News & Commentary

The ACLU of Southern California has sent letters to the Presiding Judges of both the Municipal and Superior Courts of Los Angeles County calling on the courts to ensure that judges or other court personnel will terminate use of stun belts to punish or subdue non-threatening defendants.

On June 30 Long Beach Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini ordered a bailiff to send 50,000 volts of electricity through a bound defendant because he was talking too much.

The ACLU of Southern California today filed for a preliminary injunction in federal court to force the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to meet the basic transportation needs of mobility-impaired bus riders. The order sought would require the MTA to keep its wheelchair lifts and safety equipment in proper working order, promptly repair broken equipment, and provide alternative transportation for mobility-impaired passengers who are not able to board. The ACLU is also calling on the MTA to voluntarily make improvements in its service for disabled riders so that a court order will not be necessary.

This morning plaintiffs in Mochizuki vs United States announced settlement of the federal class action lawsuit filed in August 1996 seeking reparations and a formal apology from the United States government for the forcible kidnaping and imprisonment of Japanese Latin Americans during World War II.

Today's decision by the United States Supreme Court absolving police officers from any liability in the deaths of innocent people who are killed or severely injured as the result of a reckless police chase is extremely unfortunate.

The ACLU of Southern California today filed a second amended complaint to expand a federal lawsuit (Beauchamp vs Los Angeles County MTA) as a class action on behalf of more than 5,000 disabled bus riders in Los Angeles County. The lawsuit was originally filed last January against the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Ryder/ATE Inc., a bus company contracted to provide bus service in the Long Beach area of Los Angeles County. The ACLU and cooperating attorneys Stanley Fleishman and David Warshaw charge that the MTA and Ryder Inc. discriminate against disabled riders by failing to maintain wheel chair lifts and other equipment.

Jason Kaldani and California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Gibson today entered into a settlement agreement resolving all claims between them. Mr. Kaldani, who is deaf, filed a citizen complaint with the CHP against Officer Gibson in May 1997 as a result of an encounter with Officer Gibson during a traffic stop. After investigating the complaint, the CHP exonerated Officer Gibson. Officer Gibson believed that Mr. Kaldani's citizen complaint to the CHP was false and defamatory, and sent Mr. Kaldani a letter stating his intention to sue Mr. Kaldani pursuant to California Civil Code ﾌ_ 47.5 for damages in small claims court.

Civil rights groups, including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the ACLUs of Northern and Southern California, Equal Rights Advocates and the Employment Law Center, have filed a lawsuit (Barlow vs. Wilson) in Alameda County Superior Court in Northern California challenging Governor Wilson's Executive Order W-172-98 which eliminates monitoring of state contracting.

Sunday night, March 15, the Eagle Board of the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, made up of three parents and three Boy Scout executives from the Council, voted unanimously to award Michael and William Randall their Eagle badges. While the decision is subject to final approval by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, whose decision is expected in four to six weeks, the ACLU knows of no instance in Scouting's history where the National Council has refused to confirm the award once the Eagle Board has approved it.