Judge strikes down NC ban on public profanity
Court Alerts
A North Carolina judge has struck down a 98-year-old state ban on public profanity.
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Chapel Hill resident Samantha Elabanjo on Wednesday. She had been convicted in July of using the word "damn" during a confrontation with police officers.
Baddour ruled the law against indecent or profane language within earshot of two or more people on any public road in North Carolina was unconstitutionally vague.
The case started Feb. 15 when Elabanjo stepped into the road as a police cruiser drove by. The two officers asked her to get back on the sidewalk. She did, but said: "You need to clean up your damn, dirty car" while still in the road. She then called the officers a vulgar name and she was arrested.
Related listings
-
Navajo high court halts discretionary spending
Court Alerts 01/06/2011The Navajo Nation’s high court has banned elected tribal officials from doling out public money until the tribe establishes rules on their financial aid program.The court made the decision this week in a case that challenged the reduction of the Trib...
-
NY appeals court overturns rape conviction .
Court Alerts 01/04/2011A state appeals court has overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of raping his underage sister-in-law in Queens.Luis Gomez has served nearly four years of a nine-year prison term for rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child....
-
Court: Fla. Grandmother Can’t Sue Battleship NJ
Court Alerts 01/01/2011A Florida grandmother injured in a fall aboard the Battleship New Jersey cannot sue its operators for damages, an appellate court has ruled.The panel said the Home Port Alliance – which runs the ship as a museum and memorial on the Camden waterfront ...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.