Court Digest

Maine
Sex abuse lawsuit reinstated against city, police chief
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit by a man who says he was sexually abused by a Biddeford police officer in the 1980s.

A federal judge ruled that Lawrence Ouellette waited too long to file his lawsuit. But the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals said the basis of the lawsuit was a series of online posts from 2015 alleging that the police chief knew of another alleged abuse case involving the same officer.

Thus, some of the material for Ouellette’s lawsuit wasn’t known until the new information in 2015, the appeals court said.

The lawsuit targets the city of Biddeford and Police Chief Roger Beaupre. Three other men have filed suit against the city and police officers, alleging that they were sexually abused; two of the cases have been dismissed and one is pending, the Portland Press Herald reported.

The city contends there’s no evidence that the defendants engaged in conduct that hindered, obstructed or covered up the allegations.

Oregon
Judge tosses $30M lawsuit brought by wounded trooper
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a $30 million lawsuit filed by an Oregon State Police trooper who was shot 12 times in December 2016.

Nic Cederberg and his wife sued Legacy Meridian Park Hospital claiming the suspect, James Tylka, should not have been released from the hospital because police requested a mental health hold, KOIN-TV reported.

But the judge ruled it is not reasonable to conclude that holding Tylka would have changed his criminal actions. Last year, the judge also dismissed a lawsuit Cederberg and his wife filed against Washington County’s 911 center.

Cederberg was left with long-term disabilities from the shooting. He has several weeks to file an appeal.

Alaska
Tribal groups sue federal government over road project
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A tribal consortium and five tribal governments in Alaska have filed a lawsuit against the federal government to stop a road project that would carve through wilderness in northwest Alaska to support mining in a mineral-rich area.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference representing 42 tribes in Interior Alaska was among the entities suing over the industrial road to the Ambler Mining District, The Anchorage Daily News reported  Wednesday.

The conference said in a statement Wednesday that a federal review of the regional impact of the 200-mile (322-kilometer) project was “rushed, flawed, premature, and inadequate.”

The other plaintiffs include the tribal governments of Alatna, Allakaket, Evansville, Huslia and Tanana.

Victor Joseph, chief of Tanana Chiefs Conference, said the Ambler road could lead to multiple mining projects with the potential to harm the health of residents and wildlife resources.

“The concerns about these issues were not addressed by any of the government entities involved in the decision to approve the road,” Joseph said.

Defendants named in the lawsuit include Chad Padgett, Alaska director of the Bureau of Land Management, and David Hobbie, Alaska region chief for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as other federal officials and agencies.

The land management bureau made a joint decision with the Army Corps in July to issue a federal permit for the road, which is expected to cost at least $500 million.

The state said funds and bonds from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority could be combined with private investments to pay the road costs with a repayment commitment from mining companies.

The gravel road would link Alaska’s road system north of Fairbanks to the mining district ending near Ambler and other villages. A portion of the road would cross the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

Lesli Ellis-Wouters, Alaska Bureau of Land Management communications director, said the agency stands by the environmental review underlying the decision to open the road while meeting requirements of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

She noted the agency held more than 35 public meetings in affected communities over three years.

“Our common sense actions are lawful and based on the best available science,” Ellis-Wouters said in a statement.

California
Lawsuit: San Francisco police illegally spied on protesters
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses San Francisco police of illegally tapping hundreds of surveillance cameras to spy on police-brutality protesters.

The suit said that from May 31 to June 7, police tapped into real-time footage from more than 400 cameras in the Union Square area despite a 2019 city ban on the use of surveillance technology without prior approval from supervisors except in emergencies, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Use of the privately-owned network of cameras was “a tactic to keep people from speaking out,” activist and lead plaintiff Hope Williams said.

The suit, filed by civil rights groups on behalf of three activists, seeks a San Francisco Superior Court order requiring police to obey the city ban.

The case involved protests that drew thousands into the streets in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

San Francisco police referred requests for comment to the city attorney’s office, which provided two letters from Police Chief Bill Scott to the Board of Supervisors addressing the issue, the Chronicle said.

Scott said looting and other crimes following early protests were “exigent circumstances” under the law that permitted accessing camera feeds without prior approval.

The department’s Homeland Security Unit requested a link to the network on May 31 “to access only if the arson, violence and looting continued” but ultimately it wasn’t used because the “criminal activity did not continue” in the area, Scott said.

Police subsequently “did not monitor any activity, including First Amendment activities, through the remote live access link,” he wrote.

Georgia
Suit: Atlanta area housing site illegally evicted residents
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The owners of an Atlanta area housing site are illegally throwing out residents struggling to make ends meet amid the coronavirus pandemic and have failed to address roaches, bed bugs and other problems in those living accommodations, protesters and a lawsuit say.

 About two dozen former residents of the Efficiency Lodge in DeKalb County and others demonstrated Wednesday across from the suburban Atlanta complex. The protest came as millions of Americans are struggling amid the lingering outbreak to make rent or other lodging payments that keep them off the streets.

Some on Wednesday carried signs accusing the owners of being slumlords. One woman shouted through a bullhorn, and some raised clenched fists.

“They’re not willing to do anything to bring this property up to par in a livable status for these tenants,” said Stephanie Williams, a former resident. Williams said she was evicted in March, and eleven families were recently forced to leave the property.

The Trump administration has issued a national moratorium on evictions in a bid to provide a measure of relief to those struggling. But critics warn that the moratorium will only delay a wave of crushing debt and homelessness without additional relief.

Yet the moratorium doesn’t apply to motels and hotels, and some owners have argued they fall in that category though their properties function as permanent housing, said Viraj Parmar, managing attorney of the Housing Court Assistance Center, a free legal clinic that helps residents in the Atlanta area fight evictions.

Parmar said extended stay properties have become a more vital source of housing during the pandemic. “So many people are struggling. So many people are getting evicted, and that’s their only option,” he said.

Federal, state and local governments have approved eviction moratoriums during the course of the pandemic for many renters, but those protections are expiring rapidly.

A woman who answered the phone at the lodge in DeKalb County said no one was available to talk and she didn’t have a number for a corporate office. She declined to give her name.

A man who answered the phone at another number for Efficiency Lodge hung up.

Efficiency Lodge has more than a dozen properties in Georgia and Florida and offers “cost-efficient accommodations,” according to its website. The website says it has nightly and weekly lodging options.
A lawsuit filed last week in Dekalb County includes two plaintiffs who say they have lived there for years.

The lodge has forced dozens of residents to leave in recent weeks without filing required eviction cases in court, the lawsuit alleges. On one occasion, a private security guard carried a rifle and pointed it at residents as he went door to door to get them out, the lawsuit also alleged.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and a court order recognizing the residents as tenants.

DeKalb County officials found more than 300 code violations at the lodge in July 2018 and another 30 violations in January, county spokesman Quinn Hudson said in an email. He said the problems included mold, trash and live roaches.

Valencia Gasper, another resident evicted from the lodge, said when she lived there with her three daughters, there were no lights for one month.

“The only thing working in this room was the stove and the air conditioning,” she said.

Massachusetts
$56M settlement approved over  gas explosions
BOSTON (AP) — A $56 million settlement between Massachusetts and the natural gas utility found responsible for a series of explosions and fires in the state in 2018 was approved by the state Department of Public Utilities.

The settlement with Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and its parent, NiSource, was agreed to in July and approved Wednesday, the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced in a statement.

The explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover in September 2018 killed one person, injured almost two dozen and damaged more than 100 buildings. Federal investigators blamed the explosions on overpressurized gas lines.

The $56 million will be used to provide debt relief to low-income natural gas customers and fund clean energy and energy efficiency measures in older homes and buildings.

The settlement also requires Columbia Gas to leave Massachusetts and transfer its assets to Eversource Energy by Nov. 1.

“Our approval of this settlement ensures that Columbia Gas is held accountable for the tragic gas incident in the Merrimack Valley, and provides needed support to the impacted communities and low-income residents,” DPU Chairman Matthew Nelson said.

In separate actions, the company agreed to pay a $143 million settlement stemming from a class-action lawsuit, and a $53 million federal fine.

Washington
ACLU sues over state suspending licenses due to unpaid fines
SEATTLE (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Licensing on Wednesday, arguing the state’s practice of suspending drivers’ licenses when they fail to pay traffic fines unfairly hurts people who can’t afford to pay.

The complaint, filed in Thurston County Superior Court on behalf of people whose licenses have been suspended, names the Washington State Department of Licensing and department director Teresa Berntsen as defendants, The Seattle Times reported.

Currently in Washington, when a driver gets a moving violation such as a speeding ticket, they can pay the fine or request a hearing. But if they don’t respond to the citation or fail to appear at a hearing, their license is suspended. If the person doesn’t pay or enter a payment plan, the court can refer the debt to a collection agency.

People who then drive without a valid license can be charged with a misdemeanor which at the lowest level can carry another $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail.

The ACLU argues this system unconstitutionally favors wealthier people, who can pay their tickets and keep their licenses, while stripping people with low incomes of their right to drive, trapping them with ballooning debt and making it more difficult for them to keep a job that could help them pay off their fines.

“License suspensions for those unable to pay fines, fees, and default judgments for moving violations are not about public safety,” the complaint said.

The ACLU claims the system violates state constitutional rights to due process and equal protection and against excessive fines. The attorneys ask the court to stop the Department of Licensing from suspending licenses for unpaid tickets or failure to appear.