Across the Region
by Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter
IOWA
Attorney reprimanded for forging signature
An attorney from Forest City has been reprimanded by the Iowa Supreme Court for forging a district court judge’s signature.
Attorney Mark Newman was in Garner for a meeting with District Court Judge James Drew to discuss a settlement agreement in a wrongful death case.
According to court documents, Drew agreed to sign the order and dated it, but did not sign it. Newman returned to his office, noticed the order had not been signed, forged the judge’s signature and filed the order.
The court called Newman’s behavior unethical, but said it was an isolated incident.
A former Anamosa High School Spanish teacher claims she was discriminated against for being of Spanish origin and has filed a federal lawsuit against the principal and the school district.
Maria Theresa Lizama Lidon, who is from Spain, said she was harassed by students and parents and accuses the district of doing nothing about her situation.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, she claims that students and parents told her she should be dead and that she shouldn’t be working in the United States. She said some of the harassing e-mails were from parents to the administration.
She said complaints also were made about her accent, and one complaint said she taught too much of her class in Spanish.
Lidon also claims that Principal Steve Goodall told her she had poor classroom management skills, but never gave her specifics or followed up with her.
Judge approves $37M
settlement for abuse victims
A bankruptcy judge approved a $37 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport and more than 150 people who say they were sexually abused by its priests.
Judge Lee Jackwig’s approval of the diocese’s reorganization plan allows the diocese to start paying the settlement money, which includes proceeds from the sale of some diocese property.
The reorganization plan outlines terms of the settlement and the diocese’s efforts to prevent future abuse.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy in October 2006, saying it did not have the money to settle the claims stemming from its decades-long clergy sexual abuse scandal.
nebraska
State settles TouchPlay lawsuit with Omaha company
The state has reached a settlement with an Omaha, Neb., company that manufactured the TouchPlay machines that were banned in Iowa.
Under the settlement, the state will pay International Gamco Inc. $250,000 and return two of the machines that had been used by the Iowa Lottery for testing.
The Iowa attorney general’s office says the company must acknowledge that the state denies any liability. Gamco is also required to dismiss its portion of a lawsuit against the state.
Trial in that case, which includes dozens of plaintiffs, is scheduled for Sept. 8.
In a news release, the attorney general’s office calls it a fair and reasonable settlement.
The Legislature ended the TouchPlay game in May 2006 after widespread public criticism about the machines, which resembled slot machines.
No award allowed in wrongful death suit
The family of a pedestrian struck and killed by an Omaha police officer will receive no money from a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie has ruled that Officer Brian McKenzie and the pedestrian, Justin Nealon, shared blame for the February 2004 collision.
Under state law, a plaintiff can recover damages if it’s determined the defendant was at least 51 percent responsible for the injuries suffered by the plaintiff.
McKenzie has said that he was driving his cruiser about 45 mph when, out of nowhere, Nealon appeared in front of him. McKenzie was speaking on a cell phone to a dispatcher at the time.
Bowie said Nealon did not exercise caution because he was wearing dark clothing and had been drinking alcohol.
AG says he’ll prosecute gas cheats
The state attorney general says his office will prosecute gas station operators who try to cheat customers by switching fuels.
The administrator for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s Division of Weights & Measures said his inspectors were finding three to four gas stations a week trying to deceive customers.
Administrator Steve Malone said that’s an unusually high number. He said the most common trick is for stations to put ethanol blends in pumps labeled as regular, 100 percent gasoline. That way the stations can charge the extra 5 to 10 cents regular gas sells for compared to the common blend of 10 percent alcohol, 90 percent gas.
Attorney General Jon Bruning urged people who think they’ve been cheated by gas stations to call his department’s Consumer Protection Division or file a complaint online.
Public frustration and anger had already been rising with the price of gas, and national polls of potential voters suggest economic concerns, now primarily higher food and fuel costs, have replaced the Iraq war as the issue of greatest concern.
NORTH DAKOTA
Court action planned over gasification project
A Dickinson-based environmental group is going to court over a decision by the Stark County Commission to rezone land for a coal mine to fuel a gasification project in southwestern North Dakota.
The Dakota Resource Council and five property owners near South Heart have filed a notice of appeal in state district court.
Stark County commissioners voted April 1 to rezone about 4,800 acres of land from agricultural to industrial. The proposal from Houston-based Great Northern Power Development LP includes a mine and a lignite plant near South Heart.
Supporters of the project say it will boost the area economy. Opponents worry about its effects on the environment.
The Dakota Resource Council and the landowners are asking a judge to decide whether the county failed to follow its own land use plan and whether its rezoning approval was arbitrary.
Jailer sentenced for helping inmates try to escape
A prison guard accused of trying to help three men escape from a Rugby jail has been sentenced in federal court.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson ordered Keri Ann Brandt to serve four years in prison, in addition to a five-year sentence she received in state court.
Brandt pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to escape, assisting an attempted escape and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Brandt and another guard, Becky Willison, smuggled saw blades to three inmates charged in a drug conspiracy case. Willison is scheduled for sentencing later this month.
South DAKOTA
Damages upheld in faulty running track case
The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict that required a paving company to pay the Gettysburg School District more than $278,000 in damages for building a faulty running track.
The high court, in a unanimous decision, rejected Bituminous Paving Inc.’s argument that it was not given a sufficient chance to fix the track when problems developed after the initial construction.
The school district hired Helms and Associates for engineering work and Bituminous Paving for the construction work. Bituminous Paving built the new outdoor track in 2002, but the asphalt cracked and the surface was uneven, according to court records.
Bituminous Paving attempted to repair the track in 2003, but the repairs did not fix the problems, according to evidence in the case.
The district eventually sued the engineering firm and Bituminous Paving, and a settlement was reached with Helms and Associates. After a trial, a jury found that Bituminous Paving owed damages because it had breached its agreement with the district, had negligently built the track and had breached warranties and its duty of good faith to the district.
The jury found Bituminous Paving was liable for 70 percent of the district’s damages. The judgment against the paving company was $278,450 in damages and interest.
Judge refuses to seal photo
e-mails
Two e-mails that included photos of topless women and which are part of a federal court case involving the Mitchell School District will remain open for public view, a judge has ruled.
The civil lawsuit by Brittany Plamp alleges she was harassed by teacher Andy Tate while a student at Mitchell High School and that the district did not respond appropriately. The case is scheduled for trial June 24 in Sioux Falls.
The e-mails were sent on the school district’s computer system by a teacher and the school board president. They were offered by Plamp’s attorney in an attempt to show that the district failed to provide a safe environment for female students.
The e-mails should be sealed because they are irrelevant and might shock the jury, the district’s lawyers said in their request to seal them.
WISCONSIN
Wrongful death suit over plane crash settled
A wrongful death lawsuit over a 2001 plane crash that killed three people ended with a settlement after the trial of the case began.
The twin-engine Cessna crashed and burned near Marshfield’s municipal airport on a return flight from Missouri in September 2001.
Jurors in Wood County Circuit Court listened to opening statements and were sent home for the night before the settlement was announced. As part of the settlement, the parties have been barred from disclosing details of the agreement.
The lawsuit, claiming a mechanical failure caused the crash, was filed in 2004 by the families of the victims — Michael E. Cervi Jr., 30, of Marana, Ariz., and Mitchell “Mick” Shier, 41, and Andrew Maly, 31, both of Marshfield. Named as defendants were Engine Components of Dallas, Airmotive Engineering of San Antonio, Aero Aviation of Granite, Ill., and Duffy’s Aircraft and Sales & Leasing of Marshfield.
Aero Aviation and Duffy’s Aircraft Sales & Leasing previously reached settlements.
