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Forced loyalty claims survive
SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge ruled that Chelan County deputies plausibly alleged a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress in their complaint alleging that they were forced by two sheriff candidates to declare their allegiance during the election and were later demoted after the sheriff they did not support was elected. The deputies sufficiently alleged that using law enforcement officers for personal political gain could constitute “extreme and outrageous” conduct. However, the judge deferred deciding whether to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law claim.
Football workout may have been 'hazing'
SCRANTON, Pa. — The parents of a football player who died after collapsing during a college freshmen conditioning workout on the first day of training camp in 2024 can pursue most of their claims against Bucknell University. The parents have provided sufficient facts to support their contention that the workout was “brutal,” especially for athletes like their son who were known to have sickle cell trait, and may have constituted illegal hazing under Pennsylvania law, a federal judge ruled.
Noncitizen accused of stealing bananas released
SACRAMENTO — An asylum-seeker sent to an immigration detention center in California City after being arrested and released on bond for shoplifting bananas from a store – which he says was due to a mistake at a self-checkout register after he twice asked for assistance – must be immediately released from custody. Immigration authorities violated the asylum-seeker’s procedural due process rights by detaining him for nearly seven months without providing him with a hearing, a federal judge in California ruled.
Defendant missed hearing due to suicide attempt
TEXARKANA, Texas — An appeals court in Texas upheld a criminal defendant’s conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child, finding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in proceeding with the trial even though defendant could not be there for the first day because he was in the hospital after attempting suicide. There was sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s finding that he waived his Sixth Amendment right to be present at trial by voluntarily absenting himself from the proceedings.
‘Life of a Klansman’ prison ban
BOSTON, Mass. — The Massachusetts Court of Appeals vacated a judgment in favor of a prison in a prisoner’s lawsuit over prison officials’ decision that the book “Life of a Klansman” by Edward Ball was contraband and that the inmate wasn’t allowed to have it. The inmate’s “complaint plausibly alleges that the [prison officials] are violating his constitutional rights by allowing inflammatory media against one race to be distributed, while not allowing [him] to possess anti-racist material that may be perceived as inflammatory against another race.” He also alleged that the prison played videos of Louis Farrakhan “advocating hate of White People” and held books titled with racial epithets in its library.
Four days in jail for using old $100 bills
MOBILE, Ala. — A federal court in Alabama denied Walmart’s motion to dismiss vicarious liability claims brought by a customer who spent four days in jail when an off-duty police officer working as a security guard arrested him for attempting to pay $500 on his Walmart credit card with five $100 bills he thought were counterfeit. The 1996 series of $100 bills were merely old, not counterfeit, and he was acting in his capacity as a cop and not as Walmart security when he arrested the man. The court is “narrowly persuaded” the claim against Walmart should not be dismissed “at this stage of the litigation.”
Racial vote dilution claims tossed
OXFORD, Miss. — A federal court in Mississippi ruled that a chapter of the NAACP did not present evidence to “support a strong inference” that county officials illegally drew election maps in 2021 to intentionally dilute Black voting strength. The NAACP suit named three defendants: the county, the all-white five-member county board of supervisors and the all-white five-member county election commission charged with conducting elections. The court heard testimony from 36 witnesses over a 12-day trial. In the end, the litigants did not provide sufficient evidence that county voters “engage in racial bloc voting that cannot be explained by partisan affiliation.”
Hobby Lobby faces some false advertising claims
OAKLAND, Calif. — Hobby Lobby dodged unjust enrichment, but not false advertising, claims brought by consumers who say the company’s “limited time” sales are misleading because the discounted items are placed on sale so frequently that the baseline prices of the items are effectively meaningless. The consumers couldn’t show how the company’s tactics resulted in buyers getting lesser-value products than the ones they paid for, but some of the false advertising claims survive because consumers could still be misled by the company’s advertisements.
Maricopa County won’t face class action over mugshot site
PHOENIX — An appeals court in Arizona agreed with the lower court’s decision not to certify a class in a complaint brought by a man who was arrested and says the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office posted his mugshot, birthdate and other personal information on a website that did not explain that people appearing on the site had not been convicted of a crime and were presumed innocent. False light claims require defendants to publish “a major misrepresentation” about the plaintiff; determining whether the publication of arrestees’ mugshots misrepresented them would likely require individualized facts.
New York court must reconsider ruling over student’s gender ID
MANHATTAN — The Second Circuit vacated a New York federal court’s finding in favor of a school district that was sued by a mother over its policy of using the name and pronouns that correspond “to the gender identity [her child] consistently asserts at school.” The appellate court remands the matter for review in light of a Supreme Court decision in a California case that blocked schools there from withholding student gender identity or transition status from their parents. The lower court’s ruling is partially affirmed however, because the mother failed to adequately show a likelihood of future harm, so she does not have standing to seek declaratory relief; she put her child in a private school in response to the district’s policy.
Detainee in Maine granted habeas relief
BANGOR, Maine — A federal court in Maine granted a non-citizen detainee’s habeas motion and ordered his release. The state had violated the court’s emergency order: “There are no adequate detention facilities in Maine to which [this detainee] could be returned, and his continued detention ... substantially impairs his right to counsel at a critical moment.”