Here is our annual list of Halloween torts and crimes. This holiday remains a favorite for personal injury lawyers around the world and this year’s additions show why. Of course, with Sandy, our area is already looking pretty spooky with downed trees and tattered exteriors.
So, with no further ado, here is this year’s annual Spooky Torts list of actual cases from Halloween (with our past winners).
Continue reading “Spooky Torts: The 2012 List Of Halloween Litigation Horrors”
The corruption in China is legendary as communist officials acquire huge homes and wealth in assisting businesses take land and create industries. The Chinese government regularly responds to such corruption stories with executions but they are viewed as little more than a lethal form of public relations. Now, however, the family of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has retained lawyers after a New York Times report that the family has amassed a massive amount of wealth in accounts spread around the world. It is an ironic moment given the government’s continued refusal to allow ordinary Chinese to have real legal recourse to contest their treatment, including the lost of land. The Times article details Wen’s relatives have alleged amassed assets worth at least $2.7bn (£1.7bn) around the world.
There was an interesting mistrial announced this month in a discrimination case against the University of Iowa law school. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a 14th amendment claim by the part-time legal writing professor who claims that she was passed over for a full-time position and then lost her adjunct position due to hiring bias against conservatives. Teresa Wagner (left) worked for pro-life causes and says that law professor Randall Bezanson (right), a former law clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, campaigned against her hiring (Blackmun wrote the Roe v. Wade decision). She further noted that only one faculty member at Iowa is a registered Republican.
Continue reading “Jury Deadlocks On Bias Lawsuit Against Iowa By Former Law Professor”
We have had some bizarre religious injuries this week among both the Christian and Muslim faithful. In Newburgh, New York, David Jimenez was grateful to God for curing his wife of cancer, particularly he believed due to his devotion of a large crucifix outside the Church of St. Patrick in Newburgh. So he received permission to paint the crucifix to show his thanks, but it proceeded to fall and crush his leg in a rather mixed message. In the meantime, Muslims have reported a spate of injuries and deaths from people being trampled by animals during annual sacrifice Islamic rituals this week.
Tunisan Nadar Khiari, 28, will soon be back on his way to Tunisia and should consider himself fortunate that he avoided a longer stay in Sweden after an despicable crime caught on camera. Khiari was waiting for a train when he saw a drunk man fall on to the train tracks. At first, the video below suggests that Khiari is coming to the man’s aid. Instead, Khiari jumps down and robs the unconscious man and leaves him on the tracks where the man is struck and lost his foot (but miraculously survived).
There is an interesting story about patients who are charged more if they ask too many questions of their doctors. In the case of Susan Krantz, a doctor charged her for two visits because she asked too many questions about his diagnosis. It is an interesting trend since consent is the common defense to malpractice. However, if you ask too many questions before giving consent, you are charged by some doctors.
There is a bizarre case out of Pennsylvania that raises both potential tort and criminal liability. At a family Halloween bonfire, Janet Grant spotted a skunk and told her son Thomas Grant to fetch a shotgun and shoot it. When he returned, Janet Grant shined a flashlight on the animal while her son shot it. It was only then that they discovered that Thomas Grant had just shot his eight-year-old cousin in her black and white Halloween costume. What is amazing is that authorities say that they are considering possible animal gaming charges.
I will look at my students in a whole different light after reading this article of how older mice receiving the blood from younger mice had improved learning and memory. The change from an academic to a vampiric interest in my students is due to these surprising findings in the effect of younger blood on brain cells. As the Guardian reports below, the late Kim Jong-il reportedly injected himself with blood from healthy young virgins in a bid to slow the aging process.
The video below shows a disturbing scene where a Cleveland municipal bus driver decked an obnoxious female passenger after a loud and profane shouting match. It is equally disturbing to hear the laughing of some of the other passengers on the bus — a shocking example of a moral abyss in our society.
Continue reading “Cleveland Bus Driver Suspended After Decking Passenger On YouTube Video”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Here’s a novel lawsuit. Lansdale, Pennsylvania’s Patrick Gallagher was enjoying a prenuptial night out with his buddies at a gentleman’s club. As part of the “Bachelor’s Package,” the husband-to-be was invited to lie prostrate on stage while an unnamed exotic dancer shimmied up the dance pole above him. Then, according to his lawyer, Neil T. Murray, Esq., the limber young lass “from a great height … launched herself down onto his abdomen.” The blow was so severe that it ruptured Gallagher’s bladder and caused back and hip injuries. Gallagher is suing the establishment, the aptly named Penthouse Club,for $50,000.00 for medical costs, pain, and humiliation. Big emphasis on the latter, I suspect.
Continue reading “Professional Negligence? Club Sued For Negligent Lap Dance”
In my torts class, we often discussed the factual and proximate causation issues concerning the failure to diagnose illness like types of cancer before they metastasize. Those causation questions are a bit more severe in the case of Jeannine Harvey, a mother of four who died after doctors missed her advanced cervical cancer 30 times according to her family.
We have previously discussed the growing trend to charge people for rescues in parks and remote areas — particularly where there is evidence of negligence. While I have opposed this trend, defenders of the policy could now cite to He Liesheng, known as the “Eagle Dad.” The father had to be rescued from the top of Mount Fuji after taking nothing more than a cup of water and a chocolate bar for the three of them. This is not the first bad landing for the Eagle Dad.
Continue reading “The Eagle Dad Has Landed: Chinese Father and Children Rescued After Climbing Mount Fuji With Only A Cup of Water and Chocolate Bar”
There is a shocking report out of Brazil where an elderly woman reportedly died after being given an injection with soup. Yes, soup. The stories sent to me remain in Spanish or Portuguese only though the image of this hospital on television reports in Brazil does not fill one with confidence. [Warning graphic description below]
Continue reading “Elderly Woman Reportedly Dies After Being Injected With Soup At Hospital”
Edward Archbold, 32, had secured the world’s least appealing title this week: champion roach eater. However, the Florida man then collapsed and died in front of the Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach.
Continue reading “Roaches Revenge? Florida Man Collapses and Dies After Roach Eating Contest”
Liquid nitrogen cocktails have become the rage in bars and parties. However, a teenage girl Gaby Scanlon has shown the dangers of the gas after her stomach was removed after drinking a cocktail containing liquid nitrogen.
Continue reading “Liquid Nitrogen In Drink Results in Stomach Being Removed To Save Teenage Girl”