lawsuit

The family of a white Nebraska bar owner who killed himself after being charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man during 2020 protests over racial injustice is suing local prosecutors, saying their comments led to his suicide. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the parents of Jake Gardner sued the Douglas County Attorney's Office, its top prosecutor and a special prosecutor in federal court on Monday.

The family of a white Nebraska bar owner who killed himself after being charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man during 2020 protests over racial injustice is suing local prosecutors, saying their comments led to his suicide. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the parents of Jake Gardner sued the Douglas County Attorney's Office, its top prosecutor and a special prosecutor in federal court on Monday.

A sweeping bill that would shield Nebraska businesses and local governments from coronavirus-related lawsuits has won initial approval from state lawmakers, despite some complaints that senators haven’t done enough for workers who were at risk. Lawmakers advanced the proposal, 39-3, through the first of three required votes. The measure would bar pandemic-related lawsuits against businesses or governments as long as they were following federal public health guidelines. At least 29 other states have enacted laws addressing the issue, including 12 that are similar to the Nebraska proposal.

A Nebraska City woman and lifelong Republican who unsuccessfully ran for the Nebraska Legislature is suing her own party, claiming the Nebraska GOP defamed her in ads and robocalls it sponsored to help her rival. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Janet Palmtag's lawsuit accuses the Nebraska Republican Party of knowingly lying in campaign ads that said she had broken the law and lost her real estate license. The party's campaign efforts in the race were intended to help state Sen. Julie Slama of Peru, who won the seat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

Two Nebraska Congressmen are among the 106 Republican lawmakers supporting a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the presidential election. Representatives Jeff Fortenberry and Adrian Smith joined a friend of the court brief backing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. Paxton claims the states made unconstitutional changes to voting laws that impacted the election results. Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse blasted the lawsuit, calling it an attempt by Paxton to get a pardon from President Trump.

The Omaha Police Department is facing a lawsuit.  The ACLU of Nebraska has filed a lawsuit against the police department on behalf of the organization, Problac, stemming from the arrests of 120 people after they marched from the Old Market to Midtown in late July. A federal judge is currently considering an injunction in the case that would temporarily ban Omaha police from using pepper balls and other chemicals on demonstrators. 

A lawsuit accuses Omaha police of using excessive force when they responded to protests against police brutality and racial injustice in Nebraska's largest city earlier this year with pepper balls and mass arrests. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging police tactics. City officials said they believe police acted properly, and previously, they have defended the arrests made during protests because police believed the gatherings had the potential to become violent and in some cases violence had already broken out.

Eight University of Nebraska football players are dropping their lawsuit against the Big Ten Conference.  The players filed the lawsuit last month after the conference announced that sports, including football, would not be played this fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  According to a statement, the players instructed their attorneys to drop the lawsuit after the Big Ten announced that football would be played this fall.

An Omaha petting zoo wants its animals back. Nine animals deemed wild by the Nebraska Humane Society were removed from Scatter Joy Acres through a city ordinance. The petting zoo says it has the proper permits and documentation for the animals. Scatter Joy Acres has filed a formal complaint with the City of Omaha and sent a letter to the Humane Society threatening legal action.

The families of eleven University of Nebraska football players are requesting documents from the Big Ten related to the decision to postpone the fall football season. The Husker families, including former NFL player Ed McCaffrey, are asking for transcripts, recordings, and the results of the vote to move the season to the spring. They say they will have no choice but to file a lawsuit if the documents are not delivered.

The parents of four Gretna teenagers who died in a crash last year have filed a tort claim against Sarpy County, alleging that the design of the road where the crash occurred contributed to their deaths. A tort claim is the first step a private citizen must take before suing the government. The Omaha World-Herald reports the girls' parents argue the county road south of Omaha near the crash site, and a guard rail along the road, were negligently designed, constructed and maintained.

A New York-based software company is suing the Nebraska Department of Education for $15 million in federal court. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the lawsuit accuses the department of using elements of the company’s copyrighted software in designing its own web-based program for sharing student and staff data. The state’s education department contracted with eScholar, a company based in White Plains, New York, for student data collection software from 2004 until November 2019. The department paid $84,000 to eScholar with its last renewal, which ended Oct. 31.

A recently released public disclosure statement says a former Goodwill Omaha CEO got $610,000 after he was ousted amid scandal over his six-figure salary, bonuses and perks. Frank McGree sued Goodwill in 2017 because it wouldn't pay his severance. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the charity’s board acknowledged in 2018 that it settled the lawsuit. Until now, the settlement figure wasn’t publicly known. The newspaper first reported in October 2016 that McGree received total compensation of more than $933,000 in 2014, and 13 executives were paid more than $100,000.

Nebraska's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against a state commission that voted to allow machine bets on previously run horse races despite the attorney general's warnings that the machines are illegal. The lawsuit alleges that the Nebraska State Racing Commission approved so-called “historical horse racing” even after state lawyers advised the commission that the machines violate state law and the Nebraska Constitution's prohibition of gambling.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A lawyer says Nebraska has agreed to pay $385,000 to a woman whose lawsuit said the state psychiatric hospital delayed her doctor-ordered mammogram for more than a year and then denied some radiation treatments for her breast cancer.

The settlement follows a federal judge’s decision that Ruth Cecetka's lawsuit could go forward against the Lincoln Regional Center and staff members. She says they failed to properly care for her health after she was committed there Jan. 31, 2013.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state panel has approved the latest bill for former Gov. Terry Branstad's continued fight against a jury verdict that found he discriminated against a former state executive.

The Iowa Executive Council approved payment Monday of a bill for over $488,000 to a Des Moines law firm. That raises the taxpayer costs of defending Branstad to $2.4 million.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a group of tanning salon owners, who had claimed the Nebraska Cancer Coalition had defamed them and hurt their businesses with an anti-indoor tanning message.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska's attorney general is suing the Hilton hotel company, alleging the chain hid the true price of rooms from consumers and charged hidden fees.

The lawsuit announced Tuesday accuses Hilton of violating Nebraska's consumer protection laws. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson says the company failed to heed warnings from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and customer complaints.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury has awarded a former state workers' compensation commissioner $1.5 million, concluding the state and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad discriminated against him because he's gay and that a pay cut was retaliation for refusing to quit.

Jurors in the civil trial found Monday that  proved Branstad's attempts to get him to quit and cut his pay in 2011 were discriminatory and deprived him of his rights.