A Colorado man has spent nearly $800 battling a lawsuit over $42 worth of Girl Scout Cookies.

According to news reports, Tad Osborn bought about a dozen boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and paid for them by check. About six months later, he received a notice saying his check had bounced and that he owed double what he originally paid. The Girl Scout Troop's bank claimed Osborn's account was closed, causing the check to bounce.

"When a check is reported as bad debt by a troop's bank, the troop attempts to contact the customer and the council then attempts to resolve the debt," said a statement from the Girl Scouts of Colorado. "Like any other business, after multiple attempts to resolve, we use a professional collection agency."

Osborn claims otherwise, and he has provided documentation to support his position that the account was open.  Moreover, Osborn said he never received notification of insufficient funds until after he racked up filing fees fighting the collection agency over the charge.

Despite the dispute, Osborn still supports the organization, and his daughter just became a Girl Scout.  Next year, however, he pledges to pay for his cookies in cash.

—Source: upi.com

A nonprofit organization in Utah is suing the U.S. Forest Service, demanding that the park service lift its ban on snowboarding at Alta ski resort. The group, Wasatch Equality, claims the park service's ban violates snowboarders' rights to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.

In a recent court filing, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah asked a judge to dismiss the case on grounds that the government has sovereign immunity and that snowboarders are not a protected class. In the filing, the federal government also said it has discretion about what activities can take place on public lands.

“For example, the United States may decide to allow fishing within a wildlife refuge, but it may choose to limit particular waters within that refuge only to fly fishing, which necessarily excludes other type of fishing,” assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Bennett wrote.

A hearing in the case is expected in the coming weeks.

—Source: fox13now.com

An Illinois judge recently dismissed a class-action lawsuit against the world's biggest online poker room, PokerStars, finding that the poker players never lost money directly to the website.

Kelly Sonnenberg of Illinois brought the lawsuit on behalf of "possibly millions" of Illinois players who had lost money on the PokerStars website.  According to news reports, Sonnenberg used an old statute which allowed anyone to sue a perpetrator who had defrauded someone by way of gambling. Under the Loss Recovery Act, Sonnenberg would have been able to recover three times the losses suffered by victims.

However, Chief Judge David R. Herndon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, tossed out the case, finding that players only paid rake to PokerStars and that they lost money to countless opponents at the tables. In his ruling, the judge said that PokerStars is "more akin to a third party service provider that provides a forum for others to play the game and does not have a stake in how the game is decided."

PokerStars lawyer David Deitch says that he hopes other states with similar ancient statutes will look to the outcome of this case before deciding to try ones similar in their own jurisdictions. He pointed out that it was very important to understand the “principle that a ‘rake’ does not make a company a ‘winner’.”

—Source: legalnewsonline.com

A former server at Washington, D.C.'s iconic W Hotel's P.O.V. Lounge, with views of the White House, is suing her former employer, claiming that it retaliated against her for complaining about the uniforms.

Jahaira Bratton, a server at P.O.V. from 2010 to 2013, described the uniform in her complaint as "halter tops and very short skirts with a slit up the back."  According to Bratton, waitresses were not allowed to wear a supportive bra at work.

"If any of the girls came in with a bra on, they would say, 'No, you can't do that,'" said Jennifer Bezdicek, Bratton's attorney.  "She's very large-breasted, and they wouldn't let them wear bras or normal bras with it. It kind of looked ridiculous and looked sluttier than it should have."

According to news reports, Bratton is seeking $350,000 in damages.

—Source: washingtoncitypaper.com