Oregon
Walmart ordered to pay man $4.4M for racial profiling
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — DDA Multnomah County grand jury has ordered Walmart to pay $4.4 million in damages to a man who sued the store, saying he was racially profiled and harassed by a Walmart employee at a Portland, Oregon, area store in 2020.
According to the lawsuit the employee “spied” on Dovey
Mangum while shopping, ordered him to leave and called police when he refused, KGW reported.
According to the lawsuit and a news release from his attorneys, Mangum, who was 59 at the time, visited the Walmart in Wood Village on March 26, 2020, to buy a light bulb for his refrigerator. After Mangum arrived, he noticed store employee Joe Williams watching him as he shopped.
Williams told Mangum to leave the store, but Mangum refused, saying he’d done nothing wrong. Mangum’s lawyers said Williams told Mangum he was going to call the police and tell them Mangum had threatened to “smash him in the face.”
Williams called the non-emergency police dispatch line and told the operator he “had a person refusing to leave,” the lawsuit states.
According to Mangum’s lawyers, deputies from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded and “refused to take action against Mangum.” The lawyers said deputies made that decision based on Williams’ “shifting explanations” for the reason he called and because of his “reputation for making false reports to police.”
According to Mangum’s lawyers, the next day, Sheriff’s Sergeant Bryan White and another deputy met with the director of the Walmart and the assistant manager and explained that deputies had noticed a “pattern of behavior” in which Williams would call police to report “dangerous active situations, such as customers physically assaulting him or other employees,” that were not happening.
The store and Walmart corporate officials kept him on the job for several more months. and fired him in July 2020 for “mishandling $35 of Walmart property,” the lawsuit said.
Williams in a deposition denied the allegations that he wrongly called the police, saying Mangum had threatened to hit him.
Mangum filed the lawsuit against Walmart for negligent retention and action against person who summons police with improper intent.
“He lives the same message of self-respect that he teaches to young people, ‘stand up for yourself when you know you’re right,’” Mangum’s trial lawyer, Greg Kafoury, said in a statement. “Because of his courage, we were able to show the jury an unconscionable failure of responsibility by the world’s largest corporation.”
Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove called into question some of the claims and said Walmart considers the verdict “excessive.”
“We do not tolerate discrimination. We believe the verdict is excessive and is not supported by the evidence,” Hargrove said in a statement to the news outlet.
He said Mangum interfered with Walmart associates as they were surveilling and stopping confirmed shoplifters, and then refused to leave despite being asked to repeatedly.
“We are reviewing our options including post-trial motions, he said.
London
Wimbledon fan taking legal action against Kyrgios
LONDON (AP) — A tennis fan who was temporarily removed from Centre Court during the men’s Wimbledon final following a complaint by Nick Kyrgios is taking legal action against the Australian tennis player for what she describes as a “reckless and entirely baseless allegation.”
During a changeover i n his match against Novak Djokovic, Kyrgios complained to the umpire that a spectator was distracting him while he was serving, saying she was intoxicated and that she should be removed from the stands.
The spectator, Anna Palus, said in a statement released by her lawyers on Tuesday that she was bringing defamation proceedings against Kyrgios in a bid to clear her name.
“During the course of the final, Nick Kyrgios made a reckless and entirely baseless allegation against me,” Palus said in the statement. “Not only did this cause considerable harm on the day, resulting in my temporary removal from the arena, but Mr. Kyrgios’ false allegation was broadcast to, and read by, millions around the world, causing me and my family very substantial damage and distress.”
Palus said she was taking action “to obtain vindication and to prevent repetition of the allegation.”
She said any damages recovered will be donated to charity.
“I hope that Mr. Kyrgios will reflect on the harm he has caused me and my family and offer a prompt resolution to this matter,” Palus said in the statement from her law firm, Brett Wilson LLP. “However, if he is unwilling to do this, I am committed to obtaining vindication in the High Court.”
The incident took place during the third set of the match that Djokovic went on to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3). It was Kyrgios’ first final at a grand slam tournament.
North Carolina
Man charged with murder for setting mom on fire
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man was charged with murder Monday after police said he poured gasoline on his mother and set her on fire.
Winston-Salem police said patrol officers responded to reports of someone being set on fire on Lyons Street on Monday morning, news outlets reported. Officers found Joanna Parker, 72, in flames on her porch and they were able to put out the fire, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Investigators determined that James Parker, 48, got upset with his mother, so he poured gasoline on her and set her on fire, police said. Police spokesperson Kira Boyd said police would not release additional information at this time.
James Parker was charged with murder and was held without bond. Court records did not list an attorney for Parker.
Tennessee
Former House Speaker Casada arrested in corruption probe
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering with federal funds.
Their indictments come months after Republican Rep. Robin Smith abruptly resigned when faced with federal wire fraud charges involving Casada. While Casada was not directly named at that point, her March indictment kicked off speculation that more charges would come from the corruption investigation.
FBI agents arrested Casada and his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren at their homes Tuesday morning. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.
The 20-count charging document alleges Casada and Cothren exploited their positions of power by working with another unnamed lawmaker to funnel money to themselves using a political consulting firm — known as Phoenix Solutions, LLC — that concealed their involvement.
“It was further part of the conspiracy for Casada and the other conspirator to enrich themselves by obtaining bribes and kickbacks from Cothren, in exchange for securing the approval of Phoenix Solutions as a mailer program vendor,” a Justice Department news release said.
Casada resigned from the top leadership pos t in 2019 after revelations that he and Cothren had exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women years earlier. In January 2021, FBI agents searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers, including those of Casada and Smith, and the home of Cothren.
The charging documents revealed Tuesday say Cothren launched Phoenix Solutions with Smith’s and Casada’s “knowledge and support” to offer mail and consulting services to lawmakers. All three claimed the firm was run by a “Matthew Phoenix” when in fact it was a made-up alias for Cothren, and Casada knew the name was fictitious, the documents allege.
The documents allege Smith emailed Cothren at one point saying he “may have to assume the role of Matthew again.” He replied saying, “Matthew, reporting for duty!” and included a GIF of “a salute from Harrison Ford’s character Han Solo in the movie Star Wars,” officials said.
Federal investigators said a separate text exchange showed Casada texted Cothren in late 2019 saying “I think this is starting off well I’m pleased!” Cothren later cautioned that “we just have to make sure no one knows it’s me involved,” they said.
When Casada raised concerns about lawmakers wanting “representatives from Phoenix” to make an in-person presentation, Cothren responded that they would remind lawmakers “they live in New Mexico. Will have to get on the phone for it and I could disguise my voice if I has (sic) to.”
Phoenix Solutions received roughly $52,000 from the state in payments associated with the mailer program, according to the charging documents.
California
Lawmakers allow lawsuits against ‘cyber flashers’
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Victims who receive unsolicited sexually graphic material by text, email, app or other electronic means could sue the sender under a bill that California lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday.
The bill targets what’s known as “cyber flashing,” where victims receive such unwelcome surprises often from strangers.
“Just as individuals suffer sexual harassment and abuse in their physical, non-digital lives, there’s a growing incidence of individuals being harassed by receiving unsolicited, sexually explicit images and videos including from people they do not know,” said Democratic Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry when the Assembly approved the bill.
The Assembly passed the measure 76-0 on Thursday and the Senate sent the bill to Newsom on a 37-0 roll call Monday. There was no recorded opposition.
The most common recipients are young women, Aguiar-Curry said. The Pew Research Center in a report last year on online harassment found that 33% of women under 35 had been sexually harassed online, three times as often as men.
In a 2017 report, the center said more than half of women age 18-29 had been sent unsolicited explicit images, as had 37% of men in the same age range.
The unsolicited material came in as well by various online dating apps and social media platforms, said Democratic Sen. Connie Leyva, who sought the measure. Sometimes the images were even transferred to devices via Apple’s AirDrop in public areas to unsuspecting recipients, Leyva said.
The bill would allow recipients to recover at least $1,500 and as much as $30,000 from senders of obscene material who are older than age 18, as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees. They could also seek court orders blocking such behavior in the future.
Supporters dropped an earlier version that would have made cyber flashing a crime punishable by a $750 fine for repeat offenders, after public defenders objected.
A Republican lawmaker who experienced cyber flashing herself initially sought a ban in 2019 at the behest of the dating app Bumble. The move then came after Texas made such acts misdemeanors.
The cyber flashing bill is the latest in the California Legislature’s attempts to deter related harassment in an electronic age.
It outlawed “revenge porn” in 2013, making it a misdemeanor to publicly distribute what were intended to be private intimate photos. And it allowed lawsuits against those distributing “deepfakes,” or false depictions, in 2019.
