Halloween is the favorite holiday for all torts professors and personal injury lawyers. (Indeed, I am convinced it was invented by a personal injury lawyer). Common carrier hay rides, lighting vegetables on fire, handing out foodstuffs without a permit . . . It’s the most wonderful day of the year. So, with no further ado, here is this year’s annual Spooky Torts list of actual cases from Halloween.
Continue reading “SPOOKY TORTS WITH TURLEY”
Category: Torts
Just days after a McCain supporter in Ohio shot a teenager for knocking over his sign, Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill, North Carolina shocked a nine-year-old boy after electrifying his campaign sign to protect it. What is unbelievable is that the police will not charge Turschak for this reckless act. In this case, the boy was carrying an Obama sign, but the boy’s father, Andrew Noble, insists that he just wanted to see how the sign was put together and was not trying to tear it down.
Continue reading “Shocking the Noble Boy: McCain Supporter Shocks Nine-Year-Old Boy with Electrified Campaign Sign”
France has recently seem a rollback in free speech rights, but there remains enough in the country to defeat the ridiculous attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy’s to stop sales of a “voodoo doll” in his image.
Continue reading “Sarkozy Loses Parody Case in French Court Over Voodoo Dolls”
And you think your landlord is the pits. In Kalihi, Hawaii, officials shutdown a collapsing building only to hear from tenants that they were allegedly subjected to medical experiments by their landlord, ex-licensed chiropractor Daniel Cunningham.
Continue reading “Doctor Moreau’s Island Paradise: Hawaiian Tenants Claims Landlord Used Them For Medical Experiments”
An 8-year-old boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., died after he accidentally shot himself in the head at a gun club during the annual “Great New England Pumpkin Shoot”, which features automatic weapons. It appears that organizers (or the boy’s parents) see no problem is handing an eight-year-old a fully loaded, fully automatic Uzi. At a minimum, one would think that an adult would hold or secure the weapon when a young boy was pulling the trigger on a submachine gun (shown to the left).
Target was hit with a sizable $3 million award to Rita Cantrell of Greenville, South Carolina. The award included punitive damages after Target sent out an email to businesses stating that Cantrell was a shoplifter trying to pass counterfeit cash.
Tammy Christopher is suing Grady County Oklahoma after Deputy Sean Kinght shot her dog. While the police officer told her that the dog charged at him when he stopped for direction while serving tax warrants, the video appears to contradict that claim and show Knight.
shooting the dog in the head.
Continue reading “Video: Oklahoma Police Officer Shoots Dog and Then Allegedly Lies”
If the difference between a Hockey Mom and a pit bull is lipstick, Gov. Sarah Palin may also want to throw in “and $150,000 in expenses.” It turns out that the lipstick is paid for by the Republican National Committee. This week Palin has been hammered by disclosures that she spent $150,000 of campaign money on clothes and make-up. In the meantime, another report has disclosed that she used state funds in Alaska to pay for the travel of her children — including changing records to indicate that they were on official travel despite the fact that the event organizers did not invite family members.
Dr. Phil is again in hot water. This time, he is being sued by Thomas Riccio — the memorabilia dealer who led O.J. Simpson to a hotel room to regain sports memorabilia. In his torts action, Riccio says that Philip McGraw and Stage 29 Media committed defamation, fraud, and infliction of emotional distress in editing his interview to leave a false impression.
Continue reading “Dr. Phil Sued by O.J. Simpson Memorabilia Dealer”
Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something . . . dry.
The video below shows the yet untapped potential of nuptial slip and falls.
Continue reading “Nuptial Slip and Fall: Negligent Best Man Causes Wedding Disaster on Video”
The trial of former Superior Court Judge, Michael T. Joyce, on criminal fraud is now set but will be held in Pittsburgh in a venue change. The case, involving claims of false insurance claims, presents an interesting intersection between torts and criminal law — as well as judicial ethics.
Continue reading “Former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Joyce Faces Criminal Fraud Trial”
In appears that strippers are appealing in courts around the country this week and not just in the federal Denver courthouse. In Fort Lauderdale, Charles Privette, 35, has filed a tort action against a strip joint called the Booby Trap after a stripper’s high heel flew off during a pole dance and hit him in the head.
Continue reading “Florida Man Sues Strip Club for Negligent Pole Dance”
A University of Central Florida student Benjamin Massing wanted exposure as a model when he posed shirtless in a photo. He got a lot more exposure than he expected, but it was not where he expected it. Genre Magazine, a publication geared toward a readership, published the photo and Massing instantly became a gay pin-up boy. He is now suing.
Continue reading “Florida Student Sues Over Shirtless “Lustful” Picture Published in Gay Magazine”
A tragedy in Tuscan, Arizona is developing into a difficult torts case. Deshun Glover was killed by electrocution after a baseball game in July. There appears to be a combination of negligent acts leading to the death as companies deny responsibility.
Continue reading “Eight-Year-Old Boy Killed at Baseball Field With Faulty Wiring”
Now, here is a respondeat superior case: a tourist goes to a bar in Goa, India where he is beaten to death by the staff for being rude. This is what the family says happened to Austrialian John Kelly, 65, at the Club City Restaurant.
Continue reading “Beaten to Death In Club City: Australian Tourist Killed by Staff at Indian Restaurant for “Arrogant” Attitude”