California Business Litigation Blog

On September 1, 2009, the ACLU filed suit against the Desoto County, Mississippi school district. The ACLU believes that the student had his civil rights violated while he was at school. The reason for this is because of a simple device that many students in high school and junior high school now carry…a cell phone.

The student, Richard, had his phone confiscated while he was at school. The punishment for using the phone while in school carries the penalty of having your parents come to get the phone and having to pay a fine for its return. The problem was that the school district office personnel went too far and started to go through the phone. While going through the phone and checking all of the intimate details that were on the phone the staff stumbled upon something that they felt posed a threat.

The item that the personnel came across was a picture of Richard holding a BB gun and posing with it in his bathroom. The staff felt as though it had bad implications and that they had the need to turn the phone over to the police. The local police force then came to the conclusion that the picture on the phone indicated gang involvement by the honor student. The problem was that neither the police, nor the staff of the school had the right to go through the phone or anything that was on it.

This is what got the ACLU involved. Because not only did the student receive a three day suspension because of the personal picture on his camera, but he ended up being removed from school for the remainder of the year.

The lawsuit is claiming that the student has rights even when in school and has been filed against the principal, football coach, police and the city as well. The hope of this case is to aid in the preservation of the rights of the students to allow for the privacy and the chance of the students to not feel as though they are in a prison environment while they are there.

On August 31, 2009 in New York, New York, it was reported that a former attorney for Toyota was suing the company for their involvement and for their supposed hiding and destruction of implicating documents. The primary item that is being discussed are the results that one fond from roll over tests and the damage that could truly be incurred.

The suit has been filed by a Mr. Biller who worked for Toyota from 2003-2007. He claims that not only did he see the items that he is claiming that the company withheld, but in some cases went so far as to destroy the items and to go and have them not included in findings that would negatively impact the company.

The problem with a lawsuit such as his is the fact that it creates a sense of doubt no matter what may have really occurred. If this is the case, then there is the possibility of old cases that had been dismissed or found to not have any merit, to possibly be reopened. This is because there were so many people who were injured in rollover accidents involving Toyota vehicles.

If any of the accusations that have been made by Mr. Biller are true, you will see a large influx of items and cases pertaining to the roll over accidents. There are accusations that the company was even withholding information in regards to results as well as how quickly corrective action could be taken from the auto manufacturer.

One thing that some may take into consideration is the fact that Mr. Biller ended up quitting his job at Toyota claiming he was suffering from psychiatric problems while he was at the job. In 2008 he went to work for the District Attorney in San Francisco where he was let go after several months. He received a negative mark upon his release from the office.

No matter which group has the bigger issues in all respects, someone is going to end up not looking good at all, and a shadow of doubt has been cast on the Toyota Company no matter how the court finds in the case.

Continue reading "Toyota Accused of Concealing Evidence in Rollover Lawsuits" »

A school district is trying to move past an incident in which a teacher is accused of burning an image of a cross into the arm of an eighth grade student by settling the lawsuit his family filed. The case, out of Mount Vernon, Ohio, was settled by $121,000 settlement that the family agreed to. The child has not been identified and is identified only as James Doe.

In the agreement with the Mount Vernon school board, the family will be awarded $5,500 and the attorneys for the family would be awarded the rest, some $115,500. The settlement award, which was approved by the school board on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009, prevents the lawsuit from going to trial, which it was scheduled to do in May.

Another lawsuit is still pending against the same teacher, a man named John Freshwater. After an internal investigation was done on Mr. Freshwater, the school district voted to have him removed. The investigation found that he had preached his Christian beliefs to the students and that he had in fact used a high frequency generator to burn the student. The cross burned into the boy lasted for several weeks. Freshwater has in return filed his own lawsuit against the Mount Vernon school district. He claims that the firing was a violation of his free speech rights and his civil rights.

The lawsuit has been highly controversial in the area, and because of this, the family is currently moving out of the Mount Vernon school district, into a new district.

The entire incident has left the school district battling for funds. The ongoing hearing has lasted more than a year and has cost $300,000.

At a board meeting, after Mr. Freshwater was fired, he made a statement saying he never branded or burned any student. More than a dozen teachers have testified on behalf of Freshwater saying they never heard any complaints from his students. Two science teachers also testified saying that the same scientific device was used on students to demonstrate electrical current. Mr. Freshwater's case is still pending.

Continue reading "Cross Burned Student Settles Lawsuit With School District" »

A 14-year-old gay student who is attending the Gregory B. Jarvis Junior, Senior High School in Herkimer, New York, has worked out an agreement with the school to ensure that administrators provide him with protection. The student has filed a lawsuit against the school district and the administrators for failing to provide him with adequate protection in the past. This is according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit alleges that the student has been relentlessly abused through verbal and physical abuse, which reached even higher levels when another student brought a knife to school and made a death threat to the student during the final quarter of the school year.

A federal judge is requiring the Mohawk Central School District, to provide emergency relief to the student's need for safety within the school district. The lawsuit is still ongoing, and this measure to provide emergency relief does not in any way stop the pending suit. The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages to be paid by the school district as well as changes to the schools anti harassment policies.

According to the school district, many of the demanded safety changes requested by the student and federal judge were already being provided the following year and were being done so because they were warranted.

The specific safety measures being put in place are not being fully disclosed. There were exceptions to some school policies such as allowing the student to keep his cell phone on him to call home if there was a reason to feel unsafe. There was also a safe room established for the student to use if he felt threatened. The student claims that at least ten times he was forbidden from texting his father and two times from using the safe room when he felt threatened, last year.

The lawsuit charges that the school district failed to provide adequate measures for the student's needs, and that the school district failed to provide proper investigation of the harassment, and failed to discipline students or inform parents of their rights to fight complaints.

Continue reading "New York School District To Protect Gay Student" »

Oracle has filed a motion to compel against Rimini Street last month in a strategic move directly related to a 2007 lawsuit against Oracle rivals SAP and TomorrowNow. The motion accuses its owner of using TomorrowNow to illegally acquire Oracle software and support materials.

Rimini Street was founded by former TomorrowNow executive Seth Ravin, who left the company after SAP purchased it in 2005. The Las Vegas company provides support for both Oracle and SAP applications at discounts of up to 50%.

Oracle subpoenaed Rimini Street earlier this year, seeking data about the company's business model and practices. But Rimini objected to the request on a number of grounds, including confidentiality concerns and the possibility Oracle was seeking discovery related to Rimini Street "for a purpose other than the present lawsuit," according to court documents.

Ravin was deposed in May, according to Oracle's motion. In the session, Ravin confirmed that Rimini Street was serving a number of former TomorrowNow customers, but "would not provide a single detail about how those customers are being supported".

SAP has said that its TomorrowNow workers were authorized to download materials from Oracle's site on behalf of TomorrowNow customers. SAP also admits that some "inappropriate downloads" had occurred. SAP has also said that Oracle's software remained in TomorrowNow's systems and has denied Oracle's allegations of a wider pattern of wrongdoing.

Oracle's Aug. 21 motion demands that Ravin be ordered to sit for two more hours of deposition; and provide" documents sufficient to show Rimini's business model," including whether it has ever "relied on copies of customers' licensed software to provide software support"; information about any automated tools the company has used to download material from Oracle's support site; and documents tied to Rimini's preparation of tax updates for customers.

While acknowledging that third-party support is legal, Oracle claims that SAP and TomorrowNow provided discounted support through illegal acts, such as making thousands of unauthorized copies of Oracle's software, and conducting "routine, massive and indiscriminate downloading" of support-related materials on behalf of customers who weren't entitled to them, according to the motion to compel.
In a related note, the U.S. Department of Justice has approved the proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems and terminated the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Sun’s stockholders approved the transaction on July 16, 2009.

Continue reading "Oracle's Motion Demands Information From Rimini Street" »