Tag: lawsuits

82-Year-Old Woman Banned from YMCA for Objecting to Male in Ladies’ Locker Room Wins Her Fight

In July 2022, Port Townsend, Washington, resident Julie Jaman, then 80-years-old, was banned for life from her local YMCA pool. Her crime?  Objecting to the presence of a biological male in the women’s locker room.

Several days after the incident, she shared her story in an interview on KIRO Newsradio’s The Dori Monson Show.

Jaman had been a regular at the pool for 35 years when she encountered a man dressed in a women’s bathing suit in the shower and changing area of the facility.

“I saw a man in a woman’s bathing suit watching maybe four or five little girls pulling down their suits in order to use the toilet,” Jaman recalled. “I asked if he had a penis and he said it was none of my business. I told that man to ‘get out right now.’”

She told a pool staff member what had happened. Jaman said she was “stunned” when the staff member accused her of “being discriminatory,” informed her that she was “permanently banned from the pool,” and said they were contacting the police.

“She didn’t ask me what the problem was, if I was okay, nothing about me. It’s as if she was just waiting to pounce on me. It was just stunning.”

As she was leaving, another staff member approached Jaman. “She told me that I was being discriminatory and not following the YMCA principles and values. I told her I respect all human beings and I’m not following any ideology.”

Jaman told Monson about a conversation she’d had with Olympic Peninsula YMCA CEO Wendy Bart:

I told her there were no signs posted to give women warning. She said there were Pride posters posted all over and she assumed that was adequate to inform women what to expect.

That’s fine with me, except that they do not provide alternatives for women who choose not to be undressing in front of men. Our pool is a very old pool. We just have two shower rooms, dressing rooms, one for men, one for women.

Jaman’s experience came to the attention of the Center for American Liberty, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group dedicated to protecting the civil liberties of American citizens. CAL filed a lawsuit against the Olympic Peninsula YMCA and the City of Port Townsend in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to defend Jaman’s First Amendment right to free speech.

According to a CAL news release, “the lawsuit asserted that city officials and YMCA staff violated Jaman’s constitutional rights when they banned her for speaking out about safety concerns involving young girls.”

Keep reading

DOJ Joins Lawsuit Against Media-Tech Collusion Over Censorship

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is stepping into a legal battle that challenges the powerful alliance between major media outlets and tech corporations accused of stifling independent journalism.

The case, brought by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and a collection of independent publishers and reporters, targets the “Trusted News Initiative” (TNI), an international consortium that includes the likes of the BBC, Reuters, The Associated Press, and The Washington Post.

Central to the lawsuit is the charge that TNI and its tech partners unlawfully coordinated efforts to silence smaller media competitors by branding their work as “misinformation” or “disinformation” and throttling their reach online.

We obtained a copy of the notice of intent for you here.

The plaintiffs contend that this alleged scheme violates the Sherman Antitrust Act by effectively shutting independent voices out of the marketplace of ideas.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2023, had seen little movement until recently. The DOJ last week filed a formal notice in federal court indicating it will submit a statement of interest by mid-July. The agency cited the case’s focus on “anticompetitive collusion among competitors over product features” as a matter of federal concern.

For those fighting the case, the DOJ’s involvement signals a hopeful shift. Mary Holland, CHD’s CEO, called the announcement “welcome” and pointed to what she described as years of weak federal antitrust enforcement.

Kim Mack Rosenberg, CHD’s general counsel, added that the DOJ’s interest could help break the logjam that has slowed the case, stating that she is “awaiting the statement of interest here with great interest.”

The plaintiffs represent a broad swath of independent media and public figures, including Creative Destruction Media, TrialSite News, The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft, Health Nut News publisher Erin Elizabeth Finn, Dr. Joseph Mercola, journalist Ben Swann, and Ty and Charlene Bollinger, known for their platforms The Truth About Cancer and The Truth About Vaccines.

Keep reading

’60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris Interviewer Bill Whitaker Reportedly ‘Teary-Eyed’ After News of Lawsuit Settlement

On Tuesday, The Gateway Pundit reported that Paramount and CBS agreed to a settlement which will pay millions of dollars to President Trump as well as alter its editorial policy.

President Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the network’s parent company Paramount for deceptively editing a ’60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris conducted by Bill Whitaker.

The suit alleged that CBS News deceptively edited the Harris interview to help the failed candidate boost her chances.

Paramount Global, CBS’s corporate parent, agreed on Wednesday to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview that Whitaker conducted with Harris just before the 2024 presidential election.

News of the settlement was shared at a staff meeting, and, according to The New York Post, Whitaker grew emotional.”

Per The Post:

The veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who interviewed Kamala Harris for the segment that triggered the just-settled lawsuit filed by President Trump against CBS News and its parent company reportedly grew emotional during a staff meeting held after the deal was announced.

Bill Whitaker, 73, appeared “teary-eyed” and “quite somber” during a tense Zoom meeting Wednesday morning as he addressed his “60 Minutes” colleagues in the wake of Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with Trump, according to Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter.

In the fallout from the lawsuit, CBS News president Wendy McMahon abruptly resigned from the network in May.

“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on a path forward,” Wendy McMahon said in an email to staff just weeks after a top “60 Minutes” producer resigned.

Keep reading

Lawsuit Aims To Prevent IRS From Targeting Conservative Groups Ever Again

The mechanism that allowed the IRS to deny right-leaning groups legal nonprofit status during Barack Obama’s administration is still on the books, but this week a conservative group is challenging the provision in court to prevent it from being weaponized again.

Back in 2013, when Obama was president and Lois Lerner led the IRS Tax-Exempt Organizations division, Americans learned that conservative groups seeking nonprofit tax-exempt status were being blackballed by the IRS.

A 2014 House Oversight Committee report shows how huge the scandal was when it was discovered: “A May 2013 review of the IRS tax-exempt applications found that not a single group identifying itself as ‘Tea Party’ was approved by the IRS after February 2010, when the new targeting criteria were instated, while dozens of ‘progressive’ groups were approved.”

But 11 years later, the same criteria on the application for a nonprofit 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status remain, leaving the door open to more corruption.

Lex Politica Attorney Chris Gober has been working since then to change the rule on behalf of Freedom Path, a now nearly inactive conservative issue advocacy organization that filed for tax-exempt status in 2011. After the IRS requested a list of Freedom Path’s donors in 2012, and the 2014 Lois Lerner scandal blew over, finally in 2020 — nine years after its application — the IRS denied Freedom Path nonprofit status on the basis of the same “Facts and Circumstances Test” weaponized against conservative groups in the scandal.  

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice is defending the Facts and Circumstances Test as the case returns to court this week for a status report with Washington, D.C., District Judge Jia M. Cobb. Freedom Path is asking the court to declare the Facts and Circumstances Test “unconstitutionally vague.”

The IRS uses the 11-factor Facts and Circumstances Test (seen below) to evaluate whether a group’s advocacy communications, such as advertising campaigns, should be considered “issue advocacy” — which would allow the group to become a tax-exempt nonprofit — or if its communications should be considered a “political campaign intervention,” preventing the group from gaining tax-exempt status.

The test is subjective; results depend on the values of the person evaluating the applicant’s material.

“It has a necessary chilling effect, because conservative groups nationwide will have to self-censor rather than risk IRS retaliation,” Gober told The Federalist.

Keep reading

CBS, Paramount Forced to Pay Trump Massive 8-Figure Settlement for Deceptively Editing ’60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris Interview

Paramount and CBS was forced to pay millions of dollars to President Trump and agreed to change its editorial policy in a settlement.

President Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the network’s parent company Paramount for deceptively editing a ’60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris.

Trump will be paid $16 million up front, according to Fox News.

Fox News reported:

Paramount Global and CBS agreed on Tuesday to pay President Donald Trump a sum that could reach north of $30 million to settle the president’s election interference lawsuit against the network.

Trump will receive $16 million upfront. This will cover legal fees, costs of the case, and contributions to his library or charitable causes, to be determined at Trump’s discretion. There is an expectation that there will be another allocation in the mid-eight figures set aside for advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes by the network, Fox News Digital has learned.

Sources close to the situation told Fox News Digital that CBS has agreed to update its editorial standards to install a mandatory new rule. Going forward, the network will promptly release full, unedited transcripts of future presidential candidates’ interviews. People involved in the settlement talks have referred to this as the “Trump Rule.”

In October President Trump sued CBS News for $10 billion (now increased to $20 billion) for deceptively editing its ’60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris.

“President Trump brings this action to redress the immense harm caused to him, to his campaign, and to tens of millions of citizens in Texas and across America by CBS’s deceptive broadcasting conduct,” the lawsuit stated, according to Fox News.

Fake news 60 Minutes was caught editing Kamala’s answers to make her sound coherent and normal.

Keep reading

Colorado Christian Camp Wins Legal Victory Against State’s Radical Transgender Rules

Colorado officials have reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit with a Christian summer camp, allowing the camp to continue operating according to its religious beliefs on biological sex.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) announced a new regulation early this year requiring resident camps to provide access to restrooms, showers, dressing areas, and sleeping facilities that align with campers’ gender identities rather than their biological sex. The CDEC said the regulation was based on rules from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission implementing the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Federalist recently reported the story of IdRaHaJe, a cherished Christian camp in Colorado that has embraced children of all faiths for 77 years. This camp sought a religious exemption from the CDEC to maintain its biblical beliefs about biological sex. Unfortunately, the CDEC not only denied this request but also directed the camp to seek legal assistance, putting IdRaHaJe at risk of losing its license and facing closure due to its refusal to conform to the state’s leftist gender regulations.

In response, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), serving as IdRaHaJe’s legal counsel, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. ADF aimed to protect IdRaHaJe’s right to religious freedom and its mission to operate according to its core beliefs.

Just a month following the lawsuit, ADF announced a significant victory: IdRaHaJe and the state of Colorado reached a favorable settlement. As part of this agreement, Colorado committed not to take any enforcement action against Camp IdRaHaJe for alleged violations of the gender identity requirements. The CDEC clarified on its website that “churches, synagogues, mosques, or any other place that is principally used for religious purposes, including Camp IdRaHaJe,” are exempt from the requirements. This outcome is crucial. It allows IdRaHaJe and other religious organizations to continue their vital work of ministering in alignment with their faith and understanding of biological sex.

The settlement is welcoming news for Cathy, a Colorado mom who has sent her two kids to Camp IdRaHaJe multiple times over the years. She shared that her kids attending IdRaHaJe was “an experience like no other summer camp, helped build on the foundation of faith we have, and encouraged them to make their own choices in their faith journey!”

The response from the CDEC was noteworthy. On its website, it attempted to spin its loss as a win, highlighting that Camp IdRaHaJe voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit. Yet, the CDEC conveniently ignored the crucial fact that the ADF filed a voluntary notice of dismissal as a direct result of the settlement. Furthermore, the CDEC shifted its narrative, asserting that its gender-identity regulation has never targeted or restricted religious organizations like Camp IdRaHaJe.

Keep reading

Trump administration sues Los Angeles over sanctuary policies that ‘impede’ ICE operations

The Trump administration is suing the city of Los Angeles, alleging that the policies interfere with federal immigration authorities from doing their jobs.

“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in an exclusive statement.

“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump,” Bondi added.

The lawsuit says that the city is discriminating against federal authorities by treating ICE differently than other types of law enforcement.

The Department of Justice argues that the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibits this, so they are asking a judge to block the enforcement of the policies.

Keep reading

Trial set to begin over UCLA prof suspended after refusing lenient grading for black students

A professor who sued UCLA after he was suspended in the wake of the George Floyd-Black Lives Matter riots after refusing a request to grade black students leniently is about to get his day in court.

UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein is demanding $22 million in damages in a trial scheduled to begin July 1 in a Santa Monica courthouse.

The two sides have engaged in legal wrangling since September 2021, when Klein first filed suit, and the trial date has been delayed several times over the last year.

Klein argues UCLA’s knee-jerk reaction to publicly suspend him and excoriate his reputation effectively destroyed his lucrative litigation expert practice.

Klein states in court documents he made about $1 million annually as an expert witness in many high-profile corporate cases.

“By this moment, as a direct and immediate result of [his] public suspension and excoriation, Professor Klein’s expert witness practice had been permanently destroyed,” states Klein’s written opening argument, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.

The statement was submitted in writing as both parties have agreed to a bench trial to be decided by a judge.

Keep reading

Newsom Files $787 Million Defamation Suit Against Fox News Over Its Reporting on His Phone Call with President Trump During LA Riots

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News over its reporting on his phone call with President Trump during LA riots.

Newsom is seeking the same amount of money that Fox News was ordered to pay in a settlement to Dominion Voting Systems.

Earlier this month President Trump sent Fox News reporter John Roberts a screenshot of his phone call with Newsom after the California Governor said Trump never called him.

Trump said he called Newsom during the Los Angeles riots to discuss the National Guard and other security measures to quell the riots.

Newsom said Trump never called him so the President sent a screenshot to prove Newsom wrong.

The lawsuit is demanding an on-air retraction from Fox News host Jesse Watters over his statements on Newsom’s phone call with Trump.

If Jesse Watters issues a retraction, Newsom will drop the lawsuit.

Keep reading

Law Firm That Represented Hunter Biden Suing Him for Unpaid Legal Fees

The law firm that represented former President Joe Biden’s disgraced son, Hunter Biden, in his federal investigations is now suing him for unpaid legal fees.

Winston & Strawn LLP recently filed the lawsuit against its former client, according to the New York Post. The lawsuit states in part that the firm represented Biden “in several complex matters, including criminal trial in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.” In turn, they provided him with what was described as “extensive legal services in those matters which generated a substantial amount of fees” — the entirety of which, they allege, Biden has not paid.

“Although a portion of those fees have been paid, Mr. Biden presently owes [Winston & Strawn] substantially in excess of $50,000 in fees and interest that are due and payable,” the document reads, asserting that Biden has not paid the firm what he owes.

“While some of Mr. Biden’s bills were paid between March 2023 and October 2024, a substantial amount remains due and owing,” Winston & Strawn LLP asserts. “Mr. Biden never objected to any of W&S’s invoices for the legal services rendered to him.

The firm, which represented Biden in both the Delaware gun case and federal tax case, ultimately alleges that Biden has ignored its request for payment.

As the Washington Free Beacon detailed:

The former first son was convicted of three felonies for illegally purchasing a firearm while using drugs and later pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges for failing to pay more than $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 to 2019. Joe Biden pardoned his son in December, just weeks before leaving office.

Former President Biden made waves before leaving office, issuing an eleventh-hour pardon for his criminal son Hunter before leaving the Swamp, after years of denying that he would do so.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” Biden concluded in a December 1 statement.

Keep reading