Civil Rights Settlements
In the United States, every citizen and non-citizen is afforded a set of unalienable rights and freedoms that are called civil rights. Civil rights include the right to be treated fairly no matter your race, religion or occupation, the right to a fair trial, the right to free speech, the right to freedom of movement, and the right to participate in society, including the right to vote.
When an individual’s civil rights are violated, the violation can often end up in legal ac-tion in a court of law. There is an entire branch of the law devoted to defending an individual’s civil rights. Our court systems are full of civil rights cases that are tried and settled every year.
The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1875 with two collaborative goals: both to define the civil rights of U.S. citizens and to provide a legal process for ensuring the protection of them for all citizens.
Since that time, there have been numerous landmark cases that have involved civil rights. Perhaps the most famous and most controversial Civil Rights case in recent decades was the 1973 case Roe vs Wade, which is the landmark case that legalized abortion by giving women the civil right to choose whether or when to have a baby.
New laws protecting civil rights are enacted regularly, and civil rights law remains as important today as it was in 1875 when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
11th Circuit Rules Class Action Case to Go Forward in Alabama
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled that a proposed class action lawsuit against Oasis Legal Finance, L.L.C., may go forward in the Northern District of Alabama. In a per curiam opinion, the Court held that Judge Robert B. Propst was correct in his “well-reasoned memorandum opinion…denying Oasis’s motion to dismiss the case for improper venue.â€Â Oasis had sought to have the case dismissed under a clause in its form-contracts that required actions involving these agreements to be filed in an Illinois court. Oasis’s headquarters are in Illinois.
The Alabama class action lawsuit, filed by the law firms of Hill | Turner, LLC, and the McFerrin Law Firm, challenges the validity of Oasis’s “non-recourse†legal funding contracts under principles of Alabama law that hold contracts involving gambling on the outcome of lawsuits invalid.  Both Judge Propst and the judicial panel of the 11th Circuit who ruled on the matter noted that the agreements provide that any disputes would be determined under Alabama law; that issues regarding the validity of the contracts are a matter of Alabama law; that the potential class members are all Alabama residents; that the class members entered into their contracts in Alabama; and that under those circumstances it was unreasonable to hold that the forum selection clause in Oasis’s contracts seeking to restrict the cases to an Illinois court was unreasonable.
The lawsuit, styled Rucker, et al v. Oasis Legal Funding, L.L.C., will now move forward in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Class Action Lawsuit Attorneys in Alabama, Hill Turner, LLC
Sallie Mae Sued for TCPA Violations – Class Action Attorneys in Alabama
Sallie Mae Sued for TCPA Violations - Class Action Attorneys in Alabama
On February 2, 2010, Bloomberg reported that the largest student-loan company, SLM Corp (better known as Sallie Mae), is being sued by a borrower who claims to have been receiving harassing prerecorded phone calls on his cellular phone. The complaint alleges that these harassing, unsolicited and never-consented-to phone calls are in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The proposed class-action suit seeks to represent tens of thousands of borrowers who claim to be receiving similar harassing phone calls. The lawsuit claims damages of at least $1,500 for each violation of the consumer-protection law.
The case is Arthur v. SLM Corp., U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington.
Alabama Class Action Law Firm - Toxic Tort, Consumer Product Safety, Litigation Lawyers in Birmingham, Alabama - Hill Turner
New York Watanabe Law Firm, Workplace Discrimination and Civil Rights
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Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Federal law makes it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on race, age, religion, genetics, gender, disability, military service, among other reasons.  If you have been discriminated or harassed in NY, you should contact a workplace discrimination law firm.
Federal law also protects people from sexual harassment in the workplace, and makes certain types of affirmative action procedures mandatory. Individual states have enacted civil rights and employment laws that expand federal law and cover areas not specified, such as sexual preference. An attorney practicing sexual harassment can advise you about the civil rights and employment laws you can expect your employer to follow.
Discrimination in the workplace can take place in hiring and firing decisions, promotion and promotion tools (such as discriminatory testing), pay, job duties and assignments, teasing, and improper language and expression (such as being exposed to pornography). Violation of federal law can also occur when someone retaliates because a worker complained about abuse of their federal rights.Â
Legal issues can also arise when someone has taken leave from employment under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. These acts specify appropriate leave and reinstatement policies for employers and employees, and if not followed by the employer are actionable.
It is important that someone who believes their workplace rights are being abused take action by calling a discrimination attorney in NYC. Time limits apply when seeking to redress violations of federal or state employment law. For that reason, it is important to seek legal representation if you feel your rights in the workplace have been infringed upon.Â
Recourse for Workplace Discrimination
There are a number of remedies available to an employee whose employer has violated the law. These include back and front pay with interest, reinstatement of the employee, special training for employees and award of attorney’s fees and court costs. In some cases compensatory, punitive, and liquidated damages can be awarded by the court.Â
Compensatory damages are monies designed to put the employee back to the position she or he was in before the violation. Compensatory damages can include back pay, back raises, an award of earned time if someone was not hired for a discriminatory reason, and out of pocket expenses associated with the discrimination. Punitive damages are monies awarded to punish an employer who acted in flagrant disregard of the law. Liquidated damages double compensatory damages and are awarded in cases of flagrant disregard for the law and under some Titles only.Â
This article was provided by the New York sexual harassment attorneys of the Watanabe Law Firm, www.watanabe-law.com, 212.486.7005.
Prisoner Abuse Settlement – $825,000
In 2006, the Bell Legal Group worked hard to get justice for Jason Bynum. The firm’s excellent civil rights litigation won Bynum’s case against the
