Free Republic

MADISON, Wis. -- An accused burglar who fell through the roof of a Janesville home and was shot is now suing the homeowner who shot him. Kurt Prochaska was arrested last October and charged with burglary, WISC-TV reported. The homeowner, Michael Rainiero, said he shot Prochaska after he refused to leave the house. Prochaska's lawsuit claimed Rainiero used excessive force and that he intentionally shot him in the back, trying to sever his spinal cord. The Rock County district attorney believed Rainiero acted in self-defense and never pursued charges against him.

An inmate at an Oxfordshire jail is suing the Prison Service after he cut himself falling from the top bunk in his cell. The prisoner at Bullingdon near Bicester, told prisoners' magazine, Inside Time, bunk beds were "an accident waiting to happen". He suggested inmates should not be compelled to sleep on the top bunk. The Prison Service said it was trying to meet the needs of prisoners who felt unsafe sleeping on the top bunk. 'Bad gash' A spokesman said: "Prisoners who sleep in bunk beds have been advised for some time on how to use them safely and...

A Northeast Portland man is suing basketball superstar Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight for a combined $832 million. Allen Heckard filed the suit himself, June 29th in Washington County Court. Heckard says he’s been mistaken as Michael Jordan nearly every day over the past 15 years and he’s tired of it. “I'm constantly being accused of looking like Michael and it makes it very uncomfortable for me,” said Heckard. Heckard is suing Jordan for defamation and permanent injury and emotional pain and suffering. He’s suing Knight for defamation and permanent injury for promoting Jordan and making him one...

SCO Group Inc has willfully failed to comply with the orders of the court hearing its breach of contact and copyright case against IBM Corp, according to the Magistrate Judge, who has declared the company's failure to detail its evidence against IBM 'inexcusable'.... "Given the amount of code that SCO has received in discovery the court finds it inexcusable that SCO is in essence still not placing all the details on the table," wrote Judge Wells. "Certainly if an individual was stopped and accused of shoplifting after walking out of Neiman Marcus they would expect to be eventually told what...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An owner of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music player filed a federal lawsuit against the computer maker, claiming the device causes hearing loss in people who use it. The portable music players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, which seeks class action status. The suit, filed on behalf of John Kiel Patterson of Louisiana on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., seeks compensation for unspecified plaintiffs' damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer. Apple has...

<p>Certain state courts in Texas, Illinois, West Virginia and Florida are sought out the most by "litigation tourists," who are guided by personal-injury lawyers to jurisdictions they know will produce a victory, according to a recent report by a national tort-reform interest group. Courts in Rio Grande Valley and on the Gulf Coast of Texas; Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties, Ill.; West Virginia; and South Florida hear a disproportionate number of cases filed by plaintiffs "who neither lived nor were injured in these jurisdictions," says the report by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), a group of more than 300 businesses, corporations and municipalities. Jefferson County, Texas, which includes the cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur on the Gulf Coast, is "a notorious class-action magnet," according to the report, "Judicial Hellholes 2005." Between 1998 and 2002, the number of class-action lawsuits filed in the county increased by 82 percent, although only 13 percent of defendants and 64 percent of the named plaintiffs in the cases were residents of the county, the report says. Texas often is held out as a flagship state by tort-reform advocates because of a series of policies to restrict legal penalties in such cases enacted when President Bush was the state's governor. "Unfortunately, 'judicial hellholes' continue to exist in Texas," ATRA President Sherman Joyce said after the report's release. "Judges in these Texas jurisdictions continue to fail to apply the laws set forth by a decade of reforms enacted in this state." The Dec. 13 report cites a number of factors contributing to the designation, including the "willingness of courts to expand liability through novel legal theories" and the "prevalence of forum shopping."</p>

MIAMI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A Florida businessman has sued Florida Power & Light over Hurricane Wilma's massive blackouts, accusing the state's largest power company of gross negligence in failing to maintain power poles and other equipment. Wilma, which hit Florida on Oct. 24, knocked out electricity to about 3.2 million FPL customers, leaving nearly 6.5 million people without lights, refrigeration or air conditioning, some for weeks. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Broward County Circuit Court, seeks class-action status for the millions of people affected and alleges FPL, a unit of FPL Group Inc. , violated a statutory duty...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Mike Love is suing his cousin and former Beach Boys bandmate Brian Wilson, but Love's lawyer hopes the lawsuit won't mar their good vibrations. Love filed the lawsuit in federal court Thursday accusing Wilson of promoting his 2004 album, "Smile," in a manner that "shamelessly misappropriated Mike Love's songs, likeness and the Beach Boys trademark, as well as the 'Smile' album itself."

WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday passed a bill that would take away lawyers' licenses if they repeatedly file frivolous lawsuits, the latest in a Republican drive to crack down on what they consider costly abuses of the legal system. Supporters of the bill, which passed 228-184, said lawsuits deemed baseless by a judge for flimsy facts or faulty interpretations of the law are a waste of court time and often a bonanza for lawyers — rather than a chance to recoup legitimate damages for clients. In a statement, the White House called the bill "a step in the right...

When faced with a new battle, the enemies of gun manufactures, tobacco companies, fast food chains, and free enterprise in general usually adhere to the following well-tested pattern for whipping-up some public sympathy: Step 1: Identify people who knowingly and willfully caused harm to themselves or others. For example, a good selection would be someone who smoked for 30 years despite the large warning with the word "cancer" prominently featured on the side of every single pack of cigarettes they ever touched. Another good selection would be someone who loaded a Beretta 92, walked into a 7-Eleven, and shot the...

A drunken freshman at the University of Kansas thwarts the school's smoking ban by crawling out on the ledge outside of his dormitory, where he lights up, takes a drag and falls seven stories to his death. As much as most people would see this as a cleansing of the gene pool, the trial lawyers see this as another opportunity to exploit tragedy for personal enrichment. The teenager's family has sued the school, claiming it should have done more to protect their son from his own stupidity. The lawsuit naturally doesn't detail what precautionary steps should have been taken, nor...

An Israeli left wing group has filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom against Chief of General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and his predecessor, Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon, for their involvement in the 2002 assassination of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh. Halutz has been shrouded in controversy ever since July 2002, when under his command as head of the Air Force, a war plane dropped a one-ton bomb in downtown Gaza City on the apartment building of Shehadeh, killing 15 civilians along with Shehadeh, and wounding 150. In addition, the Yesh Gvul group announced that it was withdrawing a petition it...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a $1.35 million lawsuit against the founder of a website that accuses the controversial lobby group of supporting terrorism. The Washington, D.C.-based CAIR charges five statements made by its Internet critic, Anti-CAIR, amount to "libelous defamation." CAIR seeks $1 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages in addition to its legal fees and interest. Anti-CAIR's founder is Andrew Whitehead, 46, a retired Navy enlisted man in Virginia Beach, Va., who says he simply wants to see CAIR "go away." He told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper last week he has no money,...

Congress asked to probe ACLU Accused of 'widespread use of frivolous lawsuits' © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Following the ACLU's legal action against New York City for allegedly violating citizens' rights by random searches on subways, Congress is being asked to probe the group for "widespread use of frivolous lawsuits." "The ACLU's abuse of the legal system is criminal," said Don Swarthout, president of Christians Reviving America's Values, an advocacy group asking for the investigation. Calling it a "fund-raising stunt," Swarthout asserted the American Civil Liberties Union's action may also be dangerous to the citizens of New York City. "These searches are...

A few years ago, the strategy of gun-control advocates was obvious: File frivolous liability lawsuits against gun-makers and distributors, knowing that, whatever the ultimate merits of the cases, the manufacturers would be hard- pressed to keep fighting. Many would go out of business, profits would decline for others, and the high costs imposed by endless litigation would drive up the costs of guns and make it more difficult for many people to afford to buy them. It was a cynical strategy, but one that is about to end. A shift in political winds has changed the dynamic. A gain of...

Following the ACLU's legal action against New York City for allegedly violating citizens' rights by random searches on subways, Congress is being asked to probe the group for "widespread use of frivolous lawsuits." "The ACLU's abuse of the legal system is criminal," said Don Swarthout, president of Christians Reviving America's Values, an advocacy group asking for the investigation. Calling it a "fund-raising stunt," Swarthout asserted the American Civil Liberties Union's action may also be dangerous to the citizens of New York City. "These searches are part of a well-thought-out security plan and may stop a terrorist from walking onto the...

A federal judge has dismissed a $42 million lawsuit filed by the families of 11 of the 14 illegal entrants who died four years ago while trying to cross the desert through the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The bodies were found May 23, 2001, in the desert southeast of Yuma, some naked, others covered in vomit. Some victims had tried to bury themselves in the sand to escape the sun. Their smuggler made it 20 more miles before collapsing. He and 11 others survived. The lawsuit, filed in April 2003, sought to place the blame for the deaths squarely...

REMEMBER ALL that uproar over the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance? The special session of the Maryland General Assembly four months ago? The emergency bill? The tax on HMO premiums to underwrite malpractice insurance costs? The veto and the veto override? Seems like ancient history now. But here's the peculiar thing: The doctors who were desperate for financial relief from those hefty malpractice insurance bills have gotten no help whatsoever from their insurers or the state. And they've been told not to expect any assistance until July 1 at the earliest. Maryland doctors should be furious about this. Consumers,...

As gun makers seek to limit liability, a family stands opposed WASHINGTON -- The facts of Danny Guzman's death are beyond dispute: The 26-year-old father of two from Worcester was cut down by a stray bullet fired outside of a nightclub on Christmas Eve in 1999. The gun used to kill him, police determined, was stolen from a local gun factory by an employee, a crack addict who supported his habit by trading half-finished guns for drugs and cash. The weapon was taken from an assembly line before it was stamped with a serial number, making it a hot commodity...

SEATTLE -- The parents of a 23-year-old activist killed while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home is suing Caterpillar Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. The federal lawsuit, which lawyers said would be filed here Tuesday, alleges that Caterpillar violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces that it knew would be used to demolish homes and endanger people. Rachel Corrie, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, was standing in front of a home in a refugee camp in Rafah, near the Egyptian...