December 2008 Archives

A postal worker of the Big Ben Post Office in Clarksburg, West Virginia, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postmaster General John Potter amongst others for creating a hostile work environment for her.
Kathryn E. Munson alleges that she suffered discrimination, infliction of emotional distress and mental anguish because she filed a sexual harassment complaint in response to activities by her superiors that had created a hostile working environment for her.
Her suit also names as defendants, former Big Ben Postmaster Richard Dobson and former carrier William McCray.
As per the lawsuit, Munson was relieved of her duties in December 2007. She alleges that she was fired in retaliation for reporting that Dobson and McCray had violated postal procedures by making sexually explicit statements to postal customers and to her.
Her lawsuit further alleges that after she filed the report against her seniors, their behavior took a turn for the worse. They used sexually offensive language against customers. During one particular incident McCray told customers that he didn't wear underwear in the summer and that he could still 'get his up.'
Munson claims that no action was taken against McCray or Dobson by the U.S. Postal service for which she is holding them responsible.
To read the whole article click here.

Three victims of a fire in an industrial plant four years ago are unhappy with the damages awarded to them by an Oconee County, South Carolina jury earlier this month.
Keith Black, Scott Lawing and Curtis Martin were severely burnt as a result of an accident at a Univar USA, industrial plant when sparks from a torch being used by a worker fell on a stack of sodium bromate.
The jury awarded $6.1 million in damages, jointly to the three plaintiffs. This amount includes $100,000 each to spouses Tammy Lawing and Tina Martin for loss of consortium. 
Univar USA is a subsidiary of Univar N.V., a leading distributor of industry chemicals which generates more than $6 billion annually.
Attorneys for Univar USA also filed a motion last week to reduce Black's $2.6 million award and Matin's $1.4 million award. They claim that the award amount must be reduced by the amount settled out of court by the two men with two other co-defendants in the case.
To read more about the case click here.

Pic courtesy The Joy Of The Mundane from flickr.com 

The widow of a man who was shot dead by the Sunnyvale police in September 2007, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court this week alleging that the city and its public safety officers were negligent and that they had violated her husband's civil rights.
Jose Francisco Canas was shot dead by the police who were attempting to arrest him on murder charges. His widow, Erica Canas, is challenging the police's account of the incident which states that the police were firing in self-defense when Canas tried to run over them in his car in an attempt to escape.
Originally filed six months ago, the lawsuit was withdrawn after city lawyers alleged that it was too vague. It was later filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court before being filed again as a federal case. The city has rejected the family's claim for damages based on the shooting.
In her lawsuit, Canas' wife, has stated that her husband was just driving to work  and was not, as officers put it, 'fleeing from justice or resisting arrest'.
Her lawsuit further alleges that the police misrepresented evidence so as to be able to obtain a warrant against Canas in relation to a gang related slaying. They used an unreliable informant, pressurized a witness to change their testimony and singled out Canas to be a gang member owing to his racial ancestry.
Erika Canas is seeking unspecified damages and is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the couple's 2 year old twin sons as well.    
To read more about the case click here.

 

A former deputy sheriff of Calhoun County, Mississippi has sued the county after he was fired from his job in March this year. In his lawsuit, John Roger Westmoreland has alleged that he was fired because he was black and because he took unavoidable medical leave.
Speaking on behalf of Westmoreland, his attorney Jim Waide stated that the county was being sued by his client, for the actions of Sheriff Bill Gore who fired his client only to replace him with his son. Waide further alleged that his client was hired two years ago because officials felt they needed a black deputy. Westmoreland also claims he was never even sent to the police academy for training and that he was fired the day after he returned from medical leave.
Westmoreland claims that his firing violates the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1991.
  

 A Lingerie Bowl player recently sued her ex-boyfriend for posting nude pictures of her on MySpace.com.
Melissa J. Berry, 24, who is a model and lingerie football league player, sued her ex-boyfriend, Mark C. Dawson, a safe dating expert, for posting nude pictures of her on the internet. She alleges that he even sent some of the pictures to her mother.
In her lawsuit, Berry alleges that Dawson used his cellular phone to take several nude pictures of her including one taken without her knowledge. She further states that she never agreed for the photos to be shown to anyone else.
Berry is worried that these pictures will damage her reputation and affect her work.
To read more about the case click here.

Victims of the $50 billion Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi scam have already begun to attempt to recover their money. Since Madoff was an active philanthropist, their search is bound to lead them to several well-known charities apart who received donations from him.
The American judicial system will see to it that nobody benefits, even unknowingly, from criminal conduct. Several innocent investors may be compelled to part with any gains they may have made through the investment firm.  
What the government fails to seize, civil attorneys will try to divide amongst their ever increasing list of clients.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (HBSS), a law firm based in Seattle, was amongst the first to file a lawsuit in relation to the scam. The law firm represents investors and groups who claim to have placed funds with Stanley Chais, a long-time Jewish philanthropist in Los Angeles, who they claim acted as a 'feeder' for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS).
To read ore about the case click here.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the city of Laguna Beach, its council members and police department on behalf of the homeless people of the city.
The suit claims that the city's anti-sleeping ordinances result in an unconstitutional harassment of homeless people. The city's police illegally conducts 'sweeps', picking up homeless people from the streets and subjecting them to interrogations in the middle of the night.
To read more about the case click here.

Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley, who was falsely accused of rape by a former exotic dancer, has been vindicated. A Cook County Judge ordered the dancer to cooperate with Flatley's lawyers as they attempted to recover $11 million in damages from her.

Tyna Marie Robertson attempted to extort $30 million from the dancer alleging that he had sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2002. Robertson seems to be quite familiar with sexual harassment lawsuits. She has filed a similar suit against a Chicago based doctor as well as a paternity suit against the American football star, Brian Urlacher.

 

Robertson had to be arrested at her home in an affluent suburb of Chicago after she failed to appear for a court date. The judge has issued her a warning saying that if she misses further court dates, he would have to put her in jail for six months, no questions asked.

On her part, Robertson claimed that she had not received any notice of the hearing.

Mr Flatley, a world renowned Riverdance star, was in Las Vegas in 2002 to promote the acquisition of his 'Lord of the Dance' show by the Venetian Casino. That's where he met Robertson. The star claims that his relationship with the dancer on the night of October 19 was entirely voluntary and consensual.

To read more click here.

A Navy Lt. who was a part of the war in Iraq in 2007, returned home to his condo complex in Virginia Springs, to find that his car had been towed and auctioned off by the Norfolk Towing Company.

The U.S. Justice department has filed a lawsuit against the towing company on behalf of the officer.

Navy Lt. Yahya Jaboori is protected by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act which protects active-duty personnel from civil court actions including the enforcement of liens, judgements and evictions.

Justice department officials are considering converting the lawsuit into a joint class action lawsuit as they suspect that the company preys on military members by enforcing storage liens without a court order.

To read more click here.

A female park ranger has alleged that the California Department of Parks and Recreation harassed her for being a lesbian.
In her lawsuit against the department, Jennifer Donovan claims that people in her workplace often posted vulgar drawings and left women's underwear and sex toys in the locker room. She also claims that her superiors discriminated against her, passing her over for promotions in favor of rangers with less experience.
Donovan worked for six years at San Onofre and San Clemente state beaches.
She is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.     

Officials of Western State Hospital, Tacoma, Washington, are embroiled in yet another sexual harassment scandal. Five years ago they made a million dollar legal payout and had to fire a notorious employee and a CEO. AN independent investigation was launched to see if hospital authorities were failing to address the chronic sexual harassment between co-workers.
This year, the sexual harassment charge has come back to haunt the hospital with three lawsuits being filed against them, with a fourth in the process of being filed.
The CEO who replaced the earlier CEO has been fired and three hospital employees accused of harassment have been fired.
To read more about the case click here.

The family of a police officer, killed in a crash last August, has filed a lawsuit against the man responsible for the officer's death.
John William Belk III, an Opelika, Alabama, police officer, was killed while driving a jeep, when it collided head-on with an SUV, driven by Jimmy Vickerstaff Jr. Belk's wife and two sons have filed a lawsuit against Vickerstaff Jr. who was driving the vehicle and against Shawn Teresa Patterson who allegedly owned the car.
A criminal trial against Vickerstaff Jr. is still pending. He is being tried for manslaughter and for leaving the scene of an accident with injuries.
At present, Vickerstaff Jr. is being held at the Lee County Detention Facility.
To read more about the case click here.

In a shocking ruling last Thursday, the California Supreme Court decided that a woman who helped her friend out of a car wreck was liable to face a lawsuit as she was not a qualified medical professional. The court ruled that good Samaritans who unintentionally harm people they are trying to help, can be sued.
This decision contradicts the state's 1980 Health and Safety code that states that 'no person, who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency, shall be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission.'
Lisa Torti helped her co-worker Alexandra Van Horn out of a car wreck in 2004. As a result of the accident Van Horn became a paraplegic. Now, Van Horn alleges that Torti's actions at the scene of the accident, contributed to her injuries as she provided non-medical assistance. Van Horn also sued the driver of the car she was riding in, Anthony Glen Watson.
To read more about the case click here.

New Hampshire suspended all its jury trials for a month after court budgets were slashed following the economic instability rocking the U.S. at the moment. 19 other stated have also slashed their court budgets and other state services.
Cash-strapped New Hampshire is unique in that, it has become a leading example of the problems all the states are facing.
To save $73,000 in jurors' per diems, the state courts will halt for a month all civil and criminal jury trials.
To read more click here.

A Colombia woman who claims to have been forced to quit her work shortly after filing a criminal lawsuit against an executive of her company, American Office Equipment Co. after being assaulted at their retreat by him, was disappointed with the jury's verdict earlier this month.
A federal jury in Baltimore awarded Barbara A. Surran $53,000. She has filed a motion for a new trial solely on the issue of damages.
Harriet Cooperman, attorney for James A. Kuntz, the executive of American Office who assaulted Surran, is happy with the verdict since her client had offered Surran $250,000 to settle the case, in late October this year.
Kuntz could recover $3,498 from Surran, under federal rules for not accepting his offer two months ago which nearly equals the $3,880 in medical damages that Surran was awarded for counseling after the incident.   
To read more about the case click here.

A veteran county constable, who is facing a lawsuit to oust him from the force, is filing a counter lawsuit.
Roane County, Tennessee constable Mark Patton is seeking $250,000 in damages from the county, 15 commissioners, the county attorney, Tom McFarland and Roane County purchasing agent, Lynn Farnham. He is also suing Johnny Griffin, an insurance agent for an auto company.
Patton alleges that Griffin was directed by Farnham to remove the county from the bond Patton had obtained to satisfy requirements for office.
To read more about the case click here.

 

The death of a man at the hands of police officials in San Jose after they used a taser gun on him landed them in a civil lawsuit which was resolved recently when officials agreed to pay the man's wife and child, $70,000 in damages.
Ever since San Jose authorities issued the weapons to officers in 2004, the safety of the weapons has come into question.
Jose Angel Rios is one of five people who died after being shocked by police tasers since they were introduced as a less-deadly alternative to guns. His case was among two taser related deaths which were backed by the coroner's report.
To read more about the case click here.

Pic courtesy J. Star/ Jaybird from flickr.com

A Fresno County Superior Court jury decided in favour of an investigator who alleged gender discrimination by the county district attorney, Elizabeth Egan and her predecessor, Ed Hunt. The jury decided that while the attorneys were not guilty of denying the plaintiff a promotion because of her gender they were guilty of discriminating against her in retaliation to the complaint she filed with the state department of fair employment and housing in 2002.
The jury decided that Judy Tucker had to be paid $300,000 in damages for future lost wages and $50,000 for the mental anguish she suffered after filing her complaint.
Tucker alleged that she was denied a promotion in favour of male candidates who were less qualified and less educated.
David Petrie, Tucker's lawyer stated in his arguments that Egan had launched an internal investigation into Tucker's personal life and that she had also failed to give his client an evaluation for nearly five years.
To read more click here.

A landmark tobacco case that was first tried three years ago and which was returned to the Missouri Court of Appeals by the Missouri Supreme Court in July this year, finally moved forward this week.
In February 2005, a Jackson County jury found Brown &Williamson responsible for the death of Barbara Smith who died of a heart attack at the age of 73 after smoking Kool cigarettes for almost 50 years. The jury awarded Smith's family, who brought the case against the tobacco company, $2 million in compensatory damages which they later reduced to $500,000. They also set a precedent by awarding the family $20 million in punitive damages - the largest ever in a Missouri smoking case.
The tobacco company appealed and since the basis of the jury's decision for the punitive award was unclear, the Missouri Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in August last year only for the issue of punitive damages.
The Supreme Court heard the trial in February but sent the case back to the appeals court in July. Thus the appeals court re-adopted its earlier August 2007 decision and sent the case back to the trial court for a trial exclusively for punitive damages. 

Pic courtesy yoppy from flickr.com

Hollywood star, Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly will get $750,000 from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where their newborn twins were administered lethal doses of the anticoagulant heparin, last year.

Workers at the medial center administered the newborn twins a dose of the blood thinner, 1000 times the normal dose.

The settlement only covers the parent's damages but the Quaids can still file lawsuits on behalf of their children.

The hospital on its part, denied any wrongdoing although, at the time of the overdose, which was administered to several patients apart from the twins, the hospital's chief medical officer called the incident a 'preventable error, involving a failure to follow standard policies and procedures'.

The Quaids had also filed a lawsuit against the maker of the blood thinner saying that their packaging was confusing but their claim was dismissed.

Pic courtesy public citizen from flickr.com

 

A Blount County, Alabama, Sheriff, who was accused of sexual misconduct with his deputy, decided to resign his post. Danny Morton was accused of taking his deputy for a drive in his county issued truck, plying her with alcohol and then fondling her against her will.
Special prosecutor Tom Sorrells who is investigating this case made a deal with the Sherrif, according to which the Sherrif had to resign his post. In turn, Sorrell promised not to refer charges against Morton to a grand jury.
Sorrell, who has been carrying out an investigation into the charges against the Sherrif is doing so on behalf of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.
Adam Morel, who is representing the deputy stated that his client was happy with the outcome of the case.
This particular settlement represents the criminal investigation and has no influence on the civil cases against Morton.
To read more click here.

Allstate insurance company recently filed a lawsuit against Haranath Policherla M.D. P.C. d/b/a Pointe Neurology, Advanced Neuro-Rehab services based in Michigan, as well as against Dr. Haranath Policherla, seeking the return of money paid by them against insurance claims for services rendered by the institution.
The insurance corporation alleged that the individuals and entities of the institution were involved in the fabrication of medical procedures and diagnoses for the sole purpose of charging their patients money that would in turn be paid by their insurance companies. They also alleged that the institution billed patients for services not rendered, that they gave unnecessary referral for medical services and that they related non-existent medical symptoms to motor vehicle accidents.
Allstate seeks damages in excess of $25,000 to reimburse the money they have spent in funding false claims.

Two women who were involved in a freak accident in Hancock County, Ohio in 2003 were recently awarded a settlement of $325,000 while their original claim was for $2.5 million. This is because they were found by the jury to be 75 percent responsible for the accident. Their original claim against the county  was reduced when the jury found the county to be only 25 percent liable for the accident.
The accident occurred in June, 2003 on County Road 37 when a guardrail of a bridge impaled the pickup truck that the two women were travelling in. As a result of the accident, Angela Rasmussen of Rawson had to have her right leg amputated while Julie Rasmussen suffered serious injuries. They sued the county alleging negligence in the rail's maintenance.

Allegations levelled against a Louisiana farmer, of the abuse of his Mexican farmhands, are being investigated by the FBI.
The lawsuit against the farmer alleges that he often fired shotgun blasts over Mexican guest workers' heads and that he even exposed them to pesticides and paid them less than minimum wages. The lawsuit also alleges that he confiscated the workers' passports so that they could not flee his farm.
An immigrant rights organization filed the lawsuit against Charles 'Bimbo' Relan, owner of Bimbo's Best Produce, on behalf of the workers.
FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne confirmed that the FBI was investigating possible civil rights violations in the case. 
To read the whole article click here.

An Alabama based Attorney General recently filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for making policy changes that allegedly help them grab portions of settlements and awards that have not been collected by the state yet.
Attorney General Troy King says that the federal Medicaid agency ignores and refuses to comply with his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to view records pertaining to its recent policy change. These changes comprise the subject of his lawsuit against CMS.
King has also filed a lawsuit against CMS on behalf of Alabama's Medicaid agency. This was done five days after the state submitted its FOIA request to CMS.
To read the whole article click here.

A sexual abuse and harassment lawsuit has been filed against the Division of Corrections for the state of West Virginia, for the sexual abuse and harassment that an inmate underwent while incarcerated at the Anthony Correctional Center.
Sexually abused by her supervisor at the prison, ex- inmate Lola Rakes filed the lawsuit on October 23 in which she has named the DOC, Franklin Rush, the supervisor and an associate warden, amongst others, as the defendants.
Rakes alleges that she suffered serious injury, invasion of privacy, humiliation, mental anguish and the loss of her ability to enjoy life as a result of the abuse.
Rakes is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for her suffering and is also seeking to see that the Correction facility starts a program to train its employees on how to prevent sexual harassment.
To read the whole article click here.

A woman severely injured in an automobile and skateboard accident in the city of Eugene, Oregon, sued city authorities for negligence. City authorities for their part, have acknowledged that streetlights were off along Franklin Boulevard at the time of the accident in August 2006. However, they have denied that they are liable for the collision.
The accident left Kim Hagen, an acrobatic performer, permanently disabled. Hagen was crossing the road on her skateboard when she was hit by a car.
Hagen's guardian filed suit this summer seeking $32 million in damages from the city and the state Department of Transportation for failing to repair three nearby streetlights that were not working at the time of the accident.
The city has stated that Hagen's own carelessness and the fact that she was under the influence of alcohol were the reasons for the accident. They feel that the driver of the car, the Lane Transit District, which was engaged in the construction of an EmX bus rapid transit line at the time of the accident and two other contractors were primarily to blame for the accident.
The case is being heard in Lane County Circuit Court.

To read the details of the case click here.

Madonna recently won a legal battle against a UK based tabloid for publishing pictures of her wedding without her authorisation, eight years ago. In her suit against the Mail on Sunday tabloid, Madonna alleged that they had violated her privacy and her copyright by publishing pictures of her wedding to Guy Ritchie in 2000.
Ironically, this court victory comes just weeks after her divorce from the Snatch film director.
The tabloid allegedly received pictures of her wedding from Madonna's interior designer and published it in their paper for which Madonna is seeking over 5 million pounds ($7.5 million) in damages.
Judge David Eady who presided over the judgement in the pop star's favour has deferred a decision over the compensation amount. Representatives of the tabloid have stated that at the time the picture was taken, Madonna did not own their copyrights. They have said that the pictures are not worth the amount the star is seeking.

Madonna has stated that any money she receives from this settlement will be donated to her charity Raising Malawi that she created to help children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in the country. 
To read more about the case click here.

 

Pic courtesy Madonna Pix from flickr.com

The owners of Sarno and Son formal wear have filed a civil lawsuit against three men alleging that they were responsible for stealing hundreds of pieces of formal wear in a scam that took place over six years costing the firm more than $2.5 million.
Earlier this year, Robert Riviello, 39, Michael J. Pantano, 42, and John Vermack, 45, were charged by Lackawanna County authorities with stealing tuxedos and other items from Sarno's distribution center. Pantano and Riviello have been accused of stealing goods worth $121,830 while Vermack, who has been a long time employee of the company, is accused of stealing merchandise worth $50,000.
The suit was filed by Mark Sarno and his sister Nancy Sarno-De Los Rios and they seek to recover thrice the amount of their losses from the defendants which amounts to $7.5 million, under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
The suit also names Pantano's wife Elizabeth and Ryan Rowinski, who owns Tuxedo Junction of King of Prussia, as defendants.
To read all the details of the case click here.

The civil trial of a U.S. magistrate judge began recently, in State Supreme Court for her alleged assault of an attorney's wife during a dispute over an outing on Grindstone Island in August 2006.
Lisa Margaret Smith, chief U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, White Plains, was sued in October 2006 for punching Julie L. Purcell, of Jamesville, in the face. Judge Smith is being represented by Kevin E. Hulslander, of Syracuse, who argued in his opening statement that his client was provoked by the use of a lot of foul language from Mrs. Purcell. While not denying that Judge Smith had assaulted the plaintiff, Hulslander stated that all the judge may have done was slap Mrs Purcell as she did not stop mouthing expletives in the presence of several children including the Judge's own.
The dispute took place over an incident that had taken place on the previous night when two of Mrs. Purcell's daughter's and a third teenager, had their clothes stolen while they were swimming in the nude off Potter's Beach. Mrs. Purcell brought up this subject around the campfire next night and claimed that the judge's nephew had witnessed the whole incident and could possibly identify some of the miscreants. Judge Smith denied Mrs. Purcell's claims which angered her and caused her to verbally abuse the judge in front of several people including many children.
While Judge Smith's attorney alleges that there was severe provocation for the Judge's extreme reaction, Mrs. Purcell's attorneys are trying to portray her as an innocent victim. 
To read the whole article click here.

Los Angeles city attorney has set a precedent by filing a lawsuit against nine imprisoned members of a street gang known as the 18th Street gang. The lawsuit demands civil damages on behalf of the residents of two neighborhoods, often terrorized by the gang. If they succeed in their lawsuit then all the assets of the gang leaders that they seize, will be redistributed amongst the residents of those two neighborhoods.

City attorney Rocky Delgadillo stated that such a move was very important as gang leaders continued to make money even while they were in jail by collecting illegal 'street tax' and by collecting money from every shop owner in their area as 'protection tax'. This gang operated in the Pico-Union and Westlake area.
To read more details of the case and about the gang leaders implicated in this lawsuit click here.

KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton and military contractor to the U.S., is facing a number of lawsuits over its activities in Iraq and other conflict areas. The largest contractor for the U.S. Army, KBR is ranked amongst the top ten contractors for the U.S Department of Defence.
The class action suit against the contractor alleges that they knowingly and intentionally supplied sub standard food to the U.S. forces that at times was even contaminated with shrapnel and other materials.
Joshua Eller, who worked for the U.S. Air Force in 2006 at the Balad air force base northeast of Baghdad is part of one of the several class action lawsuits against the contractor. In his suit he alleges that KBR intentionally or knowingly supplied spoiled, expired, rotten and contaminated food to the forces stationed at the base.
He further alleged that they provided U.S. forces with ice that had been transported in trucks that had been used to carry human remains and that the ice often contained traces of body fluids and putrefied remains.
The lawsuit against the contractor also states that instead of properly disposing bodies of deceased individuals they burned their bodies on an open air pit. Wild dogs raided the pit and were often seen roaming around the base with body parts in their mouths.
Eller alleged in the suit that he has developed lesions on his skin, blisters on his feet and gastrointestinal problems as a result of the contractor's cost cutting measures.
This class action lawsuit was filed in a Texas Court in the beginning of last month.
Meanwhile, sixteen members of the Indiana National Guard have filed a suit against KBR for allegedly exposing them to a toxic substance while they were guarding an Iraqi water treatment facility in 2003.
Their suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Evansville, Indiana, and alleges that KBR allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a chemical used as an anti- corrosive but which is also known to contain hexavalent chromium which is a known carcinogen. According to the lawsuit the exposure occurred when the guards were providing security for KBR workers at their Qarmat Ali water plant in southern Iraq. KBR was restoring the facility so that it could be used to increase production from Iraqi oil wells.
The guardsmen allege that KBR officials repeatedly told them that there wasn't any danger in working at the facility even though civilians working there recorded high levels of chromium in their blood.
To read the whole article including the other cases against KBR click here.
     
 

An official document filed by the Los Angeles County while assessing the death of Edith Rodriguez in the waiting room of Martin Luther King Jr.- Harbor Medical Center on May 9, 2007, has declared that her life could have been saved if only she had been properly treated.
Rodriguez's last moments of agony were captured on security videotape as she waited for over 45 minutes for someone to listen to her. The video shows how a triage nurse dismissed her complaints and how a janitor mopped the floor around her. This evidence of the indifference shown to Rodriguez made national news and angered county supervisors and national health authorities as well as residents of the county.
Rodriguez's boyfriend who accompanied her to the hospital and called 911 from a nearby pay phone after no one would help her, received $250,000 as a settlement from county supervisors. Her children are filing a separate lawsuit which could prove to be costlier for the hospital.
Shortly after she was arrested on an outstanding warrant - instead of being treated- Rodriguez died from a perforated bowel. 
This payout would be the latest in a long history of settlements that the hospital has had to make in the past for poor patient care. The hospital has been closed for a while now.
The internal county assessment was not meant for public circulation but was made public when lawyers working for the county mistakenly included it in a recent court filing.
Rodriguez's children have asked for $1 million for every minute that she was denied treatment, totalling $45 million.
To read the whole article click here.

Dixie Chicks frontwoman, Natalie Maines, has earned the ire of a man who has sued the group for her actions for the defamatory remarks she made about him while participating in a rally in Little Rock, Arkansas.
This isn't the first time that Maines, known for her outspokenness, has courted controversy. In 2003, while at a concert in London she commented that the Dixie Chicks were ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas. This resulted in a lot of negative publicity for the band who were boycotted by several country music radio stations and also received several death threats.
This time, Maines appeared in a rally in support of three men, tagged the 'West Memphis Three' who were convicted as teenagers for the death of three 8- year old boys. One amongst them was Steve Branch. At the rally, Maines publicly declared that new evidence from the crime scene indicated that Steve's stepfather, Terry Hobbs was responsible for his death and that his behaviour after his child's death was suspect.
Hobbs is filing a lawsuit for defamation, libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress by outrageous conduct and false- light invasion of privacy. He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages alleging that the band had caused him unbearable embarrassment, humiliation, severe psychological trauma, loss of income and injury to his reputation.
To read the whole article click here.

A state superior court in Bridgeport, Connecticut recently awarded the estate of a Greenwich teenager, killed in a drunk- driving accident, $2.3 million in damages.
Justin Brown was a passenger in a car driven by his friend Evan Kimia, when it crashed into a tree before striking a stone wall. He was pronounced dead at the scene after it was ascertained that he had suffered serious head injuries. Police said that Kimia's blood alcohol level was above the legal limit of 0.8. 
The civil suit, filed by Brown's parents against Kimia seeks damages for emotional pain and suffering as well as medical and funeral expenses.
Kimia is currently serving a four- year term at the Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire after being convicted for second- degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle. He met Brown at Greenwich High School and attended Norwalk Community College with him in 2005.
Both parties agreed to the settlement in October before the date of a scheduled trial and the settlement was approved by the Greenwich Probate Court. The bulk of the settlement costs were paid by Kimia's insurance company, Liberty Mutual.

Philip Morris, America's largest cigarette company, has declared itself a civil rights victim. Comparing itself to the NAACP, the cigarette company took this stance to win a case against an elderly African- American woman, Mayola Williams, whose husband died from lung cancer in 1997 after smoking three packs of Marlboros a day for more than 40 years.
To read all the details of the article click here.

Pic courtesy Hanine. J from flickr.com

Three drycleaners based in Atlanta are filing a federal lawsuit seeking class action status on behalf of more than 600 Korean-American and other drycleaners alleging that they had been defrauded by gas provider, Infinite Energy. The lawsuit alleges that the energy providers continued to charge exorbitant prices as per a three year contract they had signed with the drycleaners signed right after Hurricane Katrina.
Byung Ho Cheoun, Shiraz Kurani and Hae Sook Chung filed the lawsuit in
the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The three drycleaners are seeking to achieve joint class action status for the lawsuit which they are filing on behalf of the Korean Cleaners' Association of Atlanta (KCAA), among others. All drycleaners in Atlanta are dependant on natural gas to run their business.
The plaintiffs allege that Infinite Energy forced them into signing long term contracts that immediately after the hurricane which had resulted in a hike in gas prices as drilling, refining and transportation activities had been disrupted. The company was still trying to bind them to their contract even after gas prices had stabilized.
David Pardue of the firm Hartman, Simons, Spielman & Wood LLP based in Atlanta, is representing the drycleaners. Pardue who normally defends class action suits took up this case as he wanted to help the community recover their losses.
Despite formal attempts by members of the association to renegotiate the contract the company continued to hold all of them to the higher rate even though several members of the KCAA refused to agree to the new rate.
The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages as well as punitive damages and a permanent injunction.

A nursing home patient is suing Huntsville Emergency Medical Services Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, after she was accidently dropped from a gurney on a sidewalk on November 25 this year. Ruby Crocker, 95, is suing HEMSI for punitive and compensatory damages for the incident which took place last month while she was being taken to Madison Manor Nursing Home in Madison.
The lawsuit which does not list the alleged injuries that Crocker suffered from, states that on arriving at the Madison Manor Nursing Home from an undisclosed location, staff of HEMSI dropped Crocker on a concrete sidewalk causing her to suffer from painful physical injuries and mental anguish.
The suit asks for a jury trial and seeks unspecified monetary damages.

The family of a 17- year old employee of Automotive & Truck Services, Inc., who died while unhooking a vehicle he had towed to an impound lot, cannot sue the company for violating child labour laws as per the ruling of an appeals court in Wisconsin.
Joshua Reif was asked to drive a tow truck by is company in violation of state laws that barred him from doing so because he was not 18 yet. Reif, who was in Brookfield because of an apprentice program was made to operate vehicles illegally along with other minors by the company, which an investigation by the Department of Workforce Development revealed, had committed 1,434 violations of child labour. As a result regulators fined the company $12,000 in penalty wages.
The Waukesha boy's parents along with his estate agents sued Automotive and its insurance company for damages related to his death. A Waukesha County judge dismissed the case however, stating that state law only allowed compensation through the workers' compensation program. Under state law, the compensation program is for employees injured in work accidents to seek recourse from their employers.
The estate's lawyers plan on appealing to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
To read more about the case click here.
 

A recent legal battle against the Hilton Hotels, for the wrongful dismissal of a hotel staffer, Deborah Smit, after she informed her HR department of catching top executives of the hotel in a sexual orgy, may get more interesting with co-workers involved in the orgy suing each other. 
April Bezdichek alleges that James M. Vennewitz, 38, who was the hotel beverage manager at the time of the incident, invited her to the evening of group sex. She is suing Vennewitz as well as the company on eight counts, including sexual harassment, assault, invasion of privacy etc.
Bezdichek alleges that she was unwittingly lured into meeting Vennewitz on the night the incident occurred as a result of which she was sexually abused. After she complained she was not called for shifts and hence had to resign.
Smith was the first to file a lawsuit against Minneapolis Hilton Hotel. After she reported the incident to the HR department she was no longer called in for shifts and had to resign from her work.
To read the complete details of the case and to read the full pdf with all the case information click here.

The decision by University of Georgia's (UGA) administrators to uphold a sexual harassment complaint against one of their employees may have been wrong.
U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Christopher Hagy stated that there was no substantial evidence against the defendant.
Journalism college dean, John Soloski was accused by his colleague, Jane Jones Kendall, in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication of passing comments about her appearance that made her uncomfortable. In 2005, the UGA's Office of Legal Affairs found Soloski to be guilty of violating the university's policy of Non-Discrimination and Anti- Harassment.
Soloski's comments to Kendall were "That is a nice dress. It really shows off your assets," and "You have brown eyes. I don't believe I've ever noticed that before. What colour are my eyes?" Judge Hagy stated that these statements fall far short of what the law says is sexual harassment.
UGA President Michael Adams has come under heavy criticism for his decision. Soloski's case is often compared with that of Keith Parker who massaged a female student's feet and told her that she looked like she was the type of girl who liked to have fun. The UGA Office of Legal Affairs, acting on a complaint by the student, did not feel that Parker's behaviour was a violation of the UGA harassment policy. Parker's case seems to highlight the fact that the administration of the UGA made an arbitrary and uninformed decision.
To read the complete details of the case click here.

A girl, identified as A.D in her lawsuit, has alleged that the district she lives in failed to protect her from the abuses she faced from her ex-boyfriend. The former Hillsborough High School student says that the boy harassed and assaulted her between December 2006 and August 2007 on school grounds. The lawsuit filed in state Superior Court of Somerville, alleges that the offences by the ex included physical and verbal assaults of a violent and sexual nature.
Attorney Christopher Westrick who is representing the girl stated that the harassment she faced occurred when she was just 17 years old. The boy sent text messages of a sexual nature and disseminated nude pictures of her while she was in high school.
The girl's attorney further stated that his client repeatedly complained to school officials and even complained to a police officer who was stationed at the high school. She also informed the vice principal and the sexual harassment counselor. Now she is suing the district for the violation of the state law against discrimination for allowing a gender bias.
To read all the details of the case read the original article here.

A Canadian resident has been asked to pay $873 million in damages to Facebook for sending millions of spam messages to the social networking site.
On Friday, a San Jose, Calif., federal judge announced the judgement, which is believed to be the largest to date under the Controlling the Assault of Non- Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, or the CAN-SPAM.
The judgement was delivered against Adam Guerbuez, a resident of Montreal and Atlantis Blue Capital, which Facebook alleges is a fake business name used by Guerbuez.
Sam O'Rourke, senior corporate counsel for the Palo Alto, Calif- based Facebook, stated that they did not expect to recover the entire amount but were planning to collect as much as they could.
To read all the details of the case in the original article click here.

The attorneys of a woman based in Royal Oak, Michigan, accused of a hit and run accident that fatally injured a bicyclist, attempted to dismiss criminal charges against her by alleging that the police improperly seized and searched her vehicle without a search warrant. Both her defence attorney, Neil Rockind, and her civil lawyer, James Czarnecki, stated that the improper conduct of the police who had not followed due process could be considered as grounds to dismiss criminal charges against their client.
But the Royal Oak City attorney, Dave Gilliam, stated that the search and seizure of the vehicle was entirely proper.
Kimberly Dancy, 44, fatally struck a cyclist and then drove away. After a while she intentionally drove her 2008 Jeep Liberty into another car to disguise the damage to her vehicle.
Dancy is undergoing a trial for leaving an at-fault accident that caused death and for malicious property destruction. She is liable to receive 15 years of imprisonment for the former felony and 2 years for the property destruction felony. Police allege that Dancy drove her car into another car at a drugstore parking lot a few hours after striking the cyclist on September 19.
Czarnecki stated that her car was seized a day before police obtained a search warrant.
Royal Oak City attorney Dave Gilliam is well prepared for a civil lawsuit from the defendant. He states that the police were well within their rights when they seized her vehicle. Czarnecki and Adam Latra, Dancy's two lawyers who have been retained for the civil lawsuit against the Royal Oak police may well pursue their claim that the police were wrong to seize her car without a warrant. Gilliam stated that if they do so, on behalf of his client, he would file a motion for summary disposition, which asks a judge to throw a case out at its first hearing.
Jacqueline Robinson, 40, was killed in the accident while commuting to the home of a 92 year old man to take care of him, which she did often.
To read all the details of the case click here.