Overlawyered » churches

Church’s defamation suit against critic, cont’d

Walter Olson — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:47:06 +0000

Ken at Popehat has picked up primary documents in the case of the lawsuit filed by Beaverton Grace Bible Church of Beaverton, Ore. against a “former parishioner and her family members for negative online reviews.” Earlier here.

Tags: churches, libel slander and defamation, Oregon

Church’s defamation suit against critic, cont’d is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Beaverton church sues family after they criticize it online”"

Walter Olson — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:29:54 +0000

Among issues in the suit: whether terms like “creepy,” “cult,” “control tactics,” and “spiritual abuse” are defamatory. [Anita Kissee, KATU]

Tags: churches, libel slander and defamation, Oregon

“Beaverton church sues family after they criticize it online”" is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

At the sound of English bell-ringing…

Walter Olson — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:50:43 +0000

“…your heart will lift up, unless you are the noise nuisance officer of North Somerset….For the time being, the chimes of Wrington have been silenced,” owing to a noise complaint lodged by a weekending Londoner. [A.N. Wilson, The Independent]

Tags: churches, environment, music and musicians, United Kingdom

At the sound of English bell-ringing… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Bloomberg: no food donations to homeless shelters

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:06:37 +0000

“[Glenn] Richter has been collecting food from places like the Ohav Zedek synagogue and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently his donation, including a ‘cholent‘ or carrot stew, was turned away because the Bloomberg administration wants to monitor the salt, fat and fiber eaten by the homeless. … Richter said that over the years he’s delivered more than two tons of food to the homeless.” The NYC mayor says he’s not planning to reconsider the recently adopted policy. [CBS-NY] Earlier here (Connecticut), here (N.J.: “retail food establishment”), here, etc.

Tags: churches, Michael Bloomberg, NYC, obesity, salt

Bloomberg: no food donations to homeless shelters is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

U.K. man’s suit: church misled him “into following false beliefs”

Walter Olson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:24:06 +0000

“A retired semi-professional footballer who claims his faith ruined his chances of playing for Manchester United is suing the Baptist Church for £10 million.” Arquimedes Nganga “quit the sport aged 25 when he converted to the Baptist faith. He said: ‘I could definitely have had a long career in the Premiership’” had he not given it up. [Evening Standard]

Tags: churches, damage theories, sports, United Kingdom

U.K. man’s suit: church misled him “into following false beliefs” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:06:46 +0000

Ray LaHood’s forgotten predecessor: “How One Bureaucrat Almost Succeeded in Banning Car Radios” [Mike Riggs, Reason]
“Some Recent Nonsense on Freedom of Religion in the Times” [Paul Horwitz, Prawfs]
Choice of Ben Stein as speaker for ABA Tech Show raises eyebrows [Derek Bambauer, InfoLaw]
“Oblivion video game ‘Abomb” becomes federal lawsuit” [Abnormal Use]
Tort causation: “Probability for thee, mere possibility for me” [David Oliver]
Washington state says it won’t pay for “unnecessary” Medicaid ER visits. Can you see the unintended consequences coming? [White Coat]
Utah says family can’t fundraise for son’s legal defense without permit [Standard-Examiner via Balko]

Tags: autos, Ben Stein, churches, emergency medicine, Utah, videogames, Washington state

March 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:07:35 +0000

Trial lawyer TV: mistranslation, plaintiff’s experts were instrumental in “Anderson Cooper 360″ CNN story trying to keep sudden-acceleration theory alive [Corp Counsel, Toyota, PDF, background]
“Can I get a form to file a police complaint?” No. No, you can’t [Balko]
Madison County lawyer runs for judgeship [MCRecord; earlier on her columnist-suing past]
RIP Dan Popeo, founder and head of Washington Legal Foundation [Mark Tapscott, Examiner]
Louisiana: “Church Ordered to Stop Giving Away Free Water” [Todd Starnes, Fox via Amy Alkon]
Developer of “Joustin’ Beaver” game files for declaratory judgment against singer Justin Bieber’s trademark, publicity claims [THR, Esq.]
“Why are Indian reservations so poor?” [John Koppisch, Forbes] “Payday loans head to the Indian reservations” [Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason] Tribal recognition: high-stakes D.C. game where lobbyists get the house rake-off [Chris Edwards, Cato]

Tags: celebrities, churches, Illinois, Indian tribes, Louisiana, Madison County, media bias, police, sudden acceleration, Toyota

March 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Bystander Claims ‘Swoon and Fall’ Injuries at Church”

Walter Olson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:54:20 +0000

East St. Louis: “In yet another ‘swoon and fall’ case against a church, an Illinois woman claims she was injured during a church service when a parishioner who was receiving the ‘spirit’ fell backward, knocking several other worshippers into her.” Most “slain in the Spirit” suits are filed either by the worshiper who loses consciousness and falls or by a designated “catcher”; this one is on behalf of an injured bystander [Matthew Heller, On Point News; earlier here, here, here] “New tort: Gottvertrunkenism” [@Sam_Schulman]

Tags: churches, Illinois

“Bystander Claims ‘Swoon and Fall’ Injuries at Church” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Religious employers must cover pill, Feds say”

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:06:52 +0000

HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius said giving church-related sponsors of health plans an additional year to comply with the contraceptive mandate “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.” Really? If religious freedom is in fact at stake, what kind of “balance” is attained if it gets a one-year reprieve but then expires? A balance between current freedom of institutional conscience and future lack of same? [AP] On the Obama administration’s remarkably unfriendly stance toward self-governance by church institutions, see my coverage of this term’s Hosanna-Tabor Supreme Court case. More: Michael Greve has a must-read analysis predicting the directive’s downfall in court, and pointing out the procedural dodginess of this and much other regulation implementing the ACA. And Thom Lambert asks: “What if the Government Ordered the Human Rights Campaign to Cover Conversion Therapy for Gays?”

Tags: Catholic Church, churches, Kathleen Sebelius

“Religious employers must cover pill, Feds say” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Religious liberty wins 9-0 at SCOTUS in “ministerial exception” case

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:44:16 +0000

And I do a little happy dance at Cato at Liberty (earlier)(& Damon Root/Reason, Allahpundit; my background piece in October).

More: Hans Bader points out, regarding the Obama DoJ’s “let them rely on free association” argument, that “free-association defenses, unlike religious-freedom defenses, are generally losers, as the Supreme Court’s Hishon, Jaycees, and New York State Club Association decisions illustrate.” And: “The extreme position taken by the Obama Justice Department in the Hosanna-Tabor case is a reflection of ideologically-based hiring.”

Tags: churches, constitutional law

Religious liberty wins 9-0 at SCOTUS in “ministerial exception” case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system