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States Get Sued for Enforcing ‘Gay Rights’

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Photo Credit: WNDLawsuits against Christians – sometimes even churches – have become common when they refuse to support non-Christian events, such as same-sex weddings. But now those defendants have started to fight back, filing lawsuits against state officials who are trying to coerce them to violate their faith.

WND reported in May when a Washington state florist sued Attorney General Bob Ferguson for allegedly trying to violate the state and federal constitutions’ religious freedom provisions.

And this week the Christian Institute in the United Kingdom profiled an Iowa couple suing their state’s Civil Rights Commission for the same reason.

“They have filed their own complaint saying that if the commission forces them to go against their beliefs and host gay weddings this would be a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” the Institute reports.

At issue is a claim against the Mennonite couple, Dick and Betty Odgaard, who own and operate the Gortz Haus Gallery, an old church building that is used for a variety of private events.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Sued for ‘Illegal’ ObamaCare Move: Impermissibly Changing Law

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Another lawsuit has been filed against the president’s health care takeover strategy – this time by a Florida company complaining that Barack Obama had no authority to simply go in and change the law once it had been approved by Congress and signed.

It was last July, according to reports, that Obama simply announced he was changing the law, which had scheduled a requirement for employers to provide adequate and affordable health insurance starting Jan. 1, 2014, or pay huge fines.

Obama, responding to complaints from businesses, simply changed the effective date of that requirement to Jan. 1, 2015, strategically after the 2014 elections.

Obamacare already has been the subject of dozens of lawsuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that it is a tax, and therefore constitutional, even thought he Obama administration had argued it wasn’t a tax.

There is another case now heading toward the U.S. Supreme Court, too, that could end up with critical sections being determined to be illegal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Woman Suing Hospital, Doctors over Prank During Surgery

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Photo Credit: Los Angeles County Superior Court

Photo Credit: Los Angeles County Superior Court

A Los Angeles woman is suing an area hospital after one of its surgeons affixed a fake mustache to her upper lip and fake tears and then photographed her – all while she was still under anesthesia.

ABC News reports the unnamed patient, who also worked at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, where the procedure was performed October 2011, also hit her unidentified anesthesiologist with a raft of incendiary legal claims.

The patient says she learned of the bizarre photos from co-workers who had seen them after returning to work as a surgical supply purchaser at the hospital.

“Perhaps the most vulnerable position any human being will ever endure in their life is a time when they are placed under full anesthesia,” reportedly reads the lawsuit, filed Aug. 15 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Read more from this story HERE.

NRA Joins ACLU Lawsuit, Claims NSA Starting ‘Gun Registry’ (Video)

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NRAThe National Rifle Association joined the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit on Wednesday to end the government’s massive phone record collection program.

In a brief filed in federal court, the NRA argues that the National Security Agency’s database of phone records amounts to a “national gun registry.”

“It would be absurd to think that the Congress would adopt and maintain a web of statutes intended to protect against the creation of a national gun registry, while simultaneously authorizing the FBI and the NSA to gather records that could effectively create just such a registry,” the group writes.

After leaks by Edward Snowden, the NSA acknowledged that it collects records on virtually all U.S. phone calls. The data include phone numbers, call times and call durations, but not the contents of the conversations. The NSA says it only “queries” the database a limited number of times for specific national security reasons.

The NSA argues that Congress authorized the phone data surveillance with Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows for the collection of business records “relevant” to terrorism.

Read more from this story HERE.

Donald Trump, ‘Trump University’ in $40 Million Lawsuit for ‘Deception at Every Stage’; Trump Says Suit is Political Extortion

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

New York’s attorney general sued Donald Trump for $40 million Saturday, saying the real estate mogul helped run a phony “Trump University” that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships.

Trump shot back that the Democrat’s lawsuit is false and politically motivated.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump but instead all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of “The Apprentice” TV star.

“Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers’ advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm,” Schneiderman said. “Trump University, with Donald Trump’s knowledge and participation, relied on Trump’s name recognition and celebrity status to take advantage of consumers who believed in the Trump brand.”

But Trump’s attorney accused Schneiderman of trying to extort campaign contributions from the real estate mogul through his investigation of Trump. Attorney Michael D. Cohen told The Associated Press on Saturday that Schneiderman’s lawsuit was filled with falsehoods. Cohen said Trump and his university never defrauded anyone.

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Veterans Sue City in New York that Ordered ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Flag Banned

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Photo Credit: APA veterans group alleges in a federal lawsuit that officials violated its free-speech rights when they banned a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag from a city-owned armory.

The lawsuit filed last week in federal court says New Rochelle’s action, in addition to being unconstitutional, was “unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious” and betrayed a lack of appreciation of history.

The City Council had ordered the flag down in March, citing complaints that the yellow banner with a coiled rattlesnake was making a political statement. The flag has been used as an unofficial symbol of the tea party since at least 2008 and is often seen at party rallies, tax protests and gun rights rallies.

But the lawsuit, filed by the United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association, offers a long history of the flag, which has been used by the U.S. military since 1776. And it says none of the veterans who raised the flag in March are tea party members.

Read more from this story HERE.

Jesse Ventura Lawsuit vs. Murdered Navy SEAL Can Move Forward, Judge Says (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsJesse Ventura’s lawsuit against “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle — purportedly the deadliest-ever American servicemen — can proceed with the war hero’s widow as a substitute defendant, a judge has ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan reportedly wrote in his decision concerning Ventura’s defamation suit, “(if) a party dies and the claim is not extinguished, the court may order substitution of the proper party.”

Boylan subsequently named Taya Kyle, executor of her husband’s estate, as replacement defendant, the StarTribune of Minneapolis reports.

Ventura, whose resume includes noted turns as Minnesota governor, WWF wrestler, Navy SEAL, and Hollywood actor, sued Kyle over an unflattering anecdote the sniper slipped into his 2012 book.

Specifically, Kyle alleged that during a 2006 tete-a-tete, the duo duked it out at a California bar after Ventura badmouthed the second Iraq War, the United States, in general, as well as then-President George W. Bush.

Read more from this story HERE.

Student Booted from U.S. College for Favoring English!

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Photo Credit: WNDAn Arizona college is being sued for labeling a student a “bigot” and punishing her with a long-term suspension after she requested that English be used in her nursing studies class so she could learn the subject.

The action was filed against Pima Community College on behalf of student Terri Bennett, who alleged that school officials created a “learning environment [that] was hostile to her as an English-language speaker.”

The complaint alleges that Bennett repeatedly was thwarted in her work listening to lectures, finishing group studies and participating in skills labs, clinicals and other learning activities by fellow students who spoke Spanish, which she did not understand. Study groups and labs in which she participated, an essential part of her nursing training, were being conducted in Spanish.

In response, she asked the college – which operates, ironically, under Arizona’s English-only legal requirement – to help enforce the use of English in her class so she could continue to pursue her educational goals. However, according to the complaint, Bennett was targeted by the school with ridicule, attacks, threats and, eventually, a nine-month suspension.

The group ProEnglish is helping Bennett with legal support.

Read more from this story HERE.

World Trade Center Owners in Court Trying to Collect Billions from Airline Companies

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Photo Credit: cliff1066™One of the last lawsuits tied to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks kicks off in a Manhattan courtroom tomorrow where Massport faces “billions” in potential damages.

The anticipated three-day federal bench trial is being held to decide whether World Trade Center Properties, owner of the World Trade Center towers brought down by terrorists, can seek more compensation from airlines and the Massachusetts Port Authority than the $4.9 billion insurance payouts they’ve already received. The attack destroyed a third building as well.

“You’re talking about billions (of dollars) in this lawsuit,” said retired Federal Aviation Administration Special Agent Brian Sullivan, who pointed out security holes at Logan International Airport prior to the attacks. The two planes that brought down the twin towers left from Logan.

The suit alleges the airlines and other aviation-related companies were negligent, allowing terrorists to board airplanes and overtake their crews before plunging the planes into the trade center complex.

Read more from this story HERE.

Churches Now Fearing Lawsuits Over Bans on Homosexual Marriage

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Photo Credit: Eusebius@CommonsJoe Carr believes a day is fast approaching when pastors will be charged with hate crimes for preaching that homosexuality is a sin and churches will face lawsuits for refusing to host same-sex weddings.

“It’s just a matter of time,” said Carr, the pastor of Waynesville Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia. “What’s happening in Europe – we’re going to see happen here and we’re going to see it happen sooner rather than later I’m afraid.”

And that’s why the congregation will be voting next month to change their church bylaws – to officially ban the usage of their facilities for gay marriages.

“We needed to have a clear statement,” Carr told Fox News. “It’s to protect us from being forced to allow someone to use our facilities who does not believe what we believe the Bible teaches.”

“These facilities may only be used for weddings that adhere to the Biblical definition of marriage and are solely reserved for use by members and their immediate family members,” the amended bylaws read. “These facilities may not be used by any individual, group, or organization that advocate, endorse, or promote homosexuality as an alternative or acceptable lifestyle. This policy also applies to birthday parties, reunions, anniversaries, wedding or baby showers, etc.”

Read more from this story HERE.