Posts Tagged ‘personal responsibility’

Neglect your kid now, sue for $5 M later

Reader D.B. of Cincinnati writes, regarding “not about the money” lawsuits (Sept. 1, Sept. 7, etc.):

You may be interested in the tragic story from Cincinnati. Three year old Marcus Fiesel was taken from his mother. She had three children by three fathers and they lived in a flea infested place which was smeared with feces and lacked food. She told police that the children were “their problem” now. The children were put into foster care. Marcus was placed in a home where he should not have been, as the foster father had a police record that was not discovered. His foster mother pretended to faint at a local park, and when she awoke she said Marcus was missing. There was a huge community search, but Marcus was never found. Later police discovered that the foster parents had wrapped him in a blanket and left him in a hot closet for 2 days while they attended a family reunipn.Then the foster father burned his body. The birth mother is suing everyone she can for $5 million and saying it is “not about the money.” There is outrage in Cincinnati first over the circumstances of his death and now over this outrageous lawsuit. The Cincinnati press has covered the story for the last 2 weeks with almost daily updates. Here is a report on the lawsuit and a Cincinnati Enquirer editorial.

Update: Sept. 26.

Jumps off pier on Ecstasy; dad wants $10M

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: “Police said Jeffrey Rothman died in March 2001 at age 20 after jumping off Second Avenue Pier, and an autopsy determined that he had taken the drug Ecstasy and died accidentally. His father, David Rothman, charges that the police department did not follow proper procedures, did not treat the case as a possible homicide and showed a general lack of professionalism.” The senior Rothman, who is filing his suit without a lawyer, says it’s not about the money and talks of using the $10 million for charity. (Lisa Fleisher, “Trial date set in lawsuit against MB, police”, Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun-News, Aug. 24; comments at Fark).

Suit: plaintiff was too stupid to be admitted into law school

Thomas Joseph Bentey flunked out of St. Thomas University School of Law of Miami, and claims it was a conspiracy of the school to admit students it knew would flunk out, and wants his tuition and room and board back (as well as damages for lost wages and “embarrassment”). (The complaint also complains that Bentey’s mother called the law school, but that it refused to review his C grade in Contracts II, and seeks an injunction for a review of the grade.) The attorneys seek class action status, which is frivolous on its face, because the individualized issue of whether a St. Thomas student flunked out because of their own underachieving would clearly predominate any group inquiry even if the conspiracy theory had any basis in rationality. One might also make some adverse inferences about Bentey’s attorney, Michael Lombardi of Lombardi & Lombardi, for coming up with such a cockamamie theory of recovery that will only result in more embarrassment for his client, but he is a “Super Lawyer.” Other defendants in the shotgun complaint include the ABA and the Department of Education, suggesting hopes for a number of nuisance settlements. (Bentey v. St. Thomas University School of Law, No. 2:06-cv-03463-PGS-RJH (D.N.J.); Leigh Jones, “Law School Sued for Expelling Students”, National Law Journal, Sep. 1).

Update: Orin Kerr comments at the VC blog.

“Man mauled by pet tiger fails in bid to sue rescuers”

“A man who sued the city for entering his apartment without a search warrant after he was mauled by his 450-pound pet Siberian tiger demonstrated a lot of nerve in taking the city to court, a judge said as he threw the lawsuit out.” After Antoine Yates was seriously bitten by the 10-foot-long pet tiger he was keeping in his East Harlem apartment in Manhattan, police removed it along with an alligator named Al and Yates served 3 1/2 months on a reckless endangerment plea. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein dismissed his lawsuit, saying it demonstrated “chutzpah”. (Larry Neumeister, “Judge Bites Off Tiger Owner’s Lawsuit”, AP/New York Sun, Aug. 8; Volokh, Aug. 9). The headline in the title above is from the UK’s Guardian.

“Camper sues government over stumble”

“While finding a place to relieve himself, plaintiff walked off the unguarded and unprotected cliff falling approximately 20 to 30 feet to the creek bed below,” reads the complaint. And so Jerry Mersereau is suing the United States of America, which maintains the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon where the mishap occurred. (Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian, Aug. 4).

“Untested Conspiracy Theory Seeks to Expand DUI Liability”

“If an untested and novel legal theory succeeds, the wife and brother of a binge drinker with a string of drunken driving arrests could be held civilly liable for the death of a bicyclist because they supplied the car, insurance and alcohol to the driver. …The suit seeks damages from the wife and bar owner/brother of Joseph Lynchard, 74, of Santa Rosa, Calif.” According to plaintiff’s lawyer Patrick Emery, “Lynchard’s wife transferred all his assets to her name after an earlier accident and got him auto insurance. His brother, owner of Eddie’s Bar, bought Lynchard a pickup truck and supplied him with drinks the day of the accident. All this, Emery argues, shows a conspiracy to commit an illegal act, allowing Lynchard to drive while drunk.” A judge has allowed the suit to proceed to discovery. (Pamela A. MacLean, National Law Journal, Aug. 15).

When Shutting Up Is Essential to One’s Livelihood

The Legal Reader points us to Court T.V.’s video of Attorney Joseph Caramango’s stunning display in the courtroom as he tries to explain why he was an hour late for a jury trial in which his client was facing life imprisonment. It wasn’t the five shots of tequila he had at 4 am the night before. It wasn’t the beer he admitted having at lunch the day before during jury selection.

Video is long and painful — a classic Schadenfreud.

“Don’t lift front of chair while sitting in it”

P.J. O’Rourke writes, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that chair manufacturers feel compelled to tell Americans this”. Later, after a call to a law office about the dangerous folding chair, “The receptionist told me that John Edwards would be over within the hour; meanwhile I might want to start pricing yachts.” Just a satire, folks (“From the editor’s chair”, Weekly Standard, Jul. 31).

“Self-Described Drunkard Sues Strip Club That Sold Him Drinks”

Attorney Sabato DeVito, who represents Johnny Eugene Smith of Spring Hill, Fla., says his client might not have wrecked his Corvette if the Calendar Girls strip club hadn’t been so willing to indulge his taste for the bottle.

University of Florida law professor Lars Noah told the Times the suit isn’t frivolous, but it’s unlikely to go far in the legal system.

“It’s kind of surprising that any lawyer worth his salt would take a case like that,” Noah said. “I’m partly to blame for that, I guess. We’re churning them out.”

(WFTV, Jul. 17).