Tort Law

Would-Be Bar Dancer Sues Tavern

A woman who fell and crushed her ankle while attempting to dance on top of the bar at an Illinois tavern has sued the establishment for damages. Amy Mueller, a patron in her twenties, has sued Samy’s Bar and Grill, in Joliet, over the May 19, 2006 incident, contending that…

Jul 23, 2007 6:03 PM CDT

Condit Defamation Suit Tossed

A Phoenix judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit over a claim he lied to investigators about his relationship with an intern. The Sonoran News, an Arizona weekly newspaper, included the statement in a 2005 story, the Associated Press reports. The intern, Chandra Levy,…

Jul 23, 2007 4:48 PM CDT

Harvard Study Details Doctors’ Race Bias

In a study that has obvious implications for the legal profession, too, Harvard University researchers have detailed how unconscious bias can significantly affect life-and-death decision-making by doctors. Although previous studies have documented that the bias exists, this is the first time researchers have explained how it happens that a doctor…

Jul 20, 2007 9:16 PM CDT

Valerie Plame Suit Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed on jurisdictional grounds the privacy and constitutional claims for damages brought by former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband against senior Bush administration officials. Because they have not exhausted their administrative remedies under the Federal Tort Claims Act, there is no subject-matter jurisdiction…

Jul 19, 2007 10:39 PM CDT

Texas Lawyer Ordered to Repay $35.7 M

A big-name Houston plaintiffs lawyer has been ordered by an arbitration panel to repay $35.7 million in improper legal fees he charged to some 3,000 plaintiffs he represented in breast implant litigation. Including interest and attorney fees to be paid to the plaintiff lawyer who brought the claim, the total…

Jul 19, 2007 10:09 PM CDT

Lawyers Outfox Fla. Legislature—For Now

Persuaded by a lobbyist that Minouche Noel really needed the $8.5 million she had been awarded by a Florida jury for being paralyzed in a botched surgery, the state legislature this year enacted a rare claims bill agreeing to pay the medical malpractice award. Until then, the vibrant young woman…

Jul 19, 2007 7:21 PM CDT

Camera ‘DNA’ May Nab Potter Bookjacker

Add digital cameras to the ever-lengthening list of modern technology that can be used as evidence to help prove a criminal or civil case. Experts say they have already identified the serial number of the three-year-old digital Canon Rebel 350 apparently used to take bootleg photos of the not-yet-released Harry…

Jul 19, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Va. Tech Panel Urged to Assign Blame

Although the gunman who killed 32 and injured dozens more in an on-campus massacre at Virginia Tech earlier this year committed suicide at the scene, it is still important to assign blame for the shootings, parents told a review panel appointed by the state governor. Several parents said yesterday they…

Jul 19, 2007 6:09 PM CDT

Property Sales to Fund Clergy Deal

The Los Angeles archdiocese will sell stock, borrow money and sell property to help pay a record $660 million settlement with victims of priest sexual abuse. Cardinal Roger Mahony has said there are no plans to sell parish or school properties, the Los Angeles Times reports. Instead the church will…

Jul 19, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

Pearl’s Widow Sues Major Pakistan Bank

The widow of a Wall Street Journal reporter abducted and murdered in Pakistan by terrorists in 2002 has sued his alleged killers, al-Qaida, and Pakistan’s biggest bank in federal court in New York. In a complaint filed today, Mariane Pearl, a French citizen, and her husband’s estate contend that Habib…

Jul 18, 2007 10:21 PM CDT

No Insurance, No Lawyers: No Problem

Nobody was insured, and no lawyers were involved. But, unusual as it may seem for Americans accustomed to the U.S. system, a recent auto accident in Iraq was settled the same day. The drivers involved were seated on sofas in the local police chief’s office, and tea was served as…

Jul 18, 2007 9:12 PM CDT

Priest Abuse Awards Vary

Victims of priest sexual abuse who recently settled with the Los Angeles archdiocese will receive amounts that range from $100,000 to more than $3 million. The awards vary, based on the harm to the victim, church culpability and the evidence available, the Los Angeles Times reports. The payout will be…

Jul 18, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Libyan Medics’ HIV Sentences Now Life

Libya’s High Judicial Council has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences initially imposed on six foreign medics convicted in a controversial case of having intentionally started an HIV epidemic in a children’s hospital. The commutation today was prompted by a foreign financial settlement of $460 million to be paid…

Jul 17, 2007 9:47 PM CDT

Waiver Doesn’t Protect Pool

The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that liability waivers don’t protect recreation programs if they commit gross negligence. The ruling was the first by the court to address whether recreation providers may protect themselves from suit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The court ruled in the case of a 14-year-old…

Jul 17, 2007 4:00 PM CDT

Emotional Close to Priest Suit

A judge has approved a record $660 million settlement in a suit against the Los Angeles archdiocese for sexual abuse by priests. Victims cried as Judge Haley Fromholz of Los Angeles County Superior Court said settlement “was the right thing to do,” the New York Times reports. The plaintiffs’ lead…

Jul 17, 2007 2:28 PM CDT