Strollerderby : court

Family Awarded Millions For Circumcision Mistake

Brett Singer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

I know there are lots of people out there who regularly scream about how trial lawyers are destroying the world through lawsuits. And doctors are having trouble keeping up with their malpractice insurance payments. But here's a case where I think you'll agree the award isn't enough.

Four years ago, a boy had part of his penis cut off during a circumcision. The part could have been reattached if his pediatrician had acted quickly enough to do so, according to the plaintiff. A Georgia jury agreed and awarded $1.8 million to the boy and $500,000 to his mother. Their names are being kept private, but the doctors' names aren't. They are "Haiba Sonyika, the obstetrician who performed the circumcision, and Cheryl J. Kendall, the pediatrician who treated the child later." The hospital was not found to be at fault.

See, this is a big screw-up, especially the part about the pediatrician not doing enough to re-attach the, um, piece. This is assuming that the jury's verdict is accurate; I don't know the specifics of the case, so I'm going by the article I read.

I'm always curious how a jury comes up with an amount of money in cases like this. This time, the mother received $500,000 for psychotherapy, and the $1.8 million for the boy "was based on a per-day formula for the child's life expectancy."

The attorney for the plaintiffs, David J. Llewellyn, "has been representing victims of wrongful circumcision and genital injury since 1995." So calling him "some dickhead lawyer" isn't an insult. (Sorry. But sometimes they make it so easy.)

Also interesting was the defense team's strategy of loading the jury with women. Another attorney for the plaintiff, Craig T. Jones, thought this wasn't going to work. "I figured if you have one man on the jury, he can explain to the women -- if they don't know -- how important a penis is to a man's self-image." Yeah, even if they don't, I would say cutting off anything that you weren't supposed to during an operation is a bad idea.

Source: Law.com

Image: SXC

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Woman Will Go Free If Son Comes Back To Life

Brett Singer — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT

In what has to be a first, a Maryland court has accepted a plea bargain where she will testify against her fellow cult members and plead guilty -- unless her son is resurrected.

22-year-old Ria Ramkissoon is accused of refusing to feed her son Javon because "he didn't say 'amen' before breakfast." Ramkissoon and other parents were allegedly ordered to do this by a woman named Queen Antoinette, the leader of a group called One Mind Ministries. Queen Antoinette is charged with murder and child abuse resulting in death; in exchange for her testimony, Ramkissoon will plead guilty only to the latter charge.

Prosecutors do what they have to do to get convictions, so I guess the deal makes sense. In fact, they included very specific stipulations, claiming that the rebirth "would need to be a Jesus-like resurrection…It cannot be a reincarnation in another object or animal." So if Ramkissoon brings in a cabbage and says, "this is my son," no dice.

The only question I have is this: if Ramkissoon said that she believed her son had only traveled to Mars and would return in a year, would the same deal have been offered? Would that belief be any less sane? Is it possible that prosecutors are taking advantage of a mentally damaged individual? Or is this reasonable because the resurrection deal (which hopefully won't become commonplace in our courts) falls under the category of religious beliefs?

That's a tough question to answer, of course. For now, hopefully the people responsible for this horrific crime will be brought to justice.

Source/Image: Washington Post

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Fired For Pumping Case Reaches Higher Court

Brett Singer — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT

A woman who worked for Totes/Isotoner Corp. was fired for taking too many bathroom breaks. No, she wasn't snorting coke in there. She was pumping breast milk.

After losing in court in 2008, and again on an appeal, LaNisa Allen is appealing to a higher authority -- the Ohio Supreme Court.

The legal argument seems to be that "the company didn't discriminate because breastfeeding doesn't legally constitute an illness or medical condition." Attorneys for Totes/Isotoner also say that "there is legal precedent showing that employers don't have to give extra breaks to breastfeeding women."

That may be true. But so what? (I mean, it's not like she was driving while she pumped.) No, breast feeding isn't an "illness" but I was surprised to read that someone was fired for doing it at work, sued, and then lost. Twice. It will be interesting to see if the Ohio Supremes are more sympathetic to Allen's cause. Even if the company was legally correct, it seems like bad policy to punish a breast feeding mother like this.

Anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with pumping on the job?

Source: Dayton Daily News via Slate

Image: ymswwc.com

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Father Has Son Sent to Jail for Being Lazy

SunnyChanel — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:40:00 GMT

The youth of today, well a whole lot of them are just plain lazy. American parents yell, nag and sometimes just kick their them to the curb when their grown children are sponging off them, doing absolutely nothing and just being totally and completely idle.

According to a recent Reuters piece, a father in Northern Nigeria, well he had enough. What did he do with his lazy ass son? He took him to court. Sama'ila Tahir, a market trader in the northeastern town of Bauchi, took his 20-year-old son to an Islamic court recently for his idleness and for getting involved with the wrong crowd. He requested that his son “be sent to prison for refusing to engage in productive activities.” He stated to the court that "He is not listening to words and he is bringing shame to my family. I am tired of his nefarious deeds. Please put this boy in prison so that I can be free,". The court’s decision? Six months in prison and thirty strokes of a cane. Now that’s some tough love. Yeah, our kids are l-u-c-k-y!

Via Reuters here.

Gender's Up to Five-Year-Old Hermaphrodite, Not Parents

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:35:00 GMT

Their child is a boy . . . and a girl. And as far as the Colombian courts are concerned, the 5-year-old hermaphrodite's parents do not have the right to sew the child's vagina shut and remove an ovary to allow for normal development of the penis and testicles.

Born with both female and male sexual organs, the youngster has been raised as a boy since birth. That's why his/her (I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't know quite which to say) father has been pressing for the right to schedule the surgery. But the court says at 5 it's too late for the parents to be making the decision - it's up to the child. I'd tend to agree - especially in light of the stories I've heard from the transgendered community over the years about the first time they remember feeling like they were in the "wrong" body. But what if the child chooses wrong?

Kids, by their nature, love to role play. Until adults start putting ideas in their head that somehow their behavior is abnormal (ugh), little boys will parade around in their sister's tutu or announce themselves as "Dora" today. The same goes for girls who might one day insist they're a boy, the next they're a girl, and back again. It can be a phase or it can be a sign of things to come. So how do you let a 5-year-old make this kind of decision?

The Intersex Society of North America, a non-profit advocacy group for the "intersex," actually advises against surgeries for children with both male and female reproductive organs - unless medical intervention is necessary for a child's health. Interestingly, they do advocate "gender assignment," essentially treating the child as one sex or the other from birth. In this case, the family has done that, choosing to treat their child as a son. But the ISNA says that has to be done after doctors do a complete evaluation to determine which gender the child is more likely to identify with as they grow up. Although it can't be 100 percent (think about the numbers of people seeking gender reassignment surgery), they say there are some markers within the body that give a general sense of how the rest of the body will develop.

Makes sense to me, and clears up a portion of the worry about letting a 5-year-old make such a huge decision. If doctors can say the body is developing one way or the other, and a child has significant support from the medical community (including counselors), this kind of decision should rest in the body of the person who will have to live with the results. Even if they're 5 years old.

Image: Mother Jones

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Lawyer sent twin sister to court when she was busy

Brett Singer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Two Italian women have been accused of fraud because one of them pretended to be the other one – in court.

(Note: The photo is not of those sisters, whose last names were not used in the story. The photo is from "The Patty Duke Show," which was about twin cousins.)

One sister, Gabriella, is an attorney and part-time judge. When her judgeship conflicted with her court schedule, she sent her twin sister, Patrizia, to fill in for her.

Two problems: first, Patrizia would tell clients and colleagues that she was Gabriella. Second, Patrizia isn't a lawyer.

Actually, there's a third problem, which is that Gabriella would bill clients for her time even though she wasn't actually, you know, there. But that happens all the time, right? (OK, bad bad bad lawyer joke, sorry.)

For no reason other than the fact that this story made the song pop into my head, here is the intro for "The Patty Duke Show." ("But they're sisters / Identical sisters, each a star. / One pair of matching bookends / But only one of them passed the bar…")

Source: rte

Image: wikipedia

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No dinero for Dina

Brett Singer — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

What do you call a couple that spent $1 million on lawyers while getting divorced, and the result was that the wife got $100,000, plus $1,075 a month in child support?

You would call them the McGreeveys. (Well, not anymore, they're divorced.)

Yes, Mr. "I Am A Gay American" and the former first lady of the Garden State are finished with their contentious divorce proceeding. NYMag describes the courtroom drama as, "incredibly public, ugly, and drawn-out," which is kind of true, although it didn't quite have the legs of the Christie Brinkley / Peter "19 is legal, dammit!" Cook case.

What's fascinating to me is that Dina is getting almost nothing. She gets a one-time payment of $109,295 from Jimbo, which is half of their shared investments, so it kind of doesn't count in my book. $1,075 a month in child support is, if I may be so bold, bupkis.

So why no dinero for Dina? Jim don’t have no money. NYMag says, "since McGreevey argued that he only makes $48,000 per year while he is in seminary, the judge ruled him 'underemployed.'" So he's studying to be a priest. I guess his book didn't sell as well as people had hoped. Jim is living with a "super-wealthy financier" but those assets don't factor in. ("Jim's in love with a Jersey boy..." OK, don't go there.)

Judge Karen M. Cassidy said that both Jim and Dina, "clearly had agendas," and "their anger seemed to override any ability to testify credibly or to be reasonable." At least she went after both of them, unlike the judge in the YouTube cuckoo-wife case.

I have to wonder how angry you have to be at your spouse to spend $500,000 on attorney's fees - each - when you must have known that there was no pot of gold at the end of the divorce rainbow. Sure, Dina was married to a guy that was sleeping with, well, another guy, so she's mad. And Jim… well, he's mad at her for something, I guess. According to the New York Post, the couple will do some swapping of 401k plans and other relatively minor assets, like a $1500 checking account. She was only asking for $2500/month. So how do you rack up half a mil worth of legal bills? Fuzzy math, at best. They have a daughter together; hopefully they'll be able to deal with each other somewhat civilly.

image/source: NYMag

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Patricia Duff's daughter wants an order of protection against her

Brett Singer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Continuing with our theme of ugly high profile divorce cases, here's a real doozy: Patricia Duff and Revlon billionaire Ron Perelman's daughter is trying to get an order of protection against Duff. Perelman's lawyers are backing the request, with Adria Hillman citing "incredible amount of emotional abuse"; she also says that the girl "stated that she does not want to go back to her mother." Patricia Duff's attorney Yoni Levoritz says that Duff and daughter are having, "typical mother-and-teenager disagreements, noting that children of divorced parents often pit one against the other." Sure, but they don't usually ask for an order of protection, do they?

Interestingly, the New York Post has a photo of Duff entering the courthouse alone, but Perelman is with their daughter. So I guess we know which side she's on.

The couple has been divorced for some time now; Perelman has since married and divorced actress Ellen Barkin. Here's my favorite line from the article: "Perelman and Duff have each been married four times." If this kid winds up even somewhat well-adjusted, it'll be a miracle.

image: NYPost

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Man dresses up as a woman to marry a man

Brett Singer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:00:00 GMT

So two people get married. A man and a woman. Or so the clerk thought.

Turns out "Justine" was really "Justin." Specifically Justin L. McCain, an 18-year-old who wanted to marry Antonio E. Blount, his 31-year-old boyfriend. One reason they were able to pull it off was because of a "design quirk" in the Virginia driver's licenses – the "M" or "F" in the "gender" area is obscured by the state seal. One wonders why no one seemed to notice that the name on the license was "Justin" rather than "Justine". Newport News Court clerk Rex Davis said that, "When things are rolling along and you don't have any reason to suspect that somebody is not being completely forthright with you, you might not take the time to check." Gee, and I thought New York City was a busy place. Davis issued the happy couple a marriage license, and then they went to Richmond to get hitched. Which they did.

The story makes it sound like the ruse might not have been discovered at all if McCain hadn't come back to Newport News to apply for a name change. Our busy clerk Rex Davis became suspicious when he saw the name, which was – get this -- Penelopsky Aaryonna Goldberry, which blogger Christian Hall points out is "pretty much the best name ever." I mean, where the hell do you come up with that one?

The marriage is illegal in the state of Virginia because, well, they're both dudes. Or rather, they're both "legally" dudes. The article quotes attorney Cole Thaler from the group Lambda Legal as saying that, "it's not deceptive for a transgender person who lives their life as a gender different from the gender they were assigned." In fact, "You could have a driver's license in New York state that says you're a male and have a birth certificate from New York City that says you're female," says Paisley Currah of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.

According to the article, most states (the exceptions being Tennessee, Ohio and Idaho) "typically change one's gender on their birth certificate following gender reassignment surgery." What's not clear is whether or not Justin/Justine/Penelopsky has had surgery or not.

Now prosecutors have to decide whether or not to bring charges against the two lovebirds. Of course, if we would just LET GAY PEOPLE GET MARRIED THIS WOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE. Ahem.

And just for yucks, here's the video for Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like A Lady).

image: worth1000.com

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What Exactly Is the "Disney Look"?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:01:00 GMT

A guy in South Florida is suing Disney World for employment discrimination. The trumpet performance junior at the University of South Florida decided to take Mr. Mouse and Co. to court after he applied for a trumpet player position and was told by a supervisor that while he was totally qualified for the job, he did not have the "Disney look" and wouldn't be hired. Which has to make you wonder--what exactly is the Disney look?

Well, I can tell you what it isn't, according to the hiring guy: You can't look like a Sikh. And that's exactly what the prospective horn player is, and he has the turban and beard required by his religion. His lawyers add they have a witness who heard the supervisor tell the applicant he didn't fit the Disney image, and that it was clear the reference was to the beard and turban. One of the lawyers said, "If Disney is regarded as an iconic American company, what is an American supposed to look like?" I guess something more along the lines of Snow White.

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Kelly Mills — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:27:00 GMT

Remember Lori Drew? How about Megan Meier? Megan, a thirteen-year-old, hung herself after her MySpace boyfriend, Josh, cruelly dumped her. This itself would be bad enough, but the real ugly part is that Josh didn't exist. He was the creation of Lori Drew, who was Megan's neighbor and the mother of a girl Megan was once friends with. Drew, with the aid of a nineteen-year-old employee of hers, created Josh, maintained a relationship with Megan, laughed abut it and let her daughter and daughter's friend in on the joke, and then had "Josh" tell Megan the world would be better off without her.

Since being a phenomenally evil creep isn't a crime, investigators didn't charge Drew in the case. But now a federal grand jury has indicted her on one count of conspiracy and three counts of using protected computers without authorization to get information used to harass and torment a teenage girl. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The indictment includes the fact that MySpace users agree to terms forbidding users from promoting information they know to be false, soliciting personal information from anyone under eighteen, and using the site to harass others. Drew of course did all of the above. Too bad there isn't really a punishment that can make up for what she did.

Photo: Tom Gannam / AP

Dad Gets Jail Time When His Kid Fails Math Test

Kelly Mills — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Talk about being responsible for your kids' behavior: A guy in Kentucky is serving six months in jail. Why? His daughter failed her math test and didn't get her GED. The GED was required by a previous court order, and even though his daughter is now 18 years old, the decision was rendered when she was 16, a minor. Apparently at 16 she developed a habit of skipping school.

The daughter, Brittany Gegner, who now has an eighteen-month-old child of her own, says if anyone should serve jail time, it should be her, since she failed the test. The man's ex-wife also thinks the punishment is ludicrous, and says if anyone should be in jail, it should be her, because her daughter was living with her at the time of the trouble. Before we throw everyone in jail, maybe we could get this girl some math tutoring?

Anyhow, do you think it's a fair punishment?

Two Moms Brawl at Chuck E. Cheese

Kelly Mills — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:02:00 GMT

You know how it goes: One minute you are hosting a birthday party for your kid, and the next thing you know, you are in a fistfight with another mom. Two mothers are going to court soon over a tussle at a party at Chuck E. Cheese. I'm pretty sure part of the defense strategy will be, "Your Honor, there are mitigating circumstances to consider. After all, my client was at Chuck E. Cheese, and I doubt anyone has spent time there and not wanted to strike someone."

Of course, it all started over a video game. One kid was using the game, and the birthday boy's mom told her son to be patient. Then the game kid pushed the birthday boy, who said he was hogging the game. Birthday boy's mom said game boy was finished, game boy's mom said he wasn't, words were exchanged, and then game boy's mom attacked birthday boy's mom. They fought for a bit, and planned to take it to the parking lot when the police arrived. Pretty sad for the kids, and police are filing charges against both ladies. No word on whether any large mice were injured, but we can only hope.

Seinfeld Says He Was Joking About Cookbook Author As Killer

Kelly Mills — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:31:00 GMT

Jerry Seinfeld's lawyers asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by Missy Chase Lapine, author of a cookbook with many similarities to Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." We've covered this one for a while, and you might remember that it all kinda started when people began noting that "Deceptively Delicious," published in October of last year, seemed an awful lot like "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals," which came out six months earlier.

Before you assume anything, you can always review some of the details of the book scandal here, but how did Mr. Seinfeld get involved? He went on Letterman and compared her to the killers of John Lennon and Martin Luther King, Jr., and his lawyers say it's clear he was kidding. I have no doubt he was joking about that, but personally, I'd be more pissed by the fact that he basically said Lapine was after Jessica because she's famous and that crackpots and stuff like this are part of being a celebrity, and there was no "ha ha" in that. Well, Lapine is suing for "copyright and trademark infringement, and made slander and defamation claims." I guess we'll see if using fame to pimp a book has any kind of price tag--and I mean for Jessica, who didn't mind the being a celebrity so much when it meant tons of free publicity for the cookbook.