Kentucky Injury Lawyer Blog

Kellie Rodriguez says she attended a recent taping of a Disney kids' sitcom with her minor children. However, But instead of a wholesome, family-friendly experience, Rodriguez says that she was forced to endure sexual misconduct by the designated “crowd entertainer” Ron Pearson.

Apparently, Ms. Rodriguez was chosen by Pearson, along with two other audience members, to take the stage and participate in a contest that involved doing a "silly dance.”.

According to suit, during the "silly dance," Pearson began spanking Rodriguez while her back was turned to him. "This unwarranted spanking was relentless, and did not cease until Plaintiff physically turned around to stop it," the suit says.

After the taping was over Pearson asked Ms. Rodriguez for a kiss on the cheek., “but when she went in to give him the peck, Pearson "turned his face and kissed Plaintiff fully on the mouth."

It is worth noting that Rodriguez did not win the contest.

Alleging sexual assault, battery, negligence, negligent hiring, and a host of other charges, Ms. Rodriguez is seeking unspecified damages, along with medical expenses, compensation for loss of earnings, legal costs and interest.

Disney has not yet responded to requests for comment.

In an interesting case that must be a first for the Court in which is has been filed, a Pennsylvania woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer. However, this particular suit is not of the variety that is usually seen; the woman in this case is alleging she was fired for wearing male prosthetic genitalia to work.

The suit alleges that the biological woman said she wore the device under her clothing because she is "considering a gender change." Obviously, this is not a small decision that one might make so it seems reasonable that an individual such as the woman in question may want to try the change out before making it permanent.

The woman also claims that a male employee in her office, who was considering making a gender change, had worn "female prosthetic devices" to work while taking hormone treatments and was not terminated. The suit is seeking unspecified damages

A woman who was awarded $100,000 after pictures of her nude torso appeared without her permission in a St. Louis area publication will be afforded to chance to collect even more money.

The woman, who now lives in Georgia and has been identified only as "Jane Doe," had already sued a Creve Coeur cosmetic surgery company claiming malpractice when her lawyers showed her a 2006 Riverfront Times newspaper article about cosmetic surgery.

The article was accompanied by photos of her nude torso before and after surgery to reduce excess skin produced by her dramatic weight loss.

She sued Body Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Skin Care Center Inc. and Drs. V. Leroy Young, Robert Centeno and C.B. Boswell. In a trial in November 2009, jurors awarded her $100,000 in compensatory damages, finding that the doctors and practice had violated their fiduciary duty to her but not her privacy.

Riverfront Times reporter Kristen Hinman and the newspaper were not sued, but Young blamed her in court, saying she had promised not to use the photos and promised to let him review the article before it ran.

Hinman denied both of Young's claims, but jurors never heard that denial and lawyers for the practice used the allegations involving Hinman to argue against punitive damages.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals said Wednesday that jurors should have been allowed to hear Hinman's testimony. But the panel stopped short of ordering a new trial, with the majority saying that a new jury should hear only the issue of whether punitive damages should be awarded on the breach of fiduciary duty claim.

The sound you hear is the fist show dropping, however it won’t be the last in the bizarre and tragic case of former Penn State Coach, Jerry Sandusky. Attorneys for a 29-year-old alleged victim outlined extensive abuse by Sandusky in the very first civil suit to be filed in this case.

“This is focused on the institutional concealment and failure of Penn State and the Second Mile to protect kids from sexual predators,” said the plaintiff’s attorney at a press conference at the Omni Hotel in Philadelphia. “The lawsuit begs the question, ‘why did so many men for so long protect the institution of Penn State at the peril of so many kids?’ ”

In case any of the readers out there have been living under a rock for the past several weeks Jerry Sandusky has been charged with 40 counts of sexually abusing children, including rape.
The complaint names Sandusky, Penn State and The Second Mile charity Sandusky founded, and describes an atmosphere of negligence dating back to the 1970s, , as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy to endanger children.

This won’t be the last lawsuit filed; here’s betting there are several more that will follow in the coming weeks.

A former High School student has filed a lawsuit against the his Iowa School District and the school’s principal for not doing enough to protect her from a teacher’s sexual advances.

Allegedly, the principal of the school knew Kenneth Rettler, a teacher at the school, spent time alone with student Josephine Stephens in his classroom, and many times the door was locked. Despite the fact that this practice was against school policy the principal did nothing to halt this practice. The lawsuit also alleged that Rettler sent inappropriate text messages and e-mails to Stephens, which also violates the school’s policy that communication,

Attorneys for Stephens filed the lawsuit saying the woman has experienced emotional harm, humiliation and embarrassment because of the incident. A spokesman for the Des Moines district did not have a comment.

The school board members terminated Rettler last year and he voluntarily surrendered his teaching license. The action came after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with Stephens, who was 17 at the time. Stephens became pregnant after one of the encounters, according to the lawsuit.

Rettler pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation by a school employee and obstructing prosecution. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and must complete a sex offender treatment program and register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

One of the former models on the popular morning-time game shows "The Price Is Right" has filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and sexual harassment by producers who continually humiliated and berated her until the point she was forced to leave the show…..in her suit Ms. Cole alleges she was one of the most popular models on the show.

Former game show assistant, Lanisha Cole, names the producers of the popular game show, as well as their production company, Fremantle Media North America.

Cole began working on the "Price is Right" in 2003 and apparently enjoyed a very sormal normal work environment over half a dozen years. However, in December 2009, the situation began to get worse for Ms. Cole when Richards began showing favoritism to another model; a woman with whom he was allegedly having a relationship….who knew this venerable morning game show had such a scandalous underside?

A former Kansas City priest has been accused of sexual abuse. It is alleged that the teenager was abused more than 30 years ago, and that the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese covered it up.

The allegations are that the Rev. Hugh Monahan began abusing the plaintiff when Monahan was assigned to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Holden, Mo., in the late 1970s. The plaintiff claims that he advised the church about the activity but that the diocese took no action; what is particularly disappointing about the allegations are that the failure of the church to take action allegedly paved the way for the perpetrator to abuse other children.

“This case exemplifies the necessity for victims to come forward and expose the longstanding pattern and practice of covering up child sexual abuse by this diocese,” said the attorney representing the plaintiff.

Monahan is reportedly living out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

It must be noted that a lawsuit only presents one side of the facts of a case and only involves allegations which will need to be proved later in Court. The diocese said the plaintiff’s allegations that he reported the abuse to the diocese “are not consistent with facts based on actual priest personnel assignments.”

The family of a 17-year-old boy has filed a lawsuit alleging that his son was sexually assaulted as part of a hazing ritual last summer at the local Firehouse.

The lawsuit alleges that then 16-year-old volunteer was forcibly confined in a chair by Piermont Fire Engineer Michael Bettman of Sparkill and two other young volunteers, Dan Goswick Jr. and Sam Kropp.

Then victim was subjected to a form of hazing in which he and others were forced to place their hand upon and fondle the genitals of other firefighters. Apparently, theses action made the victim "physically and psychologically ill, requiring him to seek and secure medical/psychological intervention."

The Mayor Chris Sanders was not immediately available for comment.

Criminal charges where also pressed against those involved. The three firefighters were charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, in September. Goswick and Kropp were charged as minors. The case is pending.

In a what can only be called a “bizarre” case the same woman who accused American Apparel Inc CEO Dov Charney of keeping her as a teenage sex slave is now suing him and his clothing retailer for defamation and invasion of privacy.

In the complaint, filed last week the former American Apparel saleswoman and two other women claimed that Charney posted nude pictures of them on the Internet.

Irene Morales is the former employee, who filed her original lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court on March 4, in which she accused Charney of forcing her to perform sexual acts in his Manhattan apartment under the threat of losing her job. Morales also sued American Apparel and its directors, saying they failed to prevent Charney from acting as a "sexual predator."

Now she has filed a second lawsuit which alleges that blogs she was a subject of contained suggestive photographs of the women, some of them nude. The women were forced to pose for the pictures during company photo shoots, according to the suit, which also named company photographer Kyung Chung.

The women claimed severe emotional distress from the suggestion that they filed bogus sexual harassment and assault claims to extort money.

Along with defamation and invasion of privacy, the suit accuses Charney and the company of violating a California criminal law that makes it illegal to impersonate another person on the Internet to inflict harm or commit fraud.

Stay tuned to this case, it should be an interesting one.

In a rather bizarre story a Father Philip DeRea, who has an interesting and largely unexplained connection to stars and sports figures has been sued. Father DeRea, whose connection to racing grew from a friendship with Mario Andretti, is alleged to have lured an 11-year-old into a long-term sexual relationship.

The suit contains graphic details of their relationship that began in 1980 when the alleged victim offered to shovel DeRea's walk.

The suit contends the unnamed plaintiff's life and marriage fell apart when memories of the abuse came flooding back five years ago. The allegations make DeRea out to be living a "jet-setting, relatively luxurious lifestyle, traveling frequently to races around the world, saying Mass and performing marriages and baptisms for famous race car drivers and other celebrities and their families..."

He contacted DeRea by email last year and the suit says DeRea responded with apologies for "my misconduct" and sent a few thousand dollars while urging him to "keep all quiet."
Later, a lawyer for DeRea said the payments were rooted in their "friendship" and offered $35,000 to release all claims.

Also named in the lawsuit is the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, an Aurora, Illinois-based Catholic order. The suit contends nuns and other members of the group were at DeRea's home when he took the boy upstairs to his locked room, and were aware of, or should have known of, DeRea's behavior which included sexual relationships with other church members.