U.S. v. Arizona
Arizona judge enjoins enforcement of a new immigration law's requirement that police determine the immigration status of
every person who is arrested.
McGuire v. United Airlines
Michigan woman says a United Express flight crew locked her in a plane for nearly four hours after it landed because they failed to ensure that all passengers had disembarked.
R.H. v. Schenectady Sch. Dist.
Middle school student says he was suspended for wearing rosary beads because the rosary "is considered a gang-related symbol" and cannot be worn in school.
Fields v. Smith
Judge strikes down a law that bars transgender prison inmates from receiving hormone therapy at taxpayers' expense, finding it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
lc_search
LC_DayByDay

 Jun   July 10   Aug

SMTWTFS
   1  2  3
  4  5  6  7  8  910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
Julianna Willis Technology
LC_BySubject
OnTheMap

rss

LC_ExtraPoints

• Iowa judge says a sheriff denied the applications of a father and son for concealed weapons permits in retaliation for their political activism. "This is a great reminder that the First Amendment protects the sole individual who may be a gadfly, kook, weirdo, nut job, whacko, and spook, with the same force of protection as folks with more majoritarian and popular views." Dorr v. Weber

• 5th Circuit rules that a school district violated the religious freedom of a Native American boy by requiring him to wear his long hair in a bun on top of his head or in a braid tucked into his shirt. The boy "has a sincere religious belief in wearing his hair uncut and in plain view."
A.A. v. Needville Ind. Sch. Dist.

• 11th Circuit denies a challenge to an ordinance restricting handouts of food to the homeless in Orlando parks. "[W]e are unpersuaded that the conduct of simply feeding people ... is expressive for First Amendment purposes."
First Vagabonds Church v. City of Orlando

• Boston judge slashes a jury award in an illegal music downloading case from $675,000 to $67,500. "The award in this case ... lacks any rational foundation and smacks of arbitrariness." Sony v. Tenenbaum

• Iowa Supreme Court suspends a voyeuristic attorney indefinitely for peeping on women through windows. "[W]e cannot overlook the serious, egregious, and persistent nature of [Mark] Templeton’s misconduct and the effect it had on his victims."
Disciplinary Board v. Templeton

• Pennsylvania judge strikes down the state's blasphemy law in a case brought by a film producer who wanted to name his company "I Choose Hell Productions." "'Choosing hell' may be an irreverent choice for a corporate name, but under the Constitution, this fact alone cannot be the basis for its suppression from the public debate." Kalman v. Cortes

• Cancer patient sues Wal-Mart for firing him after discovering that he uses medical marijuana for pain relief. "[N]o corporation doing business in Michigan should be permitted to flout state laws protecting patients who use medical marihuana in accordance with state law." Casias v. Wal-Mart Stores

• 11th Circuit rules that the operator of an Internet porn dorm was engaged in illegally operating a business in a residential zone. "Business objectives are the sole reason individuals are paid to live and engage in sexual activities at the 27th Street residence."
Flava Works v. City of Miami




Alltop_125x125.jpg

ADVERT

Free no win no fee claims advice for personal injury.


ADVERT

For accident claims advice, visit a personal injury lawyer.

Crocs Settles Safety Suits Over Escalator Injuries Print

Financially troubled footwear maker Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) has recently settled at least five design defect lawsuits rather than contest allegations that its popular foam rubber clogs are unsafe for children to wear on moving escalators.

Since February 2008, parents of at least 11 children allegedly injured when their clogs got caught in an escalator have sued Crocs for product liability, breach of warranty, and failure to warn of a design defect. The company, the suits say, knew of the potential danger of escalator entrapment but did nothing to warn consumers.

Sanjay and Marisela Prakash of Miromar Lakes, Fla., filed the most recent complaint in April, alleging their 4-year-old son nearly lost a toe after his foot got stuck in a Miami International Airport escalator. The suit seeks $6 million in damages and, judging by the way things have gone in other cases, the Prakashes are likely to receive a settlement.

According to court records, five cases have been settled within a year or less of being filed and only one of those cases -– that of an injured 3-year-old girl from Kentucky -– got anywhere near trial.

The child, identified only as the daughter of Alison Cox Pregliasco of Louisville, was wearing Crocs when her foot got caught in the sidewall of an escalator at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport in June 2008. She was with her mother, her twin sibling, and a friend of her mother's at the time.

In a motion for summary judgment, Crocs attorney Julie M. Walker of Denver said the case should be dismissed in part because Pregliasco admitted in her deposition that she did not read the safety warning on the escalator and violated safety rules, including those stating “no strollers on escalator” and “face forward at all times.”

“That Ms. Pregliasco chose to ignore the obvious danger, and ignore the warning signs posted on the escalator about rider safety, does not shift the responsibility to Crocs as a shoe manufacturer to warn her again of this same hazard,” Walker argued.

Because Pregliasco failed to read the escalator safety warning “and/or convey the information to the children,” she continued, “there is no reason to believe” Pregliasco would have read a warning tag on Crocs or that “the accident would not have occurred had a warning been attached to the shoes.”

Crocs, however, agreed earlier this month to a settlement of the case before Pregliasco even responded to the motion, averting a trial which had been set for February 2010. Her attorney had previously disputed the parental irresponsibility argument.

“The issue is [parents] not knowing of what will happen when their child's foot makes contact with the side of an escalator when that foot is in a Croc,” Andrew M. Laskin of New York  said.

Having lost $185 million in 2008, recently laid off a third of its workforce and been sued for providing false information to shareholders, Crocs has plenty of incentive to avoid costly design defect litigation.

Of the pending federal court cases against Crocs, two including the Prakashes' have been referred to mediation and another is in discovery. Laskin represented the plaintiffs in four of the five cases that have settled.


By Matthew Heller
7/26/09


 
rc_insidestories
  • Sex Harassment Claims Hit Actor Affleck, 'Bones' Star

    A producer of a film about actor Joaquin Phoenix, an extra on the set of the TV show “Bones,” an assistant property master, and a makeup artist are among the plaintiffs in a recent epidemic of lurid Hollywood lawsuits.
    Read more...
  • Jury Goes 'Wild' in Woman's Privacy Case Over Video

    A Missouri jury has gone wild in a case of involuntary nudity, finding that a woman consented to appearing topless in a “Girls Gone Wild” video by playing to the camera before another person pulled her top down.
    Read more...
  • Actress Facing $750K Award to Therapist

    Soap opera star Hunter Tylo may have to pay more than $750,000 in damages and attorney fees to a psychotherapist whom she sued more than four years ago for negligent treatment of her children, On Point has learned.
    Read more...
  • Reporter Sues Hotels Over Peephole Videos

    In an unusual premises liability case, ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has sued the operators of three hotels for allowing a stalker to surreptitiously videotape her naked through peepholes in the doors to her rooms.
    Read more...
  • Students Challenge Rubber Fetus Ban

    The suspensions of seven pro-life students at two Roswell, N.M., high schools for distributing rubber fetuses have given birth to a lawsuit that takes the First Amendment protections for student speech into uncharted territory.
    Read more...
  • Distress Claim Barred in Hotel 'Ménâge à Trois' Case

    A former employee of a luxury Miami Beach hotel who says her billionaire boss invited her to join him in a “ménâge à trois” cannot sue him for infliction of emotional distress, a judge has ruled, finding his alleged behavior, while “obnoxious,” was not “objectively outrageous.”
    Read more...
  • Chuck E. Cheese Settles Molesting Mascot Suit

    A Missouri woman who claimed a Chuck E. Cheese mascot groped her breast has settled her lawsuit against the operator of the restaurant chain, On Point has learned.
    Read more...
RC_OnFile

Stovell v. James
Subject: LeBron's paternity
Document: Complaint

U.S. v. Arizona
Subject: Illegal immigration
Document: Complaint

Rosenberg v. Google
Subject: Negligent navigation
Document: Complaint

Smith v. Hooters
Subject: Weight discrimination
Document: Complaint

City of Ontario v. Quon
Subject: Text-message privacy
Document: Opinion

more

RC_OnTrial

Rosenberg v. Musical Arts Assn.
Court: Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Common Pleas
Subject: Defamation, age bias

Mecozzi v. City of Los Angeles
Court: L.A. Superior
Subject: Police brutality
Verdict: $1.7 million

more


RC_OnTheDocket

Jose Padilla v. John Yoo
Date: 6/14/10
Court: 9th Circuit
Hearing: Oral arguments in human rights case.

Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Date: 6/16/10
Court: USDC, N. Calif.
Hearing: Closing arguments in trial of challenge to gay marriage ban.

more