Saturday, September 5, 2015
- Second Circuit: The court held a state employee may bring a retaliation claim under § 1983 against a supervisor who, acting under color of law, retaliates against employee for opposing discrimination in the terms of his employment; and that a § 1983 and Title VII plaintiff is not required to plead a McDonnell Douglas prima facie case
- Eleventh Circuit: The court followed the 1st Circuit (among others) in holding that nothing in the Prison Litigation Reform Act prevents a prisoner from recovering nominal damages for a constitutional violation without a showing of physical injury
- Law Court: In affirming nearly $1.9 million judgment for daughter who Superior Court Justice found had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by her father when she was a child, the court held that evidence that father had sexually assaulted plaintiff’s sister before going to college was properly admitted under Rule 404(b) to show motive and opportunity as opposed to propensity, and negligent infliction of emotional distress claim was supported because a “special relationship” imposed a legal duty on the custodial father to avoid causing severe emotional harm to his daughter through conduct that was sexually and physically assaultive and emotionally abusive
- Law Court: The court found no error in denial of request to call rebuttal witness, where witness was not identified in witness list pursuant to pretrial order (and the need for the witness had been foreseeable) and there was no offer of proof on how the testimony would only be “rebuttal evidence,” meaning evidence that “repels or counteracts the effect of evidence which has preceded it”
- US District Court ME: Following jury and bench trial on § 1983 Fourteenth Amendment claim that municipality deprived tenant of property (tenancy at will) without due process of law, the court held that, while city police improperly ordered tenant to vacate who had not been named in a Forcible Entry and Detainer Action or served with a writ of possession, city was not liable because order had not been made pursuant to an official policy or custom
- US DOJ: New tri-fold pamphlet explaining the rights of persons with HIV/AIDS under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the requirements of the ADA for employers, businesses and non-profit agencies that serve the public, and State and local governments includes statement that a health care provider “[m]ay not refer a patient with HIV or AIDS to
another provider simply because the person has HIV or AIDS” - US DOJ: $140,000 settlement announced in lawsuit alleging that university violated the Fair Housing Act by denying two different students with psychological disabilities requests to keep an emotional support dog with them
- Portland Press: Parents’ lawsuit says Maine DHHS failed to protect children from abuse in Lyman day care center
- Kennebec Journal: Winthrop woman sues Wal-Mart over denial of health benefits for wife in 2013
