Look out, Griswold family! A Michigan man received the free-and-clear to sue his in-laws over an incident where a search for holiday decorations led to the sort of comic slapstick that results in dramatic real world injuries.
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Legal News
Criminals of Rain City rejoice! The self-styled hero known as Phoenix Jones was arrested for pepper-spraying a group alternately described as dancing or fighting. The self-proclaimed crime fighter, who may have watched Kick-Ass one too many times, originally took to the streets of Seattle to serve as a symbol “that the average person doesn’t have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing.” The results have been mixed.
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A judge in New York City, tired of seeing saggy pants on the teenage miscreants coming before him, has decided to take a stand for courtroom fashion. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Eduardo Padro declared his secular fatwa by taping a sign to the defense table with three simple words: “Pull Up Pants.”
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The fate of a camera used on the moon by NASA astronauts is going to trial. The camera, used on the Apollo 14 moon mission in 1971, was in the possession of astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. The 6-millimeter data acquisition camera (DAC) was intended to be discarded with other equipment in the lunar module and left on the moon, but Mitchell elected to take it with him as a souvenir. Forty years later, the 80 year old astronaut decided to sell it, and that’s when the U.S. Government stepped in.
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Feeling deceived by a movie trailer, Michigan native Sarah Deming decided to sue its distributor for being misleading under her state’s Consumer Protection Act. She claims that the trailer for Drive made her think it would be like Fast Five (compare trailers below), and she felt tricked into seeing an inferior film. Film critics would disagree with that latter assessment, giving the film strong reviews and awarding the film the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Joe Francis, creator of the soft porn “Girls Gone Wild” franchise, found out the house always wins when the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a casino’s summary judgment for $2 million in gambling debts. The case, brought by the Wynn Las Vegas, turned when Francis delivered what District Judge Michelle Leavitt called “the most ridiculous exercise of the Fifth Amendment I think I’ve ever seen” during a deposition.
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A federal court in Dallas let stand allegations of unlawful stop and detention in a bizarre incident where a member of a campus police force stopped a student of Indian descent for “looking like a terrorist.” The original incident took place on the campus of Houston Community College, when Thalia Vouchides and a fellow student were discussing a murder they had just heard about on the news. The conversation was overhead by another student who reported it to the campus officer, Colleen Adams. The campus cop approached the pair “waiv[ing] a piece of paper, claiming it was a complaint from someone saying Ms. Vouchides made a terroristic threat.” No such paper existed, but the officer was on a roll.
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A lawsuit filed against Morton’s of Chicago in Boca Raton accuses the kitchen staff of outrageous conduct including a rather unappetizing use of asparagus that was later served to customers.
Filed by a sous-chef in Palm Beach County Court, the suit also alleges harassment consisting of antics one would expect to see at a fast food establishment rather than an upscale chain steakhouse aimed at special occasions and expense account dining. Several members of management and the prep staff were also named as defendants.
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The ACLU of Louisiana has filed suit to invalidate a town’s “walking curfew.” Ville Platte, a Louisiana town of approximately 8,000 (map), opted to enact the ordinance after a string of car break-ins. The law requires pedestrians to stay off the streets from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weeknights and from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on weekends, however driving at those times is permitted. Violators faced fines of $200, 30 days in jail, or both. A local community activist tried convincing the city council to repeal the ordinance, turning to the ACLU after his attempts fell on deaf ears.
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A Houston woman is suing Harris County and a sheriff’s deputy for forcing her to listen to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. When Bridgett Nickerson Boyd’s car broke down, she pulled over to the side of the freeway. At that moment, Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Goad pulled behind her and wrote her a ticket for driving on the shoulder (Houston already has the strictest rules for parking on the shoulder of a freeway). At that moment things started to get out of hand…
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