Court Digest

Illinois
Black employees file federal discrimination suit against Chicago utility
CHICAGO (AP) — A group of current and former employees at a Chicago utility have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against them because they’re Black.

The 11 plaintiffs filed the action Tuesday against Peoples Gas, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

They allege that Black workers were sexualized by non-Black workers, faced racial slurs and were forced to work in high-crime neighborhoods without security.

One plaintiff told the Sun-Times that she saw a shooting while she was working and was so shaken up that she drove in reverse. Another said he and his co-workers were robbed after being assigned to work overnight in an area where a car crash had disrupted
service.

The utility issued a statement Wednesday denying the allegations and insisting it provides equal opportunities for workers.

Indiana
Judge dismisses lawsuit against TikTok that alleged child safety, privacy concerns
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana county judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state accusing TikTok of deceiving its users about the level of inappropriate content for children on its platform and the security of its consumers’ personal information.

A pair of lawsuits filed in December 2022 accused the app of misleading its viewers — particularly children. They alleged the app contains “salacious and inappropriate content” despite the company claiming it is safe for children 13 years and under. In the second complaint, the state argued that the app deceives consumers into believing their sensitive and personal information is secure. The lawsuits have since been consolidated. The latest hearing on the motion to dismiss was held in October.

Judge Jennifer L. DeGroote of the Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne made the ruling.

The dismissal is an apparent national first with similar lawsuits pending in Arkansas and Utah.

In a written statement, a spokesperson for Attorney General Todd Rokita said the office is “considering appellate options at this time” and maintained its position taken in the lawsuit.

“We were the first state to file suit against TikTok, but not the last, and it’s reassuring to see others take up this ongoing fight against a foreign Big Tech threat, in any jurisdiction,” the spokesperson said.

In her ruling, DeGroote said the court lacked personal jurisdiction over the case and reaffirmed a previous court ruling that found downloading a free app does not count as consumer transaction under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.

A lead attorney for TikTok referred The Associated Press to TikTok’s media email address. The Associated Press sent an email to TikTok’s communications team asking for comment.

There were previous signs of skepticism from courts about the Republican attorney general’s arguments.

In May, an Indiana county judge ruled that downloading the free app does not equate to a consumer transaction under state law, dealing a blow to Rokita, who has cast himself as an enemy of social media giants including Meta.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig Bobay also ruled at that time that state courts do not have authority over TikTok’s statements to Apple’s app store as both companies are based in California. He added that no aspect of the “age rating process” takes place in Indiana.

A federal judge later rejected TikTok’s request to move the lawsuit to federal court but also described the attorney general’s lawsuit as largely “ political posturing “ in a ruling.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. The app has been a target over the past year of state and federal lawmakers who say the Chinese government could access the app’s users’ data.

Indiana is among several states and the federal government that have ordered the TikTok app deleted from government-issued devices. Montana became the first state in the U.S. to pass a complete ban on the app in May, set to go into effect Jan. 1.

Indiana joined dozens of U.S. states that sued Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. in October, saying it collects data on children under the age of 13 without parental consent. According to newly unsealed documents, Meta deliberately engineered its social platforms to addict children and never disclosed it received millions of complaints about underage users on Instagram. It only disabled a fraction of those accounts.

Delaware
Chemical firms to pay $110M to settle claims over releases of ‘forever chemicals’
DOVER, Del. (AP) — The DuPont Co. and two spin-off firms will pay $110 million to the state of Ohio to settle a lawsuit over environmental threats from toxic chemicals used at a former DuPont facility in neighboring West Virginia, the companies said Wednesday.

The settlement involving DuPont, the Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc. resolves Ohio’s claims relating to releases of manmade, fluorinated compounds known as PFAS. It also resolves claims relating to the manufacture and sale of PFAS-containing products and claims related to firefighting foam containing PFAS.

The compounds, which are associated with an increased risk of certain cancers and other health problems, are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their longevity in the environment. They have been used in the production of nonstick coatings such as Teflon, firefighting foam, water- and stain-resistant textiles, food packaging and many other household and personal items.

According to the companies, Ohio will allocate 80% of the settlement to the restoration of natural resources related to the operation of the Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia, on the eastern shore of the Ohio River. The other 20% will be used to address PFAS claims statewide, including the use of firefighting foam. The settlement is subject to court approval.

Under a 2021 agreement with the state of Delaware, the Ohio settlement means the companies also are obligated to pay $25 million to Delaware for environmental initiatives. As part of the 2021 settlement, the companies agreed to pay $50 million to Delaware and to fund up to an additional $25 million if they settled similar claims with other states for more than $50 million.

Ohio began litigation against DuPont and Chemours in February 2018 regarding historical emissions of perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA, from the Washington Works site. PFOA was once widely used in a variety of products, including nonstick cookware. Ohio alleged damage to natural resources from the use of the compound, and impropriety in the 2015 spinoff by DuPont that created Chemours.

DuPont will contribute about $39 million to the settlement. Chemours, the former performance chemicals unit of DuPont, will pay about $55 million, with the rest owed by Corteva. Chemours was spun off as a stand-alone company in 2015. Corteva, the former agriculture division of DowDuPont, became a separate company in 2019.

Under a 2021 cost-sharing arrangement that resolved legal disputes over PFAS liabilities arising out of pre-2015 conduct, DuPont and Corteva, on one hand, and Chemours, on the other, agreed to a 50-50 split of certain expenses incurred over a term of up to 20 years, or an aggregate $4 billion.

DuPont began using PFOA in products at the Washington Works facility in the 1950s. Chemical releases from the site have been blamed for a variety of health problems among local residents and have resulted in multiple lawsuits.

In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Chemours to address PFAS pollution in stormwater and effluent from the Washington Works facility. The EPA said it was the first Clean Water Act enforcement action to hold polluters accountable for discharging PFAS into the environment.

According to the EPA, PFAS levels in the discharges from Washington Works have exceeded levels set in the facility’s Clean Water Act permit.

Maine
Judge to review new settlement on ACLU of Maine lawsuit over public defenders
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — State officials and a civil rights group have reached a new settlement to present to a judge for improving Maine’s system for providing attorneys for residents who cannot afford them, officials said Wednesday.

The same judge who rejected the original settlement in September must sign off to conclude the class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine.

The new settlement agreement, reached by attorneys with help of a court-appointed mediator, aims to address the judge’s concerns including procedures for emergency relief for low-income residents left without an court-appointed attorney for a prolonged period.

It also sets a proposed timeline for opening public defenders offices, aims to improve data collection, and clarifies circumstances in which indigent clients can bring litigation in the future, according to the document.

“We hope that the judge will give preliminary approval to the settlement,” said Zach Heiden, chief counsel for the ACLU of Maine.

Before rendering a decision, Justice Michaela Murphy will likely hold a hearing so she can questions attorneys about the agreement, Heiden said.

The ACLU of Maine brought the class-action lawsuit over shortcomings of the state’s public defender system, contending the state was failing to provide low-income Mainers with their constitutional right to effective counsel.

Before the hiring of five public defenders last year and additional funding for more lawyers this year, Maine was the only state without a public defender’s office for people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

The state had relied solely on private attorneys who were reimbursed by the state to handle such cases, and a crisis emerged when the number of lawyers willing to take court-appointed cases began declining.

All states are required to provide an attorney to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own lawyer. A scathing report in 2019 outlined significant shortcomings in Maine’s system, including lax oversight of the billing practices by the private attorneys.

Heiden said the settlement addresses concerns with the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services but he challenged the judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and governor to continue the work of improving the system.

“All parts of our legal system have roles to play in addressing our indigent defense crisis,” he said Wednesday.