Saturday, July 28, 2018
- US Courts: 4-minute video on civility in law and in life is worth watching
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court: Public hearing scheduled for October 23, 2018, on proposed amendment to Rules of Professional Conduct that would make it “professional misconduct” for a lawyer to “engage in conduct or communication related to the practice of law that the lawyer knows or reasonable should know is harassment, or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity”
- US DOJ: In commemorating 28th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the US DOJ Civil Rights Division lists examples the DOJ’s efforts in the past year to further the objectives of the ADA, including ensuring equal employment opportunities, ensuring equal access to childcare, removing barriers to veterans with disabilities, advancing community integration opportunities, removing discriminatory barriers to recovery, protecting voting rights, and protecting inmates with disabilities from discrimination
- Third Circuit: Opinion concerning transgender students’ bathroom and locker use (discussed in 6/22/18 post below) vacated after rehearing, and revised opinion is less clear on whether the school district would have violated Title IX had it implemented a policy that confined transgender students to use of bathrooms and locker rooms designated for their biological sex, although it still held that school district did not violate Title IX rights of cisgender students by allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with the students’ gender identities
- Law Court: Prisoner mailbox rule (under which courts consider document filed on the date inmate deposited it with prison officials for forwarding to the clerk of court rather than the date it was received by the clerk of court) adopted “for any unrepresented prisoner whose Rule 80C petition, having been delivered to the Department of Corrections at least three days before the last day on which the petition may be timely filed, arrives at the clerk of court after that deadline has expired”
- US District Court ME: In denying motion for summary judgment on Maine Human Rights Act, Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, and defamation claims, the court, in part, rejected defendants’ argument that plaintiff’s summary judgment evidence should be disregarded, finding that it was not “clearly contradictory” compared with her prior Maine Human Rights Commission complaint
- US District Court ME: In granting motion to dismiss Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) claim, the court rejected plaintiff’s argument that the screening she received in the hospital was not full and appropriate, finding that “quality of the screening examination the plaintiff received may indeed be a factual and expert question, but it raises Maine medical malpractice law issues, not a federal EMTALA claim for refusing to screen or disparate screening”
- HUD & DOJ: 60-second video highlights the problem and illegality of sexual harassment in housing
- MHRC: Minutes from July 23, 2018, meeting include that there were 38 applications for a vacant Investigator position and the average age of cases in the agency is 260 days
