A lawsuit has been filed by Rod Wheeler, a former Fox contributor, that alleges that Fox News Channel and Ed Butowsky, a wealthy Trump supporter (who hired Wheeler to investigate the murder — a story involving the alleged murder of the Democratic National Committee aide. The bombshell part of the complaint is an email that states that President Donald Trump wanted the story to air to distract from the Russian investigation.
Torts
Texas Couple Trashes Wedding Photographer For $125 Fee . . . Texas Jury Orders Them To Pay $1 Million For Defamation
There is an interesting torts case out of Dallas where a couple was sued by a photographer after they trashed the photographer in the media for withholding their wedding album over $125 that the studio insisted had to be paid. The story was immediately gobbled up by the media and the studio lost business and eventually closed. Now, instead of $125, Andrew and Neely Moldovan will have to pay one million dollars in defamation damages.
Tourist Killed At Popular Beach In St. Maarten By Airplane Blast
A tragedy in St. Maarten highlights the perils of assumption of the risk. In St. Maarten a New Zealand tourist has been killed by the blast from a jetliner taking off next to a popular beach. People love to go to the beach to feel the blast of engines and see planes land just overhead (like the YouTube image above of another tourist). The 57-year-old woman tried to cling to a fence — a common practice — but was thrown into a wall with fatal injuries.
Road Rage Leads To California Pile Up As Police Searched For Motorcyclist
There is an interesting possible criminal law and torts case out of Santa Clarita, California where a motorcyclist kicked a car on the 14 Freeway and triggered a series of accidents. The motorcyclist is seen speeding from the scene of the accident.
Distracted New Jersey Woman Falls Into Open Sidewalk Cellar Opening
There was a scary moment in Plainfield, New Jersey recently after a distracted 67-year-old was looking at her cellphone and walked over a barrier and fell into a sidewalk cellar for Acme Windows. The question of liability is likely on the mind of the company even though the woman appears to have suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Did Hershey Just Make a Legal Whopper? Company Defends Underfilled Box With “Audible Rattle Defense”
Hershey company just made a novel, if unsuccessful, defense against a lawsuit claiming that it routinely underfilled boxes of Reese’s Pieces and Whoppers. We have all experienced that moment of irritation when we opened a box of candy to find it half full. After Robert Bratton sued, the company argued that the “audible rattle” was sufficient warning for consumers. That did not prove enough for U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey of the Western District of Missouri, at least for the purposes of pre-trial dismissal. Laughrey has green lighted the case for a full trial.
Agricultural Scientist Responds To Oregon County’s Mandate To Apply Herbicides To Organic Farm
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Yesterday I fielded an article concerning a rather distressing mandate by an Oregon county weed control agency seeking to force the application of hazardous herbicides onto a 2,000 acre organic farm owned by Azure Farms. Sherman County Oregon maintains this scorched earth policy is necessary to abate, or more specifically “eradicate”, weeds listed by state statute as noxious.
Now, the scientific community is responding to this overreaching government action by acting in the interests of health and responsible environmental stewardship through advocacy in the hopes that officials in Sherman County will reconsider their mandate.
Dr. Charles Benbrook is a highly credentialed research professor and expert serving on several boards of directors for agribusiness and natural resources organizations. Having read news of Sherman County’s actions, he penned an authoritative response I believe will make informative reading for those concerned by present and future implications in the forced use of herbicides under the rubric of noxious weed eradication, and the damage to organic farming generally arising from such mandates.
