Legal Commentary

New Yorker Sues Over Alleged Racial Profiling Resulting in 21 Searches While Using the Subway

Posted on February 21, 2009
Jangir Sultan, 32 has sued the city of New York after he was allegedly searched 21 times in the subway because of this Middle Eastern appearance. He is actually a New York native of Kashmiri descent. The occupational therapist alleges that the racial profiling began after the New York Police Department implemented a search program [...

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Arkansas Man Arrested After Bringing Bag of Nickels to Bank . . . With a Gun Inside

Posted on February 21, 2009
Camden Arkansas police are dealing with a new form of a nickel plated hand-gun. An 18-year-old man walked into the BancorpSouth with a bag of nickels but forget that, with the $88 of nickels, he had left a .44-caliber handgun. He was arrested and then a bad day took a turn for the [...

Santa Slip and Fall: Chicago Woman Sues Allegedly Drunk Santa For Falling On Her

Posted on February 21, 2009
Antoinette Basso has filed a lawsuit alleging that she alleges that she was severely injured by a failing inebriated Santa Clause. The allegedly stewed Santa was Daniel Aulwes, who Basso claims fell on her and pushing her face first into the sidewalk outside of a Chicago restaurant...

Nevada Lawyer With Gambling Addiction Who Stole $400,000 From Clients is Given a Five Year Suspension

Posted on February 21, 2009
A frequent commentator on local television in Las Vegas, Douglas Crawford, 53, admits to stealing roughly $400,000 from his client, charging for work never performed, and violating court orders. Despite 65 violations of the Rule of Professional Conduct, the Nevada Supreme Court declared him to be addicted to both gambling and drug and rejected [...

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The Pitter Patter of Little Litigator Feet: Florida Courthouse Overrun With Mice

Posted on February 21, 2009
There appears to be no professional courtesy between counsel and rodents at the Palm Beach County Courthouse. The court is overrun with mice that are falling from the ceilings and running across the floor during trials. Mice have been appearing in briefcases and purses, forcing many to check before leaving the courthouse to avoid surprises [...

Alleged Cop Shooter Takes His Own Life After 10 Hour Standoff

Posted on February 21, 2009
In Louisville, Kentucky, Robert Datillo, 37, took his own life as police deployed tear gas after a 10-hour standoff. He was accused of wounding - 39-year-old Cpl. Dan Lawhorn and 32-year-old Officer Keith Broady. Police said Vincent Windell Jr. and Robert Datillo opened fire on the officers at a Motel 6...

McDonald?s Worker Denied Worker?s Compensation After Being Shot on Videotape

Posted on February 21, 2009
It was bad enough when Nigel Haskett was shot at McDonald’s in Little Rock, Arkansas. The worker had rushed to helped a woman who was struck by a man and was shot three times. He was then told by Claims specialist Misty Thompson with insurance company Ramsey, Krug, Farrell and Lensing responded, that [...

DWI: Driving While Impolitic in Oklahoma

Posted on February 20, 2009
Chip Harrison was driving in Oklahoma City when he was stopped by a member of the Oklahoma City Police Department for displaying a sign on his car critical of President Obama. The officer confiscated the sign saying “Abort Obama Not the Unborn” under the theory that the Secret Service might view it as a [...

False Flame Scam: Woman Conned Out of $300,000 in Nigerian Love Scam

Posted on February 20, 2009
We have yet another case of a person who was scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by Nigerian con artists. This one involved a love scam. The middle-aged divorcee in Edmonton was conned out of $300,000 before realizing that she had found larceny rather than love...

Fun with Fatwas: Saudi Imam Allegedly Issues Fatwa Against Using Alcohol as Fuel

Posted on February 20, 2009
There is a story that is roaring over the Internet that seems like a hoax. A website Adnkronos reported yesterday that Saudi imam Mohammed al-Najimi A Saudi imam has issued a fatwa or religious edict banning the use of alcohol as a fuel substitute for petrol...

Pillsbury D?oh!boy: D.C. Partner Leaks Firing Plan on Train By Speaking Loudly Into Cell Phone

Posted on February 20, 2009
Pillsbury partner Robert Robbins is facing some stern looks at his firm this week after it was revealed that he was the inadvertent source of the leaks of the firm’s plan to lay off lawyers that found its way to the Above the Law website. It turns out the Robbins took the opportunity to speak [...

Judge Sharon Keller Charged With Five Ethics Violations

Posted on February 20, 2009
Texas Judge Sharon Keller is having a bad month. Just last week, there was a move in the legislature to impeach her. Now the state judicial ethics commission has charged her with violating her duty and bringing discredit upon the judiciary. It is hard to be sympathetic with her position, however, given [...

Utah Senator Removed from Judicial Committee After Anti-Gay Comments

Posted on February 20, 2009
Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, has been removed from a judicial committee that he chaired after comparing gay activists to radical Muslims and saying that gay activists are “probably the greatest threat to America going down.” Buttars who appears a perfect nut case in the interview added: “It’s the beginning of the [...

Earning Your Bones In Court: Descendants of the Apache leader Geronimo Sue Yale and Skulls and Bones Society for Return of His Remains

Posted on February 19, 2009
Descendants of the Apache leader Geronimo have sued the ultra secret society, Skull and Bones, over rumors that the society stole his skull in a grave robbery detailed in society lore. Twenty members of the legendary warrior?s family are suing senior federal government officials, Yale University and the society Skull and Bones in the U...

Boring Couple Loses in Court: Federal Judge Dismisses Homeowners Google Lawsuit

Posted on February 19, 2009
Aaron and Christine Boring have been dismissed in their lawsuit against Google for showing their home on the popular website. The Boring couple sued Google for $25,000 for the street view of their home. Google has a system that allows individuals to ask to remove image of their homes...

Accused Serial Rapist and Murderer Lunges At Counsel in Seattle Courtroom

Posted on February 19, 2009
For those of you who believe that you have tough clients, you might want to consider the fate of Seattle attorney John Hicks. He represents rapist Curtis S. Thompson who must be wheeled into court with his chest, wrists and ankles bound due to prior threats against attorneys and a judge...

Grosse Tete?s Tiger: City Council Allows Truck Stop to Keep Tiger as Roadside Attaction

Posted on February 19, 2009
The Iberville Parish Council in Louisiana has voted 11-1 to allow Tiger Truck Shop owner Michael Sandlin to keep Tony, a Siberian Tiger, as a roadside attraction in Grosse Tete, Louisiana. The cruel confinement of the tiger does not appear to bother the good people of Iberville...

Airlines Reports Spate of Bizarre Passenger Incidents in December-January

Posted on February 19, 2009
If the recent video of the wailing and writhing Chinese woman in Hong Kong’s airport is not enough, this month’s report of Dispax World shows that other airlines have had to deal with a spate of other bizarre incidents in the last few weeks...

Microscopic People: North Dakota Votes to Give Full Legal Rights to Fertilized Eggs

Posted on February 19, 2009
North Dakota appears intent on triggering another round of litigation in the hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade. North Dakota’s House of Representatives has voted 51-41 to declare that a fertilized egg has all the rights of any person. The vote would make abortion murder...

New York Jury Awards $2.3 Million to Drunk Man Who Fell into Path of Train

Posted on February 19, 2009
Dustin Dibble, 25, admits that he was drinking for four hours before he went to the 14th Street station and then fell into the path of a train, which cut off his right leg. However, a jury still found NYC Transit was to blame and awarded him $2.3 million...

Well, You?re Extinct Now: Bird, Once Believed Extinct, Is Captured, Photographed . . . And Then Eaten

Posted on February 19, 2009
Worcester’s buttonquail was long believed to be extinct, so you can imagine the joy of ornithologists when one of the birds was captured and photographed on the island of Luzon, Philippines. Then the learned that the bird was promptly sold for meat and eaten...

Spanish Court Awards Husband ?200,000 From Unfaithful Wife

Posted on February 18, 2009
Recently, Canadian and United States courts have refused to relieve men of their responsibility to support children that were found to be the children of other men. Now, a Spanish court has taken the opposite approach - awarding high damages (for Europe) against a woman who was found to have kept the same love [...

Mukasey Delayed Torture Report; Bar Charges May Be Brought Against Bush Officials Like John Yoo

Posted on February 18, 2009
Newsweek is reporting that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey delayed a critical internal report on the conduct of senior Justice lawyers in the torture scandal, including Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury. The delayed report not only adds another contradiction to Mukasey’s claims before Congress, but should add pressure on the Obama Administration [...

Afghan Diplomat in New York Arrested for Beating Wife ?Like a Dog? for Fifteen Hours

Posted on February 18, 2009
Mohammed Fagirad, 30, a vice consul at the Afghanistan Consulate, in New York has been arrested for beating his 22-year-old wife for 15 hours in their Queens home. Police report that Fagirad told them that his “wife was a dog and he was going to treat her like a dog,” According to media reports, Fagirad [...

Last Call: Japanese Finance Minister Resigns Over Alleged Drunken Scene at G7

Posted on February 18, 2009
Japan?s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has announced that he will resign after getting drunk at last weekend’s G7 summit in Rome. The video is below. It may be a bad economic sign when the finance ministers of major countries are self-medicating in this fashion...

Taxing Small Town Values: Palin Must Pay Back Taxes on Food and Incidentals Charged While Staying At Her Own Home

Posted on February 18, 2009
Gov. Sarah Palin has joined the ranks of politicians with tax problems. Palin has been informed that she must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money claimed while living at her Wasilla home. It is not exactly the stuff of “small town values”: Palin charged $17,000 for meals and incidentals [...

Smell Test: Air-O-Matic Sues Over Use of ?Pull My Finger?

Posted on February 18, 2009
It appears that it will take a federal court to clear the air over a trademark dispute over the phrase “Pull My Finger” and the rights to iFart. Florida-based Air-o-Matic and Colorado-based InfoMedia, Inc. are in court over the allegations of Air-o-Matic that Infomedia infringed its trademark and engaged in unfair business practices...

Former Missouri Rep. Kenny Hulshof Accused of Another Case of Prosecutorial Abuse

Posted on February 18, 2009
Former Missouri Rep. Kenny Hulshof secured six terms as a Republican member of the House and ran for Governor on his tough-on-crime record. That record, however, is now under scrutiny with another abuse cited by a court from Hulshof’s work as a prosecutor — leading to the conviction of a teenager for a murder [...

No Fan, Yu: Chinese Woman Loses Private Mistress Contests and Attempts to Kill Lover and His Four Other Mistresses

Posted on February 18, 2009
A Chinese businessman named Fan decided this year that the economic downturn required him to downsize, so he told his five mistresses that he would have to reduce his private harem to just one mistress and one wife. I know that this sounds like a Chinese parable, but this is a real case from [...

Beating Them By Joining Them: Pakistan Reaches Peace Accord with Taliban That Caves Into Demands for Islamic Law and End of Military Offensive

Posted on February 17, 2009
Pakistan appears to have end the conflict with the Taliban but yielding to their extremist demands in northwest Pakistan. Under a new accord, Islamic rule will be allowed in the region and Pakistan will back off from its attempt to control the region...

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