The owner of a pet treat manufacturing factory in Colorado sued his neighbors, city employees and others, alleging they conspired to violate his constitutional rights after the neighbors complained to the city about bad smells coming from his factory.

Ray Kasel, owner of Kasel Associates Industries, which, among other things, makes pig ear dog treats, claims that city officials and his neighbors conspired to get him in trouble with the local Department of Environmental Health.  According to news sources, for years neighbors have complained about the odors coming from Kasel's factory. "Smells like dead animals," a neighbor once reported.  After receiving five smell complaints from different households within a twelve-hour period, the city's Department of Environmental Health issued a citation against Kasel pursuant to Denver's air-pollution ordinance.

Kasel appealed the citation, lost and then sued the city and others in federal court for conspiring against him, harassing him and violating his constitutional property rights. The defendants named included city officials, employees from the Department of Environmental Health and some of the complaining neighbors.  Their actions, he asserted, "constituted an unlawful conspiracy to defame [his] reputation" and led to "annoyance, inconvenience, stigma... [and] litigation costs." Kasel's lawyer, Phillip Parrot, said the city and neighbors had deprived Kasel of his right to operate his business and "selectively enforced" the city's odor ordinance to punish him.

The city argued that Kasel's constitutional rights were not violated by receiving a single odor violation and a $500 fine, which remains unpaid. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch dismissed the lawsuit, saying, "My jurisdiction to deal with this matter is under the United States Constitution. You don't have a federal claim."

Even though the neighbors were successful in dismissing the lawsuit, they claim it a victory for Kasel because everybody is afraid to file complaints against him.  "He is a bully," neighbor Emily vonSwearingen says of Kasel.

—Source: blogs.westword.com (Colorado)

A Lehigh University (Pennsylvania) student is suing the University after receiving a C+ in a course.

Graduate student Megan Thode is seeking $1.3 million in a lawsuit that claims the C+ she received prevented her from becoming a professional counselor. Thode did graduate and is working as a drug and alcohol counselor, but she claims the low grade denied her the opportunity to be a state-certified counselor. According to news sources, Thode alleges that she would have received a B in the course had in not been for a zero she was given in class participation.

Thode's lawyer, Richard J. Orloski, is alleging that his client received a zero because her teacher and program director were unhappy with Thode's classroom behavior and her activism for LGBT rights. Lehigh's legal team counters that Thode showed unprofessional behavior in the classroom, including crying and swearing outbursts.

"I think if your honor changed the grade, you'd be the first court in the history of jurisprudence to change an academic grade," Neil Hamburg, an attorney for Lehigh, told the judge.

—Source: HuffingtonPost.com

A New Jersey man is suing TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz after allegedly incurring third-degree burns by following Dr. Oz’s home remedy for insomnia.
 
On the April 17, 2012, episode of his NBC show titled, “Dr. Oz’s 24-Hour Ultimate Energy Boost Plan,” Dr. Oz introduced his viewers to his home remedy for insomnia: "the Knapsack Heated Rice Footies,” a pair of socks with uncooked rice in the toes that are heated in the microwave oven. According to Dr. Oz, the heated socks divert blood to your feet, cool your body temperature and ultimately make you sleepy.
 
"You put this in the microwave until it's warm," Dr. Oz told viewers about the socks. "Don't get it too hot, just warm.”
 
Viewer Frank Dietl tried the home remedy that night, with adverse consequences that he claims caused him to be confined to his bed and home, required medical attention and prevented him from pursing his usual and ordinary activities. 
 
"Dietl was severely injured, bruised, and wounded, suffered, still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries and became sick, sore, lame and disabled and so remained for a considerable length of time," said the civil complaint, filed in a New York state court. Dietl contends that Dr. Oz and his producers and distributors, all of whom are co-defendants, should have warned viewers of the possible negative side effects to people suffering from other additional medical conditions.
 
Dietl, 76, suffers from "neuropathy of the lower extremities," a result of diabetes, according to the lawsuit. The condition means Dietl has "a diminished sensation in his feet," it said. Thus, he couldn't tell whether the rice was dangerously hot.
 
"At this time, The Dr. Oz Show has not been served with any complaint and therefore cannot comment on the matter, however we stand by the content in our program as safe and educational for our viewers," Oz spokesman Tim Sullivan said.
 
—Source:  CNN.com

A university in western Michigan has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a student who was banned from carrying her pet guinea pig to certain locations on campus.

Grand Valley State University reportedly has offered 28-year-old student Kendra Velzen $40,000 to settle the lawsuit.  Velzen, who suffers from chronic depression and has a pacemaker, maintained in her lawsuit that her pet guinea pig "provides her with emotional support and attachment (reducing symptoms of depression), and physiological and psychological benefits." 

According to news sources, Velzen was granted permission by university officials to keep a guinea pig in her dorm room (an exception to the dormitory policy that does not allow pets), but forbidden to take the rodent anywhere food was served, or to class. Velzen considered these stipulations unfairly burdensome and she alleged that the university failed to provide reasonable accommodation for her disabilities, in violation of federal housing laws.

Under the terms of the settlement, the university rejected all claims that either the school or school officials "acted wrongly or failed to act in any way with regard to Kendra Velzen." The university did agree to collaborate with the local fair housing center to create a policy for accommodation of assistance animals in on-campus housing facilities.

—Source:  The Daily Caller