Latest News
State Supreme Court
The 'right to food' in Maine doesn't mean you can hunt on Sundays
PORTLAND, Maine (Legal Newsline) - A “right to food” enshrined in the Maine Constitution includes the right to hunt but not on Sunday, the state’s highest court ruled, upholding a ban on Sabbath activities dating back to the 1800s.
State Supreme Court
Jury has to decide if low blood sodium, or something else, caused woman's fall
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) - A woman who blamed her fall on an emergency physician’s failure to treat low blood sodium will have to go back to trial, after the Virginia Supreme Court reversed her $1.6 million jury verdict based on improper jury instructions.
State Supreme Court
Pricing class action divides New Jersey Supreme Court; Majority sides against plaintiffs
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - Class action lawyers can't pursue claims against the clothing retailer Aeropostale that alleged customers were hurt by "sales" prices.
State Supreme Court
You might be a winner (you aren't): Court told to reconsider class of sweepstakes losers fooled by flyers
RALEIGH, N.C. (Legal Newsline) - The North Carolina Supreme Court has found fault with a trial judge creating a class action of people who claim a car dealership flyer tricked them into thinking they won $20,000 or a free car.
State Supreme Court
PTSD from walking through dead man's brain matter not a basis to sue, court finds
MONTPELIER, Vt. (Legal Newsline) - Walking through brain matter at the scene of a gruesome accident isn't enough to sue over, the Vermont Supreme Court has ruled.
State Supreme Court
Kentucky circuit clerk removed from office after complaints of sexual harassment, hostility
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) - The Kentucky Supreme Court has found it appropriate to remove one of the state's circuit court clerks from office after investigating claims of sexual harassment and hostile work environment brought by two women in the office.
State Supreme Court
New trial as widow claims ghost-hunting show defamed her late husband
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - A TV show-maker that insisted its ghost-hunting series wasn't serious journalism will get a new trial after a first one returned a $3 million verdict against it.
State Supreme Court
Georgia Supreme Court: 'severe misconduct' by attorney for misappropriating funds
ATLANTA, Ga. (Legal Newsline) — The Georgia Supreme Court recently decided disciplinary matters involving the disbarment of an attorney who was accused of misappropriating funds.
State Supreme Court
Court to drivers: Don't hit someone who will overdose on pain pills or you could be liable
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - Those who cause traffic accidents could be held liable when others involved overdose on pain medication prescribed for their injuries.
State Supreme Court
Nevada Supreme Court tosses Steve Wynn's defamation suit against AP
LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - The Associated Press was exercising its First Amendment rights to report on a decades-old rape allegation against casino mogul Steve Wynn even though the reporter told a colleague one of the complaints “is crazy,” the Nevada Supreme Court ruled, affirming the power of news organizations to end lawsuits under the state anti-SLAPP statute.
State Supreme Court
$4 million for kids, nothing for mom's suffering after they pulled the plug
SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - The Utah Supreme Court upheld a $4 million jury verdict for children who claim doctors misled them into removing their mother from a ventilator, but threw out a $450,000 judgment to compensate them for their mother’s suffering in the eight hours after they pulled the plug.
State Supreme Court
Plaintiffs lose bet that casino is liable for fatal charter bus crash
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - A Mississippi casino that offered customers “promo cash” and free meal tickets isn’t liable for the fatal crash of a charter bus they took to get there, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled, rejecting plaintiff arguments a casino employee encouraged the bus to continue on despite bad weather.
State Supreme Court
Law might protect officer who turned siren on right before fatal crash
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - A Colorado law providing immunity to police officers against most tort lawsuits may protect an officer who switched on his flashing lights and siren five seconds before T-boning a van in a highway intersection, killing the two men inside.
State Supreme Court
Parents can't sue over death of infant, but his estate can
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Parents who sued over the death of their infant child failed to file the proper administrative claims first, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled, but the estate of the child can continue with a $15 million lawsuit claiming a misplaced feeding tube caused the baby’s death.
State Supreme Court
Teacher who faked fall gets demoted but keeps job
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A teacher who was caught on video faking the circumstances of her fall down the stairs can be demoted but doesn’t have to lose her job, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled, restoring an arbitrator’s decision that an appeals court had vacated.
State Supreme Court
Medical malpractice, not 'wrongful birth' to blame for $35 million verdict
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - It was medical malpractice, not “wrongful birth” that provided the grounds for a $35 million judgment against the State of Connecticut over a permanently disabled child born after his mother may have been infected with virus-tainted sperm.
State Supreme Court
Black workers can sue Harley-Davidson over claims of nooses, racist graffiti at plant
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Claims that African-American workers were subjected to nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti at a Harley-Davidson factory are enough to allow a hostile workplace suit to proceed even if the plaintiffs never saw such things themselves, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled.
State Supreme Court
Gun-seller defeats lawsuit by two shot New Hampshire cops
CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) - New Hampshire cops who were shot can't take to trial the company that sold the firearm, the state Supreme Court ruled Jan. 30.
State Supreme Court
Iowa jurors now need an expert to explain cow management
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa jurors no longer can be counted upon to understand the basics of livestock management, the state’s highest court ruled, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit by a truck driver who was injured after his vehicle plowed into a loose cow.
State Supreme Court
Adult injured at kids' playground cant sue, Nevada court says
LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - A law protecting property owners against lawsuits stemming from “recreational activities” shields a Nevada city from a lawsuit filed by a woman who tripped over the edge of a protective mat under a children’s slide and broke her leg in multiple places.