Our first contestant is Cynthia Rhouni of Madison, Wisconsin who tried to sue the Department of Corrections because they made her remove her headscarf before they would allow her into the prison to visit her husband.
Sorry Cynthia, no $200,000 payout for you for having to remove your headwear to gain elective access to a protected area. Why? Because you didn't have to go in and you choose (or elected) to remove your headscarf so you could go in.
Rhouni claimed her constitutional right to practice religion was violated when she took her son to visit his father at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. A security measure that took effect months earlier banned visitors from wearing headgear inside state prisons.
The rule has since been changed because of Rhouni's complaints and lawsuit. But, at the time, the rule stood and she really has no legal ground to stand on. If she absolutely didn't want to remove the headscarf and still wanted her son to see his father, then have someone else take him. Or wait until he's released. Rhouni and her lawyers want people to see this as a one or the other case, she had no other option but that's just not true. If her beliefs were that strong then she could have and should have found another means of getting her son in to see his father, one that didn't require her to remove her headgear. But then, she wouldn't have had the pretext for the lawsuit.
Why do people think that any slight against them is grounds for a lawsuit? What's next, someone's going to sue Major League Baseball for getting hit by a foul ball at the ballpark? Another lawsuit about hot coffee? Religious freedom does not mean that your religious beliefs trump standing law, religious freedom only means that you are free to practice your religion without undue restraint. Not that you can snub the law when it suits you and call it religious expression.
If that were the case then I'd start the Church of the Leadfoot right now and never get another speeding ticket as its part of my religious beliefs to drive really fast.
This guy, who was somehow glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot store and ignored by the staff, might have a legitimate case though. Who plays stupid pranks like that? Putting glue down on a toilet seat? Lame. It was only for 20 minutes but still, an employee went into the bathroom, he asked for help, the employee didn't believe the man and he waited until another employee came in before he could get some help. That's just stupid, even if you think its a joke, don't treat it as such or you could find yourself getting sued and rightly so.
Tags: fishing for lawsuits, headscarf, elective visit
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