Tag: lawsuit

Despite reports of settling a lawsuit in 2017 for bed bugs claims, Trump is pushing his Doral resort for next year’s G-7 summit. Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance critiques Trump’s 'for profit presidency' saying, Trump continues to use the office…

Parents in Connecticut have filed a lawsuit against Cheshire Academy in Connecticut alleging that their son was expelled from the school because of his conservative views. The school has denied that the student, Michael Mancini, was punished because of his political views. “As some of you may be aware, earlier this week, following a fair process, a student was expelled. This student was given a number of chances to adhere to our expectations, and the rules and code of conduct of Cheshire Academy. Contrary to what you may have read, our decision was not based on an opposition to political dialogue," Julie Anderson, head of schools at the academy, wrote in a letter to parents from the school, according to myrecordjournal.com. Mancini's parents have claimed he was expelled for saying that people who are transgender have "legitimate hormonal or mental disorder" and are "just looking for attention," according to myrecordjournal.com. The parents also alleged that classmates began "verbally attacking" Mancini over his opinions. The family's attorney, James Sullivan, told the New York Post that it is "a precious thing to have competing ideas." “We should have a healthy fear of an autocratic, monolithic government or school," Sullivan said. Anderson, the head of schools, said in the letter to parents that the school generally does not publicly discuss cases involving student discipline.

President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen says the Trump Organization failed to reimburse him for legal fees and damages that arose from his work for the Trumps; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports. FOX News operates the FOX News Channel…

Years of infighting between Republicans in Cascade County have spilled over to encompass a civil lawsuit claiming that administrators at an Eastern Montana high school knew about the systematic sexual abuse of a former athletic trainer. Rep. Fred Anderson, a Great Falls Republican, served as a principal at Custer County District High School in Miles City at the same time that James Jensen, who worked as an athletic trainer for the school, has admitted to sexually abusing male student-athletes. Jensen faces federal charges related to the abuse and state charges for possessing child pornography. He admitted some of the abuse to the Gazette and made more sweeping admissions in documents filed in federal court in an effort to plead guilty. The committee has been enveloped in a political slap-fight between conservative hardliners and moderates. Anderson was re-elected in 2018. The committee branded Anderson as a RINO — Republican in name only — in an email opposing a legislative bill aimed at curbing the committee's infighting, as reported by the Montana Free Press. Lawyers for the Custer County District High School have said the complaints cited in the memo were vague in nature and that administrators had no clue as to the scope of Jensen's abuse. During the time the trainer worked at Custer County High School, my own sons attended Custer County High School and participated in athletic events. I would never have allowed my sons or any other students to be anywhere near that man if I had known about his activities."

A coalition of 16 US states led by California has launched legal action against Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to declare a national emergency in order to fund a wall along the Mexico border. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the US district court for the northern district of California after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday when Congress declined his request for $5.7bn to help create his signature policy promise. His move aims to let him spend money appropriated by Congress for other purposes. “Today, on Presidents Day, we take President Trump to court to block his misuse of presidential power,” California attorney general Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “We’re suing President Trump to stop him from unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds lawfully set aside by Congress for the people of our states. For most of us, the Office of the Presidency is not a place for theatre,” added Becerra, a Democrat. In a budget deal passed by Congress to avert a second government shutdown, nearly $1.4bn was allocated to border fencing. Earlier, Trump had said he knew that he did not need to declare an emergency to build the wall, a comment that could now undercut the government’s legal argument. “Presidents don’t go in and claim declarations of emergency for the purposes of raiding accounts because they weren’t able to get Congress to fund items,” Becerra said on MSNBC. Play Video 1:43

Was the last re-drawing of Michigan’s political district maps so biased in Republicans’ favor, they were illegal? That question literally went on trial Tuesday, with a three-judge panel in Detroit’s federal court hearing arguments for and against Michigan’s 2011 redistricting maps. Their first witnesses were League of Women Voters President Susan Smith, and George Washington University political scientist Christopher Warshaw. Attorneys for the Republican defendants tried to chip away at their case for both the political consequences of the redistricting, and dispute the fact that there’s a mathematical basis for determining gerrymandering. They also argue the federal district court has no jurisdiction to hear this case, because the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to decide on a constitutional standard for gerrymandering. On Monday, the Supreme Court shot down an effort to delay the case until the court hears gerrymandering cases from other states. He said the political map naturally favors Republicans, because Democratic voters tend to be packed into urban areas and “it becomes harder to translate those votes into proportionate seats.” “Plaintiffs are really here because they have a political geography problem, and they’re looking for the courts to solve it,” said Torchinsky, who also said Democrats’ gains in more recent elections suggest there’s no real gerrymandering problem. But Warshaw, the George Washington political scientist, said his research shows that while political geography changed negligibly between 2010 and 2012, Republicans picked up a demonstrable advantage when it came to translating votes into representation during those years. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, is listed as one of the defendants—replacing the original primary defendant, former Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. Benson has said she agrees with the lawsuit, and her lawyer Jason Eldridge told the court Benson “does not plan to call witnesses or introduce evidence disputing gerrymandering.” Benson does agree with the Republican defendants on one point, though.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers Wednesday walked back a vow he made to withdraw the state from the Affordable Care Act lawsuit less than 24 hours after making the commitment in his first State of the State address. “The governor has not directed the attorney general to take any specific course of action, he has simply withdrawn his authority for this lawsuit,” Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said in a statement. Evers’ reversal comes after the release Wednesday of a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau that splashed cold water on the governor’s plans to withdraw Wisconsin from an ongoing multi-state lawsuit seeking to invalidate the ACA. The memo, sent to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, states there is no legal way for the new governor to fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw the state from the suit. “It is only the Joint Committee on Finance that has the authority to approve any compromise or discontinuance of an action in which the attorney general’s participation was requested.” Evers in Tuesday’s State of the State address clearly stated he would seek to end the state’s participation in the lawsuit. Evers’ proposal drew immediate ire from Republicans, who described the potential move as an illegal action. “This was the story statewide today and now after it’s found to be illegal they are saying they never said it?” he wrote on Twitter. Evers used different wording in a letter to Kaul, stating, “I am immediately withdrawing the authority previously provided under (state law) for Wisconsin to participate in litigation over the Affordable Care Act.” Under previous law, Evers would have had the authority to withdraw the state from the suit. A Kaul spokeswoman did not respond to a request seeking comment on whether Kaul is still reviewing options to get out of the lawsuit.

Workers at a General Motors plant in Toledo, Ohio, say they endured racist comments, slights, and threats in their workplace. CNN's Sara Sidner reports on those allegations that are now detailed in a new lawsuit filed against the automaker. #CNN…

Tech giants Facebook and Google will pay Washington state more than $450,000 to settle twin lawsuits filed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson accusing the companies of failure to abide by state laws on political advertising transparency. In the settlements, filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court, the companies did not admit any violations of state law, but agreed to pay $200,000 each to end the legal disputes. Ferguson’s office filed the lawsuits in June, citing longstanding state law that requires media companies to collect and make public detailed information about political ads. I am pretty shocked by that, honestly,” Edwards said, questioning whether the state gained any assurances of compliance by the companies. He said he takes Edwards’ criticisms “with a grain of salt” and that the size of the settlements was proper given the allegations. Ferguson added: “If there is not full and complete disclosure going forward, Facebook and Google will hear from my office again.” The lawsuits have already had some effect, as Google stopped accepting political ads for state and local races in Washington days after the complaint was filed in June. In stopping those ads, the company cited emergency rules issued by the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) that clarified that the state law applies to digital firms, which must make information about political ads available as soon as they are published, including viewership data and the geographic areas targeted. “At that point, we paused accepting election advertising in Washington because our systems weren’t built to comply with these new requirements. Meanwhile, Facebook has continued to accept political ads in Washington, with the company pointing to its voluntary efforts to disclose more information even while its attorneys argued the state regulations were pre-empted by federal law. But Ferguson said the information provided by the archive has not been adequate to comply with Washington’s rules — failing, for example, to provide enough information on who bought ads and the precise amount of payments.

EAST CHICAGO — A former city councilman removed from office for public corruption still has the right to sue over claims he now is a victim of political retaliation. U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody ruled last weekend Randall Artis can take City Clerk Adrian Santos to trial as early as next year for firing Artis, who refused to support the 2016 election of Santos' political friends. Artis, who served as East Chicago's 3rd District City Councilman from 1992 to 2005, was among a number of East Chicago officials and politically-connected vendors indicted and convicted in the so-called sidewalks case. That scandal featured city politicians misappropriating public funds to repave voters' sidewalks, private driveways and, in one case, a homeowner's backyard free of charge to curry voters' favor during the 1999 municipal election. Artis pleaded guilty in 2005 to a federal theft count alleging he misspent $1.3 million in "sidewalks" money. Artis returned to city employment in August 2015 when then-City Clerk Mary Morris Leonard hired him, saying she believed Artis deserved a second chance. She left office Jan. 1, 2016, when Santos took over. Santos fired Artis the following month. Santos claims he fired Artis because of Artis' prior felony conviction since the city's insurer wouldn't cover any losses caused by a city employee convicted of theft or another crime of dishonesty. The court ruled a jury must decide at trial whether the timing of Artis' firing and Santos' failure to fire another employee with a prior felony was evidence Santos was trying to curtail Artis' freedom of political expression.