“The Supreme Court upheld the right of disabled people to sue state governments that fail to provide ramps, elevators or other forms of access to their courthouses yesterday — a clear but limited victory for the disability rights movement that blunts a trend at the court in favor of states’ rights.” The case of Tennessee v. Lane split the Court 5-4, with Sandra Day O’Connor swinging over to join the liberal wing. (Charles Lane, “Disabled Win Right to Sue States Over Court Access “, Washington Post, May 18)(opinion). Public radio’s “Marketplace” business show interviewed me about the case Monday afternoon in a segment that can be heard online (May 17, audio clip — first item in broadcast). More: Brian Doherty at Reason discusses the case (“A Nation of Vague Laws”, May 20) and makes kind mention of our work. Even more: see Marcia Coyle, “Watching Out for ‘Lane’ Changes”, National Law Journal, May 28.
Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’
Great Tobacco Robbery developments
In March Moody’s lowered its rating of New York City’s tobacco settlement bonds (which securitize the future flow of booty to the city from the great 1998 robbery) in light of the Second Circuit’s highly significant decision in Freedom Holdings v. Spitzer (see Jan. 12) exposing the settlement to antitrust challenge (Reuters/Forbes, Mar. 23). The Second Circuit itself denied a petition for rehearing (opinion Mar. 25 in PDF format). The General Accounting Office published a report confirming that states are spending most of the proceeds on their general budgets rather than on anything related to the weed or its effects (March report in PDF format, via the University of Tennessee’s AgPolicy.org page on tobacco litigation, which has a number of useful resources), which in turn touched off a number of caustic commentaries (“States Spend Mega-Billion Tobacco Settlement On Budget Shortfalls”, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mar. 23; Christine Hall, “States Spend Tobacco Settlement on Budget Shortfalls”, Heartland Institute, May 1; see Nancy Zuckerbrod, “States rely on tobacco settlement to fix budgets”, AP/Louisville Courier-Journal, Mar. 23). Also check out the debate between CEI’s Sam Kazman and ever-blustering Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on CNNfN (Mar. 18). Vice Squad (Mar. 27) has further updates on the efforts of state governments to curtail small and independent cigarette producers by way of protecting the anticompetitive arrangements established in the 1998 settlement (see Feb. 28). And the Clinton-initiated federal racketeering lawsuit against the tobacco industry, the continued prosecution of which must surely count as among the low points of the Bush Administration’s domestic record, is apparently headed toward trial in September or thereabouts (“Federal suit against tobacco moves toward trial”, AP/Helena Independent Record, Mar. 22).
Male cheerleaders bounced
“The male cheerleaders who carried the 80-pound Tennessee Titans flag at every game and tossed the female cheerleaders in the air won’t be doing it this fall. The Titans and the Baltimore Ravens were the last two teams in the National Football League that still featured male cheerleaders, and now the Titans have decided to drop them because of liability concerns over the stunts.” (Jim Wyatt, “Titans male cheerleaders out of a job; who’ll hoist the flag?”, The Tennessean, Apr. 17).
Virginia primitive
Amid worldwide publicity, the commissioners of rural Rhea County, Tennessee, quickly rescinded their call for legislation allowing the county to prosecute gays and lesbians for “crimes against nature”; Commissioner J.C. Fugate had asked the county attorney to find a way to “keep them out of here.” (“Rhea County Commission Rescinds Gay Ban”, The Chattanoogan, Mar. 18; “Tennessee county reverses ban on gays”, Ellen Barry, “County Rescinds Vote to Ban Gay Residents”, L.A. Times, Mar. 18; AP/San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 19). By contrast, there’s been much less attention paid to a proposed statute nearing enactment in supposedly civilized Virginia which might serve almost as effectively in sending a “don’t live here” message to gays.
Update: “Woman drops lawsuit over Jackson peep show”
Just in case anyone missed this while we were away: only a few days after filing her class-action lawsuit (Feb. 5, Feb. 8) demanding billions from MTV and other defendants over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl stunt, Terri Carlin of Knoxville, Tenn. “believes she’s made her point” and is withdrawing the suit. (AP/CNN, Feb. 10; see Blog 702). The attorney who represented Carlin in the action, Wayne A. Ritchie II, would appear to be (per his website) a figure of some dignity in the Knoxville legal community: a former state legislator, he “has served on the Board of Governors of the Knoxville Bar Association and on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association.” (See also May 28.)
Super Bowl Kerfuffle
By popular demand: “Terri Carlin wants to make Janet Jackson’s bare breast into a federal case.” (“Tenn. Woman Files Suit Over Super Bowl”, AP, Feb. 5; Randy Kenner, “State of undress causes distress”, Knoxville News-Sentinel, Feb. 5; complaint). See updates Feb. 8, Feb. 14 (case withdrawn); May 28 (another case loses).
Tennessee schools end honor roll over privacy laws
In response to parent complaints that the public posting of an Honor Roll would embarrass students without good grades, Nashville school lawyers recommended that the practice be stopped–as well as awards for good attendance and other academic achievement. When protests reached the state education department, the general counsel interpreted state privacy laws as prohibiting the dissemination of an honor roll without parental permission. While the concept seems absurd, another school system had to defend the practice of students grading each other’s exams all the way to the Supreme Court. (Matt Gouras, AP, Jan. 24). There’s no legal consequence to being overconservative and avoiding a lawsuit, and one can hardly expect bureaucrats to defend good educational policy if their wallets are potentially personally at issue.
Dollywood ditches disabled discounts
More presumably unintended consequences of ADA litigation: “Dolly Parton’s theme park is stopping its free-entry policy for guests with certain disabilities. Dollywood, Tennessee’s top tourist attraction, said it was responding to a lawsuit by a local woman claiming its discretionary discounts for impaired visitors violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.” For many years the park waived its $40 admission fee for patrons who are blind, deaf or use a wheelchair, but “those discounts will end Jan. 1 on the advice of lawyers. … ‘From a legal standpoint, our staff is not qualified to make decisions on who should or should not be given free admission to the park based on their level of disability,’ the park said on its Web page.” (“Dollywood to end free admission for disabled”, AP/Knoxville News Sentinel, Oct. 30).
“Video games back in US dock”
“Claims by teenage boys in Tennessee that they were acting out the Grand Theft Auto game when they shot at vehicles are threatening to put the US entertainment industry back on trial.” (Rachel Clarke, BBC, Sept. 15; “Game blamed for murder, $100 million lawsuit likely”, Out-Law.com (UK), Sept. 26). Jeff Taylor at Reason Online has the full story (“You Do Know Jack”, Sept. 10) on Miami attorney Jack Thompson, impresario of this and other litigation against videogame makers (see Apr. 3-4, 2002). Thompson is the author of a fondly remembered letter to this site (“go to Afghanistan where your anarchist, pro-drug views will be greatly rewarded” — Apr. 11, 2002) and his website stopkill.com must be seen to be believed.
More: Will Baude points to a relevant opinion by Judge Richard Posner in American Amusement Machine Association v. Teri Kendrick, and Curmudgeonly Clerk also comments.
Suing over fellow prisoner’s escape
Clarksburg, W.Va.: “Three prisoners who were trapped in a van after it was hijacked in 2001 by a fellow prisoner have filed a lawsuit against the van’s transport company and two of the company’s former employees.” (“Prisoners trapped in hijacked van sue transport company”, AP/AccessNorthGeorgia, Aug. 13). The lawsuit claims Tennessee-based TransCor America, Inc. should have prevented the Sept. 2001 escape, in which prisoner Christopher Paul Savage faked illness, overpowered guards and took off in the correctional van before abandoning it and its eight other prisoner-occupants at a closed restaurant nearby. “The prisoners were denied proper food and drink, were deprived of medication and were denied bathroom breaks, the lawsuit alleges.” (Matt Harvey, “Three prisoners file lawsuit over fourth prisoner’s 2001 escape”, Clarksburg (W.Va.) Exponent Telegram, Aug. 14). No word in the latest stories about how long this deprivation lasted, but AP’s 2001 coverage says Savage abandoned the van only a quarter mile from where he hijacked it. (“Prisoner overpowers van guards, escapes”, Sept. 29, 2001, and “Armed prisoner still on the loose after early scuffle”, Citizens Against Private Prisons — scroll down about 2/3 on page).