Posts Tagged ‘Alabama’

September 2 roundup

Stripper: getting tipsy was part of my job (update)

Patsy Hamaker, who in 2007 had an alcohol-related one-car wreck on the way home from The Furnace (NSFW link, unless you work some place that approves of stripclub websites) and sued her employer over the accident, claiming that the club encouraged her to drink, won $100,000 from a Jefferson County, Alabama, jury, somewhat less than the $1.2 million she sought.

Hamaker, whose stage name was Tessa, went to work at The Furnace on Oct. 17, 2007. She drank enough that night for her blood-alcohol content level to rise to nearly three times the legal limit, was pulled by security from one of the VIP rooms, and then left after at least three attempts to stop her, according to testimony during the trial. Her car wrecked on the interstate, and she suffered a broken nose and back.

The club’s records show a customer bought Hamaker one “dancer drink,” a commission drink or bottle ranging in price from $12 to $2,500. The club did not have a record of other drinks she may have [ordered on her own].

Attorneys for the Furnace pointed out that dancers can specify their preference for non-alcoholic or diluted dancer drinks. And the club’s general manager, Jennifer Etheridge, testified that she does not want dancers getting intoxicated. Asked why, Etheridge said: “You try working with 30 drunk people.”

(Erin Stock, “Former stripper gets $100,000 in lawsuit: Blamed club for drunken wreck”, Birmingham News, Feb. 2) (h/t P.E.).

December 18 roundup

  • Class action to follow? Longtime Overlawyered favorite Gloria Allred now representing one of the Tiger Tootsies [The Observer]
  • Alabama lawyer moves to postpone trial so he can see Crimson Tide take on Texas [Yahoo “Rivals”]
  • “Thomas the Tank Engine attacked for ‘conservative political ideology'” [Telegraph; Canadian academic calls for tighter controls on children’s broadcasting]
  • Government manages to lose money at bookie racket: “NYC’s Off-Track-Betting Seeks Bankruptcy Protection” [Bloomberg]
  • “Rapist ex-lawmaker claims copyright on his name, threatens legal action” [Boing Boing, Volokh, Randazza/Citizen Media Law]
  • Graubard Miller $42 million contingency fee “now in referee’s hands” [NYLJ; earlier Oct. 5, etc.]
  • It’ll destroy our image of him: opponents say “alleged Ponzi schemer and disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein filed frivolous lawsuits” [DBR]
  • New Hampshire disciplinary panel finds prominent injury attorney broke ethics rules in handling client who talked of firing him from multi-million-dollar case [Keene Sentinel]

March 17 roundup

  • Asks to have $12.6 million verdict set aside because juror Twittered about the case [Little Rock, Ark.; AP/Yahoo]
  • Florida legislator opposes “animal husbandry,” thinks it’s sin forbidden in Book of Leviticus. And “Larcenia” is probably the most perfect first name for a politician I’ve ever heard [Popehat]
  • Eleventh Circuit upholds most charges against Alabama ex-Gov. Don Siegelman [AP/New York Times, earlier]
  • D.C. Council member bullies tiny non-profit paper, says advertiser “will be held responsible” [Marc Fisher, WaPo; Brookland Heartbeat]
  • “Worst teachers are rarely formally removed from the classroom” [Denver Post]
  • Blogger calling fashion model a skank makes an unsympathetic figure, but the implications for blog anonymity could be serious [NY Post, Scott Greenfield, (Cit Media Law, earlier]
  • Barbie says, “Governing West Virginia is hard!” [@cathygellis; Lowering the Bar; earlier]
  • Student journalists are blogging dismissed professor Ward Churchill’s lawsuit against the Univ. of Colorado [Race to the Bottom via Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch]