Court Digest

Iowa
State sues TikTok, claims company misrepresents its content
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa on Wednesday became the latest state to sue TikTok over claims that the social media company deceives consumers over the amount of “inappropriate content” that children can access via the platform.

TikTok claims an age rating of 12 and older in app stores, which is misrepresentative because of the “frequent and intense” mature and sexual content, Iowa claims in the lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

“TikTok has sneaked past parental blocks by misrepresenting the severity of its content,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement.

Utah, Arkansas and Indiana have filed similar lawsuits, though a judge dismissed Indiana’s lawsuit in November. Judges there determined that downloading the free social media app TikTok doesn’t amount to a consumer transaction under its state law.

The U.S. Supreme Court also will be deciding whether state attempts to regulate social media platforms such as Facebook, X and TikTok violate the Constitution.

Late in 2022, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a ban on the use of TikTok on state-owned devices, as many have done, out of concerns for the security risk connected to its Chinese ownership.

Reynolds also proposed this year that the Republican-led Legislature adopt a new law that would require 18 and older age verification for pornography websites to reduce teens’ access to the content, though social media websites, along with news websites and search engines, would be exempted.

Bird’s lawsuit seeks to force TikTok to correct its statements, as well as financial civil penalties for the harm caused to Iowa consumers.

A TikTok spokesperson said the company has “safeguards in place for young people, including parental controls and time limits for those under 18” and is committed to addressing what it described as “industry wide challenges.”

Missouri
Man who spent nearly 28 years in prison on a wrongful conviction sues St. Louis, police
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man who spent nearly 28 years in prison until a judge determined he was wrongfully convicted filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that St. Louis police officers “detained, arrested, and framed him for a murder he did not commit.”

Lamar Johnson, 50, seeks unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. It names the city of St. Louis and eight police officers.

“I am grateful to be free and I’m doing my best to make up for all the time that was stolen from me and my family, especially my daughters. I want to put this dark and painful chapter behind me, but there can be no healing without answers and accountability,” Johnson said in a statement provided by his lawyers.

Emma Freudenberger, an attorney for Johnson, said the lawsuit seeks accountability.

“Even after the Court declared his innocence, there have been no apologies and no consequences,” Freudenberger said in a statement. “The City of St. Louis cannot continue to simply ignore the glaring police misconduct that has caused Mr. Johnson and his family so much harm.”

Messages left Wednesday with St. Louis police and the mayor’s office weren’t immediately returned.

Marcus Boyd was shot to death in October 1994 on his front porch by two masked men. Police and prosecutors said Johnson killed him in a dispute over drug money. Johnson maintained his innocence from the outset, but was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Then-Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion in August 2022 seeking Johnson’s release after an investigation her office conducted with help from the Innocence Project convinced her he was innocent. At a hearing in December 2022, another man testified that it was he — and not Johnson — who joined a second man in the killing.

A witness to the killing testified that he was “bullied” and “pressured” by police into naming Johnson as one of the shooters. And, Johnson’s girlfriend at the time of the crime testified that they were together that night except for about a five-minute span — not enough time for Johnson to get to Boyd’s home.

St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason ruled in February that the conviction was wrongful, and Johnson was freed.

“Johnson was a young father who was working and attending college when Defendants detained, arrested, and framed him for a murder he did not commit,” the lawsuit states.

California
Senior disaster recovery official sued over sexual harassment and retaliation allegations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A senior official at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has been accused in a lawsuit of sexual harassment and retaliation against a senior employee.

Kendra Bowyer, a former Cal OES employee who helped to manage the state’s relief efforts from wildfires and other disasters, alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court that Deputy Director Ryan Buras, a Gov. Gavin Newsom appointee, sexually harassed her for a period that lasted about a year beginning in 2020.

His actions took place even though four other women previously made similar allegations that were raised to agency management in 2019, the suit says. The suit says the agency failed to adequately respond.

“Our goal is to hold the government accountable for allowing this to take place for so long,” said Tanya Gomerman, a lawyer representing Bowyer.

Gomerman said the agency should conduct a robust investigation of allegations against Buras. The lawsuit seeks compensation from Buras and Cal OES for allegations that include sexual harassment, retaliation and a hostile work environment.

Buras did not respond to emails seeking comment on the allegations.

Agency spokesman Brian Ferguson said in a statement that Cal OES does not comment on personnel matters or active litigation but said “nothing is more important” than the safety and well-being of staff and the broader public.

“Sexual harassment in the workplace is an affront to our values as an organization,” he wrote. “It has no place in Cal OES and it will not be tolerated in any form.”

The allegations against Buras range from making inappropriate comments about how Bowyer should dress “more like a woman,” to trying to get her alone in hotel rooms to grabbing her hand in public. During another incident, Buras invited Bowyer and a co-worker over to his apartment for dinner and drinks, asked them to stay overnight, and crawled into the bed Bowyer was sleeping in, the lawsuit alleges. She awoke to Buras’ “body wrapped around the backside” of her body, it says.

Newsom appointed Buras as deputy director of recovery operations in 2019 after Buras spent more than a decade of work in various roles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Buras’ role at Cal OES, he directs the state’s recovery from disasters.

Bowyer said she repeatedly told Buras to stop his behavior, Gomerman said. Eventually, after rebuffing his advances, Bowyer faced retaliation from Buras that included restricting her access to resources needed to do her job, the suit says.
Buras’ actions kept Bowyer from providing essential services to disaster survivors and caused her so much stress, anxiety and depression that in 2021 a doctor determined she was “totally disabled,” the lawsuit alleges.

“When I finally stood up to him and said this has to stop, he cut me off from all the resources that I needed to do my job,” Bowyer said.

Cal OES conducted an investigation after receiving a medical evaluation as part of Bowyer’s leave. She received a letter later that year stating that Buras had not acted inappropriately, the lawsuit said.

Bowyer decided to pursue legal action after finding out about similar allegations against Buras from a colleague she confided in.


North Carolina
ACC accuses Florida State of breaching contract and disclosing ‘trade secrets’ in amended lawsuit
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference accused Florida State of breach of contract Wednesday, saying the Seminoles broke promises when they legally challenged an agreement that binds the school to the league for the next dozen years.

The ACC initially sued the Florida State Board of Trustees in North Carolina in late December, asking a court to uphold the grant of rights as a valid and enforceable contract. The league insisted FSU cannot challenge the binding document that the Seminoles signed and that all related issues should be decided in the state where the conference is located.

The league formally amended its complaint Wednesday, alleging FSU violated the signed agreement when it chose to challenge the exclusive grant of rights. The conference also accused the school of releasing confidential information — “trade secrets” between the league and television partner ESPN — in its legal filing in the Sunshine State.

The ACC, in its 55-page filing, is seeking a trial and damages it “reasonably believes will be substantial.” The league also asked the court for a permanent injunction barring FSU from participating in the management of league affairs while it “has a direct and material conflict of interest” with the ACC’s purposes and objective. It also asked for a permanent injunction barring the Seminoles from disclosing confidential information about the TV agreement.

Both sides have agreed to respond to the complaints by mid-February. It could result in more motions filed.

No one expects a merger of the two complaints because they involve two separate state courts. One court could defer to the other or both could proceed independently. Both sides have requested a trial.

After months of threats and warnings, Florida State sued the league in Leon County Circuit Court and claimed the ACC mismanaged its members’ media rights and imposed “draconian” exit fees. Breaking the grant-of-rights agreement and leaving the ACC would cost Florida State $572 million, according to the lawsuit.

Florida State is looking for a way out of a conference it has been a member of since 1992. During its time in the ACC, Florida State won three football national championships, the most recent in 2013, and made the first College Football Playoff in 2014.

The Seminoles were left out of this season’s playoff despite an unbeaten record. Florida State President Richard McCullough said the playoff snub did not prompt the lawsuit.

However, the first sentence of Florida State’s claim states: “The stunning exclusion of the ACC’s undefeated football champion from the 2023-2024 College Football Playoff in deference to two one-loss teams from two competing Power Four conferences crystalized the years of failures by the ACC to fulfill its most fundamental commitments to FLORIDA STATE and its members.”

Florida State leaders believe the ACC locked its members into an undervalued and unusually lengthy contract with ESPN that leaves the Seminoles’ athletic programs at a massive disadvantage against schools in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, which have TV deals that pay more over a shorter period of time.