MCSO

Samkeita Jurden

A man who was arrested in September after he and his dog both allegedly bit Mesa police officers inside a Target store has filed a federal lawsuit against that Target store.

In the lawsuit, Samkeita Jurden (whose first name was misspelled "Samkeith" in county court filings) pretty much admits to all of the strange things police said went down in that Target store, but claims he was beat up by a Target store security guard.

See also:
-Samkeith Jurden and His Dog Both Bit Cops Inside a Target Store; Only the Dog Got Shot


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Larry Klayman

"Birther" attorney and Sheriff Joe Arpaio fan Larry Klayman has filed a federal lawsuit against New Times and our Minneapolis sister paper, City Pages, claiming "defamation."

Klayman's lawsuit points to New Times and City Pages blog posts that cite an appellate court ruling from Ohio, a public record, affirming a magistrate judge's finding that Klayman "inappropriately touched" his own children.

See also:
-Klayman Was Found to Have "Inappropriately Touched" Kids
-Klayman Asks If Joe Arpaio Recall Chairman Is a "Homo" Who "Want[s] My Nuts"
-Joe Arpaio's Birther Buddies Say They'll Take Recall Effort to Court to Shut It Down


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thedrum.com

Heineken -- not to be confused with any ass-sniffing.

A Phoenix dog-toy manufacturer who was once involved in a lawsuit with Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch over his dog toy called "Buttwiper" is now involved in a federal lawsuit with another brewer.

This time, a lawsuit filed on behalf of Stephen Sacra's Phoenix-based company, VIP Products, claims that an attorney for Heineken got upset about his "Heinie Sniff'n" dog toy.

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Image: YouTube

Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against E-Waste Harvesters of Phoenix, claiming the firm is selling refurbished computers with unlicensed software.

Computing giant Microsoft is suing a Phoenix e-waste recycling firm in federal court, claiming that the company has been selling unauthorized copies of its software.

Phoenix's E-Waste Harvesters and its principal, Earl Campbell, have repeatedly advertised and sold refurbished computers that contain pirated copies of XP, the aging Windows operating system, says a complaint filed in federal court last week.

Ironically, the company -- featured in a 2010 Business Journal article -- helps get rid of some of the untold tons of e-waste produced by Microsoft. E-Waste says its goal is to help the environment by reducing the amount of toxic computer waste that goes into landfills.

But good intentions won't pay Bill Gates' bills.

See May 9, 2013 update below.

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Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall is a defendant in a lawsuit against Arizona's new late-term abortion law, but she agrees with the people suing.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court has decided to make Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery happy and grant more time to both sides in a hearing on Monday related to Arizona's ban on late-term abortions.

As we blogged last night, Montgomery filed an emergency motion with the appeals court yesterday to block Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall from speaking as a defendant in a lawsuit against the ban. LaWall, along with Montgomery and Tom Horne, state Attorney General, were sued in their official capacities in July in an attempt to block the late-term abortion ban -- signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer earlier this year -- from taking effect.

But LaWall, a Democrat, agrees with those doing the suing, and she wanted to use part of the 20 minutes granted to the defendants' in Monday's hearing to state her position on the Arizona law -- which, in a nutshell, is that the law's unconstitutional.

See also: Bill Montgomery Says Pima County Attorney is Stealing His Time in Abortion Hearing at Ninth Circuit Court

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Peoria resident Richard Maloney is upset that a California woman told police he'd threatened her and was in the Hells Angels, so he's suing her for $100,000.

Maloney filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday, acting as his own attorney. In it, he states that Lois Kropp of Oceano, California, and her daughter had told police he was making phone threats against her. Now he's listed in police databases as a gang member, and it's hurting his reputation, he claims.

He's suing for defamation, libel, civil conspiracy and negligence.

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UPDATE: Scottsdale Police Department Has Quite a Shooting Problem, ACLU Alleges

Scottsdale Police Officer James Peters

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona will be filing a lawsuit against the City of Scottsdale, related to Scottsdale Police Officer James Peters' sixth kill on the job.

The officer-misconduct lawsuit will be based on the fatal shooting of 50-year-old John Loxas, who happened to be holding a baby at the time.

See also:
-James Peters, Scottsdale Cop With Six Kills, Approved for Retirement


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Image: www.air21world.com

Aircraft emergency slides aren't always the bouncy-castle thrill they appear to be -- as Tammie Dent knows too well. The Phoenix woman broke her tailbone on a slide after an Allegiant Air jet carrying 154 people made an emergency landing in Flagstaff two years ago.

Dent and her husband are now suing Allegiant Air in federal court, saying the Las-Vegas-based airline should have provided crew members to instruct her on the proper use of the slide and designed the slide to better reduce the chance of injuries.;

Dent will suffer from pain and require medical care for the rest of her life, her lawsuit states.

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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 »