A case in Elizabeth, New Jersey is raising some difficult questions about the limits of liability for injuries to emergency personnel. Emilio Vasquez, 19, a homeless man from Guatemala, is charged with breaking in a home and starting a fire to stay warm. The fire got out of control and the fire department was called. Firefighter Gary Stephens was one of those responding, but was killed when a fire truck backed into him. Vasquez has been charged with his murder.
Continue reading “Homeless Man Charged with Murder After Firefighter Ran Over By Fire Truck”
Edwin Rivera, a 22-year-old with cerebral palsy, was left over night in New York in the freezing temperature on New Year’s Eve after a bus driver left him on the bus in the depot. Criminal charges are being considered.
Linda Hockaday, 51, who helps the bus driver, faces charges of first- and second-degree reckless endangerment since she was aware that he was asleep on the bus but did not tell the driver. The temperature went done to 15 degrees that night.
Continue reading “Disabled Man Left Overnight in Bus on New Year’s Eve”
Wal-Mart Corporation already has a dark reputation for its treatment of employees, wiping out of small local businesses, and thuggish litigation practices. Now, it has decided to go to war with historians in trying to force through a huge store in the middle of one of the most important historical areas from the Civil War — the Wilderness Battlefield. As in other such cases, it has convinced local businesses to accept a Faustian bargain of the promise of taxes and jobs in return for destroying the unique character of the area.
Continue reading “Discounting History: Wal-Mart Declares War on U.S. History”
In an impressive verdict, Alissa Zwick a former dental student at the University of Michigan has won a $1.72 million verdict with punitive damages from four faculty members (Dr. Marilyn Lantz, an associate dean, and Drs. Bill Piskorowski, Mark Snyder and Fred Burgett) for her dismissal for alleged academic deficiencies. It is a rare verdict in an area generally left to the discretion of faculty.
Well, the results are in and weeks of defamatory attacks on our opposing bloggers and the unrestrained use of the politics of personal destruction have paid off: the Turley blog was voted the Number One law professor blog and legal theory blog in the annual survey of the American Bar Association’s survey. Earlier, it was selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs overall. That is not bad for a blog that is only roughly a year old and it is entirely due to our regulars at the cyber bar we called the Turley blog. Your overindulgence, obsessive compulsiveness, and general lack of restraint have made us what we are today, a group of dysfunctional miscreants. But we are now the Number One dysfunctional miscreants in our category. Well done Team Turley (if I may be so bold). Not to overplay the victory, but this is the first key step to total blogosphere domination and eventual control of the time space continuum.
Continue reading “TURLEY BLOG WINS TOP SPOT IN ABA JOURNAL SURVEY”
Now, in the library of curious celebrity defenses, Charles Barkley takes the cake. When stopped for drunk driving in Arizona, Barkley explained that he would not have been speeding except for the need to have oral sex as soon as possible.
Continue reading “The Barkley Defense: Yes, I’m Drunk But I’m Horny Too”
Robert Aragon, 55, and Kenneth Quintana (shown left), 29, have been arrested in Idaho for the second-degree murder and felony injury to a child after he allowed 11-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy to attempt a 10-mile walk to their mother’s house on Christmas Day. Sage Aragon, 11 (shown right with Robert Aragon), died in the attempt. A criminal charge is but the case would have been more properly charged as a manslaughter and abuse case.
Continue reading “Father and Uncle Charged With Murder in Idaho Death of 11-Year-Old Girl”
While I believe that the efforts in Illinois and Washington to block the Burris appointment are flagrant abuses of power, there is a legitimate reason to decry the choice. It is not due to the presumptively guilty man who appointed him but the clearly innocent man he wanted to kill: Rolando Cruz.
Continue reading “Cruz Control: Past Case Haunts Burris Appointment”
Fashion and Chanel icon Karl Lagerfield has defended wearing fur as nothing more than “killing those beasts who would kill us if they could.” Finally, someone who is willing to tell the truth about those human hunting chinchillas and rabbits and their plan for world domination.
Continue reading “The Mink Menace: Fur Defended as Act of Self-Defense”
Police in Elysian Fields, Texas are dealing with a relatively rare form of alleged tort and crime. Marcos Gonzalez is accused of causing the death of six-year-old Ceira Clark by electrifying his fence with 20 amps. Clark lives next door and fell on the fence on the day after Christmas.
Continue reading “Six-Year-Old Girl Killed on Electric Fence of Neighbor in Texas”
In a little covered story, a former employee of the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey , Ben-Ami Kadish, pleaded guilty to being a spy for Israel and allowing an agent of the Government of Israel, Yossi Yagur, tp photographed secret papers at his home. Yet, he is only facing five years in prison. He spied for Israel from 1979-1985.
Continue reading “Army Employee Admits to Being Israeli Spy . . . And Faces Five Years In Prison”
For those who believe we are becoming a nation of cringing morons, AirTran has supplied a wonderful case in point. A family was boarding a flight to Orlando, Florida and discussing where is the safest place to sit on a plane. It is a fairly common topic on planes but this family was Muslim and the passengers became alarmed. The family of Atif Irfan was removed from the plane and, even after the FBI cleared them and told the airline that the airline should let them fly, AirTran refused to rebook them. So much for the airline motto: “Go. There’s Nothing Stopping You.” Expect possibly your religion.
Happy New Year to everyone on the Turley blog. This has been an extraordinary first year of the blog which is approaching two million hits annually. The success of the blog is due largely to our regulars who continue to make this one of the smartest and most fun blogs on the web. Even with the invasion by trolls and a few uncivil moments, the blog has remained a special forum for intelligent, civil, and often witty discourse. Our impressive monthly growth (and the obvious irritation of trolls) is a testament to the fact that there remains many people who want to engage in such dialogue. 2008 was our first full year in operation and I am very grateful for the contributions of all of the regulars on this blog.
Roland Burris has filed to ask a court to compel Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the United States Senate. White has refused to sign off on the appointment and the Senate democrats appear to be moving to block Burris.
Continue reading “Burris Goes to Court to Force Certification of Appointment to Senate”
There is a shocking tape being reviewed in Brighton, England where two ambulance workers are overheard debating whether Barry Baker, 59, was “worth saving.” The disabled man had collapses in his home and later died.
Continue reading “Not So Brighton: Ambulance Crew Recorded as They Debate Whether Disabled Man Was “Worth Saving””