[FINDLAW_NEWS] FindLaw Legal Grounds - Tuesday, July 6, 1999

[Jim Twu <legalgrounds@FINDLAW.COM>]

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FindLaw LEGAL GROUNDS    http://www.FindLaw.com    Tuesday, July 6, 1999
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Web News Roundup with Jim Twu

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Top News - Relevant Hearsay
   Federal Court Sets High Standard for Fraud Suits
   Discrimination Against Gays & Lesbians Violates Constitution
   Church autonomy cited in harassment suit
   Servicemen discharged over weight sue for return of
        enlistment bonuses
   GAO: EEOC Fails to Track Workers' Complaints

Cyberlaw News - Download This
   Publisher Must Lay Down the Law
   Is MS Beyond the Law?

Weird Legal News - Eat My Justice!
   Parrot was not tortured in tequila
   Man sues after back tattooed in Chinese
   Don't Get Even; Get Compensation!

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Top News - Relevant Hearsay
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Pleading Culpability Required for Strike Suits
Federal Court Sets High Standard for Fraud Suits
New York Times

The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said a
business-sponsored 1995 Federal law was intended to set a strict
standard to discourage meritless suits. That means a suit, when filed,
must allege "in the greatest detail possible" what company officials
knew and how they knew it when they made the statements that were the
basis of the fraud claims, the court said.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/biztech/articles/06suit.html

Read the opinion Janus v. McCracken at:
http://laws.findlaw.com/9th/9716204.html
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Is Homosexuality a "Suspect Classification"?
Discrimination Against Gays & Lesbians Violates Constitution
Law News Network

A federal judge in New York has found discrimination against homosexuals
in an employment context can violate the Equal Protection clause.
Eastern District Judge Arthur D. Spatt issued the ruling in upholding a
$380,000 verdict that a jury awarded two weeks ago to a former Nassau
County police officer who claimed he had been hounded out of his job by
his fellow officers and supervisors after they learned he was gay.

http://www.lawnewsnet.com/stories/A3066-1999Jul2.html
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(Un)Holy Sexual Harassment
Church autonomy cited in harassment suit
San Jose Mercury News

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments last month over
whether a religious organization should be exempt from the kind of
sex-harassment laws increasingly applied in the U.S. workplace and even
in schools. The appeal arises from a former Jesuit seminary candidate
who alleges he was sexually harassed and propositioned by the very
priests who controlled his fate within the church.

http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/reldiscrim06.htm
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Weightly Misconduct?
Servicemen discharged over weight sue for return of enlistment bonuses
CNN

Fifteen soldiers and sailors have filed a class action lawsuit against
the armed forces in an attempt to recover enlistment bonuses they lost
after they were discharged for being overweight. While the servicemen do
not dispute the military's right to discharge them for their weight,
they do dispute losing their enlistment bonuses claiming the only
grounds for recouping the bonuses are misconduct, failure to perform
duties or voluntary separation.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/05/PM-OverweightSoldiers.ap/
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Asleep at the Wheel
GAO: EEOC Fails to Track Workers' Complaints
Washington Post

According to a recent General Accounting Office report, the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission fails to monitor basic job
discrimination trends among federal workers, and what data it collects
are often flawed. The GAO said that while federal workers lodged 28,947
discrimination complaints in 1997, the EEOC cannot say how many
individuals were involved, whether bias was based on race, sex, religion
or other factors, or what actions triggered the allegations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july99/eeoc6.htm
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Cyberlaw News - Download This!
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No Copyright on the Law
Publisher Must Lay Down the Law
Wired News

While the press and the tech world concentrated on the Microsoft
antitrust trial, a quieter legal battle was being waged for access to
society's source code: the full text of the law. The case involved West
Publishing, a tremendously powerful legal-information vendor that
claimed a copyright on law's written word as printed in its
publications. On 1 June, West lost its claims when the US Supreme Court
declined to hear its arguments that it owns the text of the law as
compiled in its books. The development effectively put the law back in
the public domain.

http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/20492.html
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Microsoft Claims Caldera's Trial Period Ran Out
Is MS Beyond the Law?
Wired News

Microsoft returns to a Salt Lake City court Tuesday, claiming that parts
of Caldera's antitrust suit must be thrown out because they are not
covered by federal statutes. Microsoft's lawyers allege the suit came
too late for Utah's statutes of limitations, which run from one to four
years depending on the claim.

http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/20583.html
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Weird Legal News - Eat My Justice!
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"Polly want a drink?"
Parrot was not tortured in tequila
St. Petersburg Times

A jury has acquitted a Florida man of felony animal cruelty (which is
punishable with up to five years in prison) after a witness testified
that she saw the man dunk a parrot, named Woody, in a margarita at the
local bar. While the man denied any bird dunking, police found the bird
slightly wet and animal control officers found the bird very hungry
leading them to conclude that the bird "had the drunken munchies". The
judge had trouble taking the case seriously as he handed a package of
crackers and said to the prosecutor, "when the victim shows up, you can
lead him to the stand with these."

The prosecutor asked the jury during closing argument, to be the "voice
of the animals," because "the bird can't come in here and tell you he
suffered that day." Can't parrots talk or is it just "fowl language"?

The jury took 30 minutes to acquit the defendant and gave the
prosecution the bird (well, not literally).

http://www.sptimes.com/News/70299/TampaBay/Parrot_was_not_tortur.shtml
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"What's my tattoo say? I'll sue?"
Man sues after back tattooed in Chinese
Fox News Network

A Louisiana man is suing a tattoo parlor for inscribing six Chinese
characters on his back, which he thought was the Chinese translation for
the first six letters of his name "Jeremy". Only problem is that no
Chinese dialect has a direct counterparts to English letters, so the
characters on his back said "Kung Po karate, martial arts expert, and
Shao-lin fifth". The man wants the tattoo parlor to pay for laser
surgery required to remove the tattoo. It could have been worse, the
tattoo could have said, "Kick Me".

http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/news/national/0702/d_ap_0702_146.sm
l

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Love hurts...and can be expensive
Don't Get Even; Get Compensation!
Reuters/Yahoo! News

An Argentine court ordered a man to pay his former fiancée $2,000 for
pulling out of the wedding ten days before the ceremony. The woman sued
for emotional distress and wedding expenses. The man claimed the
marriage would have brought suffering to all involved. So, based on what
happened, what have we learned? He should have married her, then got a
divorce or an annulment.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/od/story.html?s=v/nm/19990702/od/jilted_1.h
tml
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