Rand Paul Wins Over $500,000 After Garden Waste Attack
A jury has awarded Senator Rand Paul $580,000 in damages in a lawsuit against a neighbor who broke his ribs in a fight over grass clippings.
Paul was an outspoken Tea Party supporter and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. However, the attack was not politically motivated.
Retired anesthesiologist Rene Boucher, 60, told the court he “had enough” of Paul’s habit of piling up garden waste near the boundary of their properties in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Railroad settles $3.9 million civil suit in 2014 death of film worker
A railroad owner settled a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a film worker killed in 2014 when a train slammed into a crew shooting a movie about singer Gregg Allman, ending the company's appeal of a $3.9 million jury verdict. Chatham County State Court records show CSX Transportation reached a confidential settlement of the suit with Sarah Jones' parents on Jan. 24. The company asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to withdraw its appeal of the jury verdict Monday.
Read the source article at SFGATE
Utah Man Sues Gwyneth Paltrow Over Alleged Ski Crash
A Utah man has claimed Hollywood actor Gwyneth Paltrow seriously injured him in a “hit-and-run” ski crash. Retired doctor Terry Sanderson, 72, alleges the collision knocked him out and left him with four broken ribs and a brain injury.
Sanderson told reporters Tuesday he’d filed the $3.1 million lawsuit against Paltrow, who he claims was "distracted" and moving “out of control” at the time of the crash.
Newspapers want federal appeals court to unseal data about opioid crisis
The Washington Post and The Huntington Herald-Dispatch filed briefs in a federal appellate court to obtain information involving the opioid crisis. The newspaper companies argue that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to keep certain information secret that the newspapers believe would "hinder the public good" if kept secret.
SCOTUS urged to review constitutionality of structured bail systems
The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the Calhoun, Ga., bail system, which ties pretrial release directly to a fixed-payment schedule of offenses, violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment.
“A money bail system that deprives defendants of their liberty without individualized assessments of their personal and financial circumstances violates the Constitution,” the ABA brief said.
The brief, in support of a group of defendants in Calhoun, asks the high court to grant certiorari to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upholding Calhoun’s revised bail system. Scores of jurisdictions nationwide use similar inflexible money-bail systems in their criminal justice proceedings although many states and local entities have discarded their use in recent years.
The Calhoun case, as well as others before other circuit courts, have been moving through the federal court system for several years, with the Eleventh Circuit challenge giving the Supreme Court a chance to consider the constitutionality of a system that detains poor defendants, regardless of the offense, solely because they were unable to pay pre-set bail.
The ABA brief cites long-standing ABA policies and ABA Criminal Justice Standards that encourage release on recognizance and notes that “pretrial release conditions should be imposed only as necessary to serve their legitimate purposes of ensuring defendants’ reappearance and protecting the public.
“Because poverty strongly correlates with race, cash bail tends to result in the pretrial incarceration of racial minority groups, exacerbating pre-existing racial disparities in the criminal justice system,” the ABA brief said.
The amicus brief in Maurice Walker v. City of Calhoun, Ga., is available here. The ABA has also filed amicus briefs in similar cases arising out of Rutherford County, Tenn. and Harris County, Texas. These and other amicus briefs can be found on the ABA Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs’ website.
Texas Supreme Court Upholds $4.2 Million Medical Malpractice Recovery
A Texas jury had awarded Tracy Windrum and her children $4.2 million, finding neurosurgeon Dr. Victor Kareh was negligent in the care of her husband, Lance Windrum, at North Cypress Medical Center. Mr. Windrum died in 2010, at age 46, from complications of spinal fluid in the brain, a treatable condition that the doctor failed to correctly diagnose and treat.
The family of Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Sacramento police officers in his grandparents’ backyard in 2018, filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city Monday.
The family claims two officers didn’t identify themselves when they chased Clark through a Sacramento neighborhood before eventually shooting at him 20 times, all while his grandparents “watched in horror.” The 22-year-old father of two was unarmed and clutching a cellphone when officers fired on him.
Days later, the release of police helicopter and body camera footage sparked widespread protests in Sacramento ...
Orthodontist pays $9M for allowing uncertified staff to do procedures
New York state orthodontist Oleg Drut will pay a $9 million settlement after allowing uncertified employees to perform procedures on patients at a chain of dental offices and then billing Medicaid for the procedures, according to the New York State Attorney General's Office.
Judge Denies Monsanto Bid to Block Certain Evidence from Roundup Trials
A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer causes cancer tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials.
The court said plaintiffs could introduce some evidence of Monsanto’s alleged attempts to ghostwrite studies and influence the findings of scientists and regulators during the first phase of upcoming trials. He said documents which showed the company taking a position on the science or a study introduced during the first phase were “super relevant.”
Scooter Companies Sued by Disability Rights Activists
Scooters are hitting some expensive road blocks, this time for allegedly violating disability laws. A disability rights group has sued e-scooter companies, including Bird and Lime, in San Diego. The lawsuit claims the vehicles are dangerous to people with physical disabilities.
To Pay, or Not to Pay Bar Dues: Is That a Question?
For most, it is an easy "pay-to-play" decision. But for others, it's a $430 question: Should I pay when I don't really practice anymore? The answer is: Yes, Maybe
As some lawyers say, the easy answer is: "It depends." For law professor Carol Rose Goforth, however, it wasn't so easy - her name had been stricken from the roll of attorneys.
New York City Reaches $3.3 Million Settlement With Kalief Browder's Family
New York City officials announced a $3.3 million settlement with the family of Kalief Browder, who died by suicide after spending nearly three years in Rikers Island, most of it in solitary confinement.
The young man from the Bronx, who spent three years detained on Rikers Island without being tried or convicted, was accused of stealing a backpack.
AL Supreme Court orders new trial in lawsuit over stillborn child
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled a woman is entitled to a new trial in a wrongful death lawsuit against a physician and medical group over her stillborn son.
"We conclude that no reversible error occurred in the trial court's exclusion of Hamilton's testimony about (ultrasound technician Tracy) Talley's statements during the Feb. 25, 2005, ultrasound exam or its refusal to use Tristian's name in its instructions to the jury," the opinion states.
Video: Toobin says it's not surprising FBI arrested Roger Stone
FBI agents arrested former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone in an early morning visit to his home. Stone was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Stone is accused of seeking stolen emails from Wikileaks that would benefit Trump's campaign. CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin says it's shocking but not surprising that Stone was taken into custody.
Rams sign $24 million settlement agreement in St. Louis PSL lawsuit
Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff has signed a settlement that could mean up to $24 million in compensation for personal seat license-holders in St. Louis left in the lurch when the team left in 2016.
FBI agents arrested former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone in an early morning visit to his home. Stone was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Stone is accused of seeking stolen emails from Wikileaks that would benefit Trump's campaign.