It has taken eight years, but Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are heading to a non-jury trial over cruelty allegations related to its treatment of its elephants. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, and other plaintiffs allege that company’s use of sharp tools called bullhooks and the prolonged use of chains on the Asian elephants. The case is an interesting use of the federal Endangered Species Act rather than the usual animal cruelty statutes.
Category: Environment
Internal documents from the Peanut Corporation of America reportedly show that the company knew that peanut butter was contaminated with salmonella 12 times in the last two years, but shipped out the contaminated peanut butter to customers. The revelation will most certainly increase the liability facing the company from both the government and civil litigants after the death of eight people and the injury to hundreds across the country. Indeed, it would appear that criminal charges may now be warranted.
A Providence, Rhode Island man is in trouble after he abandoned nearly 300 rats on the side of the road. Toby Duffany, 22, was arrested for stuffing 280 rats into aquariums and cages on the side of a road. The rats were forced to turn to cannibalism and 75 rates died. Yet, Duffany has only some community service and $1000 to pay for his cruel treatment of the animals.
You simply can’t make this stuff up. Former French President Jacques Chirac was rushed to a hospital after being bitten by his white Maltese poodle, Sumo. Sumo has been under care for clinical depression, including treatment with anti-depressants.
What is often missing in the political debate over the environment is the direct cost of pollution on the health and lives of Americans. While the Bush Administration was attacking environmental regulations across the board, officials rarely acknowledged that the lower standard meant more children with asthma and earlier deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Indeed, most citizens fail to understand that pollution shortens their lives. They need to read this week’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Continue reading “Medical Study Finds Direct Link Between Reducing Pollution and Extending Lives”
Washington is electric this morning. It is morning in America as literally billions around the world celebrate the Inauguration of our 44th President.
Continue reading “OUR 44TH PRESIDENT”
Amnesty International has entered the controversy over Israel’s alleged use of white phosphorus in civilian areas of the Gaza Strip. The use of white phosphorus in a civilian area — let alone a compacted urban area like Gaza — would violate international law. Amnesty’s own investigation found what it claims to be clear evidence of such violations.
There is a very interesting tort case filed in Tucson over a Dutch tourist, a javelina, and a desert museum. Rene Zegerius experienced a real desert encounter when he was attacked by a javelina, a pig-sized member of the peccary family. While the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum has javelinas, they insists that this must have been someone else’s javelina or a wild javelina. This is what torts professors dream of when they go to bed at night.
Continue reading “Dutch Treat: Tourist Sues Museum After Javelina Attack”
A New Jersey man is in custody on a bizarre case of practicing medicine without a license. Daniel C. Tyce, 26, was arrested for allegedly claiming to be Danielle Smith – a real licensed veterinarian. Tyce, an ex-convict, is accused of committing the fraud to pay for estrogen treatments and a sex change operation.
Continue reading “Faux Veterinarian Arrested in Bizarre Cross-Dressing Case of Fraud”
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is going to court to block protections for the diminishing population of Cook Inlet beluga whales off of her state. In an announcement from her office, Palin has again taken the lead in attacks on environmental protection policies.
Authorities have discovered the body of a Somali pirate who drowned after receiving his share of a ransom to release a Saudi oil tanker. His is one of five pirates who reportedly drowned after leaving the boat when $3 million was dropped by parachute on to the vessel
Continue reading “Liquid Assets: Body of Drowned Somali Pirate Washes Onshore with $153,000 in Ransom Money”
Now this will make for an interesting lawsuit. A man was riding a chairlift at Vail’s Blue Sky Basin when the chair flipped, pulled down his pants and left him dangling for 15 minutes like a Christmas ham. This would be an interesting exercise of count the torts. It certainly brings new meaning to the ski phrase: “catching some air.”
Continue reading “Piste Off: Man Left Dangling With Full “Northern Exposure” at Ski Resort”
After courts and commentators have wrestled with the dangers of second-hand smoke, it appears that there is now third-hand smoke: the smell that lingers on smokers when they come back into a house or office. Experts are warning that third-hard smoke can be harmful — a finding that might move businesses to get rid of smoking areas outside of buildings.
Continue reading “Third-Hand Smoke: Experts Warn of Threat of Smell of Smoking”
Fairway Oaks, Florida was the scene of a moving demonstration of volunteerism. There was former President Jimmy Carter and 10,000 volunteers building the entire house estate in a 17-day blitz. Residents have now gone to court to complain that the volunteers did a poor job and that the charity never disclosed that it was building the home over a garbage dump. They claim finding garbage under their floors and developing mysterious skin rashes. Lawyers for Humanity have yet to respond publicly.
A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected the free exercise claim of Mamie Manneh that she has a constitutional right to import monkey meat without a permit. The Liberian woman was found guilty of smuggling the meat by Chief District Judge Raymond J. Dearie and faces five years in jail.
Continue reading “Mamie Manneh’s Monkey Meat: Court Rules Against Free Exercise Claim in Smuggling Case”