it. Jeromy Jackson, who is in his early 20s, says he clearly ordered two Quarter Pounders without cheese at the McDonald's restaurant in Star City before heading to Clarksburg. His mother Trela Jackson and friend Andrew Ellifritz are parties to the lawsuit because they say they risked their lives rushing Jeromy to United Hospital Center in Clarksburg. The lawsuit alleges Jeromy "was only moments from death" or...

<p>Judge dismisses Valerie Plame's lawsuit accusing members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity... Developing..</p>

DRIVE-THRU DEBACLE | Says McDonald's workers balked at tiny hands, short arms In a lifetime of using her feet the way most people use their hands, Dawn Larson never felt as discriminated against as she did at McDonald's, she said. Born with Holt-Oram Syndrome, Larson has diminutive hands about six inches from her shoulder. That has never stopped her from leading a productive life."I drank my baby bottle with my feet. Nobody ever taught me how to do it, I just did it," Larson said. "I can ride a regular 10-speed bike. I can swim. It has not been...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- A lawsuit alleges Wal-Mart sold ammunition to an unstable man accused of fatally shooting another man six hours later in Las Cruces. Kenneth Rauch, 49, of Las Cruces has been charged with first-degree murder in the April 25, 2005, killing of Eusebio Escobedo, 27, of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in state district court, lists the plaintiffs as Escobedo's children, fiancée and estranged wife. Their attorney, Ken Egan of Las Cruces, said Wal-Mart has a policy governing the sale of firearms, including background checks. The lawsuit alleges employees at a Wal-Mart in Las...

Just the Truth? Why the Republicans Have Changed Their Tune Over the years, Republicans have held hearings on Bill Clinton’s Christmas card list and called for answers on Socks the Cat’s fan mail. Yet they continue to stonewall attempts to question key players in the scandal surrounding the apparently politically-motivated firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. Despite emails showing that top White House advisers such as Harriet Miers and Karl Rove were involved in the decision, the White House has cited executive privilege and placed restrictions on their cooperation with Congress such as demanding closed-door hearings with no transcripts and even...

Lakewood, Wash. - The mother of a 9-year-old boy who boarded flights from Seattle to Texas and is suspected of leading police on a high-speed chase said in a television interview that she was stunned but proud of her son's actions. "He just showed me that, 'Mom, I'm going to achieve anything I want to do. I'm going to just do it.' So he did it, from driving a car to getting on an airplane," said Sakinah Booker on the syndicated TV show "Inside Edition," which was to air Wednesday. In the interview, her son, Semaj, describes using a man's...

A Texas man claims the Republican National Committee stole his W logo and he wants millions of dollars in damages. Jerry Gossett of Wichita Falls filed a copyright infringement suit against the committee and Spalding Group, a Louisville, Ky., consulting firm that designed the official W logo for the 2004 campaign, the Houston Chronicle reports. A federal judge in Texarkana scheduled trial for Nov. 7. Gossett copyrighted his logo in 2001. The design includes a capital W. with a period, a U.S. flag with two creases in it flying somewhat downward to the right and the number 43. The design...

Boy Charged For Meowing At Neighbor Lady Family Gave Cat Away After Neighbor's ComplaintsPOSTED: 2:26 pm EDT August 23, 2006 JEANNETTE, Pa. -- Meow. A Pennsylvania judge is being asked to decide whether that word is a harmless taunt or grounds for misdemeanor harassment. Police have charged a 14-year-old boy with that crime. Michael Loughner is accused of meowing whenever he sees his 78-year-old neighbor, Alexandria Carasia. The boy's family got rid of their cat after Carasia complained that it was using her flower garden as a litter box. Now, she said, the boy makes meowing sounds every time he...

DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts. The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day. Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small...

(AP) WASHINGTON A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler did order the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites "corrective statements" on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. She also ordered tobacco companies to stop labeling cigarettes as "low tar," "light," "ultra light" or "mild," since such cigarettes have been found to be no...

The clear message for employers in the case of Helen Green, who this week won more than £800,000 in damages against her former employer Deutsche Bank after a sustained period of "infantile" treatment by colleagues, is that it is not okay to look the other way if an employee is being bullied. * Examples of the treatment said to have been meted out to Ms Green included blowing raspberries at her and telling her "you stink". Some employers might be forgiven for believing that such juvenile behaviour should be ignored or simply brushed aside by the person on the receiving...

Monday, July 3, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MUCH ABOUT HISTORY Atheist who sued priest over Jesus' reality fined But author refuses to pay judgment, saying it violates intellectual liberty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 3, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com An atheist who gained worldwide fame when he sued an Italian priest, claiming Jesus Christ never actually existed, has been fined by an appeals court in Rome. But Luigi Cascioli vows never to pay the $1,900 judgment against him. The fact he was given the maximum fine is "an abuse of authority against every right of intellectual expression...

A 14-year-old Travis County girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a Buda man she met on MySpace.com sued the popular social networking site Monday for $30 million, claiming that it fails to protect minors from adult sexual predators. The lawsuit claims that the Web site does not require users to verify their age and calls the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 "utterly ineffective." "MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online," said Adam Loewy, who is representing the girl and her mother in the lawsuit against MySpace, parent...

CURVE TO HOLD FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT NIGHT JULY 2nd AT BCB May 15, 2006 - ALTOONA- Inspired by a Los Angeles Angels fan who filed a lawsuit against the club because he did not receive a red nylon tote bag as part of the major league club's Mother’s Day promotion last May, the Altoona Curve have announced that they will be holding Salute to Frivolous Lawsuit Night as part of their Sunday, July 2nd game at Blair County Ballpark. The Curve’s salute to all ridiculous lawsuits ever filed will include the following: A Pink Tote Bag Giveaway to the first 137...

(Ansonia-WTNH, Apr. 8, 2006 11:20 PM) _ An Ansonia 12-year-old is in some trouble tonight after he claims he was abducted and assaulted by White men in robes. The boy claimed that he was attacked because of the color of his skin. Now, it turns out that Ansonia police have determined the boy's story is a lie. Ansonia police told us earlier today they were investigating a claim of an assault to a child. His mother originally told us her child told her he was the target of racism. In fact, she was so scared she, and the NAACP asked...

Paternity fraud is rampant in the United States, triggering legislation and legal challenges in more than a dozen states, according to family law attorneys and fathers' rights activists. At issue: Men claim women are getting away with trickery -- DNA evidence may show a man is not the father, but the courts are still forcing him to pay child support anyway. "This is the new underdog," said Michigan family law attorney Michele Kelly, who represents mostly men tangled in paternity disputes. "I was a staunch feminist. I marched with Gloria Steinem. But the new victims in America are working men....

WASHINGTON (BP)--Indiana’s John Hostettler is trying for the fifth consecutive Congress to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union from receiving government funds when it succeeds at legal challenges to public expressions of religion. This year, the Republican representative has more hope than before thanks to the American Legion. The country’s largest veterans organization, with about three million members, has aggressively thrown its influence behind Hostettler’s bill, and the persistent congressman is encouraged at his proposal’s prospects. Hostettler’s measure, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), H.R. 2679, is designed to close what he considers a loophole in federal law that...

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned the continued refusal of the Justice Department to answer basic questions about the National Security Agency’s warrantless program to wiretap Americans. The Department today sent over its answers to questions about the illegal program from the majority and minority members of the House Judiciary Committee. The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: “The Department of Justice continues to refuse to give honest answers to basic questions, such as how many Americans have had their phone calls and e-mails listened to or read by...

SEATTLE -- The parents of a 23-year-old who was killed trying to prevent the demolition of an occupied Palestinian home have appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their lawsuit against Caterpiller Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. "He applied the wrong legal standard and ignored the facts," said Maria LaHood, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. Rachel Corrie was killed three years ago by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer. She was trying to stop him from demolishing a Gaza Strip home while the family was inside; though witnesses said she...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- A Rochester teacher who has taken his employer and his own union to court numerous times over the years has been ordered to come up with $270,000 in legal fees. U-S District Judge David Larimer has ruled that Donald Murphy must pay that amount to the Rochester City School District and the Rochester Teachers Association. Larimer said Murphy targeted the city's entire school system in frivolous legal actions while claiming his civil rights were violated. He called Murphy's case "meritless and without foundation." The judge said Murphy's "antics" were aimed at annoying school officials or calling...

NEW YORK Columnist Ann Coulter made a provocative remark Friday about "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau and editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. Trudeau is shrugging it off, but Rall is considering a lawsuit. Coulter reportedly said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.: "Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and The New York Times have made submissions."

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address....

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. CindySheehan's diary :: :: There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the...

Some lawyers say fast food is dangerous. It can make you fat. I say some lawyers are dangerous. They can make you poor and take away your choices. But special privileges for favored industries, such as the bill the House recently passed to protect the fast-food industry, are the wrong cure.I like fast food. It tastes good, it's cheap, and it's, well, fast. That's why McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC and Taco Bell are so popular. People aren't endlessly stupid, so companies serving nearly 100 million people every day must be serving their customers well.Of course, eating too much fast...

MIAMI (AP) — A jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay more than $61 million to the family of a 17-year-old boy killed in a roll-over accident when his friend fell asleep while driving an Explorer.Ford was liable in the accident because it sold a vehicle with poor handling and stability, the jury said Tuesday.The company planned to appeal, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.The family of Lance Crossman Hall claimed Ford knew the Explorer was prone to roll-overs and failed to warn consumers about the vehicle's defects.Ford blamed defective Firestone tires for the Explorer's handling and stability problems, and the...

Lawsuits seeking millions in damages have been filed in federal court in Victoria by survivors of seven illegal immigrants who died in Victoria County's infamous 2003 human-smuggling case. The suits allege that the Savanna, Ga.-based Great Dane trailers, manufacturer of the trailer in which the immigrants rode during their ill-fated journey from the Mexican border, failed to install escape latches inside the fully insulated refrigerator trailer, which had no ventilation system. The oversight left the trapped occupants with no access to fresh air, no means of escape, and placed them in danger of suffocation and death, the suits claim. The...

July 26, 2005 — Can a wife put a price tag on housework? One woman says yes, and is seeking $500,000 for the work she did during 5½ years of marriage. Kathy Thompson previously appeared on "GMA" when she went on strike to get her husband, Gary, to help around the house. Now she wants a divorce, and compensation for her work. "He goes fishing a lot, he doesn't appreciate me I don't think, and so I went on strike," Kathy Thompson said in 2002. The strike ended only when Gary Thompson showed up with flowers, vacation plans and dinner...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A man who lost part of his finger in a workplace accident was the source of the fingertip used in an alleged scam against Wendy's restaurants, and gave it away to settle a debt, his mother said. "My son is the victim in this," Brenda Shouey said in an interview published in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. "I believe he got caught in something, and he didn't understand what was going on." Anna Ayala, 39, was arrested April 21 at her Las Vegas home on suspicion of attempted grand theft for allegedly costing Wendy's millions of dollars...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The finger that a woman claimed she found in a bowl of Wendy's chili was severed in the tailgate of a truck during a work accident, an employee of an asphalt company said. Pat Hogue, an estimator with a Las Vegas asphalt maintenance company, told the San Francisco Chronicle for a story in Sunday's editions that a man he was working with lost the tip of his finger on a job five months ago. Both men were working with James Plascencia, the husband of Anna Ayala - the Las Vegas woman who claimed she found the...

The Las Vegas man whose severed fingertip ended up in a cup of Wendy's chili gave his mangled digit to a co-worker to settle a $50 debt -- but had no idea it would be used in an alleged scheme to swindle the fast-food chain, the man's mother said Tuesday. San Jose police have refused to name the man whose finger they believe ended up in the chili. But the man's mother, reached by The Chronicle on Tuesday, said the finger belonged to her 36-year-old son, Brian Paul Rossiter of Las Vegas. "My son is the victim in this,'' Rossiter's...

In an effort to teach educators a lesson about the importance of summer vacation, a Whitnall High School student and his father have filed a lawsuit against the boy's math teacher that seeks to bar teachers from requiring homework over the summer. In the lawsuit, 17-year-old Peer Larson and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, argue that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over. "It is poor public policy," Bruce Larson argues in the lawsuit. "These students are still children, yet they are subjected...

Last Updated: Thursday, 6 January, 2005, 10:12 GMT US show sued for rat-eating stunt Past shows included contestants eating spiders and worms A US TV network is being sued for $2.5m (£1.3m) by a viewer who says he was disgusted by watching contestants eat dead rats in a stunt show. Austin Aitken is taking action against NBC over its programme Fear Factor. He said watching the show caused his blood pressure to rise so high that he became dizzy and light-headed. The legal assistant said NBC was "sending the wrong message to viewers that cash can make or have people...

Two very different Texas institutions are set to spar over an image almost as seminal as the state flag. Last month, Red River punk/garage nexus Beerland received a notice from attorneys for cosmic cowboy shrine Luckenbach, informing them Luckenbach considered Beerland's logo an infringement on their trademark. Owner Randall Stockton begs to differ, saying the star-in-oval design – perhaps you've also seen it representing Lone Star Beer, the Lone Star Cafe, and Jerry Jeff Walker – should belong to nobody; or, rather, that it belongs to all Texans. "There's just so many people who affiliate themselves with Texas that use...

Earlier this year, Tom DeLay correctly diagnosed the disease that infects his congressional majority. "If 1994 was the year we stopped thinking like a permanent minority," DeLay told Republicans gathered for a February party retreat in Philadelphia, "2004 is the year we start thinking like a permanent majority: unified, aggressive, rightfully confident of victory." DeLay, of course, thought permanent-majority status would be a good thing for the GOP, but nine months later he's become the symbol of a party corrupted by its lock on power. When House Republicans voted last month to allow members who have been indicted to keep...

AP articles published on the internet at numerous news outlets, including CBS, tell the story of 8 US soldiers named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit over enlistment extensions they considered unfair. The AP article as published on the CBS website, Soldiers Decry 'Unfair' Extensions, states:The lawsuit contends the policy is a breach of the service contract because it extends the length of service without a soldier's consent. It also alleges the contracts were misleading because they make no reference to the policy, said Staughton Lynd, an attorney for the soldiers. No mention is made of Staughton Lynd's significant past and...

Two dozen San Francisco schoolkids sporting white turtlenecks and Santa hats got a very un-Christmaslike civics lesson the other day when they showed up at Union Square hoping to delight Christmas shoppers with holiday carols. "They just wanted to set up next to the Christmas tree and sing,'' said Donna Vargas, one of the parents who escorted the fifth- and sixth-graders from San Francisco Day School on Friday's outing. Instead, they got the boot. Seems they didn't have a city permit -- so after a brief run-in with the park's security, the kids were shooed away. "How can children not...

What highway road signs would look like in 20 years if the blues keep trying to dumb down the general public.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Most of the presidential election provisional ballots rejected so far in Ohio came from people who were not even registered to vote, election officials said after spending nearly two weeks poring over thousands of disputed votes. The vast majority of provisional ballots have been legitimate, however. Of the 11 counties that have completed checking ballots, 81 percent of the ballots are valid, according to a survey Monday by The Associated Press. Unofficial vote totals show President Bush beating Democrat John Kerry by 136,000 votes in Ohio, and Kerry has conceded there are not enough outstanding votes to...