• Army bomb disposal expert sues the makers of "The Hurt Locker" for plagiarizing his life story. The film is "nothing more than the exploitation of a real life honorable, courageous, and long serving member of our country’s armed forces, by greedy multi-billion dollar 'entertainment' corporations."
Sarver v. The Hurt Locker
• Former patient sues the Cincinnati hospital where he was sexually assaulted by a transgender nurse. The nurse's "employment while masquerading as a member of the female gender in a hospital environment involved an unreasonable risk of harm to others."
Evans v. University of Cincinnati
• Federal judge enjoins the City of Phoenix from enforcing a noise ordinance against "sound generated in the course of religious expression," finding the right of churches to ring bells outweighs "the City's interest in preserving the peace and tranquility of its neighborhoods."
St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish v. City of Phoenix
• 5th Circuit says a Texas city's junked vehicle ordinance applies to a cactus planter made out of wrecked Oldsmobile 88. "Irrespective of the intentions of its creators ... the car-planter is a utilitarian device, an advertisement, and ultimately a 'junked vehicle.'"
Kleinman v. City of San Marcos
• Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols notifies a federal judge that he has gone on hunger strike, saying he is "prepared to die if necessary because he is done allowing his body to be defiled by [ ] refined and dead foods."
Nichols v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Texas judge finds the makers of a film about Rin Tin Tin did not infringe on the trademarks of a breeder of German Shepherds. "Defendants['] title 'Finding Rin Tin Tin: The Adventure Continues" is a fair use of the term 'Rin Tin Tin.'"
Rin Tin Tin, Inc. v. First Look Studios
• 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
 
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Judge OKs Claim in "Terrible" Clinic Sperm Mixup |
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A New York couple have moved a key step closer to recovering emotional distress damages for an “almost unimaginable” fertility clinic mixup which resulted in their daughter being conceived with the wrong man's sperm.
Thomas and Nancy Andrews received in-vitro fertilitization treatments at New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine. After their daughter Jessica was born in October 2004, they discovered to their horror that Thomas was not the biological father.
According to the couple's negligence suit, embryologist Carlos Acosta used an unknown donor's sperm to fertilize Nancy Andrews's eggs. “[W]hile we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake every time we look at her,” the parents said.
Thomas Andrews is white and his wife is Dominican; Jessica has darker skin with “characteristics more typical of African, or African-American descent.”
Ruling last month on motions to dismiss, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam said the Andrewses “cannot recover [damages] for mental distress arising from having a child who is not Mr. Andrews' biological offspring.”
New York does not recognize a claim for “wrongful life” or “wrongful conception,” she noted in her order, and "The birth of an unwanted but otherwise healthy and normal child does not constitute an injury to the child's parents.”
But Abdus-Salaam did allow the plaintiffs to seek compensation for their “continuing uncertainty and distrust as to whether the genetic material of either or both of them has been inappropriately used for others.”
“[W]here the Andrews ... have been provided with absolutely no explanation as to ... what was done with the sperm that [Thomas] provided to the clinic for the sole purpose of conceiving a child with his wife,” the judge explained, they are entitled to “recover for emotional injuries absent the presence of physical injury.”
A trial on the issue of damages against Acosta, the clinic and the clinic's owner has been set for June 7. “Defendant Acosta has remained mute as to what, if any, steps he took to ensure that he was fertilizing Mrs. Andrews' eggs with Mr. Andrews' sperm,” Abdus-Salaam said in granting summary judgment on liability against the embryologist.
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UPDATE
Court records show the case settled June 21 before trial.
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In another case of fertility clinic clumsiness, an Oregon man alleged last year that the sperm he intended for his fiancée was used to get another woman pregnant. Clinics in Arizona and Illinois have been sued for losing or destroying pre-embryos.
By Matthew Heller
4/15/07
An Ohio jury has awarded $786,760 to a man who suffered a severe injury to his left testicle while he was exercising at a YWCA gym in Akron. A cable on a leg-extension machine broke, causing a steel bar to swing into his groin.
"It's a horrendous injury. Everyone who hears his story just kind of winces," the plaintiff's attorney said. Houston v. YWCA of Summit County.
4/15/07
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Teen's Suit Puts Mug-Shot Publisher Against the Wall
A new publication in Lincoln, Neb., milks mug shots for humor. But a teenager whose arrest photo appeared in Cuffed doesn't see the funny side of it and has sued the publisher for misappropriating his image.
Read more...
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BA Settles 'Reckless' Baggage Handling Suit
Limiting its liability to a group of only 13 airline passengers, British Airways (NYSE: BAY) has settled a first-of-its kind lawsuit that accused the airline of being “inexcusably reckless” in its handling of passengers' baggage.
Read more...
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Judge Says "Gay" Still Defamatory in Texas
What one court has called “a veritable sea change in social attitudes about homosexuality” has evidently not reached Texas where a judge ruled that an airport security guard can sue a radio show host for calling him “gay” on the air.
Read more...
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Mom Says Hospital Gave Her Wrong
Baby to Nurse
Because of a hospital's error, Jennifer Spiegel became an involuntary wet nurse to another woman's newborn son. Now she is suing the hospital for its malpractice in providing her with the wrong baby to breastfeed.
Read more...
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Case Over MySpace Page Chills Student Speech
Several recent court rulings have been protective of off-campus student speech -– with the exception of a very shaky decision that a dissenting judge said “vests school officials with dangerously overbroad censorship discretion.”
Read more...
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Motorist Who Flipped off Cop Gets $50K From City
The citation of a motorist for displaying his middle finger to a police officer -– what a judge described as a “somewhat innocuous” gesture -- turned out to be quite expensive for the City of Pittsburgh as it agreed to pay $50,000 to the bird-flipper.
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Gamer's ADA Suit Doesn't Play in Court
A Los Angeles judge has refused to apply disability law to the virtual gaming world, dismissing the case of a vision-impaired gamer who claimed Sony Corp. illegally denied him full access to its products.
Read more...
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Spears v. Allergan, Inc.
Court: Orange County (Calif.) Superior
Subject: Botox death
Verdict: Defense
Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools
Court: USDC, E. Mich.
Subject: Student harassment
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McClain v. Pfizer, Inc.
Date: 3/2/10
Court: USDC, Conn.
Hearing: Jury trial in case over unsafe lab conditions.
Sherman v. McDonald's Corp.
Date: 3/23/10
Court: Washington County (Ark.) Circuit
Hearing: Jury trial in case over nude photos.
more
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