Every year we discuss new tort actions tied to Halloween as part of our “Spooky Torts” tradition. A new case was just filed by Shannon Sacco and her daughter over their visit to the Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania. The park, owned by Cedar Fair, included costumed employees as part of a Halloween attraction. Sacco claims that the costumes were too scary and caused trauma worth more than $150,000.
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In Torts, we discussed slip-and-falls and the problem of fraudulent claims against businesses. The upgrading and expansion of surveillance cameras help protect against such liability (more than catching shoplifters). It is rare however to see a fraudulent slip and fall in realtime.
Continue reading “New Jersey Man Caught On Video Faking Slip and Fall”
The American Bar Association has been trying to crack down on schools that allow students to rack up huge debt but show low bar passage or employment rates. At the same time, the ABA has fought for greater diversity in the bar. Those two policies collided this week over a proposal to require at least 75 percent of law students at accredited schools to pass the bar exam no later than two years after their graduations. That would seem a modest and reasonable condition. However, the proposal was rejected because it was viewed as ‘unfair to institutions that serve minority students,” according to Inside Higher Education.
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Barbershop owner Young Hwan Choi, 72, allegedly had a side business of doing cosmetic surgery and the results were as predictable as their were criminal. Various women suffered facial scars from the laser surgery. What is striking is that the police released images of his barbershop, suggesting that the women may have actually gone to the barbershop for the surgery as opposed to some fraudulent surgery center. If true, the bizarre decision of these victims could factor into any tort damages as plaintiff’s conduct questions.
Continue reading “Women Go To Barber For Cosmetic Surgery . . . Well You Know The Rest”
For over a year, many of the theories of Russian collusion have highlighted a mysterious call to an unpublished number by Donald Trump Jr. in the critical period of the infamous meeting with Russians in Trump Tower. Democratic members apparently received the disappointing news this week that the number has been tracked down and did not belong to President Donald Trump but business associates of his son.
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The Los Angeles police department has been looking for a man who beat two women at a hot dog stand and then ran off — all captured on a videotape later distributed by the LAPD. He turns out to be Arka Sangbarani Oroojian who turned himself in to the LAPD.
Continue reading “California Man Surrenders After Video Of An Attack On Two Women At Hot Dog Stand”
In what many view as a hilarious example of affected celebrity styling, Ariana Grande showed fans a new tattoo in Japanese Kanji writing that she said meant “7 Rings.” In reality, a missing character left a tattoo reading “BBQ Grill.” Some however did not miss the opportunity to be outraged and have claimed that any Kanji writing is cultural appropriation.
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Saudi Arabia is full of contradictions as a nation imposing medieval Islamic laws while striving to portray itself as a modern country. We have routinely discussed the incredible bravery of women in the Kingdom who have risked everything to demand the most minimal rights of human beings from freedom of speech to freedom of travel to associational rights. One of these heroes is Saudi activist Loujain Alhathloulwho remains incarcerated and is being reportedly tortured for her advocacy of equal rights. For all of the women being abused in the Kingdom, many objected to Maria Carey holding a concert when this repression continues. Carey, who loves to sing about that “hero inside you,” took the money and will be holding the concert today. It appears that Carey’s commitment to women does not extend as far as turning down one concert from her already burgeoning fortune.
Continue reading ““That Hero Lies In You”: Saudi Feminist Leader Reportedly Tortured In Saudi Arabia While Saudis Enjoy Mariah Carey Concert”
For 50 years, Stanford Professor Kenneth Fields has taught the course “American Indian Mythology, Legend and Lore,” Professor Fields has agreed to stop teaching the course. A nationally recognized academic and poet, Fields dropped the course after some students accused him of being “insensitive and inappropriate” and circulated a petition requesting to “improve” the course. The bases for the protest raise serious issues of academic freedom and the lack of of support for faculty in such disputes.
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For six weeks, Matt Crull, 29, sat in a Florida jail on a charge of trafficking heroin. The state finally got around to test the bag of heroin that was found at the time of the arrest to have tested positive for the drug. It turns out that it was Tide laundry detergent and the officer who made the arrest was fired after a series of arrests of innocent people.
Continue reading “Florida Man Held For Over 40 Days Before Police Test Bag Of “Heroin” And Find Tide Detergent”
President Donald Trump attacked his own intelligence chiefs today after they contradicted his statements about the status of threats posed by Iran, North Korea and other countries. Trump called the intelligence chiefs “wrong” and “passive and naive.” He also said that these seasoned intelligence officials might need to go back to school. It is worth noting that the testimony of these officials were not only quite measured but widely shared by experts in the field.
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The exploration of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz of a possible third party candidacy has been welcomed by many who have long seen our dysfunctional politics as a result of the duopoly of power in the country in the hands to just two parties. People want change and that is highly unlikely to occur in our current system. That is precisely why Schultz has been met with a torrent of criticism by the media and Democrats for even suggesting a third party run. The spin is that he is handing the election to Donald Trump by splitting the anti-Trump ticket. However, this has been the same mantra for every third party candidate in my lifetime. The problem is that he could win and there is no danger that more threatens the establishment in Washington. So we are back to the same refrain — eagerly repeated by the media — that the country simply cannot handle more choice than the two offered by the party elites.
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One of the most perplexing aspects of the White House strategy over the last two years is the total focus on Trump’s base with little apparent concerns for independents and moderate Republicans who have reacting poorly to the confrontational politics. A recent poll shows just how precarious this is becoming for 2020. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll this week shows that 56 percent of Americans said they would definitely not vote to re-elect Trump in 2020. Only 28 percent said they definitely will vote for him. Thia mirrors a previous NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll which found that 57 percent of voters will not back Trump in 2020. Citing the President’s polling numbers, the Texas Republican Party is reportedly now concerned that they could lose the state in 2020.
Continue reading “Poll: Fifty-Six Percent of Voters Say They Will Definitely Not Vote For Trump”
We have previously discussed the continued statements of President Donald Trump questioning the overwhelming science behind climate change. Yesterday, President Trump was again mocking the notion of climate change by pointing at the polar air hitting the Midwest. It is part of a long history of Trump transposing weather with climate change — a point repeatedly made by experts but ignored in these tweets. Notably, recent polls show less division among the public, including Republicans, who overwhelmingly agree that we are experiencing climate change.
Continue reading “Trump Again Wrongly Suggests That Cold Weather Disproves Climate Change”
There is a bizarre torts case in New York city where Shirell Powell is suing St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx after he mistakingly authorized the termination of life support for a stranger. She had been told that the man was her brother, Frederick Williams. The family later found out that it was a Freddy Clarence Williams, who was no relation.
Continue reading “New York Woman Sues Hospital After Terminating Life Support on A Stranger”