Feb 1, 2017

Class-Action Suit Claims Louisiana Public Defender System Failing Indigent Defendants

A lawsuit filed Monday in Louisiana alleges the state is negligent in guaranteeing Constitutional rights of poor people by not properly funding or maintaining the public defender system. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and two other law firms filed a class action suit Monday in Baton Rouge against Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards …


Toyota Calls Foul on Class-Action Lawsuit

Toyota has made it clear it is not standing for the complaints that owners have filed against it. “We do not believe plaintiffs have put forth any credible allegations to the support the lawsuit,” Aaron Fowels, the company’s corporate communications manager, recently told the Northern California Record. 2017 Toyota Yaris | Coutesy of Toyota The company’s response came after some …


Elon Musk’s Companies Join Immigration Ban Lawsuit

Tesla and SpaceX — two companies owned by Elon Musk — have signed on to a legal brief in support of a lawsuit against President Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees. Musk has been on the defensive for the past week for remaining a member of the president’s advisory councils in the wake …


Whitepages Latest People Search Site Hit by Class Action Alleging Wrongly Uses People’s Names for Ads

Yet another online people search website has been targeted for allegedly breaking an Illinois privacy law, as a new class action alleges WhitePages.com also wrongly uses a web search advertising technique to use people’s names to market their search reports. On Feb. 1, plaintiff Kevin Klingler, identified only as a resident of Illinois, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the …


Red-Light Camera Firm Will Pay Chicago $20 Million ​

The city of Chicago has settled a lawsuit for $20 million that it filed against a red-light camera company whose former chief executive pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the settlement Monday with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Arizona and its Australian parent company Redflex Holdings Ltd. The lawsuit accused Redflex of fraud and making …


Maryland County Stun Gun Ban Prompts Second Amendment Lawsuit

A nurse is challenging a Maryland county’s stun gun ban on Second Amendment grounds. Leah Baran sued in federal court after stun gun manufacturer Taser International refused to ship the device to her home in Howard County last month, Courthouse News Service reports. Baran says she wants a stun gun becasue she fears for her life after her ex-boyfriend broke into her home, raped her and tried to …


Frank Ocean Hit With a $14.5 Million Lawsuit From His Father

Frank Ocean is getting sued by his own father for allegedly defaming his good name. According to TMZ, the singer’s father, Calvin Cooksey, filed a defamation lawsuit against Ocean citing a Tumblr post he wrote last year about the tragic mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. In his missive, Ocean reflects on a traumatizing memory of his father.


ETSU Won’t Share Football Concussion Numbers as NCAA Faces Class Action Lawsuit

College officials cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act in declining to provide the information. Two of ETSU’s Southern Conference rivals, Wofford College and The Citadel, presumably under the same legal obligations, did provide the approximate non-identifying figures requested on how many concussions its players suffered in football practice and games. “FERPA prohibits the …


Grand Rapids Hopes to Speed Up Officer Firings With Federal Lawsuit

Grand Rapids is hoping a federal judge will speed up the process of firing three officers implicated in the case of a former assistant prosecutor’s wrong-way crash in November. The city filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday, Feb. 3, asking a judge to settle a dispute between the city and its police unions. The disagreement regards five phone calls between the officers — …


Russian Tech Exec Sues Buzzfeed for Publishing Unverified Trump Dossier

A Russian technology executive has sued BuzzFeed and its editor Ben Smith for publishing the unverified Trump dossier, calling it “perhaps one of the most reckless and irresponsible moments in modern ‘journalism.'” Within hours of the lawsuit’s filing, BuzzFeed blacked out the name of Aleksej Gubarev in the dossier on its site and apologized. “We have redacted Mr. Gubarev’s name from the published dossier, and apologize for including it,” BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal told CNNMoney. Aleksej Gubarev is the CEO of XBT, a company that hosts websites and runs thousands of computer servers worldwide. The lawsuit claims …