The McDonald’s coffee cup case has become something of an urban legend as people continue to talk of the woman who supposedly made millions off the spilling of hot coffee. The case is wildly misrepresented and Stella Liebeck, 79, only walked away with an award of $640,000 — after eight days in the hospital for skin grafts and two years of medical recovery treatment. Starbucks is now facing a similar case, but the company is suggesting that Deanna Salas-Solano, 58, has misrepresented what actually occurred in a Denver drive through window.
Torts
Ticked Off: Japanese Officials Accidentally Release Lethal Tick At Press Conference
The Miyazaki Prefectural Government was the scene of an accident that seems right out of a tort exam. Government officials wanted to show a dead and live blood-sucking tick that is spreading a lethal disease in Japan. The problem is that, after warning about the lethality of tick, the officials put the live tick on a table and it promptly escaped — sending panicked reporters and officials running for the doors. The tick was never found.
Court: Story Alleging Richard Simmons Is Transgender Does Not Constitute Defamation
There is an interesting ruling expected in L.A. Superior Court where Judge Gregory Keosian has handed down a tentative decision that would dismiss Richard Simmons’ defamation suit against the National Enquirer and Radar Online. Those papers published a story that Simmons was transitioning to a woman. Simmons denied the account and sued for defamation. The decision is part of a trend away from such allegations as a per se form of defamation.
Foreseeable Misuse? Hospital Reports Eye Injuries From People Who Put Sun Screen Directly In Eyes To Look At Solar Eclipse
When I teach the reasonable person and the rational actors standards in torts and economics, I often remind my students that they will be shocked how many people fall well below such standards in their daily activities. This is a case in point. According to Forbes and other sites, hospitals report that they are treating people for eye damage after they put sun screen directly into their eyes to allow them to look at the recent solar eclipse. They said that they could not find special glasses.
“Payback Time”: “Unite The Right” Organizer Denounces Heather Heyer As “Fat, Disgusting Communist”
An entire country mourned the death of Heather Heyer, a paralegal, who went to Charlottesville to protest the hateful march of neo-Nazis and clansmen — only to be murdered when James A. Fields, 20, allegedly rammed his car into protesters. Now the organizer of the racist march has sent out a tweet calling her a “fat, disgusting Communist” — a tweet he later blamed on being drugged out of his gourd. Jason Kessler explained that he has been doing some heavy drugs and drinking lately.
Pennsylvania Teacher Falls Off Hotel Roof In Mexico After Laughing Too Hard
While people often chide the United States for our torts system and personal liability laws, occasional stories from other countries remind us of how important liability can be to influence accident avoidance. Sharon Regoli Ciferno, 50, a teacher at Charles A. Huston Middle School in western Pennsylvania, was vacationing in Mexico when she fell off a hotel roof that used a deck ledge as a bench. Ciferno laughed so hard that she lost her balance in throwing her head back and fell off the roof.
Tenth Circuit Strips Qualified Immunity After Sheriff’s Office Raids Home Of Tea Growers
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
There are some cases where probable cause is questioned and there are a few others that leave me shaking my head in disbelief of how ridiculous some officers can be.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down a stinging rebuke of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and its deputies some of whom, Plaintiffs claim, lied about a field test of a suspected Marijuana product, finding evidence of marijuana grow derived from purchasing tools at a gardening retailer somehow established probable cause sufficient to send in a SWAT team to execute a search warrant and detain a couple for several hours.
The leafy green vegetable matter in question was not marijuana but tea leaves.
It is a classic example of department officials promising to make a publicity garnering drug sweep and when arrests are not made, someone must be sent to jail at all costs. And as can often be the case with such maligned efforts the end result was a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
