MetaFilter posts tagged with Lawsuit

Illegal Samoan

sycophant — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:32:51 -0800

Samoan government Minister Hans Joachim "Joe" Keil is suing US immigration agents and the State Department. In September 2008, while visiting relatives in Branson, Missouri Keil was arrested for being an illegal alien in what appeared to be a fairly well planned operation. He was charged with falsely representing himself to be a US citizen, and falsely using a US passport. Keil, a US Air Force veteran, has held a US Passport since 1967, which had been renewed seven times. After the his initial 8-days of imprisonment Joe detailed his experiences and bail conditions prevented Keil from returning to Samoa while the case was before the court. There was a very strong response in Samoa, with hundreds marching on the US embassy, many more signing a petition in support of Keil. The event also caused concern for others holding dual-citizenship betwen the US and Samoa. In December 2008 all the charges against keil were dropped and his US Citizenship reinstated. None of the agencies involved have made any statements about the initial prosecution or the lawsuit.

Isaac Eiland-Hall wins WIPO case, hands domain name over to ... Glenn Beck?

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:43:10 -0800

Isaac Eiland-Hall wins WIPO case, hands domain name over to ... Glenn Beck? Previously.

She should sue because 70,000 dollars later, she's still ignorant.

Pragmatica — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:25:35 -0800

Jobless College Graduate Sues Because She's Still Jobless A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job.

CRUNCH BERRIES! You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Four-Eyed Girl — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:34:19 -0800

A U.S. District Court judge recently dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she had purchased and eaten "Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries" for four years because she believed "crunchberries" were real fruit. The woman stated that if she knew there was not fruit in the cereal, she never would have purchased it. The same attorneys previously sued the makers of Froot Loops cereal for similar reasons, and that lawsuit was also unsuccessful.

Do they preserve scientific transparency, protect profits or both?

zarq — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:16:38 -0800

On behalf of medical organizations, universities, & individual patients, pathologists and genetics researchers, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Utah-based Myriad Genetics and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Myriad holds the US patents to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, associated with hereditary causes of breast and ovarian cancers. Their patents guarantee the company the right to prevent anyone else from testing or studying those genes, which the ACLU says is unconstitutional and inhibits researchers from finding treatments and cures. The ACLU has posted a FAQ explaining the suit. It might be news to some that genes, gene fragments and the tools used to assess them can be patented. Here's some general info on patent eligibility and qualifications. Some question whether such patents spur or stifle research Myriad's BRCA test to measure the likelihood that someone would develop ovarian or breast cancer was in the news a couple of years ago, when a study revealed that it produces false negatives. Concerns were also raised in the EU over the patents when they were initially filed. Previously on MeFi

No critical thought allowed!

cgomez — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:17:16 -0800

James Corbett, a California high-school educator of twenty years, has been found guilty of violating the establishment clause of the first amendment. The lawsuit (PDF) was brought to a U.S. District Court on December 12th, 2007 by student Chad Farnan and his parents with the aid of the legal group 'Advocates for Faith and Freedom' against Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District as a result of comments made which were critical of Christianity. During the sixteen month legal battle, hundreds of students in support of the teacher demonstrated outside the school while the Farnan family appealed to opinion outlets like 'The O'Reilly Factor'. Two key quotes cited as evidence in the case:

"How do you get the peasants to oppose something that is in their best interest? Religion. You have to have something that is irrational to counter that rational approach." "Conservatives don't want women to avoid pregnancies. That's interfering with God's work. You've got to stay pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen and have babies until your body collapses. All over the world, doesn't matter where you go, the conservatives want control over women's reproductive capacity. Everywhere in the world. From conservative Christians in this country to Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan. It's the same. It's stunning how vitally interested they are in controlling women."

Only if you're doing it right.

Sys Rq — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:14:16 -0800

1) American Apparel uses stills from Annie Hall in an ad campaign. 2) Woody Allen sues American Apparel for $10M+. 3) American Apparel stays classy.

A logo's worth

wundermint — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:14:29 -0800

Today has turned into a real-life nightmare. I wish I could wake up. This nightmare started 9 months ago and has been recurring ever since.

Designer Jon Engle is being billed $18,000 by stockart.com. Some people are trying to save Jon. Jon Engle's gallery at logopond / one reddit commentator's comparison of Jon's logos with stockart.

Suit filed over school shooting

Bango Skank — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:21:14 -0800

One year ago this week Lawrence King an openly gay middle-schooler in Oxnard, CA was murdered by a fellow student. In the midst of discussion of the legacy of this tragedy and remembrances of Larry his parents have filed a wrongful death suit. The lawsuit names several defendants including, Casa Pacifica, a youth shelter Larry where lived at the time of his death, the Ventura Rainbow Coalition, and the school in which the shooting occurred. The lawsuit's main contention is that each of these groups are responsible for Larry's death because they "failed to urge the effeminate teen to tone down flamboyant behavior."

Pro-Life Medicine, Whether you Like it or Not

tehloki — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:31:59 -0800

A clinic nurse first removed her intrauterine birth-control device without permission, says the patient in a federal action, then told her that "having the IUD come out was a good thing," because "I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don't know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them."

Coldplagiarism?

starman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:34:20 -0800

Guitarist Joe Satriani sues Coldplay over Viva La Vida (audio). Satriani's version: If I Could Fly (audio).

The law of unintended consequences?

desjardins — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:49:38 -0800

Wendy Whitaker is a sex offender. At 17, she had oral sex with a boy, just shy of his 16th birthday. She's losing her house because she cannot live within 1000 feet of any area where children congregate, and the local church runs an unadvertised daycare. In 2006 she sued over the residency restrictions. Last Thursday, she lost. She filed a new lawsuit, saying that her sex offender status is cruel and unusual punishment. Like the case of Genarlow Wilson (previously, 1, 2), if they'd just had intercourse instead of oral sex, it would have been a misdemeanor, not a felony. What she did is no longer a felony in Georgia, but a law was passed so that justice does not apply retroactively, so Wilson and Whitaker remain convicted felons. Another law effectively barred sex offenders from the entire state, and Whitaker moved to South Carolina. She returned to GA when the law was overturned. They're allowing Whitaker to stay in her home during the lawsuit but she won't be volunteering at the church.

[Insert clever lyric pun here]

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:57:58 -0800

Hall & Oates are suing their publisher, Warner/Chappell Music Inc., claiming the publisher failed to enforce the copyright on their song "Maneater" and sue an unnamed singer-songwriter (quite possibly Nelly Furtado) for infringement. The only problem is, Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills - the composers of the Furtado track - also work for Warner/Chappel Music. What happens when publishers don't protect songwriters from other songwriters working for the same publisher.

Real Relevant?

shunshine — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:56:08 -0800

Considering DVDs seem a bit long in the tooth, this recent foray into the world of DVD ripping seemed a thinly veiled attempt to pick a fight with the MPAA. After invoking the Glaser Doctrine this morning, guess they got what they wanted. Hate, hate, HATE or tolerate the company, they've pulled a couple interesting stunts. Of course the widely-used, DMCA-breaking DeCSS method of ripping has been around for years, but was apparently made possible by RealNetworks itself in 1999. Their new, (purportedly) legal route was inspired by this suit won against the DVD CCA last year. Talk about a 10-year plan!

NFB v. Target: Web Accessibility and business

Ky — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:29:46 -0800

An important class action lawsuit was settled today when Target agreed to pay $6 million in damages to the plaintiffs (National Federation of the Blind, et al.) because these disabled users could not shop on the Target.com site. Here is a collection of legal ~~mumbo jumbo~~ materials. The WCAG set authored by the W3C is barely used online (and 2.0 is controversial); Section 508 applies only to government-funded agencies and their websites; this class action lawsuit put to test the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, particularly Title III. Some of the comments posted to various newspapers about the story were particularly enlightening: disabled people are lawsuit-happy whiny bastards; small business owners will be put out of business because making accessible sites is omg so expensive and hard; WWW usage is a privilege, not a right; and, naturally, arguments against the previously stated. The ADA doesn't specify how online stores should be made accessible, though, so business will have to rely on WCAG and maybe even tips from Section 508.

Word Withdrawal

ThePinkSuperhero — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:28 -0800

The sad day has come: Facebook has shut down Scrabulous. Read the complaint here (PDF). Those suffering from withdrawal can head on over to Scrabulous.com. There are several Save Scrabulous groups on Facebook (1, 2, 3, 4). Previous MeFi post on Scrabulous.

Prince is an angry, angry man

astruc — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:20:21 -0800

Fifty Norwegian artists (including the national symphony orchestra KORK), who recorded Prince covers in honor of his 50th birthday June 7, have been slapped with a lawsuit by the short-tempered star. For now, all 81 songs can be previewed free on C+C Records' website, and some are also available on MySpace in streamable medley form. Source.

It's just the grill... the grill... the grill you want

porn in the woods — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:08:18 -0800

Claiming "complete rip-off" of their iconic image and sound, Devo are suing McDonald's over the "New Wave Nigel" included with the American Idol Happy Meal. See the video of Nigel in action. "They didn't ask us anything," Gerard Casale told Australian Associated Press. "Plus, we don't like McDonald's, and we don't like American Idol, so we're doubly offended."

All-organic or none!

snofoam — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:08:13 -0800

All One God Faith, maker's of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, are suing thirteen cosmetic brands for using the term "organic" on products that include petroleum-based ingredients. And now, Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz is suing them for using his name on their unique bottle labels (where he appears alongside folks like Jesus, Mohammed and Einstein). They were most recently in the news defending Germs drummer Don Bolles after he was wrongly arrested when his bottle of Dr. Bronners tested a false positive for GHB. Bolles got off, but the faulty test - which returned a false positive for actual soaps (made from saponified oil) but not for detergent-based cleaners - was perhaps the germ of an idea to fight for more accurate labels on body care products.

Owner of Neurodiversity.com Subpoenaed in Autism Suit.

kristin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:37:15 -0800

Kathleen is the owner of neurodiversity.com, one of the most comprehensive resources online in the topic of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Neurodiversity is just one person with a domain name and a computer, not a corporation, or a money-making enterprise, but apparently having good research skills and a willingness to share what you know is becoming legally problematic. Last week, Kathleen has received a subpoena commanding her to appear for deposition and document production in Rev. Lisa Sykes and Seth Sykes’ $20,000,000 personal injury lawsuit, Sykes v. Bayer. That subpoena request, that she turn over every piece of autism-related correspondence and/or contact she has ever had with any company, government agency, religious group, or any other person with any interest in autism, which includes all contact and correspondence with other autism bloggers. They are also asking for all of her financial records. Neurodiversity.com has posted about the Sykes ongoing litigation previously, and Kathleen has been outspoken against Sykes use of her church as a platform for her lawsuit, but this subpoena smacks of intimidation, given that Kathleen is not an expert, a scientist, has never met Sykes, nor been employed by Bayer. In her motion to quash the subpoena, Kathleen writes, in part:

The subpoena was not issued in good faith because its manifest purpose is not to elicit information relevant to determining Bayer’s liability for Wesley Sykes’ medical and developmental problems, but to indulge his parents’ and their attorney’s curiosity about my motivations and associations; to aggressively communicate their suspicion that I am not merely a fellow citizen who openly, intelligently and conscientiously disagrees with their public statements and actions, but a covert agent of the government, the pharmaceutical industry, or some other hidden force; to disrupt my relationships with my associates and news sources; and to intimidate, harass and retaliate against me for exercising my constitutional right to report and express opinions about matters of widespread public interest in which plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ counsel are involved. These are not legitimate reasons to invoke the judicial subpoena power. Indeed, in so doing, Mr. Shoemaker has engaged in a sanctionable abuse of his authority as an officer of the court.

Attempting to drag Kathleen in as a third party witness seems a pretty clear form of intimidation, given that she possesses no special third-party knowledge. Is this the future of niche-market blogging?

Don't copy that floppy (or workbook)

starman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:05:06 -0800

An associate professor and former librarian is collecting education copyright infringement cases in a database. So far, the database is small (9 entries), but still interesting. You can add to it here.

This is a sexual harassment suit.

saslett — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:24:26 -0800

Everyone's favorite pro se plaintiff, Jonathan Lee Riches, whose complaints have previously graced Metafilter's front page, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit [pdf] against Eliot Spitzer. For those who have trouble making out Riches's one-page handwritten complaint, it reads: "This is a sexual harassment suit. Gov. Spitzer is try [sic] to sell me for prison prostitution labor to Albany legislators. Spitzer threatend [sic] to take my money like he did with Grasso. all [sic] corporate convictions Spitzer used the fines to pay for prostitutes for himself and implants for Silda. I'm personally offened [sic], I seek a restraining order Against [sic] him." Baseball fans may want to check out his lawsuit against Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, who apparently can throw a mean pitcher of lemonade.

Something "special" in the air?

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:46:03 -0800

Woman sues American Airlines for not preventing in-flight masturbation. Oh sure, they can tell breastfeeding mothers to cover up, but when it comes to American Airlines and a fellow passenger ejaculating into a sleeping female passenger's hair? No problem!

Sue your dealer.

gman — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:02:53 -0800

Sandra Bergen sued her dealer after she suffered a heart attack and spent 11 days in a coma because of crystal meth. Her full website. What people think.

RIAA puts ripping of legally-owned CDs in the crosshairs

porn in the woods — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:47:19 -0800

The Recording Industry Association of America are seeking damages in a federal case against Jeffrey Howell, who kept a collection of about 2,000 recordings on his PC. The RIAA's lawyer states that the files Howell made on his computer from legally purchased CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.