High-Risk Pool
An Egyptian hotel resort is being sued by a Polish woman who claims her teenage daughter was impregnated by a “stray sperm” in the hotel’s swimming pool. “The mother is adamant that her daughter didn’t meet any boys while she was there,” said a source in the travel industry. “She is determined to go ahead with the case.”
Source: U.K. Daily Mail, “My daughter, 13, got pregnant by swimming in hotel pool, claims mother,” July 9, 2009
Law-Student Abuse Forthrightly
One way to reduce lawsuit abuse is to reduce the number of lawyers. A New York blogger is helping out with this project by documenting the “top eight reasons not to go to law school.”
The number one reason is “financial suicide.” “The money spent on law school loans is ridiculous, so sell something (or some kids) first, and then get a loan for the rest, says H. Luiz. “F— what you heard about how much money you’re going to make when you pass the bar in 3 to 4 years–you’re going to need at least 12 years of paying off that loan.” Law school also stifles creativity, 80 percent of relationships fail, and top jobs after graduation are nearly nonexistent, the blogger notes.
Plus, the New York “bar exam is brutal,” Luiz says, with a 43 percent failure rate. “You will study like an animal for three months, only surfacing from your dungeon to eat and feel some sunlight on your face for one insane exam. … In New York, they actually setup triage medical stations and have squads of ambulance[s] (motors running) ready to separate the strong from the weak.”
Source: http://www.hluizpresents.com, July 13, 2009, via Robert J. Ambrogi, Legalblogwatch.com, July 21, 2009
Loony Tunes
Apple is being sued for $14.2 million by a Missouri man who claims the company put illegal listening devices in his IPod Shuffle and iPod Mini, enabling the Mafia to send him death threats.
The man alleges the Mafia wanted him to be a fashion model for them at a New York modeling agency. He’s also suing the St. Louis Police Department and unknown agents of the FBI because they failed to take his complaints seriously.
Source: Jim Dalrymple, CNET News, July 17, 2009, at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10289669-37.html via overlawyered.com
No Belief in Sanity Clause
The ACLU is suing the Indiana lawyer licensing board for inquiring about the mental health of applicants before licensing them to practice law. The class-action suit alleges the Indiana State Board of Bar Examiners’ question violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Specifically, the application asks if the applicant has been treated for or diagnosed with “any mental, emotional or nervous disorders” after the age of 16 through the present. If the answer is “yes,” a further inquiry may be conducted. The named plaintiff is a lawyer licensed in Illinois now seeking a license in Indiana, who suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Source: Leigh Jones, “Lawsuit Claims Indiana Law Examiners Violate the ADA,” National Law Journal, July 9, 2009, via overlawyered.com
Dogged Determination
Two New Jersey groups don’t love Oscar Mayer wieners–or Ball Park franks or any other kind of hot dogs. They’re suing Kraft Foods, maker of Oscar Mayer wieners, Sara Lee Corp., maker of Ball Park franks, and other hot dog makers, for consumer fraud, demanding wieners be labeled: “WARNING: CONSUMING HOT DOGS AND OTHER PROCESSED MEATS INCREASES THE RISK OF CANCER.”
The suit was filed by the Cancer Project and an affiliate, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, citing a meta-analysis that found the consumption of one hot dog per day causes a 21 percent increase in colorectal cancer. Other studies, however, including one by the Harvard School of Public Health, contradict that finding.
A spokesman for the American Meat Institute and the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council says the Cancer Project is a sham. “They’re an animal rights group,” she said. “Their solution to every possible illness is vegetarianism. Their objective is to end meat consumption, period.” Plus, she added, the substance blamed for increased cancer risk–nitrites–occurs naturally in vegetables in large amounts. “It’s a very selective use of the science to further their animal rights agenda.”
Source: Philip Read, “N.J. residents plan to sue hot dog makers seeking health warnings,” (Newark) Star-Ledger, July 22, 2009, via overlawyered.com
Meat the Family
Litigation apparently will not ensue after the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashed into a house in Racine, Wisconsin when the driver went forward instead of in reverse. Oscar Mayer will cover all damages to the house, the company told Associated Press, and no one was injured.
Associated Press, “Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashes into Wis. home,” July 17, 2009
Leaping to Their Defense
Environmental activists in California are suing to block construction of suicide barriers on a 400-foot-high bridge near Santa Barbara from which at least 48 people have jumped to their deaths since 1963. The suit alleges the California Department of Transportation violated the state’s Environmental Quality Act.
Source: Associated Press, “Activists sue over Calif. bridge suicide barriers,” July 23, 2009, via FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org, a project of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform
Name Game
Pop singer Katy Perry is suing fashion designer Katie Perry to stop the latter from using the name she was born with. Katy alleges Katie must cease using her name in advertising and cease selling her clothes. Katy also alleges Katie should be barred from receiving a trademark on her name.
Katie is fighting the case. “I love my business. I’m not going to give it away without a fight,” she said. “It really felt like I was being intimidated and bullied into signing everything away,” Katie Perry told the newspaper. “It asked me to give up the trademark, withdraw sales of my clothes, withdraw any advertising and any Web sites and sign that I will not in the future use a similar trademark to Katy Perry. I pretty much burst into tears.”
Source: James Montgomery, “Katy Perry Sues Australian Fashion Designer Katie Perry, ‘I love my business. I’m not going to give it away without a fight,’ Katie Perry says.” June 16, 2009
Lawsuit Abuse Fortnightly
Published by The Heartland Institute (312/377-4000), a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1984.
Phone 312/377-4000, fax 312/377-5000
Back issues are available online at http://www.heartland.org
Publisher: Joseph L. Bast
Editors: Maureen Martin, Diane Carol Bast
Information on lawsuit abuse can be found on these Web sites:
http://www.atra.org
http://www.alec.org
http://business.pacificresearch.org/civil-justice-and-legal-reform
http://www.halt.org
http://www.iamlawsuitabuse.com
http://www.overlawyered.com
http://www.fed-soc.org
http://www.manhattan-institute.org
http://www.wlf.org
http://www.sickoflawsuits.org
Maureen Martin, a former legal fellow at The Heartland Institute, passed away on February 5, 2013.
