The estate of “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee has filed suit over an upcoming Broadway adaptation of the novel. The federal lawsuit filed this week in Alabama argues that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s script wrongly alters Atticus Finch and other characters from the book. It asks a judge to enforce part of the contract for the play. The suit…
Beasley Allen has filed its fourth lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors on behalf of an Alabama city or county government. The complaint, filed on behalf of Limestone County, Alabama, alleges the marketing of these drugs contributed to the creation of the opioid epidemic, a public health and safety crisis. In December, Beasley Allen filed two similar lawsuits on behalf…
A lawsuit is standing in the way of what could be Montgomery’s First Charter School. Lead Academy is supposed to open its doors Fall 2018, but the Alabama Education Association  is challenging the decision by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission to authorize the school. The lawsuit alleges several flaws with the charter, including a claim that the school’s plan does…
The city of Gardendale and its municipal court have cut ties with a private probation company that ran an illegal, profit-driven, private probation scheme in Gardendale by exploiting low-income defendants and violating their federal constitutional and state rights. The separation is part of the settlement of a federal, class-action lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that also required new…
Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook disappeared while on a graduation trip with classmates to Aruba in 2005.Oxygen Media is defending itself against a $35 million lawsuit filed by the mother of an American teenager who disappeared in Aruba in 2005. A company representative says in a statement that Beth Holloway’s lawsuit gives an “inaccurate depiction” of the 2017 series “The…
First Amendment advocates are suing President Donald Trump, saying some of his critics have been unconstitutionally blocked from following him on Twitter. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The lawsuit says Twitter has become an important public forum for the president and he frequently makes public announcements there….
Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp. has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and agreed to pay $1 billion for a scheme to conceal a deadly defect in millions of its air bag inflators. Takata admits to hiding problems that can cause inflators to explode with too much force, hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers. U.S. prosecutors still are seeking…
The owner of a landfill in a small Alabama city has dropped a defamation lawsuit filed against residents who used social media to voice their opposition to the disposing of coal ash at the site. The American Civil Liberties Union, which defended the landfill opponents in Uniontown, announced Tuesday that a settlement had been reached in U.S. District Court. Georgia-based…
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former law enforcement secretary who publicly accused Bentley of having an affair with a staffer. Bentley and current Law Enforcement Secretary Stan Stabler, in a joint filing last week, asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Spencer Collier.Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley Collier sued…
A New York City woman has agreed to settle her lawsuit against JetBlue Airways after it mixed up her 5-year-old son with another boy and flew him to the wrong city. Maribel Martinez’s lawyer announced the settlement on Tuesday, saying the matter was resolved amicably. No other settlement details have been released. The New York-based airline has declined to comment….
