Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Chutzpah Redux: Kidnapper sues couple he kidnapped for $235,000, claiming breach of oral contract that they would hide him for an unspecified amount of money

Jesse Dimmick is suing the couple he was convicted of kidnapping while on the run from police.
Dimmick contends in the breach of contract suit seeking $235,000 that after he entered Jared and Lindsay Rowley’s house in 2009, they reached a legally binding, oral contract that they would hide him for an unspecified amount of money.
“Later, the Rowleys reneged on said oral contract, resulting in my being shot in the back by authorities,” Dimmick wrote in a notarized legal document indicating he was filing the counterclaim in response to a suit against Dimmick that the Rowleys filed in September.
Dimmick personally — in longhand — wrote the document, which was filed Oct. 21 in Shawnee County District Court.
He wrote: “As a result of the plaintiffs breech (sic) of contract, I, the defendant suffered a gunshot to my back, which almost killed me. The hospital bills alone are in excess of $160,000, which I have no way to pay.”

Monday, November 28, 2011

Nice Try, Mrs. Baddley, But It's Illegal to Sell Your Husband on Craigslist

Gaming widows everywhere are quietly applauding Alyse Baddley, a 21-year-old Utah woman who tried to sell her husband on Craigslist. Fed up with the traditional head nod and deaf ears, she and her mother-in-law conspired to auction him off to the highest bidder.
Or in exchange for “an acceptable replacement.”
Baddley decided that it would be better if her husband Kyle went to a “good home” where his obsession would be tolerated. He hadn’t stopped playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare since its November 8th release date.
The Craigslist ad listed Kyle as "easy to maintain" and only in need of "food and water every 3-5 hours." And an Internet connection, of course.

Roll Your Own, Save Money and Taxes; Major Washington Law Firm Lobbying for Homemade Cigarette Machine Maker

Former Rep. Philip English (R-Pa.) of Arent Fox is advocating for a Cincinnati-based company that manufactures machines that let consumers roll their own cigarettes, according to lobbying registration paperwork submitted to Congress last week.
English, a senior government relations adviser with the firm, is lobbying for RYO Machine LLC on licensure and taxation issues concerning the devices, which are intended to making smoking cheaper.
The machines allow customers to make their cigarettes with pipe tobacco, which receives a lower tax rate than tobacco for cigarettes. The federal excise tax is $2.83 on a pound of pipe tobacco, compared with $24.78 on a pound of roll-your-own tobacco and $20.13 on 400 pre-manufactured cigarettes that have about a pound of tobacco. More than a thousand of the machines are in tobacco shops in dozens of states, according to the company's Web site.

We Know Where You've Been: Mall owners pull plug on cellular location tracking of individual shoppers -- for now

You may now shop two malls again without fear of individualized tracking—at least by your cell phone signal. Privacy concerns raised by US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) have ended plans by malls in southern California and Virginia to "survey" customers' shopping habits by tracking their cell phone signals.
As Ars Technica reported last Friday, Forest City, the mall developer that owns and operates the Promenade Temecula in Temecula, California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Virginia had announced it would test technology in those two malls from Path Intelligence. Called Footpath, the system uses a series of cellular signal detectors to triangulate the movement of customers' phones—and by extension, the customers themselves—through the mall's stores and other spaces. While the technology doesn't eavesdrop on cell phone users' calls or record information about their phone numbers, it does use their cellular device's digital signature to track individuals.
The collected information is stored on Path Intelligence's servers, and made available through a secure Web portal to mall owners, providing them with a way of profiling which stores customers visit and where foot traffic "hot spots" are for those demographics to optimize display advertising and other marketing.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Jury Convicts Texas Judge in Bribery Case; Campaign Donors Allegedly Expected Favorable Rulings

A Texas judge was convicted yesterday of multiple counts of bribery and other crimes, in a case focused on 2008 campaign donations from individuals who allegedly expected favorable rulings in a family court matter, in exchange for the money.
District Judge Suzanne Wooten, 43, testified that she knew nothing about improper donations, and one of her defense lawyers argued that she had willingly taken a pay cut in order to serve on the bench, the McKinney Courier-Gazette reports.
She also recused herself from hearing the donors' family court matter after she was elected, according to the article.
But a Collin County jury apparently was not persuaded. It convicted her yesterday, after a day-and-a-half of deliberation, of six counts of bribery, money laundering, conspiring to engage in criminal activity and tampering with a government record.
The penalty phase of her case is expected to begin on Monday and could conclude by Wednesday.
A number of local defense attorneys have attended the trial in support of Wooten, the article notes.
(ABA Journal)

Updated Definition of Chutzpah: Admitted Drug Dealer Sues Doctor Who Prescribed Painkillers

A York, PA. man who pleaded guilty to illegally selling prescription drugs is suing the doctor who prescribed the painkillers to him for medical malpractice and medical negligence.
Lionel "Beans" Sease is serving a six-to-16-year sentence for possession with the intent to deliver drugs and cocaine delivery.
Sease led authorities to Dr. Michael Dobish in January 2010 after Sease was investigated for obtaining large amounts of prescription painkillers from area pharmacies.
Dobish, of Spring Garden Township, pleaded guilty in August 2010 to illegally dispensing drugs and Medicaid fraud. He was sentenced to three to six years in prison and ordered to serve 27 months before becoming eligible for probation.
He also was ordered to pay $73,787 in restitution to Medicaid and lost his medical license for 10 years.
The doctor denied making a financial profit from the prescriptions he wrote for Sease, one of his patients.
Sease now is suing Dobish and his former medical practice, Dallastown Medical Associates, alleging that Dobish's "malpractice" resulted in his becoming "highly addicted and or dependent" on Vicoden, Percocet and Oxycontin.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Texas Cop Catches Arrested, Handcuffed Couple Engaged In Sex Act In Back Seat Of Police Car

Meet Tina Marie Arie and Howard Windham.
The Texas duo was arrested on drug charges last Monday after a cop was summoned to a Whataburger, where a male acquaintance of Arie and Windham was passed out.
Arie, 44, who admitted providing the unconscious man with Hydrocodone, was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance. Windham, 30, was collared on a possession rap after he was found with the painkiller Soma. The pair was cuffed and stuffed into a police cruiser for the trip to get booked.
That’s when things got interesting, according to a spokesperson for Montgomery County Constable Precinct 4. When the officer looked in his rear view mirror, he “could no longer see Tina Arie,” who subsequently explained that she was resting her head in Windham’s lap because she was “tired.”
Suspicious, the officer pulled over to the side of the road to further investigate, according to a press statement. He discovered that, “despite being handcuffed behind their backs,” the pair were engaged in a sexual act. Windham’s jeans were undone “and Arie was servicing his exposed genitalia.”

You Think It's Easy for a Defendant to Qualify in Court as an Expert Witness in the Pimping Profession?

A judge yesterday rejected a Brooklyn pimp’s request that he be qualified as an expert witness so he could explain his profession to the jury at his rape and robbery trial.
Anthony McCord, 29, who is accused of beating up two girls in his stable and raping one of them as payback for stealing his computer, demanded expert status so he could help jurors understand the lifestyle.

“I’ve been in the industry since 2000. I’ve read every book, saw every movie, heard every song relating to this subject matter,” McCord told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi. “It would be helpful to the jury to understand the character of the people involved . . . [and] the relationship between pimps and prostitutes.”

McCord claims the March 2010 beatings were part of the pimp-prostitute relationship and the sex was consensual. (NY Post via Overlawyered)

Swiss Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Nude Hiking

Fed up with repeated incursions by German nacktwanderen (naked hikers), in 2009 a northern Swiss canton passed a law making such hiking illegal. See "New Swiss Law Aims to Halt Invasion of Naked Germans," Lowering the Bar (Apr. 26, 2009). A man convicted of breaking this law a few months later ultimately appealed the case to the Swiss Supreme Court, which ruled against him last week. Is it too late to warn you about the mildly NSFW photo appearing at that second link, which appears to show one of the nacktwanderen proudly greeting the sunrise? It is? Sorry about that. At least the picture was taken from the direction of the sunset. The hiker who challenged the law was actually acquitted by the trial judge, who appears to have found the local law preempted by the Swiss Penal Code, which the judge ruled regulates all crimes involving "sexual integrity," whatever that is. But the court of appeal disagreed and ordered the man to pay the fine. He appealed to the high court, but lost. "It is not arbitrary," the court held, "to consider naked hiking in public a gross breach of decency and convention." The activity is still legal in the rest of the country, it appears, but please don't take that as legal advice. You nacktwander at your own risk. Many of the reports use the word "naked" instead of "nude"; the two are pretty close synonyms but "naked" tends to imply resulting discomfort or embarrassment, and obviously neither of those were involved here. So I went with "nude hiking" for the headline. A French report on this story refers to the guy as a "nudist rambler," but I'm not sure that has the same connotation in English. "The Nude Ramblers" would be a pretty good name for a band, though.
(Lowering the Bar)

Here Comes Da Judge: Oklahoma Judge Loses Pension for Using Penis Pump -- in Court!

 (Newser) – An Oklahoma judge who used a sexual device under his robe while presiding over jury trials has been stripped of his pension. Donald Thompson—who served 20 months in prison for indecent exposure after being caught using a penis pump—violated his oath of office and has no right to collect his $7,789 judicial pension, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided. Thompson's lawyers argued that he should only lose benefits from his last term in office, the Oklahoman reports.
"Court reporters observed the felonious exposure of Mr. Thompson's private parts, and testified to the fact during the criminal trial. That trial resulted in conviction of felonies. Those felonies violated Mr. Thompson's oath of office," the court wrote. Thompson, who served as a judge for 22 years, was arrested after a court reporter told police that she had seen him using the device almost daily during the murder trial of a man accused of shaking a toddler to death. Investigators found semen on the carpet, his robes, and the chair behind the bench

Kellogg Settles the Great Toucan Dispute With Archaeologists

<<note from Legalastic: This is a follow up to the Nov 9  post about the cease-and-desist letter sent to a roup of Mayan archaeologiststic over the use of a toucan in its logo>>

Forbes - As I reported previously, Kellogg North America sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Maya Archaeology Initiative in July, complaining that the non-profit group was using a toucan on its logo that some might confuse with Kellogg’s “Toucan Sam.” MAI’s lawyer responded that her client shouldn’t have to either cease or desist, because of significant differences between the logos and also because it seemed doubtful that consumers would confuse a Central-American-archaeology group with the maker of Froot Loops. She also noted that Kellogg’s claim it also used “Mayan imagery” was not that compelling, since the closest thing she could find on Kellogg’s websites was an adventure game featuring a pyramid with Froot Loops on it and what appeared to be a “demeaning caricature” of a quasi-Mayan “witch doctor.”

Saturday, November 19, 2011

87-year-old woman accused of shooting her husband; claims her husband was cheating on her with her hairdresser

Desjardins
An 87-year-old woman has been charged after allegedly shooting her 88-year-old husband. Police say she believed he was cheating on her.Dorothy Desjardins, of Springfield, was charged Sunday in Greene County Circuit Court with second-degree domestic assault.
Her husband, Peter Desjardins, was treated and released from a local hospital after suffering a single gunshot to his right forearm.
Peter Desjardins, who was contacted at home by the News-Leader, said his wife suffered from multiple medical ailments and he believed her conditions contributed to her actions. He declined further comment.
Court documents indicate Dorothy Desjardins shot her husband with a 22-caliber revolver after confronting him about a suspected affair with her hairdresser.
Peter Desjardins told authorities he was in bed when his wife walked into the room and began to throw books at him.
She then picked up the revolver, according to the documents.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Long Island man wearing 'I'm a drunk' shirt arrested for DWI

Hope he can keep the mug
shot out of evidence
His only defense is that he's a "drunk."
A 22-year-old Long Island man wearing a shirt saying he's a drunk was charged with DWI early today after he plowed into a cop who was on drunk driving patrol, authorities said.
A mug shot taken after his arrest by Suffolk County cops shows Kevin Daly, 22, of Coram, wearing a black T-shirt that read: "I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings."

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Illinois Legislature Overrides Veto, Legalizes Roadkill Collection

Lowering the Bar - Well, it has been a real roller-coaster ride for those of us following the status of roadkill legislation in Illinois.
In May, we learned that HB 3178 had been passed by the Illinois Legislature, thereby clarifying that it was not illegal to "take or possess" a fur-bearing animal so long as you had the right permit, even if you just found it by the side of the road rather than hunted it down yourself. According to the sponsor, the measure would "help clean up our state at no extra cost" to the taxpayers.
That was certainly great news, but in August, Governor Pat Quinn vetoed the measure. Though he "commend[ed] the sponsors for their hard work on this legislation," Quinn said he was concerned about the safety implications of encouraging people to scour the state's roadways looking to get themselves a free dead mammal. He asked lawmakers to consider "appropriate safety measures" (whatever those might be) in any subsequent roadkill legislation.
Actually, no, the sponsors responded, we'd rather not, and promptly brought a motion to override the veto. That takes a three-fifths majority in Illinois, but that was not a problem - the motion passed 87-28 in the House and 52-0 in the Senate. Once again, therefore, it is legal in Illinois to pick up roadkill if you have the right permit.
I guess I don't know what to think about this, actually. Is it sadder that people are out there peeling dead animals off the roadway, or that our government insists that we need to have a permit to do it?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Derbyshire Police Snare Suspects With Free Beer Sting

Pcs Andy Clare and Steve Browett with boxes of beer

Derbyshire U.K. -Police have arrested 19 suspects after fooling them into ringing officers by promising free beer if they got in touch.
In an undercover operation, Derbyshire Police sent letters to dozens of people who had evaded arrest for several months.
They were asked to ring a marketing company to collect a free crate of beer.
A total of 19 suspects fell for the hoax and called the number, which put them straight through to Chesterfield Police Station.
A time and date was arranged for the free alcohol to be delivered but instead the suspects were arrested.

Adam Wheeler, Harvard Faker Already Convicted of Fraud for Faking His Way into Harvard, Jailed For Citing School On Resume

A Delaware man convicted of fraud for faking his way into Harvard was ordered held without bail Wednesday after admitting he violated his probation by citing the university on a job resume.
Adam Wheeler, 25, was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in jail and 10 years on probation for identity fraud and other charges. The sentence was mostly suspended; Wheeler served just one month in jail while awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said he got into Harvard by falsely claiming that he had attended the exclusive Phillips Academy prep school in Andover and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Wheeler, originally from Milton, Del., was kicked out of Harvard in 2009 after he tried to get the school's endorsement for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships. Authorities said his application for the scholarships contained a string of lies, including a list of books he said he had co-authored, courses he said he had taught and lectures he said he had given.
After he left Harvard, Wheeler applied and was accepted to Stanford as a transfer student. Stanford rescinded his admission after media reports about his arrest.
Under the terms of his probation, Wheeler was barred from representing himself as a Harvard student or graduate. Wheeler's lawyer, Steven Sussman, acknowledged that Wheeler had violated that provision by saying on his resume and in a cover letter for a job application that he had attended Harvard.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ooops - Jerry Sandusky’s Lawyer Also Likes Them Young? | Above the Law

Above the Law - It would be hilarious if the man wasn’t accused of raping little kids. It appears that Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coordinator who is accused of having sex with little boys, has hired an attorney. Unlike Joe Paterno, who lawyered up with the Biglaw firm of King & Spalding, Sandusky went with attorney Joe Amendola.
You’d think that out of all the attorneys in the world, Sandusky would pick one who had an untarnished record when it comes to sleeping with minors. But you’d be wrong.
Instead, Sandusky went the other way. He didn’t find a lawyer who just slept with a minor, he found one who reportedly impregnated one….

The Daily reports on Amendola’s alleged acts of conception. The first two times I read it, I was sure I was reading something in the Onion:
The lawyer for accused child molester Jerry Sandusky apparently likes his women young.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola, 63, representing Sandusky in the sexual molestation case roiling Penn State and Joe Paterno’s legendary football program, impregnated a teenager and later married her, The Daily has learned.
According to documents filed with Centre County Courthouse, Amendola served as the attorney for Mary Iavasile’s emancipation petition on Sept. 3, 1996, just weeks before her 17th birthday.
The emancipation request said Mary graduated from high school in two years with a 3.69 grade point average and maintained a full-time job — but makes no mention of any special relationship between her and her lawyer.
Roughly around the same time, however, Iavasile became pregnant with Amendola’s child, and gave birth before she turned 18, her mother, Janet Iavasile, alleged in an interview with The Daily.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Judge candidate accused of drinking on the job - Video

WINK, Ft. Myers, FL. - WINK cameras were rolling as a murder trial was halted because the defense lawyer was suspected of drinking on the job. A WINK News investigation uncovers, it's not the first time. Hundreds of pages of documentation were discovered exposing that she had problems staying sober at work. And the attorney in question just filed paperwork to run for a judge's seat. Karen Miller has a well-documented history of drinking on the job.
We also learned today that Miller was arrested over the weekend, and for the third time she's charged with DUI.
She's still representing clients and wants to further her career by running to be a judge. If she wins, Miller will be presiding over hundreds of cases in Lee County.
James Sims is on trial for murder. Karen Miller is his attorney.
After Miller's strange line of questioning during the trial, the prosecutor on the case asked the judge for a meeting in his chambers because she thinks Miller wasn't functioning properly.

Couple sues airline over cockroaches on plane

WCNC.com Charlotte - A Charlotte couple is suing Air Tran Airways, claiming their flight had cockroaches coming out of air vents and storage areas and that flight attendants ignored their concerns.
Attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancé Kaitlin Rush allege negligence and recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, nuisance, fraud, false imprisonment and unfair and deceptive trade practices stemming from their flight September 15 from Charlotte to Houston with a stop-over in Atlanta.
Marsh and Rush allege cockroaches came out of air vents and carry-on compartments shortly after takeoff. They took pictures of the cockroaches and included them as exhibits in the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Marsh and Rush allege numerous other passengers became aware of the cockroaches and that it caused great distress to a number of passengers.
The lawsuit also alleges flight attendants were too busy to investigate the problem or believe the problem existed. Marsh said when he brought it to a flight attendant’s attention, the flight attendant put her finger to her mouth. Marsh said his interpretation was the flight attendant implying to be quiet.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Public Breastfeeding May Be Legal in Paw Paw, But It’s Not OK in My Court, Judge Reportedly Told Mom

A woman fighting a Michigan boating ticket that had already resulted in a bench warrant says she had no choice but to take her 5-month-old with her to a Tuesday hearing as he recuperated from a fever.
Quiet for more than two hours as she waited for her case to be called, the boy then awakened and needed to eat. So, since she was wearing appropriate clothing for the purpose, she breastfed him, Natalie Hegedus tells WWMT.
This didn't go over well with the judge, when Hegedus' case was called while her son, Landen, was still eating.
“You think that's appropriate in here?” Judge Robert Hentchel asked her, according to a transcript of the 7th District Court case in Paw Paw.
Hegedus replied that she had to feed her son, and it was legal to do so.
“Ma'am, it's my courtroom, I decide what's appropriate in here, come on up, okay,"

Friday, November 11, 2011

Planned threesome goes wrong: FL man accused of attacking wife & other woman when they began kissing

Jorge Daniel Silva

Naples Daily News -- A sexual threesome turned violent Sunday, resulting in an East Naples man's arrest — accused of punching his wife, swinging a big-screen television at her and whipping her with a belt.
Jorge Daniel Silva, 22, of the 6400 block of College Park Circle, faces a felony battery charge after Collier deputies say he became enraged before a planned threesome with his wife and another woman Sunday afternoon.
Silva's wife told deputies that the three of them began kissing when Silva "freaked out" and started hitting her. The two women then ran into a bedroom and locked themselves inside, but Silva broke through the door, the report said.
As his wife curled up to avoid being hit, Silva punched her and "swung the TV at her like a bat," the report said. After hitting his wife with the television twice, Silva dropped it on her, then grabbed another television and threw it at her, deputies said. The second woman told deputies she tried to break up the fight but Silva would punch her in response.
Silva's wife was covered with blood when deputies arrived, her face was swollen and she appeared to have a broken nose, the report said.

Judge Orders Divorcing Couple To Swap Facebook And Dating Site Passwords

(Forbes) -- Most divorces require spouses to part with some of their property, but in Connecticut, a soon-to-be ex-husband and wife are being asked to give up more than just investments, cars, TVs, kids, and pets. They have to hand over their social networking passwords. At the end of September, Judge Kenneth Shluger ordered that the attorneys for Stephen and Courtney Gallion exchange “their client’s Facebook and dating website passwords.”
Everyone knows that evidence from social networking sites comes in handy for lawsuits and divorces. Attorneys usually get that material by visiting someone’s page or asking that they turn over evidence from their page, not by signing into their accounts. But judges are sometimes forcing litigants to hand over the passwords to their Facebook accounts. Should they be? What was the reason behind the court-authorized hacking in the Gallion case?

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Medical impostor roils Michigan Probate Court; for years, man testified as an expert doctor witness

Macomb County Probate Court officials can't explain how a man falsely claiming to be a medical doctor was allowed to decide whether people were mentally competent to handle their own estates and whether jail inmates needed mental health care.
Court officials say they found out last week Gerald Terlep isn't a medical doctor. He has a master's degree in social work, although he has acted as a doctor since at least 2003, testifying as an expert witness and ordering medical treatment in probate cases, a violation of state law that says treatment cannot be court-ordered unless the patient's examining doctor or psychologist testifies in person or in writing.
Probate Court Administrator Phillip Anderson said Terlep was barred from testifying in cases after questions surfaced last week about his qualifications. But when asked how someone who isn't a doctor was allowed to render medical decisions, and whether the court has a vetting process to determine experts' validity, Anderson said, "I can't answer that question."
Reached by telephone, Terlep declined to comment.

Cereal Maker Claims Non-Profit's Bird Infringes on "Toucan Sam"

(Forbes)  The Maya Archaeology Initiative is fighting claims by Kellogg North America that a bird depicted in MAI’s logo is too similar to “Toucan Sam,” the fictional spokesbird for Froot Loops cereal.
MAI, a non-profit that supports education for Guatemalan children (as well as archaeology), got a cease-and-desist letter from Kellogg’s lawyers in July saying that Kellogg was concerned about an application to use the logo in connection with clothing, given that Sam also appears on clothing. Kellogg said it was also concerned about the use of “Mayan imagery” in the mark, saying that Sam also sometimes appeared in a similar setting.
Decide for yourself whether there is a likelihood of confusion:
Sam is on the left









Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Bigfoot takes free-speech claim to N.H. high court

CBS Boston.com
 CONCORD, N.H. — Bigfoot is taking his First Amendment case to New Hampshire’s top court.
When Jonathan Doyle of Keene donned a Bigfoot costume and set out to videotape staged sightings of the fabled ape-like creature on Mount Monadnock two years ago, state park officials put the kibosh on his escapades, saying Doyle and his friends had failed to pay $100 for a special-use permit 30 days in advance and secure a $2 million bond.
But such requirements stifle free speech and artistic expression and are too broad to pass constitutional scrutiny, say Doyle and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union. Defeated at the trial court level, they’ve now climbed to the top of New Hampshire’s legal system, the state Supreme Court.

Friday, November 4, 2011

CA Police Association stops sales of "U raise 'em, we cage 'em" T-shirts showing picture of a young child behind bar

T-shirts sold by the Twin Rivers Police Officers Association have this message: "U raise 'em, we cage 'em," surrounding a picture of a young child behind bars.
On Monday, community leaders and child advocates said the T-shirts are highly offensive and could validate feelings of mistrust for the Twin Rivers' school police force. The agency has been under intense scrutiny over complaints it has overstepped its authority."There is nowhere on the planet where it is OK to wear a shirt like this," said Ed Howard, senior counsel for the University of San Diego's Children's Advocacy Institute, after seeing the image of the shirt.The quote and picture is on the back of the shirt. The Twin Rivers Police Officers Association logo is on the front.
Twin Rivers police union President Arlin Kocher, an officer in the department, said the union came up with the shirts in 2009 to raise funds for the families of fallen officers. Fewer than 30 shirts were ordered; most were sold for $12 to Twin Rivers union members, Kocher said.He now calls the shirts a mistake.

Woman, after clinical trial, sues for damages for allergic reaction from a placebo. Wait--the story gets better

(via Drug and Device Law Blog)
We often go out of our way to infuse our posts with humor – or at least we try for a few chuckles.  But sometimes, a case finds its way to us that doesn’t need to be “punched up” with witticisms or amusing anecdotes because the facts themselves are comically simplistic and frankly, we’re not sure we could make them any funnier (not that we won’t try).  So, with minimal elaboration, we bring you the case of Milton v. Robinson, 131 Conn. App. 760 (Conn. App. 2011).
We should start by saying this is not a typical product liability case.  Rather, plaintiff filed suit against a university, hospital and manufacturer based on her involvement in a clinical trial.  Plaintiff alleged that as a result of participating in the trial she suffered an adverse allergic reaction.  Let’s start there.  What was this adverse reaction that warranted the filing of a lawsuit including claims by plaintiff’s husband for loss of consortium and emotional distress?  A rash!  Milton, 131 Conn. App. at 767.   Really?  A lawsuit over what was described as a back full of mosquito bites?  Id.  We checked; Walgreen’s carries Calamine lotion for $5.00 a bottle.
On a slightly more serious note, we should point out that when plaintiff discussed the risks of the trial with one of the investigators, the investigator specifically mentioned the possibility that plaintiff could suffer from “rashes and allergic reactions.”  Id. at 765.  Rashes were also warned about in the informed consent form plaintiff signed.  Id.  So clearly, plaintiff didn’t have a failure to warn claim.
But we haven’t even scratched (sorry!) the surface of what makes this case so odd.  How about the fact that plaintiff wasn’t given the study drug, but rather -- the placebo!  Id. at 767.  By definition, a placebo is a substance containing no medication.

Defendant Loses Right to a Lawyer After Allegedly Stabbing 3 of Them with Pencils or Pens in Court

Defendant in court in restraining chair
The Daily Herald (WA)
A judge in Washington state has declared that pencil-and-pen-packing defendant Joshua Monson has forfeited his right to counsel because of three attacks on his lawyers during court hearings.
None of the lawyers was seriously hurt. In the first two incidents, which occurred less than a week apart, Monson was accused of stabbing two different lawyers with pencils he smuggled from jail, HeraldNet.com reports. On Tuesday, Monson grabbed the pen being used by his defense lawyer, Jesse Cantor of Everett, Wash., and stabbed Cantor in the head, witnesses said.
The attack occurred Tuesday as prosecutors gave opening statements in Monson’s felony drug trial in Snohomish County. Corrections officers set off an electric stun cuff on Monson’s leg as he lunged for the pen and then piled on top of him, the story says. The first person to reach Monson was a police officer seated at the prosecution table.
Judge David Kurtz said Monson will have to defend himself without a lawyer and will be strapped to a special chair for the rest of the trial. Kurtz advised jurors to ignore the incident, the restraints and the lawyer's absence. (ABA Journal)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Lawyer Indicted for Alleged Advice to ID Theft Ring; Pricey Pumps Partly Paid Fees, Feds Say

(via Wired.com)
More than 100 people, including a New York attorney, have been indicted in what is being termed the largest identity theft case ever prosecuted in the United States. The ring allegedly involved corrupt insiders at banks, stores and restaurants stealing customer data.
The suspects, members of five criminal gangs that operated primarily out of Queens County, New York, have ties to gangs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and were allegedly responsible for fraud losses that amounted to more than $13 million in the 16-month period between May 2010 and September 2011. Eighty-six of the defendants have been arrested, while the remainder are still being sought, according to the Queens County District Attorney’s office.
New York attorney Susan Persaud, who was arrested Oct. 4, is accused of aiding some of the defendants by providing them with information about how to conduct their crimes and evade authorities. Persaud, 34, allegedly received payment for her services in the form of expensive designer shoes. Persaud did not respond to a call for comment.

Saving Sports: Bake Sales Not So Sweet Anymore

Must proceeds of team booster club bake sales be pooled and distributed to boys and girls teams equally under Title IX. gender equality?
Controversy in New Mexico continues over booster club funding and Title IX implementation as discussion heats up over the state's Schools Athletics Equity Act. The issue remains whether private donations raised by parents through bake sales and working concession stands, or whether philanthropic contributions by private businesses, should be pooled together and distributed among all boys and girls teams under the guise of Title IX equality — and regardless of which parents/teams raised what.
The American Sports Council believes that combining volunteer, charitable donations will harm athletic departments. Quite simply, pooling donations will create a disincentive for parents to raise money for their own child's team when they realize that their own time, effort and money will go to other teams that have nothing to do with their child's sport. Furthermore, given that teams are already cash-strapped in this tough economic climate, why should schools demand that programs forgo financial contributions that others are willingly and intentionally giving to certain teams?
It's important to recognize that nowhere in the language of the federal Title IX law does it say that booster club/volunteer money will be counted as part of creating an equitable balance among males and females. Instead, like in New Mexico's case, the state law's interpretation of Title IX completely skews the law's original intent. Most assuredly, students will be denied opportunities to play sports as the impact of the contributions is lessened when they are distributed to a variety of teams, as well as when generous donations stop trickling in because of the mandate.