California
Mom accused of assault on bully of her daughter
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California woman is facing charges that she grabbed a 12-year-old boy by the throat while confronting him about bullying her daughter, authorities said Sunday.
Delia Garcia-Bratcher, 30, of Santa Rosa came to an elementary school around lunchtime Friday and asked her son, who also attends the school, to point out her daughter’s alleged tormentor, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The mother grabbed the boy by the throat in front of a number of children, the statement said.
No adult saw the confrontation, and Garcia-Bratcher apparently had not checked in with the school office before coming on campus, authorities said.
The young witnesses later told a deputy the mother threatened the boy about bullying her daughter. The staff at Olivet Charter Elementary School took photos of red marks on the boy’s neck as soon as they learned about the alleged assault, authorities said.
Garcia-Bratcher was arrested on a charge of felony child abuse. She was released from jail after posting a $30,000 bail.
A telephone number for a Delia Bratcher was disconnected. But on a Facebook page that said it belonged to Bratcher, she posted that she was hurt by the accusation and asserted that “the truth will be told.”
Lt. Mark Essick told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat that deputies were looking into the bullying claims but have not substantiated them.
Utah
Judge rules vs. firm’s charge for negative review
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge has ruled against an online retailer that tried to force a Utah couple to pay $3,500 over a critical online review.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson entered a default judgment on April 30 in favor of John and Jen Palmer of Layton after KlearGear.com failed to respond to the couple’s lawsuit.
Benson ruled the Palmers owe nothing to KlearGear.com, but the gadget retailer owes them a sum to be determined at a court hearing in June, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The couple, in their complaint filed in December, say John Palmer never received two gifts he ordered for his wife, and Jen Palmer then posted a critical review about the company’s customer service on RipoffReport.com.
Michigan-based KlearGear.com told the Palmers in 2012 that they had 72 hours to remove the negative review or pay $3,500 because they violated a “non-disparagement clause” in its terms of use with customers, the lawsuit said.
The couple refused, saying the clause was not in effect when the items were purchased and the terms violated the First Amendment. They also note RipoffReport.com has a policy of not removing posted reviews.
KlearGear.com notified credit bureaus of the couple’s failure to pay, which led to a poor credit rating that delayed a car loan and prevented them from securing a loan for a broken furnace, according to the suit.
Benson, in his order, said the retailer is liable to the Palmers for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Mississippi
$100K bond for man for video of senator’s ill wife
A magistrate in Mississippi has scheduled a preliminary hearing Thursday for a conservative Mississippi blogger who is accused of photographing the bedridden wife of Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran without permission.
City Magistrate Dale Danks kept bond at $100,000 for Clayton Kelly, 28, at a hearing Sunday, Assistant Police Chief Robert Sanders said. Police were also looking into the possibility that other people were involved.
Kelly was arrested Friday on a charge of exploiting a vulnerable adult. He’s accused of using an image of Cochran’s wife, who suffers from dementia and has been in a nursing home since 2000, in an online video.
State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who is challenging the six-term senator in a GOP primary in June, said he does not have any ties to Kelly.
Kelly voluntarily took down the video about 90 minutes after uploading it last month and is cooperating with investigators, said his attorney, Kevin Camp.
Cochran attorney Don Clark said Saturday the photo of Rose Cochran was taken near her bedside. Kelly’s attorney said it was taken through an open door during visiting hours.
New Jersey
Judge dismisses tribe’s $50M suit on film portrayal
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a $50 million lawsuit brought by members of the Ramapough Native American tribe against the makers of a movie that they said depicted their people in a negative light.
The lawsuit filed in New Jersey in December claimed the writers and producers of “Out of the Furnace” made false representations about the people who live in the Ramapo Mountains along the New York-New Jersey border.
It claimed that unsavory characters in the film had last names that are common among the Ramapough and that it perpetuated negative and unfounded stereotypes. The plaintiffs — who are mostly from New Jersey and New York, with one from Tennessee — claimed the film caused them humiliation. They were seeking punitive and compensatory damages.
The 2013 movie stars Christian Bale as a man trying to find his missing brother, who has gotten involved with a bare-knuckle fighting ring in the mountains of New Jersey.
The movie’s villain, played by Woody Harrelson, has the last name DeGroat, which is common among the Ramapough. Most of the 17 plaintiffs in the suit have the DeGroat last name.
Harrelson’s character is the leader of a gang of “inbreds,” according to the suit, who are depicted as lawless, drug-addicted, poor and violent, and live in the “mountains of New Jersey.”
The Record reports the judge recently dismissed the suit. That decision came a few weeks after lawyers for Relativity Media, which released the movie, and the other defendants filed a motion to dismiss it.
In legal papers filed in March, they said the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim for defamation or false light under both the common law and the First Amendment and argued that the dismissal of the false light or defamation claims negates the claim of infliction of emotional distress.
