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U.S. Supreme Court to clarify prisoners' lawsuit rules, rejects smokers lawsuit

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to clarify the rules for inmates filing lawsuits while they are in prison.

The court will hear the case of Timothy Booth, who claims staff members at a Pennsylvania prison, assaulted him four times in 1996 and 1997.

Booth filed grievances with the prison system, which were denied. He then filed a federal lawsuit in 1997 seeking money for alleged injuries along with an operation, improvements to the prison library and transfer to another state prison.

Pennsylvania argues that Booth's lawsuit should be thrown out because he did not go through the appeals process offered by the state prison system.

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Booth's attorneys said there was no point in appealing because the state does not pay monetary damages to prisoners who win their grievances.

Federal appeals courts are divided on whether a prisoner must go through every administrative step offered by the state before filing a federal lawsuit.

The court also agreed to hear arguments on whether an Oklahoma Indian tribe can claim tribal immunity to avoid being sued over a construction project off its reservation.

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation said it could not be sued after changing the terms of a contract to build a new bank building.

The builder said the tribe signed away any right it may have when it agreed in the contract to settle disputes in binding arbitration. The arbitrator ordered the tribe to pay $25,400 plus legal fees.

The justices refused to consider whether smokers had to pay higher prices for cigarettes as a result of the 1998 $246 billion national tobacco settlement.

Two men, Leo Hise and Jack Isch, filed suit claiming the settlement violated antitrust laws because the nation's biggest tobacco companies went into the deal intending to pass on the cost to smokers.

Both a federal district court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected their argument.

In other actions:

• Justices also rejected the appeal of a California inmate who said he was wrongfully convicted of cocaine charges because a juror who thought the man was innocent decided to vote with the majority and convict after flipping a coin.

• The court refused to hear the case of a student who was suspended from a Florida high school for nine days for displaying a small Confederate flag on school grounds. School officials said the flag was disruptive, while attorneys for the 16-year-old said the punishment violated his free speech rights.

• Justices rejected without comment a Saudi businessman's appeal of a $1.1 billion damage award he was ordered to pay for his role in the BCCI banking scandal.

• The court asked the Justice Department to file a brief outlining its position on whether Missouri can ban the Ku Klux Klan from participating in its Adopt-A-Highway program.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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