Category: Torts

Bizarre, Society, Torts

Bring Out Your Dead: City Under Fire For Abuse of Women’s Corpse

180px-Heavy_Boom_TruckTort law has long imposed greater liability for the mishandling of corpses. A story out of Indianapolis seems to beg for such a lawsuit. The Marion County Coroner’s Office was called to retrieve the body of Teresa Smith, 48, who weighed 750 pounds. In front of family, the coroner’s office dragged the body out of the house on her bed and across the lawn — then loaded her on a flat-bed, openback wrecker where she was transported covered in part of a torn-off dirty carpet.

Continue reading “Bring Out Your Dead: City Under Fire For Abuse of Women’s Corpse” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

Arizona Inmate Dies After Being Left in Outdoor Cell with Temperatures as High as 103

7864105e-5ca0-4c73-8414-2e61e7859956.vsmallMarcia Powell, an inmate at the Goodyear prison in Arizona, died after being left outside during the day in an uncovered chain-link cell in the desert heat. With temperature reaching 103, Powell collapsed and was later pronounced dead.
Continue reading “Arizona Inmate Dies After Being Left in Outdoor Cell with Temperatures as High as 103” →

Criminal law, Society, Torts

Five Officers Fired and Face Possible Criminal Charges After Video of Beating Unconscious Suspect

defaultA video showing police officers beating an unconscious suspect, Anthony Warren, had led to the firing of five Birmingham officers. The beating occurred after a high-speed chase. An officer turned off the video camera but it still was able to capture the critical footage.

Continue reading “Five Officers Fired and Face Possible Criminal Charges After Video of Beating Unconscious Suspect” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Federal Jury: Police Officers Did Not Use Excessive Force After Tasering Man 19 Times Leading To His Death

180px-m26_taserA federal jury in Tennessee ruled that three officers — Jason Creagan, Jonathan Mays and Jaime Scruggs — did not use excessive force in the death of Patrick Lee, 21, at a nightclub in 2005. Lee was tasered 19 times after he was seen acting strangely outside of a nightclub (ironically named the the Mercy Lounge) and allegedly resisted arrest.

Continue reading “Federal Jury: Police Officers Did Not Use Excessive Force After Tasering Man 19 Times Leading To His Death” →

Society, Torts

“Eighty Percent of Success is Just Showing Up”: Woody Allen Settles for $5 Million On Eve of Trial

445px-woody_allen_2006The lawsuit by Woody Allen, discussed earlier, has been settled on the eve of the trial by American Apparel. The clothing manufacturer for using an image of Allen from the 1977 movie “Annie Hall” on billboards without his permission. While American Apparel argued that Allen’s value as a sponsor was virtually worthless due to his personal scandal involving his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn. The company paid $5 million to settle the claim — half of what Allen demanded and a handsome sum for such a case given the short-lived advertisement campaign.
Continue reading ““Eighty Percent of Success is Just Showing Up”: Woody Allen Settles for $5 Million On Eve of Trial” →

Bizarre, Society, Torts

Woman Sues Website Over Posting Accusing Her of Being Ugly and Herpes Carrier

thumb_computer_assault_2There is a new case involving a website being sued for a vicious posting. A 27-year-old woman in La Porte, Texas is suing thedirty.com site for a posting that she was humiliated her over the posting that called fat, sexually promiscuous, cocaine using herpes carrier. She is suing Dirty World Entertainment and Hooman Karamian, the founder of the site who uses the alias “Nik Richie” online.
Continue reading “Woman Sues Website Over Posting Accusing Her of Being Ugly and Herpes Carrier” →

Bizarre, Lawyering, Torts

Full-Service Firm: Jury Awards Over $2 Million for Client Injured by Defective Chair in Personal Injury Law Firm

headerIt appears that the Florida law firm of Fetterman & Associates not only litigates but spontaneously creates personal injury cases. Robert and Heather Friedrich went to the law firm in search of recovery for injuries from an accident — they found it, albeit for injuries in the law firm itself when Robert sat in a defective chair. A jury has awarded the couple more than $2 million for the injury.

Continue reading “Full-Service Firm: Jury Awards Over $2 Million for Client Injured by Defective Chair in Personal Injury Law Firm” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Taze Our Daughters and Sons At Work Day: Police Officer Fired After Shocking Children with 50,000 Volt Taser

180px-m26_taserIn Carrabelle, Florida, Sgt. Walter Schmidt at the Franklin Correction Institution had a novel idea for entertaining kids on a “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” tour. He shocked kids with 50,000 volts from his taser.
Continue reading “Taze Our Daughters and Sons At Work Day: Police Officer Fired After Shocking Children with 50,000 Volt Taser” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Wedding Bells and Bars: Women Arrested in Separate Wedding Crimes

collinsmolliestoryThere appears to be an emerging field of wedding torts and crimes this month. Recently, we saw a lawsuit against a woman who ruined a wedding by announcing that she was sleeping with the groom (hint: she was not the bride). Now, in Naples, Florida, Molly S. Collins (left), 19, is accused of stealing make up gifts for the bridesmaids after a wedding reception while in Tampa Lisa Coker is accused of crashing a wedding with a razor and crowbar — and attacking the wedding party.

Continue reading “Wedding Bells and Bars: Women Arrested in Separate Wedding Crimes” →

Congress, Courts, Environment, International, Media, Politics, Society, Torts

TB or Not TB: Lawyer Involved in 2007 TB Scare Sues CDC

140px-us_cdc_logosvgAndrew Speaker, the lawyer to cause an international health panic by getting on an international flight with tuberculosis, has filed suit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for invasion of privacy. In his complaint, he blames the CDC on the breakup of his marriage, claiming that the couple went through with the wedding but then broke up after the wedding and never turned in their marriage license. He insists that he never had the worse form of TB, though critics insisted that he did not know that until after he was quarantined.

Continue reading “TB or Not TB: Lawyer Involved in 2007 TB Scare Sues CDC” →

Academia, Society, Torts

School Never Tells Parents of the Abuse of Their Children — Then Fires Aide Who Told the Parents

pcecompressed_horizontal Teachers at Plain City Elementary School in Utah are under fire after two mothers — Debbie Veldhuizen and Jamie Doak — discovered that their sons were abused in their severe disabilities unit but never told by the school due to privacy concerns. Then, when a teacher’s aide told them, the school fired the aide. They have filed a lawsuit against the school and officials.

Continue reading “School Never Tells Parents of the Abuse of Their Children — Then Fires Aide Who Told the Parents” →

Lawyering, Society, Torts

Suspended Phillies Players J.C. Romero Sues Supplement Manufacturer Over Suspension

oxoexThere is an interesting lawsuit by Phillies reliever J.C. Romero who was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. Romero is suing the manufacturer of 6-OXO Extreme supplement because it did not specify that it included androstenedione, which is prohibited by the Major League Baseball. He is suing Proviant Technologies and Ergopharm.

Continue reading “Suspended Phillies Players J.C. Romero Sues Supplement Manufacturer Over Suspension” →