
• Illinois appeals court says the contact sports exception to negligence liability does not apply to the case of an athletic trainer who was struck in the eye by a hockey puck while refilling water bottles. Michael Weisberg "suffered injuries as a result of alleged conduct that was not inherent to the sport of hockey." Weisberg v. Chicago Steel
• 3rd Circuit rules that a couple can sue Google for trespassing on their property while photographing it for the Street View feature. "[T]he Borings have alleged that Google entered upon their property without permission. If proven, that is a trespass, pure and simple." Boring v. Google
• Minnesota judge reduces a jury award of copyright infringement damages against an illegal music file sharer from $2 million to $54,000. "The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music." Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset
• Special master says Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller's conduct on the day of an execution was "not exemplary," but "she did not engage in conduct so egregious that she should be removed from office." In re Honorable Sharon Keller
• New Jersey appeals court says a female business owner can sue a male customer for refusing to do business with her unless she gave him sexual favors. "The quid pro quo sexual harassment alleged in the complaint, if legally permitted, would stand as a barrier to women's ability to do business on an equal footing with men." J.T.'s Tire Services v. United Rentals
• New Mexico judge says a photographer may be compelled to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony despite her religious convictions because she "is not being forced to participate in any ceremony or ritual; the only requirement is that she photograph the event." Elane Photography v. Willock
• Tennessee judge rules that the PGA Tour does not have to accommodate a golfer by allowing him to take testosterone shots. Doug Barron "has not shown that the 'reasonable accommodation' he has requested ... is necessary in order for him to continue playing golf in PGA Tour events." Barron v. PGA Tour
• 6th Circuit says two high school basketball coaches did not use excessive corporal punishment in paddling a player. One of the coaches "testified that he only paddled Martin [Nolan] a total of ten times during Martin’s tenure at Hamilton [High School]." Nolan v. Memphis City Schools
• Wrongful-death lawsuit alleges a cell phone company is liable for a fatal auto accident allegedly caused by a customer who was driving while "engrossed" in a cell phone conversation. Sprint/Nextel "failed to warn of the hazard of cell phone use while driving." Estate of Doyle v. Sprint/Nextel

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$1.7M Verdict Tossed in Crawfish Biotech Disaster |
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A troubling decision by a Louisiana appeals court may mean the middlemen who bring crawfish to consumers receive no compensation for lost income resulting from a biotech disaster that destroyed crawfish crops.
ICON, a pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience, was used by Louisiana rice farmers to control rice weevils that plague one of the state's largest cash crops. But it had the unfortunate side-effect of sterilizing crawfish, another major crop which are often farmed in the same fields as rice.
Bayer settled the claims of hundreds of crawfish farmers for $45 million and three crawfish buyer/processors won a jury award of $1.75 million in 2007 after a judge ruled that they came within the scope of Bayer's duty to avoid damaging the crawfish crop because of the “ease of association” between farmers and the middlemen further up the “supply chain.”
Following the victory of Patrick Phillips, Lisa Guidry, and James Bernard -– who served as “bellwether” plaintiffs –- a group of crawfish buyers and processors filed a class-action lawsuit against Bayer in December.
But a 4-1 majority of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal has now muddied the waters by throwing out the jury award, finding in an April 8 opinion that Bayer's duty does not extend beyond the farmers who actually “own” the crawfish.
“[T]he plaintiffs in this case have failed to prove a proprietary interest in the crawfish crop destroyed by the use of ICON,” Judge Elizabeth A. Pickett wrote for the majority. “Therefore, the plaintiff’s cause must fail.”
She relied in part on PPG Industries v. Bean Dredging, 447 So.2d 1058 (1984), a case involving a damaged natural gas pipeline in which the Louisiana Supreme Court said,
It is highly unlikely that the moral, social and economic considerations underlying the imposition of a duty not to negligently injure property encompass the risk that a third party who has contracted with the owner of the injured property will thereby suffer an economic loss.
In a strong dissent, Judge John D. Saunders doubted that PPG Industries “absolutely and unequivocally requires that a plaintiff have a proprietary interest in the thing damaged in order to recover for damages done to that thing.”
The Supreme Court, he noted, used the phrase “'highly unlikely' rather than 'never'” and “the word 'negligently' rather than simply omitting any reference to the level of negligence displayed by the tortfeasor. In the present case, I think that the only conclusion a reasonable juror could reach was that Bayer had reckless disregard for the potential ramifications to this state’s crawfish industry, as a whole, when crawfish farmers used ICON.”
As evidence of Bayer's “callousness,” Saunders pointed to the testimony of ICON salesman Michael Redlich, who admitted he had “concerns” about the pesticide's effects on crawfish before it was sold to rice farmers.
The class-action suit –- Wiltz v. Bayer CropScience -- is now before a federal court in Lafayette, La. “I think the federal court will apply the ruling” of the 3rd Circuit, says an attorney involved with the case, noting that it was based on the Louisiana Supreme Court's precedent in PPG Industries.
Perhaps, though, the "moral, social and economic considerations" should ultimately favor the crawfish middlemen since under the reasoning of the 3rd Circuit majority, as Saunders puts it,
a tortfeasor may intentionally damage property necessary for a party to fulfill an obligation under a contract, yet only be responsible to that property’s owner for the actual damage done to the property.
Bayer pulled ICON, the brand name for fipronil, from the rice market in 2004. The class-action plaintiffs allege that as recently as 2006, tests still showed harmful levels of the pesticide in south Louisiana rice and crawfish fields.
By Matthew Heller 4/15/09
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Dancer Strips Club of $100K in DUI Case
A former stripper has won a $100,000 award in an unusual employment law case as a jury found a Birmingham, Ala., strip club liable for allowing her to drive home from work “in a highly intoxicated state.”
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Halliburton Takes Swing at Alleged Rape Victim
Perhaps befitting the former employer of Dick Cheney, KBR/Halliburton has taken the low road in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to bar a former employee from having a public trial of her claims that she was gang raped by co-workers in Iraq.
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Tenant's Gripe Tweet Too Vague to be Libel
A Chicago judge has dismissed the first libel case involving a single Twitter posting, finding that an apartment renter's gripe about her landlord was too vague and imprecise to be construed as defamatory.
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Copperfield Wants U.S. to Keep Evidence From Accuser
Magician David Copperfield has some sharp words for federal prosecutors who have refused to acknowledge that they dropped a sexual assault investigation against him because of the accuser's lack of credibility.
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Hotel Exec Settles Drug Death Case
The former CEO of a luxury hotel operator has quickly settled a lawsuit accusing him of causing the drug overdose death of his girlfriend, On Point has learned –- even though he describes the allegations as “slanderous and bogus.”
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Bingo for "Bruno!" Baron Cohen KO's Verbal Spat Case
A California judge has dismissed a verbal assault case against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, finding that a woman initiated a confrontation with him during the filming of a scene for the movie “Brüno” and “not vice versa.”
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"No Sex Involved" in Orgy Viewing Case, Hotel Insists
A former manager at the Hilton Minneapolis who claimed she walked in on an orgy at a company sales conference has “sensationalized” what was only “some questionable behavior,” the hotel's owner says in arguing that her sexual harassment case should not go to trial.
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North Face Apparel v. The South Butt Subject: Trademark infringement Document: Answer to complaint
Stern v. Sony Corp. Subject: Gamer's rights Document: Motion to dismiss
Rossiter v. Evans Subject: STD infection Document: Opinion
Sanford Siegal v. Kim Kardashian Subject: Twitter libel Document: Complaint
Bryan v. McPherson Subject: Excessive Taser force Document: Opinion
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Spears v. Allergan, Inc. Court: Orange County (Calif.) Superior Subject: Botox death
Putnam v. Morning Star Boys' Ranch Court: Spokane County (Wash.) Superior Subject: Sexual abuse
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Plaintiff B v. Joe Francis Date: 2/22/10 Court: USDC, N. Fla. Hearing: Jury trial in sexual abuse case.
CBS v. FCC Date: 2/23/10 Court: 3rd Circuit Hearing: Oral arguments in "Nipplegate" case.
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