Latest news with #legalbattle
CBS News
11 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Colorado church wins right to shelter homeless in RVs after legal battle with Castle Rock
A years-long legal battle between the Colorado town of Castle Rock and a local church has finally reached a resolution. It all started when the town ordered The Rock Church to stop sheltering the homeless in two RVs on its property. The town claimed it was a zoning violation, but the church argued it was their religious duty to help the homeless and said the town was violating their religious freedoms. The two parties have now reached a settlement that allows the church to shelter the homeless in up to five additional RVs beyond what they previously had. "It's actually a mandate in the Bible to take care of your neighbors, to love your neighbor as yourself, to take care of those that are struggling," said Rock Church lead pastor Mike Polhemus. CBS When Polhemus filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Castle Rock, he was prepared for it to go all the way to the Supreme Court. "We're really fighting for the churches to be able to have their religious freedom, to do the things that we're called to do according to what the scripture commands us to do," Polhemus said. The church's first victory came last July, when a judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing them to resume sheltering people while the case moved forward. The church quickly moved a Parker family of eight in, who stayed for three months. "Now they're they're doing great. They're in their own home. They have a vehicle now," Polhemus said. "They're so thankful that we were able to help them in one of their greatest times of need." This month brought a final win for the church, with a settlement allowing them to shelter people in up to seven RVs on their property. CBS The settlement states the town may choose to pay for and install fencing to screen the RVs from neighbors. The town must also pay $225,000 of the church's legal fees. The terms of the settlement also allow the church to operate a coffee shop on site, as well as partner with the American Red Cross as an emergency shelter in Castle Rock. The Town of Castle Rock shared a joint statement saying: "On May 13, 2024, the Church of the Rock ("the Rock") filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado, in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. The Rock sought and received a court order enjoining the Town from enforcing its land-use laws to prohibit the Rock's operation of its On-Site Temporary Shelter Ministry, through which the Rock provides shelter to those in need in trailers on its property, during the pendency of the case. Since the Court issued its injunction order, the Rock and the Town have sought to resolve this dispute without further litigation. As part of those efforts, on December 2, 2024, the Town issued a revised Letter of Determination that explicitly permits the Rock to operate its On-Site Temporary Shelter Ministry in the two trailers currently located on the Rock's property and clarifies that the applicable Planned Development zoning regulations do not prevent the Rock from providing additional shelter during public emergencies through its partnership with the Red Cross. The Town and the Rock now wish to inform the public that they have reached an agreement intended to end the current litigation and settle issues regarding the future use of the Rock's property to provide temporary housing to those in need. As part of this agreement, a new Letter of Determination will permit the Rock to operate its On-Site Temporary Shelter Ministry located in its existing parking lot. The Town has the option to install additional fencing or landscaping to partially screen the location of the units from the surrounding neighborhood in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The Town acknowledges the Rock's invaluable services to the Castle Rock community through its longstanding efforts to provide support for those members of our community most in need. The Rock acknowledges its responsibilities as a good neighbor and looks forward to working in partnership with the Town while providing those services. The Town and the Rock believe that this agreement is in the best interest of all parties and successfully balances the Rock's religious free-exercise rights with the Town's public interest in enforcing land use regulations and protecting the general welfare, public health, and safety. The Town and the Rock are no longer in an adversarial posture in regard to the litigation and look forward to productive cooperation and potential partnerships on issues in the future." The town looks forward to cooperating with the church in the future, a sentiment Polhemus shares. "We love the Town of Castle Rock. We love everything that they're doing. And our hope is that we can actually work together," Polhemus said. "We're not here to hurt our community, we're actually here to help the community. One of the ways we can do this is help those that are struggling, help our neighbors that have become homeless or in a bad situation, and we can bring them in and quickly get them back on their feet and into a sustainable position and integrated back into society." Today, two people live temporarily in the RVs on site, and the church will set up more RVs as needed. "We find is a lot of the people that are struggling, they don't just need a shelter, but they need people to come alongside them and to really help them in their greatest time of need," Polhemus said. Now that the conflict is settled with the town, the church hopes to explore building workforce housing on their land, an idea that was not popular with neighbors. "I know there's concerns from the neighbors that this is going to reduce their property values and increase crime rates, and I would say to this date, we have done nothing of that sort, and do not plan to do that," Polhemus said. Polhemus says the church will continue to follow its calling, and he hopes neighbors will join them. "Christ showed us love when he died on a cross for us," Polhemus said. "My encouragement to our community, to our churches, is that we would respond in the same love that Christ had for us, and lay down our lives for one another. And one of the ways we do that is by helping those that are struggling with housing."
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Mbappe accuses PSG of harassment, French prosecutors open investigation
PARIS, June 27 — Kylian Mbappe has accused his former club Paris Saint-Germain of moral harassment in a legal filing, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP on Thursday as it confirmed an investigation had been opened. France captain Mbappe is also embroiled in a court battle with PSG to obtain the €55 million (RM272 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses he says the club owes him. Mbappe's latest grievance is related to the way he was treated by PSG at the start of the 2023-24 season, when he was made to train with players the club were trying to offload. He believes he was sidelined by the club after refusing to agree a new contract, a practice which has also affected other footballers and prompted the French players' union to lodge a complaint last year. Mbappe was not invited to a 2023 pre-season tour of Asia and missed the first game of that season but was later restored to the team after holding talks with the club. The 26-year-old joined Real Madrid last summer after seven seasons with PSG. He scored 256 goals in 308 games for the French club, who won the Champions League last month for the first time following the striker's departure. — AFP
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ryan Reynolds' thinly veiled dig at Justin Baldoni amid Blake Lively legal battle
made a thinly-veiled dig at Justin Baldoni and called that the substantial backlash that he and his canceled second wife Blake Lively have suffered amid their legal war against the 41-year-old It Ends With Us director as 'meaningless.' 'I can read something that says, "He should be drawn and quartered." I could read something that says I should win a Nobel Prize. Both are meaningless,' the Canadian 48-year-old scoffed in his TIME100 cover story Thursday. 'None of us are comprised of our best moments. None of us are defined by our worst moments. We are something in the middle.' Ryan's production company and marketing firm Maximum Effort was honored by the magazine for being one of 'the 100 most influential companies,' but he doesn't feel like his business has been badly impacted by the lawsuits. 'Accessibility and accountability are a big part of how I do things,' Reynolds noted. 'The people that I work with know me, so there's never a question of anything like that. If you operate with some degree of core values and integrity, they're going to help you up. If you're an a**hole, they're not. And that's pretty simple.' The self-described 'people pleaser' stressed that his self-worth 'comes from having four kids and a good marriage' and nothing else 'that isn't under the roof of my home.' Ryan had called Justin a 'sexual predator' because his 37-year-old wife alleged she was sexually harassed by him on the set of It Ends with Us in the complaint she filed with the California Civil Rights Department complaint on December 20. But New York Times reporter Megan Twohey - who wrote Blake's exposé last December - told NPR 's Ari Shapiro last December that Baldoni's alleged sexual harassment against her wasn't that severe. '[Blake] told me, like, "Listen. This was actually not the worst that I have experienced in Hollywood. I've actually experienced far worse misconduct. You know, I spoke up because I wanted to address it, and I thought that I had, and I never had any intentions of discussing this or going public with my accusations,"' Twohey said. On June 9, federal Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Justin and his Wayfarer Studios parties' $400M countersuit against Reynolds, Lively, and her publicist Leslie Sloane alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy. Liman also dismissed Baldoni's $250M defamation lawsuit against the NY Times for its biased coverage of of the Another Simple Favor star's CRD complaint and text messages taken from Baldoni's publicist Jennifer Abel. Abel's text messages were obtained legally, while underhandedly, by Stephanie Jones via a subpoena from Vanzan Inc. - a shell company believed to be owned by Ryan and Blake (named after their hometowns of Vancouver and Tarzana). All of the details behind the elusive subpoena will no doubt be explored at Lively's defamation trial scheduled for March 2026 against Justin and his PR team for his 'plan' to undermine her reputation in retaliation with an online smear campaign. Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman missed Monday's deadline to amend four of their seven original claims against the Gossip Girl alum, who has already declared victory. 'The Court's decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively's claims,' Freedman said in a statement Tuesday. 'Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations. Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us.' Behind the scenes, none of the major talk show hosts - Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver - have cracked a joke about the Lively-Baldoni case after Reynolds' company Mint Mobile was one of two sponsors for their 2023 podcast, Strike Force Five. The Kwantlen Polytechnic University drop-out - who sold Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.35B in 2023 - co-owns or has sold companies valued at over $14B, and Forbes ranked him the second highest earning actor of 2024 with $85M. Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman (pictured May 9) missed Monday's deadline to amend four of their seven original claims against the Gossip Girl alum, who has already declared victory The Kwantlen Polytechnic University drop-out - who sold Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.35B in 2023 - co-owns or has sold companies valued at over $14B, and Forbes ranked him the second highest earning actor of 2024 with $85M (pictured May 6) Ryan produced I Like Me, Colin Hanks' fully-authorized documentary on the late Canadian comedian John Candy, which premieres September 4 at the Toronto Film Festival before streaming this fall on Amazon Prime Video. Reynolds produced and stars in Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley's US Navy film Mayday -premiering September 19 on Apple TV+ - alongside Kenneth Branagh and Maria Bakalova. The Deadpool & Wolverine producer-star has a mystery role in Peter Atencio's live action/animated comedy Animal Friends, which hits UK theaters October 10 and US theaters May 1, 2026. Ryan is also currently 'writing a little something right now that is an ensemble' film for his wisecracking mercenary character.
The Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Kylian Mbappe accuses PSG of ‘moral harassment' as Real Madrid star's £55m lawsuit takes fresh turn
KYLIAN MBAPPE has accused former club PSG of 'moral harassment' as the legal battle took a fresh turn. France and Real Madrid ace Mbappe is already claiming the French champions owe him £55m from his final year before his free transfer move to Spain. 2 2 But in a separate development, Mbappe, 26, is also arguing PSG ownership attempted to strong arm him into signing a new deal rather than letting his contract run down. And it means the damaging dispute between the two sides will play out even further. In the latest twist, Mbappe filed an official complaint with the French courts against PSG last month, with two examining magistrates now appointed to investigate the claims. Mbappe alleges that the incidents took place in the summer of 2023, ahead of his final year at PSG, when he was excluded from the first-team squad and placed in the club's 'loft' of unwanted players. His lawyers allege that the move to isolate Mbappe was PSG attempting to coerce him into signing a new deal, with the claim saying that it added up to 'psychological pressure' and the 'attempted extortion of a signature.' The new move comes with the wages claim also set to be played out in the courts. Mbappe claims PSG owe him his final three months' salary and bonuses from that last season in Paris, with the club insisting he waived the payments as a condition of his release. Meanwhile, Mbappe is ruled out of Madrid's final group game in the Club World Cup against Salzburg tonight as he recovers from the bout of gastroenteritis that saw him briefly hospitalised for tests last week. The France striker has not featured in the tournament so far but will be available for Madrid's last-16 game on Tuesday. Mbappe returned to the gym this week in a bid to get back to full fitness before the next round. Reports in Spain have claimed that he lost between four and five kilograms due to the virus. It is believed that he may have contracted the illness back in Madrid before flying to the US earlier this month.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Abrego Garcia lawyers ask US judge to order return to Maryland amid ongoing criminal case
Lawyers for Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion Thursday asking a federal judge to order their client's return to Maryland, and to block ICE officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee continues to play out. In an emergency filing, lawyers for Abrego Garcia urged U.S. District Judge Puala Xinis to order their client's return to the District of Maryland "immediately upon his release from confinement" in the Middle District of Tennessee, and to order the government to refrain from moving him outside the U.S., or the District of Maryland, ahead of his looming criminal trial in Tennessee. It's the latest move in a months-long legal fight over the status of the wrongfully deported Salvadorian migrant. In the filing, Abrego Garcia's lawyers clarified they are not seeking to litigate his Tennessee criminal case — a separate matter from the civil case Xinis handled earlier this year, when she ordered Abrego Garcia's return from El Salvador after he was deported in March in what Trump officials called an administrative error. Abrego Garcia's March deportation kicked off a months-long court fight to secure his release and return to U.S. soil, despite both a federal court order and a Supreme Court ruling requiring the administration to "facilitate" his return. The government eventually complied after months of delay and threats from a federal judge in Maryland to pursue potential contempt proceedings. Upon return, he was immediately taken into custody for alleged federal crimes stemming from a 2022 traffic stop — prompting a flurry of questions as to when the investigation and impaneling of a grand jury, which indicted him on May 21, 2025, would have taken place. Lawyers for Abrego Garcia told Xinis Thursday that their motion "simply seeks to ensure that when Abrego Garcia is released from criminal custody, he returns to, and remains in, this District (other than to travel to Tennessee as needed), until further order from this Court." Their remarks come just days after a federal magistrate judge in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia's release pending trial in his criminal case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said in her Sunday order that the government failed to prove its case during an arraignment hearing earlier this month that Abrego Garcia was a "serious risk" of fleeing or obstructing justice if he were to be released pending trial for the criminal charges. The Trump administration has repeatedly vowed that Abrego Garcia would be taken into ICE detention, should he be released from federal custody — something the new emergency order sought to prevent. "If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland," lawyers told Xinis on Thursday. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
