Meet Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, of Hayden, Idaho who allegedly responded to an irritable flight by getting himself arrested and later fired from his job as a company executive at a defense contractor. Hundley was on a Delta flight when he allegedly slapped a 19-month-old boy who was crying.
Category: Torts
We have previously discussed how President Obama has repeatedly yielded to the “copyright hawks” who have steadily increased the penalties for copyright and trademark violations, including criminal penalties. Despite the abuse of average citizens by thuggish law firms and prosecutors, the Obama Administration continues to support draconian measures against citizens. Even after the abuse and death of Aaron Swartz by the Justice Department, the Obama Administration has decided to double down in a case of a young mother in Northern Minnesota who was hit with grotesque penalties for simply sharing 24 songs. She was told to pay $222,000 — over 100 times the actual damages for the songs. The Obama Administration has intervened before the Supreme Court to ask for it to allow the penalty to stand as lawful and correct.
Many citizens have said that they have been raped by the IRS, but Vincent Burroughs, of Fall Creek, Ore., means it a bit more literally. He insists that he was coerced into sex against his will by IRS agent Dora Abrahamson, who allegedly threatened him with heaving tax fines unless he slept with her.
We have periodically discussed the infamous case of Tawana Brawley and Al Sharpton, now a MSNBC host. In 1987, Brawley, a black teenager, falsely accused a prosecutor, a New York police officer and a state trooper of a racist attack and rape. The racial animus was fueled actively by Al Sharpton who sued the case to propelled himself into national fame or infamy. She later recanted and a court ordered damages to be paid by both Brawley and Sharpton — neither of whom paid. Now the falsely accused former Dutchess County prosecutor Steven Pagones has tracked down Brawley living in Virginia and working as a nurse. It is 25 years after the sordid affair was in the national spotlight. He is seeking $190,000 in damages against Brawley, now 40. She is now beginning to pay back the amount due to Pagones.
Phillip Walker Sailors, 69, has been charged with malice murder in the killing of Rodrigo Abad Diaz, a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant who mistakenly pulled into his driveway due to faulty GPS directions.
Who said law was boring? In the trial of shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem in Tampa, an attorney has alleged that he was set up by the opposing law firm in a DUI arrest in the midst of the high-profile trial. The story has everything: an obnoxious defendant, a castrated pig, an attractive young female legal assistant, a missing briefcase filled with trial papers, and a double set-up plot. It is a DUI version of Anatomy of a Murder except the James Stewart never finishes the trial because he is found in a car inebriated with Lee Remick.
Continue reading “Anatomy of a DUI: Witness Takes Fifth In Bizarre Trial Of “Bubba the Love Sponge””
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
On New Year’s Day 2006, 31-year-old Lori Stodghill, seven months pregnant with twin boys, was vomiting and out of breath. She called her obstetrician, Dr. Pelham Staples, and he instructed her to go to the emergency room at St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City, Colorado. Her husband Jeremy, drove her to the hospital where Lori later suffered a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing due to a pulmonary embolism. Staples never ended up coming to the hospital. Lori’s unborn sons stayed with her.
For our torts lovers, there is an interesting case out of Fort Worth. We have been following the increased litigation over websites that trash former boyfriends or girlfriends or spouses or even strangers (here and here and here). In the latest case various girlfriends are suing over what is described by some as a “revenge porn site” called Texxxan.com where men revenge on their ex-girlfriends by publishing revealing pictures of their former lovers.
Continue reading “Women Sue “Revenge Porn Site” Where Men Publish Photos of Former Girlfriends”
The California Highway Patrol has agreed to a settlement of the recent case of a pregnant driver, Tamara Gaglione, 30, being hogtied by police after being stopped for talking on her cellphone. Gaglione will receive a $250,000 settlement.
Journalist Mark Hales is facing bankruptcy after he blew the engine of a £1.3million replica Porsche 917 during a test drive. Hales says that the owner, veteran Formula One ace David Piper, told him that he would cover any damage. However, Piper denied the oral agreement occurred and a court ordered Hale to pay $76,000 to cover repairs to the car, plus $100,000 in legal costs.
We previously discussed the tort action filed by John Coomer against the Kansas City Royals and its mascot Sluggerrr after he was hit in the eye by a hot dog thrown into the crowd. Coomer suffered a detached retina and other injures. A jury ruled against him in favor of their popular mascot in a verdict that I previously questioned since it seems to be clearly negligent to fire these projectiles into the crowd. It appears that the Missouri appellate court agrees and reversed the verdict. The case is Coomer v. Kansas City Royals, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 46.
There is something about the statement “move closer to the rhino” that should give most everyone pause. What is bizarre in a case out of South Africa is that the highly suspect suggestion came from a game keeper who was taking pictures of a couple from Johannesburg. You guessed it. The picture was the last record of the couple shortly before the rhino attacked Chantal Beyer, a 24-year-old woman.
Continue reading ““Move Closer To the Rhino” And Other Telltale Signs Of A Tort In Progress”
Lance Armstrong has reportedly gone to Oprah to come clean on his use of doping to win his seven Tour de France titles — sort of. Oprah says that he admitted to the use of the drugs but not quite as fully as she wanted. The admission is clearly calculated to allow Armstrong to compete in triathlons. However, there are an array of lawsuits facing Armstrong that raise some interesting questions.
Jason Earl Dean was a man who believed that he had found his soulmate at work at Taco Bell in Ringgold, Georgia. However, instead to turning to eHarmony or ChristianMingle.com, Dean, 25, turned to a pair of handcuffs and a unpromising plea for companionship. He was convinced to let the 18-year-old woman go and then “made a run for the border.” He was arrested two days later by Dalton State College campus police. He was sentenced this week to ten years with four years of actual prison time for false imprisonment.
In California, Jason Starn has filed a lawsuit that could be a challenge before a jury. Starn would purchase nitrous oxide canisters, or Whip its, from a local head shop in Modesto. He was regularly using the “laughing gas” when he lost feeling below his rib cage. The numbness wore off eventually but he suffered a degeneration of his spinal cord related to his abuse of nitrous oxide. He now uses a walker and has sued three stores that sold him the gas. Starn, 35, was a schoolteacher in Modesto and a student attending the Humphreys College Laurence Drivon School of Law
Continue reading “Law Student Sues Head Shops For Selling Him “Whip It” Cannisters”