Archive for News – Page 90

Corporate Responsibility and Personal Accountability on Trial in Utah

The debate over whether corporate accountability trumps personal responsibility is on the legal docket of Utah’s 3rd District Court.  In the wake of a drunken attack at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort’s annual Oktoberfest last year, which left three participants badly hurt, and another three standing before the bar with third-degree felony assault charges lodged against them, the suit’s plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the resort for failing to control the sale of alcohol at the annual event.

altercation-quoteAccording to documents filed with the court, the plaintiffs, Brent Anderson, his wife Laura, and their adult son, Thadius Grzeskiewicz, were allegedly attacked after exiting the tram at the top of Hidden Peak following a verbal conflict with the defendants during the ascent.

In assigning blame, the plaintiff’s attorney, James McConkle, noted, “No Snowbird employees or security, either at the peak or on the tram, took any steps to protect our clients from what was clearly a foreseeable danger given the heavy drinking that was going on.”

The attorney went on to say that, the Oktoberfest celebrations have taken on a “spring break” cast in participant’s behavior, and holding a drinking festival in a mountainous canyon presents safety problems for those attending.  The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for personal injuries, medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

In statements countering the charges, Snowbird Resort President, Bob Bonar, argued that responsibility belongs with the participants in the altercation rather than with the resort.

“Guest and employee safety are a top priority,” according to Bonar, “this is an unprecedented event involving two parties that should have walked away from each other to prevent this altercation.”

To buttress his claim, Bonar added that in the Snowbird’s 44-year history of holding the festival, not once have they been subject to alcohol violations by local authorities.  He also took to task the notion that the festival’s location presents a hazard to public safety.

“Snowbird offers free rides home to any guest requesting the van services of Canyon Transportation,” said Bonar.  To expand riding opportunities, the Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort has collaborated with Uber on a ride program designed to get the resort’s participants home safely.

Whether corporate accountability will be trumped by personal responsibility is now in the hands of Utah’s 3rd District Court.

Beaten Brothers Sue 49ers for Lack of Stadium Security

For those of us familiar with the tales of riots following intense hockey or soccer games, it comes as no surprise that some passionate sports fans are capable of serious aggression and violence. But it’s not specific to any one sport;  as two 49ers season ticket holders discovered last year, sometimes the alcohol and the energy of football fans can lead to unexpected danger.

bad-applesWhile attending a 49ers game in 2014, brothers Kiran and Amish Patel were attacked in a Levi’s stadium bathroom by two reputed gang members, Dario and Amador Rebollero. The incident was supposedly captured in a video posted on YouTube, in which one man punches another three times while other fans stand aside and watch. This summer, Amador was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two felony assault charges related to the incident. That’s not the end of it, say the victims–now, they’re suing the team.

According to the Patel brothers’ lawsuit, filed last Friday with the Santa Clara County Superior Court, the San Francisco 49ers did not ensure the proper stadium security to protect fans from the possibility of violence. Not only does it call out their own beating incident, but it also alleges that the team was already aware of the possibility of violence at NFL games, and suggests that the 49ers are simply too lax about it, especially given the recent legal troubles of some of the team’s own players (Bruce Miller and Ray McDonald, for example). The lawsuit also does not specify a dollar amount for damages, suggesting that both brothers are still receiving medical care for related injuries.

Of course, the 49ers maintain that they were equally appalled by the incident and applaud the Santa Clara Police Department’s response, emphasizing that the safety of all visitors and NFL fans is of the utmost importance. Additionally, city officials have begun to consider restricting alcohol consumption at sporting events.

Is this a case of mislaid blame for the actions of two bad apples, or is it a legitimate lawsuit needed to bring an institutionalized acceptance of violence into check? That’s the difficult question that only Santa Clara County will have the authority to answer, now.

Paul Walker’s Daughter Engaged in Complex Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Wrongful death suits can be complex matters requiring the aid of a competent legal professional. A good example of this complexity is the pending civil lawsuit in the death of Fast and Furious movie franchise actor Paul Walker. Meadow Walker, the daughter of the deceased superstar actor, has filed a lawsuit against Porsche, the maker of the car in which her father died. It is her belief that Porsche bears responsibility for Paul Walker’s death because the car had design defects, helping precipitate his death.

porsche-paul-walker-lawsuitThe Accident

In 2013, Paul Walker sat in the passenger side of a Porsche Carrera GT during a charity event. The driver, Roger Rodas, apparently sped along between 80 to 90-mph before running into a pole. As expected, this high-speed collision led to a fire, after which authorities pronounced both men dead.

The Lawsuit

16 year-old Meadow Walker contends that her father survived the crash, which would mean that it was not the proximate cause of death. Instead, she opines that the failure of Porsche to install certain safety features led to the occupants being trapped until caught in the blaze.

She believes that the proper safety control features would have prevented the seat belt of Paul Walker from violently snapping his torso and breaking other parts of his body. Immobilized, he lay in wait as the flames engulfed him and his friend, driver Roger Rodas.

Porsche challenges this narrative, claiming that they and the investigators are correct that the reckless driving of Roger Rodas was the primary cause of the deaths.

Elements of Wrongful Death

There are some elements that must be present in the facts for a plaintiff to be successful in a wrongful death lawsuit.

  • Duty-the defendant (here Porsche) must have had a responsibility to protect the victims.
  • Breach of Duty-the defendant failed in handling their responsibility to provide protection.
  • Causation-the actions of the defendant were the direct cause of death.

In general, Meadow Walker must prove that Porsche’s manufacturing of the car failed to provide the level of expected safety. Also, she should demonstrate that beyond this failure, nothing else played a more direct cause of the occupants’ deaths. The automaker is clearly challenging the causation, steadfastly contending that the driver was reckless.

As is common in these cases, it will take time to discern just what was the ultimate cause of the deaths. Wrongful death is a legal specialty best left to the professionals. For this reason, it is always wise for anyone involved in such a lawsuit, whether plaintiff or defendant, to consult a personal injury attorney as soon possible.

Baltimore School System Funding Targeted by Charter Schools

Alleging the Baltimore School District uses a funding formula that violates the laws of Maryland, a group of charter schools has brought suit in Circuit Court. Moreover, the lawsuit as filed claims the district’s actions negatively impact the schools’ ability to serve thousands of their students.

state-funding-lawsDainique Dolly, a principal of one of the charter schools, stated, “We were hoping it would not come to this, but we’ve reached a point where we have to stand up for our children and families.” There are a total of eight charter schools listed in the lawsuit. These schools serve collectively at least 3,600 of the 13,700 students who are enrolled in charter schools in the district. This group also includes some of the schools considered as the highest-performing among all schools in the city.

According to the charter funding complaint, a proposed new funding formula would significantly hurt the economic survivability of the schools. The group claims the change is a violation of the contractual obligations of the city and would leave them unable to pay for teachers, books and other expenses.

City school leadership expressed dismay over the filing of the lawsuit, indicating they had hoped for additional discussion on the matter. Although they had not reviewed the documents the officials said they saw the new proposal as a way to “refine a model that ensures continuation of commensurate funding for all students and schools — charters and non-charters.”

Dolly responded that her group viewed the anticipated action from another perspective. She opined that the school district was “backsliding from a more transparent system, where funds follow children to the classroom, to the old ways of controlling dollars and centralized decisions.”

The controversy arises over the interpretation of the intent and literal meaning of state funding laws and formulas. According to the numbers, the district now spends about $15,000 per student per year. This includes direct allocations (totaling $9,387 in 2014) and services provided by the district. The literal interpretation of the funding formula would have the district providing approximately $13,000 to the charter schools for each student. The district contends this amount is neither practical nor sustainable.

It now appears that repeated failures at efforts at mediate the issue will now require the courts to sort it out.

Occupy Wall Street Arrest: Judge Rejects Wrongful Arrest Lawsuit

A mother who sued New York alleging wrongful arrest during the Occupation Wall Street movement found a deaf ear in a Manhattan Federal Court recently. After deliberating for only 40 minutes the jury rejected the claim of Stacey Hessler that she was treated roughly during an arrest by officers of the NYPD in 2011.

Occupy-suit-juryKessler had come to New York specifically to participate in the movement that originated near the financial center of the city. She claimed that she was protesting properly and following the instructions of the officers involved. However, she says she was arrested without cause, with one officer pulling her by her hair.

The jury had the advantage of being able to view a video of the arrest, which the city’s legal team claims showed a different story. According to those attorneys, Kessler was blocking traffic and interfering with the officers involved. They contended that the woman was properly arrested and had, in fact, resisted a lawful arrest.

Representing the city as one of its attorneys, Andrew Lucas pointed out the many decisions officers were required to make during those demonstrations. He indicated, “Officers were faced with balancing the rights of protesters with the rights of people who live and work in the neighborhood. The jury’s quick deliberation showed that they understood and agreed with what the officers did that day.”

The finding of the jury left Kessler with no financial award for her troubles. She had claimed a long list of negative consequences from her alleged brutal illegal arrest. Included in these were “panic attacks, mental anguish and unwarranted severe anger bouts.” Additionally, Kessler had problems at home after she returned from New York, blaming the arrest for a severe strain that caused breakdowns in her personal relationships in and out of her home.

This case had a different conclusion than that of six other Occupy protestors settled recently.  These six received a total of $332,500 in a settlement that ended their litigation. According to Law Department spokesperson Nicolas Paolucci, “Settling was in the city’s best interest.”

High School Football Hazing Assault Results in School District Lawsuit

A six-month investigation into the suicide of a 17-year-old high school student from Milton High School that led to the conviction of five football players on various charges has now led to a lawsuit against the school district as well as several administrators.

HighSchool-hazing-deathLawsuit Overview

Milton High School, the Milton School District, Superintendent John Barone and Principal Anne Blake are all named as defendants in the lawsuit filed by the young man’s family. The lawsuit claims that the defendants failed to prevent the hazing and bullying of Jordan Preavy, who was a member of the Milton High School football team at the time.

Legal documents indicate that Jordan Preavy was the target of an assault by several of the other members of the football team, and that assault eventually lead to his death. The victim’s family has filed this lawsuit holding the school district and the named defendants responsible for not upholding their bullying and hazing policies to prevent the assault and the resulting hostile educational environment.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants had sufficient previous knowledge of the hazing traditions, which were long-standing among the football team. It goes on to assert that, despite this knowledge, no effort was made to protect the football players who were typically targets of this type of behavior.

Restitution Requested

According to the court records, the lawsuit doesn’t name a specific dollar amount that the family is seeking, but does ask that the courts order financial restitution for pain and suffering. It also asks the courts to take into consideration the emotional distress caused by the incident and the loss of dignity on the part of the victim after the assault. The family claims that the assault and hazing interfered with the victim’s ability to obtain an equal education because of the hostility of the environment after the trauma.

The School District Response

The report also indicates that the school’s now-retired athletic director and teacher-coach both attempted to report the incident, but did so directly to the principal and superintendent, who failed to act on the complaint. The superintendent is currently on paid leave pending the trial outcome with an interim superintendent being hired to fill the vacancy.

CTA Settles Wrongful-Death Suit with $4.3 Million Payment

In a tragic series of events in October 2009, a woman was killed after being struck in an intersection–but a conflict in the details led grieving family members to file a lawsuit against the Chicago Transit Authority. According to the CTA, the woman, Martha Gonzalez was first struck by a hit-and-run driver and then struck again accidentally by a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus. Her family, however argued in their suit that there was no hit-and-run car, as it was not visible in any of the footage from the bus itself. Whatever the truth is, as of Wednesday September 9th, 2015, the CTA board has approved a payment in the amount of $4.3 million to the woman’s estate, settling the suit.

Martha-Gonzalez-PlaceThe CTA describes the hit-and-run vehicle as a blue sedan operated by a male driver, though no suspects for the hit-and-run have been identified since the accident. The CTA bus driver who was said to be following the blue sedan at the time, Frankie Myles, was not charged with any criminal offenses or given a traffic ticket, but retired a few short years after the incident. Although the CTA holds firm to its assertion that Gonzalez was struck accidentally following the initial fatal hit-and-run, CTA president Dorval Carter Jr. has explained that the board feels that making the large settlement payment is the best option to not only avoid the unknowns and higher judgments of proceeding to court, but also to simply and swiftly put to rest a legal issue that is emotionally difficult and potentially stressful for all parties affected by the tragedy.

Since the accident, the intersection where the woman was killed has been renamed Honorary Martha Gonzalez Place. The pedestrian walk signal there now also has an additional safety feature: it activates a full four seconds before the change of the traffic light, hopefully giving pedestrians more time to cross before unscrupulous drivers attempt to cut them off. With dozens of deaths in Chicago each year attributable to accidents involving pedestrians, it may be only a matter of time before similar pedestrian walk signals are required at every intersection.

Moving in with Toxic Molds

A female resident files a lawsuit against her Landlord for moving in with Toxic Molds. She discovered later after moving into her new apartment that several symptoms were appearing in her body. The symptoms she noticed included; localized skin irritation, facial tingling, ear pain, fatigue, and skin infections. After all this signs, the tenant decided to file a lawsuit against her landlord for negligence. In her suit, she cited the cause of her symptoms were toxic molds arguing that these molds were allowed to infest the property without any attempt to settle the problem before she could rent. Furthermore, the landlord never gave any information about toxic molds in the apartment in the recent past. ABC7 eyewitness news video here.

In his defense, the landlord denied all the allegations. He argued that the property was well treated to remove all the molds and any toxins. He added that this was done before the plaintiff moved into the house. In the defense of the landlord, the presentation was that the tenant had complete awareness of the house history before actually moving in.

It was also revealed that the previous tenant was evicted because he failed to pay a study fee. He allegedly reported to the landlord about water damage in the apartment. This seemed to be facilitating the growth of molds in the house. In responding to his complaints, the landlord hired an Air Quality Company to do a study on the possible growth. It was their fee that the old tenant could not raise that saw his eviction.

The jury found that on all the accounts, the case was presented in favor of the landlord.

Based on the above suit, it is, therefore, important to learn how to avoid lawsuits from tenants. Below are useful reminders and significant tips on how to keep tenants happy and in turning your rental property intact.

  •  A Good lease agreement.
  •  All Fire alarms should be working
  •  Good communication with tenants
  •  Good routine maintenance
  •  Compliance with Insurance companies in the region
  •  Joining landlord association in your region

Massachusetts Case to Decide if Wi-Fi Signal Disrupts the Classroom Learning Environment

A Massachusetts school faces charges of impeding a student’s ability to learn because its WI-FI signal is so strong as to be distracting, states a federal court complaint.

mass-wifi-caseThe Supreme Court has affirmed a right to educational access in Brown vs, Board of Education (1954). Students with disabilities also have rights grounded in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Well, these issues, and others, are coming into play in a Massachusetts case involving high technology. A student at the Fay School in Southboro complains that the signal emissions from the institution’s Wi-Fi system cause severe irritation. As such, he and his parents have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the school is in violation of the ADA. The federal court plans to hear preliminary motions on September 4, five days prior to the start of classes.

At the heart of the matter is whether Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome (EHS), in which a person feels aggravated by electromagnetic radiation, is a real medical condition, deserving of ADA protection. The school apparently sent the 12-year old boy to its recommend doctor, who summarily dismissed the claim. Meanwhile, the parents have had the boy diagnosed with EHS, by another physician, saying he suffers from headaches and nausea when near high-frequency electromagnetic emissions.

The lawsuit seeks these things:

  • an injunction requiring either use of Ethernet cable Internet or reduction of the Wi-Fi signal.
  • $250,000 in damages.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes EHS. Others find its presence less than compelling. The boy’s parents believe the schools should err, if needed, on the side of helping students learn. Their son, they say, is in a 9-year plan to attend Fay and wants to remain. The Wi-Fi emissions are adversely affecting his learning; yet, the boy wants to stay at the school, as is his right, states the family.

It is very unclear just how the federal judge will rule. Also, one has to wonder if he will be able to make an appropriate decision in time to get the boy situated in school for the first day of classes.

School administrators and the family remain at loggerheads. Educators believe the Wi-Fi signal is well within federal standards. The boy’s parents, in contrast, believe the emissions above those in the average household.

Separation of Church and State in Public Education

The separation between church and state is a principle that is at the core of the U.S. constitution and the constitutions of individual states. It is a hot topic when it comes to school voucher systems and the schools that students can attend, especially in Nevada.

church-state-public-educationThe pursuit of a quality education is not without restriction, especially when it comes to the separation between church and state. This fundamental principle is a part of the Nevada and U.S. constitutions and has stirred controversy since the inception of the United States. Case-in-point, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged Nevada’s education voucher system in mid-2015, taking issue with public funds being used for education at religious schools.

The ACLU argues the separation of church and state principle applies to schools and voucher systems, where students use public funds to cover tuition and related education expenses. This point has been debated among Nevada lawmakers, but the ACLU is not satisfied with the state’s rationale regarding the schools that students can attend.

Students and parents are in a tough position at this point, both in the state of Nevada and in other states. Many students are only seeking a quality education, and often-times their best options lie at religious schools that are in close proximity to their family homes. Those students already using public funds to attend religious schools are in a more awkward position, because if they’re forced to stop their education or change schools, it can impact their ability to learn and their social groups.

However, the ACLU is only trying to uphold the principles that that Nevada constitution contains. It is a subject that is often hard to apply to everyday life, making it difficult for lawmakers to create legislation that is 100 percent effective. Groups such as the ACLU help the public scrutinize the effectiveness of legislation, making the laws of Nevada and the U.S. more effective.

The separation between church and state is a fundamental principle outlined in Nevada’s constitution, as well as the U.S. constitution. Church and state issues related to education are contentious topics among lawmakers, parents and concerned citizens.