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The Definitive TSA Lawsuits Thread

When my running count hit 7, I figured it was time to start making a list. If you have links to any others, please post or PM.

This is only an attempt to keep track of them, not to consolidate discussion. Please discuss the suits themselves in their original context.

Amarillo woman sues TSA for 2008 public-view (non virtual) strip search

TSA has settled this lawsuit for a "nominal" amount.
EPIC files suit "seeking the suspension of the body scanner program":

Quote:

Originally Posted by KansasMike (Post 15068352)

Here are the details: http://epic.org/privacy/body_scanner...n_of_body.html

An excerpt:

EPIC has filed the opening brief in EPIC v. DHS, No, 10-1157, a case that challenges the unilateral decision of the TSA to make body scanners the primary screening technique in U.S. airports. Three frequent air travelers are joining EPIC in the lawsuit: security expert Bruce Schneier, human rights activist Chip Pitts, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations legal counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili. The Petitioners have brought claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Privacy Act, the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment. The Petitioners are seeking the suspension of the body scanner program.
The Rutherford Institute has filed suit on behalf of pilots Michael Roberts and Ann Poe (Today was the day...(The Michael Roberts/ExpressJet Story) )
FL Man Files Suit Against TSA seeking

Quote:

Permanent injunctive relief requiring the Defendant to discontinue the requirement that "ordinary air passengers" submit to searches that involve nude body scanners or pat downs that touch genital, buttock, or breast areas, except that nothing herein shall be interpreted as preventing the Defendant from using these methods as optional screening methods or as methods of screening when probable cause or other reasonable suspicion would make it prudent.
A Colorado attorney is suing:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deinonychus (Post 15311307)

Quote:

Gary D. Fielder, in his individual capacity, brings this action under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to enjoin certain agencies of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, namely, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY and TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, and its chief executive officers, respectively, from continuing to unreasonably search the people of the United States of America through the use of whole body imaging scanners and enhanced “pat down” procedures before boarding a commercial aircraft.

The entire Complaint for Injunctive Relief can be viewed through this link:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=33447
An Arkansas Man File Suit: TSA Sued Over New Procedures
Airport Scanners, `Enhanced' Patdowns Bring Suit by Harvard Law Students
Quote:

Originally Posted by ediemac1 (Post 15379382)

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/N...111301269.html "A Durham lawyer and his family are suing the Transportation Security Administration over its security screening procedures, claiming the process violates their rights. Jonathan Blitz filed suit in federal court in Raleigh on Friday on behalf of himself, a woman named Marla Tuchinsky and their child. In his lawsuit, Blitz says Tuchinsky refused to walk through full-body scanners on two occasions at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. On both occasions, she was given a pat-down by TSA employees, which the lawsuit says caused humiliation and emotional distress. Blitz says the heightened security measures are a violation of the family's Fourth Amendment rights. A TSA spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the security procedures are there for the safety of travelers."
Another one by the Rutherford Institute: Insisting on Right to Privacy, TRI Defends Airline Passengers, Sues DHS & TSA over Scanners, Virtual Strip Searches & Full-Body 'Rub-Downs'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rutherford Institute

Insisting that Americans do not shed their privacy rights when entering an airport or boarding a plane, The Rutherford Institute has filed a Fourth Amendment lawsuit in federal court against Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), on behalf of three airline passengers who were subjected to invasive body searches by TSA agents under the agency's enhanced screening and pat-down procedures....
Robin Kassner (NYC) sues TSA:

Quote:

A New York woman, Robin Kassner, is suing the TSA for using bodily force against her at Reagan National Airport in 2007. Kassner, who is seeking $10 million in damages, claims that she blacked out after being thrown to the ground by TSA agents, who claim only that she "was interfering with the screening process and refusing to follow security procedures." The incident, captured on security cameras, has the look almost of a barroom scuffle. In it, Kassner can be seen being wrestled to the floor by police.
Rape victim arrested, manhandled after refusing TSA pat down:

Quote:

Having suffered the ignominy of rape, [Claire] Hirschkind told the agent that she refused to allow her breasts to be touched and asked to be wanded instead. The agent, again following protocol, explained to Hirschkind that that was not an acceptable alternative and that if she resisted a pat down she would be arrested. Hirschkind did resist, after which all hell broke loose....
Body builder, ex Navy Seal (UDT) & former Minnesota governor is suing TSA over the sexual assaults:

Ventura Sues DHS, TSA Over Body Scans, Pat-Downs

Jesse Ventura Sues TSA in Pat-Down Smackdown

Wow: Jesse Ventura sues TSA for 'unlawful sexual assault'
EPIC latest lawsuit to compel compliance with FOIA: EPIC Files Lawsuit for Details on New Passenger Screening Devices
ACLU is filing suit regarding the nofly list:

Fight, Not Flight: ACLU Takes on the Federal "No Fly" List in Portland

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Unconstitutional "No Fly List"

Don't forget me... :)

--Jon

____________________________________
My lawsuit against the TSA:
http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Affection (Post 15381155)

Don't forget me... :)

--Jon

____________________________________
My lawsuit against the TSA:
http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/

Got it -- now 8 lawsuits & counting. :)

Never imagined that Rutherford Institute would do something I agree with. Well, life is good at supplying ironies.

Maybe it should be moved to class action status.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 15383153)

Maybe it should be moved to class action status.

Can a lawsuite that's aimed at injunctive relief be moved to class action status? I didn't think so, but IANAL.

Suggestion: add PACER/ECF links. Many of those here have PACER accounts and having those in one place will help follow the cases.

9 & counting -- another one has been filed by the Rutherford Institute!

Details in base post ...

... including an incident where a 12-year-old girl was picked out for viewing by the perverts in the back room:

Quote:

The third traveler, C.N., a 12-year-old girl traveling with family friends, was pulled out of line while passing through security and subjected to a WBI scan without the knowledge or consent of her adult guardians, leaving her frightened and traumatized. Her adult companions were screened solely with a traditional metal detector.

:td:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeMpls (Post 15402784)

9 & counting -- another one has been filed by the Rutherford Institute!

That's an interesting one because it focuses on specific individuals, each with a different issue which is not faced by the general public, essentially making the medical privacy argument. I think that has the best chance of success because it's making a stronger argument than a generic 4th Amendment argument. Here, you're saying very precisely what's being lost by these people. By bringing religion into it, this also invokes the 1st Amendment, though I suspect that particular argument won't prevail.

2nd Rutherford suit

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardKenner (Post 15405358)

That's an interesting one because it focuses on specific individuals, each with a different issue which is not faced by the general public, essentially making the medical privacy argument. I think that has the best chance of success because it's making a stronger argument than a generic 4th Amendment argument. Here, you're saying very precisely what's being lost by these people. By bringing religion into it, this also invokes the 1st Amendment, though I suspect that particular argument won't prevail.

I agree. As I stated yesterday in another thread, I believe this is where the best argument can be made. Class action suit on behalf of all individuals with medical issues?

Quote:

Originally Posted by doober (Post 15405384)

I agree. As I stated yesterday in another thread, I believe this is where the best argument can be made. Class action suit on behalf of all individuals with medical issues?

Does anyone know more about class action suits? Would they be valid in cases like these? I am going to do some research.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXagogo (Post 15407827)

Does anyone know more about class action suits? Would they be valid in cases like these? I am going to do some research.

IANAL, but I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a class action suit when seeking injunctive relief and especially since these cases are already asking for an injunction that would protect the whole class.

Carlsbad Woman Suing TSA for 'Humiliating' Search

KOB.com reports Carlsbad resident Adrienne Durso is suing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after a pat-down in August at the Albuquerque International Sunport.

In a telephone interview, she told the TV station the search was "heavily concentrating on my breast area where I told her I had a mastectomy the year previous, and it just seemed to go on and on."

According to KOB, Durso said she felt "humiliated" as the extensive pat-down happened in front of her 17-year-old son and hundreds of other travelers.

"I felt as though I didn't have any rights other than I had to stand there and let them do what they wanted to my body," she told the TV station.

Click here (pdf) to read the entire lawsuit.

They are demanding a jury trial, not sure if that's standard or not in these type of things.

lmao I just read the complaint filed by the "Harvard Law Students," and they jacked my complaint! About 90% of it is an exact copy and paste from mine. Too funny. :)

Their complaint

BTW, Arkansas man got rejected for filing "as a poor person" (without paying), and his suit gets dismissed Friday if he doesn't cough up the $350.

--Jon

____________________________________
My lawsuit against the TSA:
http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/

Quote:

Originally Posted by cordelli (Post 15446927)

[B]Carlsbad Woman Suing TSA for 'Humiliating' Search

KOB.com reports Carlsbad resident Adrienne Durso is suing ...

That's 10 & counting -- thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeMpls (Post 15448658)

That's 10 & counting -- thanks!

Unfortunately, I think it's still 9. The article about the Carlsbad woman is about one of the plaintiffs in the Rutherford Institute lawsuit.