On October 10^th, 2013 at Blair Middle School, 11-year old Tae’Quan Smith left his class line outside of the cafeteria to use the restroom. What followed was “great force and violence” committed by school resource officer and 22 year veteran, Officer Cynthia LaVertu. This according to a $500,000 lawsuit against her actions, is where LaVertu allegedly grabbed Tae’Quan by the arm, and then forced his contact with a wall or locker. Four years later, LaVertu continues to patrol for the Police Department, according to spokeswoman Cpl. Melinda Wray, but was removed from Blair Middle School after the incident.

Jonathan DeLoatche, the Smith attorney, stated that police officers are not to enforce discipline in school unless there is a crime or imminent threat. “He was committing no crime, and there was no imminent threat to (anyone). It was goofing off in the hallway, if anything.” Tae’Quan’s mother, Tandakelia Smith, was suing LaVertu for gross negligence and battery toward her son. Smith had her son admitted to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD), where a minimum of two doctors concluded and testified that his left forearm was broken and it was possible he may not fully recover.

LaVertu’s lawyers alleged Tae’Quan disobeyed his substitute teacher when he wouldn’t get back in line. The officer told the student that he wouldn’t be disrespecting the teacher, before taking action. As part of her counter-argument, LaVertu noted there was no evidence of a break in any of Tae’Quan’s X-rays or MRIs. Support to her testimony would have included two doctors who analyzed the X-rays concluding there was no sign of a break, and the doctor who treated Tae’Quan at CHKD who would have testified the boy had a left shoulder strain. This requiring he wear a sling for a few weeks.

However, due to his age, doctors initially treating Tae’Quan believed the arm’s growth plate was fractured and treated the arm as such.

Ultimately, Judge Michelle Atkins approved a $14,000 settlement on July 28^th. It concluded that Smith attorney DeLoatche be compensated $5,800 and $626 go toward the medical costs incurred. The remaining funds, $7,564, will be held by the Circuit Court Clerk and then distributed to Tae’Quan Smith, currently fifteen years of age, when he reaches adulthood. According to DeLoatche, Smith is currently in good health with no sign of permanent arm damage.

The law through the Americans with Disabilities Act requires all hospitals to provide adequate communication means to help those with physical impairments. However, most hospitals have not complied with this requirement.

A case in point is the current lawsuit filed against Lifespan Corp, Rhodes Island Hospital and its pediatric wing, Hasbro, by the Rhode Island Association of the Deaf. The association filed the suit on behalf of two mothers: Peggy Mehri and Kathryn Arcana.

Peggy Mehri

Peggy, widowed in May this year, has had issues with the Rhode Island Hospital for some time. Both Peggy and her husband had a hearing impairment. Her woes at the facility began with the diagnosis of her husband with lymphoma complications.

Fleeing the Hospital

On different occasions, they requested for an interpreter with little success. The suit says that at some point when Semi got hospitalized with dehydration sepsis, he was so frustrated by the poor communication that he tried to flee from the facility.

Another part of Peggy’s suit involves her son. Recently, he was admitted at Hasbro for an apparent discomfort. Again the facility failed to provide an interpreter for her. What’s worse, they did not inform her of her son’s shoulder injury or that he needed a psychiatric.

Kathryn Arcana

Kathryn is also widowed and hearing impaired. Her issues with Hasbro dates back to 2014. Her son Luke C suffers from an inherited blood disorder and sickle cell anemia. However, according to the suit, the hospital has continuously refused to provide effective ways of communicating to her the condition of her child despite taking him through numerous blood transfusions.

The culmination of her woes was the removal of Luke’s spleen without her informed consent. She became so distressed with Hasbro’s lack of initiative to help her that she fell sick, the suit adds.

Unfair wages

According to the lawsuit, the lack of interpreters at Rhodes Island Hospital is due to the facility’s unwillingness to pay fair wages to interpreters.

The President of RIAD, Todd Murano, stated that this had caused unfathomable distress and frustration to the deaf community in Rhodes Island.

Points of interest

The lawsuit demands that the US District Court finds the facility guilty of discrimination against these women. It also asks that the court orders Lifespan Corp to employ qualified interpreters as demanded by law.

Rapper and reality show star, Fetty Wap, is facing a $242,703 lawsuit filed by his former employee Shawna Morgan for alleged breach of contract and defamation. This is the second civil case that the New Jersey based rapper has had in 2 years after he was sued by a Danish artistin 2015 for using copyrighted beats in his 2015 single, “Trap Queen”.

According to the court documents, Shawna Morgan has filed a collective complaint against Fetty Wap, Fetty Wap Touring Inc., and RFG Productions Inc. Fetty Wap Touring Inc. is a corporation based in Hackensack, New Jersey responsible for running Fetty’s touring operations. RFG Production, on the other hand, is the company that is in charge of Fetty’s business operations.

Morgan complains to the court that Fetty has neither paid her for the services she provided to him during his tours nor reimbursed her for all the performance related expenses that she paid for him at the request of Fetty Touring and RFG. Morgan further claims that Fetty and the two companies that represent him have not paid her the commission that she earned during the tour. She says that they had agreed to pay her a fee of 5% or 10% of the booking fees per show as compensation for the supervisory work that she did during the shows.

Apart from her getting the compensation that they owe her for the services she rendered, she is also trying to get back the regular travel and expenses that she paid for Fetty. She asserts that she covered these expenses based on the agreement that Fetty and his corporations would reimburse her promptly and regularly.

In her lawsuit, Morgan says that Fetty Wap and the two companies have not being paying her as agreed. According to her court submission, they had not paid her reimbursements and commissions since late 2016 and early 2017. Morgan maintains that Fetty Touring owes her $176,408.79, while RFG owes her $66,294.42. In total, Morgan is trying to get a total of $242,703.21 from Fetty and his companies.

In response to Shawna Morgan’s lawsuit, rapper Fetty Wap claims that the lawsuit filed on August 28 has no grounds. According to Fetty, he fired Morgan for allegedly misrepresenting herself as upper management.

In a press release, released by Fetty on August 10, he further states that he dismissed her because she had been stealing from him and his clients. According to him, she stole more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Morgan has since then refuted these allegations and launched a defamation lawsuit against Fetty.

On August 31, Arkema Inc. suffered from a series of fires at their chemical plant in Crosby, Texas. The chemical fires were a result of Hurricane Harvey flooding. First responders that arrived at the scene are now suing Arkema Inc. for failing to inform anyone of the toxic fumes given off in the facility.

Who Is Arkema Inc.?

Arkema is a chemicals and materials manufacturer headquartered in France. It has global operations, billions in assets, many research centers, and over a hundred production plants around the world.

At the Crosby, Texas location, Arkema produces liquid organic peroxides. Without refrigeration, these chemicals can catch fire. When flooding occurred from Hurricane Harvey, the company couldn’t prevent explosions from occurring at the plant.

Who Is Suing Arkema Inc.?

Seven first responders who arrived on the scene after the explosions filed the initial lawsuit against Arkema. They allege that no one warned them of the possibility of dangerous toxic fumes in the air. They say no one informed them multiple explosions occurred at the plant prior to them arriving.

They arrived without proper protection. The first responders included sheriff’s deputies and medical personnel. The first responders say they grew ill and started vomiting at the site. Many of them went to the hospital.

How Did Arkema Respond?

The first responders claim Arkema representatives repeatedly said the smoke from the burning chemicals is non-toxic. Arkema says they did not mislead anyone concerning the dangers of breathing the smoke from the fires. They intend to fight the allegations against them.

Who Else Was Affected?

Another lawsuit against Arkema is likely. This one will come from homeowners closest to the plant. This comes from the evacuation of some homes while the company destroyed their degrading organic peroxide.

Arkema representatives and government agencies found no evidence of toxicity in the air in areas away from the plant. After days of testing the air over the plant, the EPA found no chemicals that exceeded air quality values.

Overall, this is still an ongoing case. Investigations remain underway. Results of the lawsuit are in the future. What impact this and any other lawsuits may have on chemical plants or regulations in Texas remains in question.

In a recent turn of events on the corridors of justice, the Boy Scouts of America were arraigned in the Dallas County District Court for negligence over the demise of a Fort Worth teenager three months ago.

The grieving parents of Reid Comita, 15, have sued the Irving-based scouting organization for the wrongful death, alleging that lack of adequate supervision and safety training led to the death of their son. Comita was seeking his final merit badge to achieve the prestigious Eagle Scout status when he met his untimely death; Reid died of a heat stroke in the remote West Texas at Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch on June 12. In a recent interview with WFAA, the father of the deceased, John Comita, was of the view that the Boy Scouts of America are to be held responsible for his son’s demise. “The Boy Scouts are to be held responsible for my son’s death” he said.

According to Reid’s parents, they signed their son up for a beginner, but he ended up on a more arduous trail in the scorching 99-degree heat. The parents are suing the scouts for sending their son on an “extremely aggressive hike” through a rugged and remote terrain in Southwest Texas. “He wasn’t an athlete. He was not prepared to go on an advanced hike” his father said. Photos from the Boy Scouts Facebook fan page show a rugged, mountainous terrain that meanders through the Jeff Davis County.

The lawsuit also faults the scouts for sending Reid on a hike devoid of proper training before leaving the camp. The petitioner further faults the scouts for sending Reid with two other teenagers, a 14 and 18-year old, instead of the two adults that the regulations require.The turn of events has left Copper, Reid’s mother emotionally strained, crushed, baffled and angry as well. The lawsuit further faults the scouts for the communication glitch; the parents claim that they were never notified of their son’s death for more than four hours.

On Thursday, the Scouts declined to comment on the lawsuit but issued their deepest condolences to Reid`s family. Also, they assured the friends and families of the members that the health and safety of their members remained their biggest priority. According to Copper, Reid was “very special”; he had just cleared his freshman year at Keller Central High School. When he was not earning merits and badges, Reid participated in the men’s choir. For Copper, the loss of such a brilliant son is a void that cannot simply be filled.