In New York, the popular Shawarma King deli was turned upside down after someone spotted what appeared to be a non-Kosher hot dog being prepared in the kitchen. Chaos ensued as Jewish patrons surrounded the staff. In the video below, a deli worker fends off a group of around 100 irate patrons with an electric knife. Notably, this type of accident has led to litigation, as discussed below.
Category: Torts
A mother has sued the Church of Scientology after her son, Kyle Brennan, 20, committed suicide. He was on antidrepressants, but his father Thomas Brennan allegedly took away the prescription drugs as part of his Scientology beliefs. After only one week with his father in Clearwater, Florida, Kyle committed suicide. His mother, Victoria Britton, has sued the sister of Scientology’s worldwide leader, David Miscavige.
Most law professors relish any reliance of a court on their academic writings. This may not be what Seton Hall Law Professor Robert Martin had in mind. Martin wrote about his experience as a juror in the New Jersey Law Journal after he and his co-jurors found a grocery store liable for $876,000. A New Jersey appellate court has now ruled that the publication is a sufficient reason to overturn the verdict based on his described conduct.
Continue reading “Publish and Perish: Law Professor’s Writing on His Jury Experience Leads to the Overturning of Verdicts”
Attorneys for Charla Nash, 55, and her family filed a $50 million lawsuit against Sandra Herold for her ownership of Travis, a 14-year old Chimpanzee, who left her with massive injuries. The 200-pound chimpanzee was a pet despite that fact that in many states such ownership is prohibited.
Continue reading “Chimpanzee Victim Files $50 Million Lawsuit”
Russell Wright and his company, Stoam Holdings has a novel ground to challenge the $12.6 million verdict against them. They have given the court proof that a juror posted messages on Twitter.com that show bias. The allegedly incriminating eight “tweets” of juror Johnathan Powell were sent to a micro-blogging Web site via his cellular phone.
Continue reading “Twit: “Juror Jonathan” Throws Verdict Into Doubt With Improper Tweets”
The California State Bar Court Review Department has recommended that San Francisco attorney Francis T. Fahy was disbarred after he allegedly said that he would change his vote simply to get back to his law practice. This is an amazing case that reads like a scene out of Twelve Angry Men when Juror Number 7 (Jack Warden) announces that he is willing to change his vote just to be in time for a New York Yankees game.
Judging from the reaction at the oral argument this week, the California Supreme Court appears close to giving universities a major win in the mishandling of donated corpses. Evelyn Conroy sued the University of California Regents for losing her husband’s remains under its “willed body program.”
Facebook continues to be an engine for much needed litigation opportunity for distressed lawyers. In the most recent lawsuit, Denise Finkel, a former student at Oceanside High School,Civil is suing four former classmates, their parents, and Facebook for $3 million for alleged cyber bullying.
Now, this is an interesting trespass and disorderly conduct case out of Australia. The White Cockatoo resort has complained that a Brisbane man and his wife came to an “anything only” sex party but the man refused to take his clothes off.
Continue reading “Modest Trespass: Police Called to Swinger’s Club to Deal With Man Who Refused to Take Clothes Off”
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago has held Police Superintendent Jody Weis in contempt for refusing to turn over lists of officers who have repeated complaints filed against them for abuse and violence. Weis insists that such a release of the list would diminish morale.
In Wyeth v. Levine (06-1249), the Supreme Court has rendered an important decision on the right of patients to sue drug manufacturers. The tragic case of Diana Levine has been discussed on this blog earlier. Now the court has ruled 6-3 in favor of Levine, a musician from Vermont, who lost her right arm after being given a anti-nausea drug by Wyeth.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Patients Against Drug Manufacturers”
Professor Paula Anderson has a curious approach to controversial topics. Some of us encourage students to taken controversial positions to generate passionate class debate. Professor Anderson, according to critics, calls the police. She is accused of calling police on her student John Wahlberg at the Central Connecticut States University after he and two fellow students argued in favor of allowing students and teachers to carry weapons on campus, citing the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Other faculty members have defended her and suggested that there is more to this story.
Continue reading “Professor Calls Police After Student Gives Presentation on Gun Rights”
The California Supreme Court has sent back a case challenging the practice of security patting down fans at games for the San Francisco 49ers. The Court ruled that it lacks sufficient information to determine if the policy is an illegal invasion of privacy. It is the legal equivalent to an incomplete pass.
Continue reading “Touch Football: California Supreme Court Returns 49ers Pat Down Case to Trial Court”
Police in Cincinnati are dealing with a bizarre and disgusting crime after Kenneth Douglas, 55, (shown on the far left) claims to have had sex with over 100 bodies while working at the Hamilton County morgue. These cases can raise some difficult criminal issues as shown in other recent cases. Putting aside the criminal charges, the question will be civil lawsuits filed by the families of identified deceased women victimized by this man, described accurately by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters as “just a pig.” The case also supports the account of David Steffen who admitted to killing Karen Range but always denied raping her. It turns out that Douglas raped Range in 1983.
Continue reading ““Just a Pig”: Former Morgue Employee Confesses to Raping As Many as 100 Corpses”
Gerrhonda Stevens has filed a lawsuit against the franchise Chuck-E-Cheese over allowing too many children into an “enclosed tunnel” areas leading to a pile-up at the bottom of a slide, including bigger and older kids.
Continue reading “Where a Lawyer Can Be a Lawyer: Chicago Mother Sues Chuck-E-Cheese Over Slide Pill-Up”