Tag: lawsuits

Woman Sues After Prison Staff Decided To Use Her as Rape ‘Bait’

When staff at the Logan Correctional Center learned a prison counselor may have been repeatedly sexually assaulting a female inmate, they did the sane and humane thing and immediately removed her from his reach while opening an investigation into the alleged assailant.

Just kidding. What they really did was decide to use the inmate as rape “bait.”

The idea was that when the counselor tried again, a prison investigator would jump down from a hiding space in the ceiling to stop the attack.

The plan didn’t work. The inmate was assaulted again.

And she has since sued, alleging cruel and unusual punishment.

‘No Reasonable Official Could Have Thought It Proper To Act as They Did’

The case came before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit last fall, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Prison counselor Richard MacLeod “repeatedly sexually assaulted” Andrea Nielsen while she was imprisoned at Illinois’ Logan Correctional Center, writes Judge David Hamilton in the appeals court’s February 26 opinion. But rather than “protecting Nielsen from further assaults” when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act.”

“The plan was for Sexton to stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene,” notes Hamilton. “The plan failed, and MacLeod assaulted her again.”

Nielsen went on to file a civil lawsuit against Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod. A jury found all three liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Two of the defendants—Burke and Sexton—subsequently appealed.

A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision to deny them qualified immunity and to deny their motion that there was insufficient evidence for a guilty finding. “No reasonable official could have thought it proper to act as they did,” states the opinion.

But the appeals court also partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages—but not liability—for Sexton and Burke, citing “erroneous exclusion of evidence” at trial among other things. So, they’re still guilty, but a new trial will be necessary to determine how much money they’re on the hook for.

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Detroit Cop SUES City After Suspension for Calling Border Patrol on Venezuelan Illegal

A veteran Detroit police sergeant has filed a federal lawsuit against her department after being slapped with a 30-day unpaid suspension for contacting U.S. Border Patrol during a routine traffic stop that uncovered an undocumented Venezuelan migrant.

This case spotlights the absurd priorities in blue cities, where enforcing immigration laws gets you punished, even as Americans demand more cooperation to secure the borders.

Sgt. Denise Wallet, a 27-year department veteran, pulled over the driver on February 9, 2026, in downtown Detroit. The man presented a fake driver’s license and admitted he was in the country illegally without proper identification.

Leaked body camera footage captures Wallet explaining her decision to seek federal assistance. “I don’t want to be the reason that somebody who shouldn’t be getting away gets away, exactly, and then you find out (laughs). It turns out he was Pablo Escobar Jr.,” she said, underscoring the potential risks of letting unidentified individuals slip through.

Wallet consulted her superior before acting, with her lieutenant advising her to call Border Patrol.

Border Patrol agents arrived, confirmed the man’s illegal status, and took him into custody. But instead of commendation, Wallet faced discipline under the Detroit Police Department’s “bias-free policing” policy, which bars officers from enforcing federal immigration laws or contacting agencies like CBP for identification purposes.

The policy claims such actions amount to “differential treatment” based on perceived ethnicity or background. Wallet’s attorney, Solomon Radner, fired back in the lawsuit, arguing no policy was violated and that her due process rights were trampled.

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Mexico’s Sheinbaum Weighs Legal Action After Musk Alleges Cartel Ties

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she is considering legal action after tech billionaire Elon Musk alleged on social media that she was taking orders from drug cartels.

Speaking at a Feb. 24 news conference in Mexico City, Sheinbaum said government lawyers were reviewing the matter.

“We’re considering whether to take some legal action,” she said.

“The lawyers are looking into it, but what matters to me is what the people say, honestly.”

Musk’s allegation of Sheinbaum’s cartel subservience followed the capture and killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (JNGC) leader Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” by Mexican security forces.

In his post on X, Musk responded to a 2025 video of Sheinbaum discussing cartel violence and saying that returning to a war against the cartels is “not an option” because it would mean extrajudicial killings that are “outside the framework of the law.” She added that military force against the cartels would also be counterproductive because it would trigger retaliatory violence that would only “increase homicides in Mexico.”

Responding to those remarks, Musk alleged that she was “saying what her cartel bosses tell her to say.”

“Let’s just say that their punishment for disobedience is a little worse than a ‘performance improvement plan,’” Musk wrote.

He did not provide evidence to support his claims.

Sheinbaum could face difficulty suing Musk for defamation in the United States because of strong legal protections for free speech. To prevail, she would need to show that Musk knowingly made a false statement or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

Tesla, Musk’s auto company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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LA County Sues Roblox Over False Child Safety Claims and Lack of Age Verification

Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging the platform has built a system that leaves children exposed to grooming because it does not go far enough in checking user IDs to prove their age.

The suit names the company for public nuisance and violations of California’s false advertising law.

We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here.

The complaint is direct: “Roblox portrays its platform as a safe and appropriate place for children to play. In reality, and as Roblox well knows, the design of its platform makes children easy prey for pedophiles.”

If you weren’t aware of how big Roblox is and why this is important, Roblox serves roughly 144 million daily active users. That’s more than both Fortnite and the entire userbase of the Steam platform combined.

The platform also lets people create and play games, chat through customizable avatars, and spend real money on virtual currency.

LA County’s suit argues Roblox has consistently failed to moderate user-generated content, enforce its own age restrictions, or honestly disclose the risks predators pose to children using the service.

There is no doubt the platform’s moderation gaps have attracted scrutiny for years, and that the platform has had issues with grooming of minors, but the LA lawsuit is the latest in a pattern of governments and researchers documenting the same problem Roblox has repeatedly said it’s addressing, and the latest attempt to mandate digital ID checks.

Roblox rejected the suit’s allegations. A company spokesman said the platform was built “with safety at its core” and pointed to existing protections: “We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online.”

The company added that it takes action against rule violators and cooperates with law enforcement, closing with: “There is no finish line when it comes to protecting kids and, while no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends.”

The false advertising angle is what is most important to note. LA isn’t suing Roblox over what it collects or who can see it. The county is suing because the company told parents the platform was safe for kids while allegedly knowing otherwise.

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Nearly Half of Jury Pool Dismissed in Elon Musk Trial After Prospective Jurors Openly Admit They ‘Hate’ Him

Nearly half of the potential jurors in a class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk were dismissed during selection after admitting they could not remain impartial, with many outright saying that they “hate” him.

The case, playing out in a liberal stronghold, really displays the biases against conservatives within the judicial system.

Jury selection for the trial began this week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, presided over by Judge Charles R. Breyer.

Mediaite reports:

Breyer, a Clinton appointee and younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, began jury selection by commenting to the lawyers for both sides that Musk had achieved a level of fame that was “like the President of the United States,” and even if they “search the entire country,” it would probably be nearly impossible to find someone who did not have some sort of opinion about Musk.

“As a public figure he will excite strong views, and for him in particular, people have strong views,” Breyer added. “The question is, and courts are very clear about this, is whether they can set them aside.”

Finding nine jurors who could put their opinions about Musk aside to be properly fair and impartial took over five hours.

“As a public figure he will excite strong views, and for him in particular, people have strong views,” Breyer said. “The question is, and courts are very clear about this, is whether they can set them aside.”

Out of a pool of 93 prospective jurors, 40 were immediately excused after raising their hands to indicate they could not set aside their personal biases against Musk.

Juror questionnaires also revealed deep-seated animosity.

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West Virginia sues Apple, saying iCloud distributed ‘child porn’

West Virginia’s attorney general sued Apple (AAPL.O) on Thursday, accusing the iPhone maker of allowing its iCloud service to become what the company’s own internal communications called the “greatest platform for distributing child porn.”

Attorney General JB McCuskey, a Republican, accused Apple of prioritizing user privacy over child safety. His office called the case the first of its kind by a government agency over the distribution of child sexual abuse material on Apple’s data storage platform.

“These images are a permanent record of a child’s trauma, and that child is revictimized every time the material is shared or viewed,” McCuskey said in the statement.

Apple in a statement said it has implemented features that prevent children from uploading or receiving nude images and was “innovating every day to combat ever-evolving threats and maintain the safest, most trusted platform for kids.”

“All of our industry-leading parental controls and features, like Communication Safety — which automatically intervenes on kids’ devices when nudity is detected in Messages, shared Photos, AirDrop and even live FaceTime calls — are designed with the safety, security, and privacy of our users at their core,” Apple said.

Apple on Thursday said it plans to roll out a feature in the coming weeks that allows users in the U.S. to flag inappropriate content such as nudity directly to Apple via a “Report to Apple” feature. This is already available in Australia and the United Kingdom. Apple said the expansion was previously planned and not in response to West Virginia’s lawsuit.

The U.S. has seen a growing national reckoning over how smartphones and social media harm children. So far, the wave of litigation and public pressure has mostly targeted companies like Meta, Snap, and Google’s YouTube, with Apple largely insulated from scrutiny.

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Vietnam War veterans sue to block Trump’s proposed ‘Triumphal Arch’ monument in DC

A group of Vietnam War veterans has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block President Donald Trump’s proposed “Independence Arch,” a massive monument planned for Memorial Circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues the 250-foot structure would obstruct the historic line of sight between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery.

The plaintiffs say that the view was intentionally designed to symbolize national unity following the Civil War and has remained unobstructed for nearly a century.

According to the complaint, the proposed arch would be “as tall as 250 feet,” more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial, and would be positioned directly on the ceremonial axis connecting the two memorials.

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Texas Sues Drone Maker Anzu Over Alleged Ties to CCP

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing drone-maker Anzu Robotics, alleging that the U.S.-based company misled consumers and concealed its ties with the Chinese communist regime.

Paxton announced the lawsuit on Feb. 19, accusing the Texas-based startup of rebranding products sourced from Chinese drone giant Da Jiang Innovations, commonly known as DJI.

Founded in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in 2006, DJI has been flagged by U.S. regulators as a security risk because of its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The U.S. Commerce Department added DJI to its export control list in 2020 for aiding the CCP’s human rights abuses. The Treasury banned U.S.-based individuals from trading DJI shares the following year because of similar concerns. The Pentagon blacklisted DJI as a Chinese military company in 2022, noting that the Chinese regime requires all Chinese companies to allow it to use them as part of its military-civil fusion strategy.

In the lawsuit, Paxton accused Anzu of making false and misleading representations to Texans about its business relationship with DJI, data-sharing practices, and software development.

Anzu markets itself as an American-owned, made-in-Malaysia alternative, but much of its drone technology is licensed from DJI, which receives payments for every drone that Anzu orders, the complaint alleges.

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California Planning to Sue Trump Admin Over Revised Child Vaccine Guidelines, Bonta Says

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Feb. 17 that the state plans to take legal action against the Trump administration over the recent modifications to the childhood vaccine schedule.

The CDC on Jan. 5, with backing from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., narrowed the number of vaccines routinely recommended by the childhood schedule.

Bonta told Reuters in an interview that he has mobilized his team to identify the necessary details for a possible complaint against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including jurisdiction and legal grounds for pursuing the lawsuit.

“I like the facts. I like science. I don’t want to give any airtime to his—I mean, just conspiracy [expletive],” Bonta told the news agency, referring to Kennedy’s stance on vaccines.

Bonta did not specify when the state might file or whether it would be a multistate filing. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who also spoke to Reuters, indicated his state may join California in the filing.

The Epoch Times reached out to HHS for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

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Teachers Union and School Districts SUE Trump Administration Over ICE

Two Minnesota school districts and the state’s largest teachers union have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a new immigration enforcement policy that allows federal agents to operate at or near schools and bus stops. 

The complaint, filed February 4 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, names the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem, and subagencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants.

The plaintiffs—Fridley Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools, and Education Minnesota—argue that the administration’s decision to rescind a decades-old “sensitive locations” policy has disrupted school operations across the Twin Cities region. 

They contend that enforcement activity near school grounds has reduced attendance, forced districts to expand remote learning, and diverted administrative resources.

The lawsuit seeks to reinstate restrictions that previously limited immigration enforcement at schools absent exigent circumstances or supervisory approval.

The policy change at the center of the dispute occurred in January 2025, when DHS formally revoked prior guidance that discouraged immigration arrests at schools, churches, and similar locations.

The updated directive replaced categorical restrictions with officer discretion, stating that federal agents would rely on “common sense” rather than bright-line prohibitions. 

DHS defended the move as necessary to prevent criminals from exploiting geographic safe havens to avoid apprehension.

The litigation follows “Operation Metro Surge,” a high-profile federal enforcement initiative in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the operation deployed thousands of agents to address what officials described as a backlog of criminal and fraud-related investigations. 

Just days after the lawsuit, thousands of high school students across the country—including students in several Minnesota districts involved in the litigation—staged walkouts to protest ICE and call for the agency’s abolition.

Videos circulated rapidly on social media, showing coordinated demonstrations framed as acts of civic resistance. 

In some districts, students who had walked out to protest immigration enforcement are now enrolled in systems suing the very agency responsible for carrying it out.

Immigration law is written by Congress and enforced by the executive branch. The prior “sensitive locations” guidance was an internal policy, not a statute.

Its rescission does not eliminate constitutional protections, judicial warrants, or due process. Instead, it restores operational flexibility to agents tasked with enforcing federal law.

Democrats maintain that enforcement presence near schools generates fear that undermines educational stability. District officials point to funding formulas tied to attendance and argue that declines in enrollment threaten budgets.

The complaint alleges that DHS failed to provide sufficient justification for abandoning the prior policy and violated administrative rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act.

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