Javier Fabian Cota, a Mesa police officer who was demoted after being thrown in a drunk tank last year in San Diego, is suing the San Diego Police Department.

The former head of the Mesa Police Association, Javier Fabian Cota, accuses San Diego police in a federal lawsuit of violating his rights during a June 4 arrest for alleged public drunkenness.

Cota's story of gettomg thrown in a drunk tank that night, which resulted in a demotion and pay cut for the Mesa officer, differs markedly from that described in a police report. But Cota's made the discrepancies part of his point: The lawsuit mentions other problems within the San Diego Police Department and paints what happened to Cota as part of a trend of bad behavior and corruption by officers.

 

Cota says he was trying to defend the honor of two women from the "sexual advances" of San Diego officers Ariel Savage and Justin Mattly when he asked the cops why they were acting like "dipshits." The officers responded by cuffing him tightly, threatening to make up criminal charges if he refused to voluntarily check in to a detox facility, and later "falsifying" their reports about the incident, Cota's lawsuit (below) states.

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The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld -- in part -- Arizona's voter-approved 2004 law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship before receiving a ballot.

The Appeals Court en banc panel mostly shot down the challenges to the law, which had itself been upheld in Arizona U.S.  District Court and by an earlier ruling by the Ninth Circuit.

Arizona can demand to see certain forms of identification that proves citizenship, the court ruled. And if someone doesn't have those forms of ID, paying the fees to obtain the ID isn't the same as a "poll tax."

However, the court also ruled that Arizona must not refuse federal voter-registration forms, which work on the honor system by asking applicants to check a box saying whether they're U.S. citizens. Arizona can't replace that form with its form that requires proof of citizenship, the court ruled.

What that means is that non-citizens could, theoretically, still vote in Arizona elections. At least, in federal elections. We're still unclear about whether voters not using the federal voter registration form could still be required to prove citizenship when registering to vote with an Arizona registration form. We plan to file an update on this situation later.

Once the registration form is complete, Arizona election officials will continue to require voters to show ID -- but that ID could merely be a combination of a utility bill and a bank statement.

Activist groups representing Hispanics, American Indians, and women had challenged the law, claiming it was unconstitutional and violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. More >>

Tempe's Luna Fitness can keep its name and logo, thanks to a settlement last week in a federal trademark lawsuit against the small gym by Clif Bar, the maker of Luna Bar energy snacks.

The gym's been fighting the energy-bar giant in court for almost a year. As we reported last April, Clif Bar alleged that Luna Fitness' name and crescent-moon logo too closely resembled Luna Bar's brand. Clif Bar demanded that Luna Fitness change its name and designs, plus pay unspecified damages.

In a statement to New Times, Luna Fitness co-owner Ken Roberts writes that it was with "exceeding joy, thankfulness and relief" that the company greeted news that it could stick with the name it has used for almost a decade.

"After standing our ground, we are very pleased to announce that Luna Fitness will be proceeding forward with all of our plans, keeping our name, logo, and brand intact," Roberts wrote, reserving special thanks for his Phoenix lawyer, Brad Hartman.

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As far as lawsuits go, the Maricopa County Superior Court case of Alice and George Kaplan v. Chandler was anything but monumental. Heck, all it concerned was a broken water pipe at an unoccupied building that the couple own in the East Valley city.More >>

The Dysart Unified School District has been slapped with a lawsuit by a local evangelical group over a policy that bans the distribution of fliers with a religious message.

Dysart, which serves Surprise and El Mirage, allows other community groups to pass out fliers to students while unconstitutionally discriminating against religious groups, says the federal complaint (below) by the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Arizona.

According to the lawsuit filed yesterday, the CEF wanted to promote its "Good News Clubs" that are held after school hours at West Point Elementary School. When held at other schools and promoted with fliers, the clubs typically attract dozens of students. The first six meetings at West Point, however, failed to attract any. 

Other school districts have been sued successfully for doing the same thing, notes Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund, which is providing legal services for the CEF along with the Center for Arizona Policy.

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Image: Nannenga's Facebook site

Melodie Nannenga, seen here in one of her '09 wedding shots from her Facebook site.

​Nationwide Vision and Scottsdale optometrist Melodie Nannenga can see clearly now -- the lawsuit's gone.

Nannenga, who worked at Nationwide office from 2006 to 2008, filed a federal complaint in November alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.

She claimed that after a regional manager made unwelcome advances and comments, she requested and received a transfer to another location. The switch didn't help, though, because the manager then transferred himself to her new office.

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"Nik Richie"

​A federal judge in Kentucky has a set a trial date for the defamation lawsuit a Cincinnatti Bengals cheerleader filed against Scottsdale's own Hooman Karamian, a.k.a. "Nik Richie," of The Dirty (ahem) fame.

U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman set a June 4 trial date for the lawsuit, which claims "Richie" and his "Dirty Army" spread rumors that the cheerleader, Sarah Jones, caught chlamydia from her boyfriend.

In a 2009 post on "Richie's" website, Thedirty.com, a picture of Jones is accompanied with the claim that her ex-boyfriend, "Nate," cheated on her with more than 50 women and tested positive several times for chlamydia and gonorrhea. The author of the post suggests that "Nate" gave the diseases to Jones.

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Image: Arizona State Legislature

State Senator Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, sponsored the change to Arizona's voter registration form.

Omitting the Libertarian and Green parties as options to check on Arizona's new voter registration forms is unfair and has already led to confusion, the parties say in a federal complaint.

Representatives of the parties are suing state Secretary of State Ken Bennett in hopes of halting the new forms and being "treated equally." They also want to recover attorneys' fees.

Because of an amendment to election law passed last year by the State Legislature, the voter registration form doesn't simply include a blank space for "party preference." The field on the form now prompts would-be voters to pick one of two Arizona's two biggest political parties -- Democrats and Republicans, of course -- or to check the nebulous field of "other" and write in a party.

The plaintiffs say the change disadvantages the two smaller parties, which are always automatically included on ballots because they each have a good number of supporters in Arizona.

From the complaint:

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Eileen GilBride, Sheriff Arpaio's lawyer, reacts to criticism by Chief Judge Kozinski that she had come to court unprepared.

​Questions asked by a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in yesterday's hearing of the New Times vs. Sheriff Arpaio false- arrest lawsuit seemed to lean toward the newspaper's position.

 

Watch the hearing yourself and let us know if you agree. The Ninth published the hearing video this afternoon (scroll down to see it), and we've prepared a quick guide to some of the highlights. You can also check out the story published yesterday by the SF Weekly's Peter Jamison, who attended the hearing.

If you didn't already know, New Times is suing Arpaio, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and lawyer Dennis Wilenchik over the 2007 nighttime arrests of Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey and VVM CEO Jim Larkin, and the nefarious plot that preceded those arrests.

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Scottie Pippen, former Chicago Bulls player, is suing the ASU Foundation for an online article he claims defamed him.

Basketball superstar Scottie Pippen wants $1 million each from the ASU Foundation and various media outlets around the country for calling him broke.

Sounds like a great way to raise money -- if his legal moves can equal his performance for the Chicago Bulls.

In a federal complaint filed yesterday in the District of Illinois, (see below), Pippen blames the ASU Foundation for an article written by law students. We're not sure if he's got the right target in his sights, but the Foundation must have plenty of dough, he probably figures.

The article, "Athletes and the Race to Bankruptcy," was written by Dan White and published on the Sports and Entertainment Law Blog, which editor Kellen W. Bradley writes is "run entirely by law students at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University." The story has been taken down from one site, though the other link was still working as of this morning.

The blog, which Pippen claims was "created" by ASU, "tagged Scottie's name with bankruptcy," the suit states. Other online articles defamed him more specifically, as he outlines in the suit.

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