Court Roundup

 Nevada

Hearing set on m­o­ve to block  new gun initiative 
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Carson District Judge James Wilson has set an Aug. 1 hearing on a move to block an initiative petition to expand background checks to nearly all gun sales in Nevada.
 
A group called Nevadans for Background Checks filed the petition on June 20, saying it was spurred by Gov. Brian Sandoval’s veto of similar legislation passed by the 2013 Legislature.

But a group of opponents filed a lawsuit on July 14 to block the initiative. Among other objections, opponents say the petition fails to make clear that it would impose criminal penalties “even for a sale between law abiding citizens.”

Opponents also said the language should be changed to make it clear to voters that “it criminalizes formerly voluntary conduct,” the Nevada Appeal reported.

Organizers said the proposal is intended to close a loophole in federal law that only requires licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks of potential buyers to make sure they are not legally prohibited from possessing firearms.

The petition would require unlicensed gun sales and transfers at gun shows and online to be conducted through a licensed dealer. Exceptions would include sales or transfers involving law enforcement and antique firearms.

Background checks have been proven to dramatically reduce crime and save lives by preventing convicted felons, domestic-abuse perpetrators and the seriously mentally ill from buying firearms, organizers said.

Supporters must gather 101,667 signatures by Nov. 11.

If the group does so, state lawmakers then would vote to approve or reject the petition in 2015. If rejected, the measure would go to Nevada voters in 2016.
 
Missouri
School district seeks boy’s records in lawsuit 
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (AP) — Lawyers for a southwest Missouri school district being sued by the parents of a boy who killed himself last year have filed a request seeking all of the Facebook messages, photographs, videos and other communication saved by the student.
 
The filing earlier this month is part of the district’s response to a wrongful death suit filed last year by the parents of the 14-year-old who hanged himself in his bedroom on March 16, 2013, The Joplin Globe reported.

The nine-count lawsuit — which was transferred from Jasper County to federal court — was filed by Jessica and Mika Nugent of Carl Junction in May 2013. It accuses the school district of failing to protect their son from bullying after he came out as bisexual, which led to him taking his own life.

The child’s name has been redacted from online court records.

The school district’s request includes all photographs, images, documents, videos, website pages, website links or files saved by the boy between Jan. 1, 2012, and May 15, 2013, according to court documents.

Attorneys for the parents said the school district and its attorneys can’t describe what they are hoping to find to justify such an extensive invasion of the Nugents’ privacy.

“This is a fishing expedition, plain and simple,” wrote Jonathan Soper, Daniel Thomas and Kenneth McClain, attorneys from Independence representing the boy’s family.

“Plaintiffs respectfully ask this court to sustain plaintiff’s objections, just as it would if defendants were seeking every paper document (the boy) and his family created, viewed or handled in a 15-month period.”

The lawsuit names as defendants Carl Junction superintendent Phillip Cook; district principals and assistant principals Scott Sawyer, Trevor Chase and Theresa Wilson; counselor Ben Withers; and bus driver David Roughton.

The family alleges the boy was bullied and harassed with slurs, physical threats and stealing or destroying of the boy’s personal property, starting in seventh grade and continuing into high school.

“After coming out, (he) was the subject of ridicule, harassment, torment and bullying,” the documents say. “This ridicule, harassment, torment and bullying took place both at school and on the school bus.”

Family members contend the defendants did not keep an eye out for the boy, and by March 2013, other students were telling the boy to hang himself and regularly threatening to beat him up.

After the boy was dropped off at a bus stop on March 14, 2013, another student yelled out the window for him to “... do everyone a favor and hang himself,” according to court documents. Two days later his parents found him hanged in his bedroom.

The boy’s family says he told school officials about the harassment, as did his parents, but no disciplinary action was taken and the abuse continued.

Missouri
Billboard firm sues town over denial of permits
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — One of the nation’s leading outdoor advertisers is suing the city of Columbia, claiming its refusal to allow the company to erect new billboards and alter two others violates a 1998 settlement involving billboards.
Lamar Advertising Co. contends in the lawsuit filed last month that the denial of the permits was “arbitrary, capricious and prohibited” and not allowed by the settlement agreement. The Louisiana-based company is seeking damages of $15,000 to $20,000 per month, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1nsr2On ).
 
The 1998 agreement ended a four-year legal battle between the city and outdoor advertisers Robinson Displays and Whiteco Metrocom over the city’s rules for signs. The settlement included a “cap and replace” arrangement with
Whiteco, in which the city agreed its sign ordinance would not apply to “rebuilding, relocation or replacement” of 42 existing signs in the city. Lamar acquired the signs in 1999.

The settlement also said applications for changes to Whiteco’s stock would be subject to city ordinances in place at the time of the applications.

Building and Site Development Manager Shane Creech, who is also named in the lawsuit, said in a letter included in court documents that most of the permit applications were denied because the billboards would be located along highways, rather than on freeways and interstates, where the city is required to allow billboards.

City Counselor Nancy Thompson said granting the permits to Lamar would give the company a “superior right” over other outdoor advertisers and the company should have to follow the city’s current regulations for billboards.

“We believe that they need to come into compliance with what the regulations are in the city code as it exists today,” Thompson said.

William May, who represented the two companies in the previous case and is representing Lamar in this lawsuit, said the city’s decision to deny the permits was “disheartening” given the terms of the agreement.

“I just cannot believe that they can take the position that they can just throw the settlement agreement out the window,” said May, who is executive director of the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association.
 
Wisconsin
12 men seek to join lawsuit over strip searches 
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Twelve men who claim Milwaukee police officers violated their rights by conducting illegal strip and cavity searches under the pretense of looking for drugs are seeking to join others who already have sued the city and police department.
 
In their motion to join one of several federal lawsuits, the men allege the officers and supervisors of District 5’s anti-gang unit engaged in a “racially motivated conspiracy” to deprive black residents of their rights. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports it’s the first motion to make that allegation.

The motion, filed late Thursday, says the conspiracy arose out of Chief Edward Flynn’s “proactive policing” strategy, which “encouraged and rewarded high volume traffic stops, field interviews, searches and arrests in the African-American ‘high crime’ neighborhoods of District 5.”

The 12 men are black. All the accused officers are white.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports a total of 47 people have already sued the city and police department over the searches, which plaintiffs say happened from 2008 through 2012. All of those plaintiffs are also black, and all but one are men.

Police spokesman Mark Stanmeyer has said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The motion says no black officers were part of the district’s anti-gang unit. Two supervisors who worked in District 5 during the years the illegal searches were occurring are black.
Former officer Michael Vagnini was convicted of four felonies and four misdemeanors as a result of illegal searches. Three additional officers pleaded no contest to misdemeanors and were forced to resign from the department.

Flynn has acknowledged the department received complaints about illegal body cavity searches for a couple of years before asking the district attorney’s office to investigate in 2012.