Some
of the news that I have heard on the radio on my way to and from work the past
couple of weeks has really made me wonder about the mentality of the general
population. Some of the many cases that are flowing into the legal system are
downright appalling. The sad thing is that much of these insane stories aren’t even
a few exceptions to the rule. But I won’t go any further without at least
sharing some of the information on each story so let’s start with a lawsuit
that has captured a worldwide audience. Here is the BBC News account of a New
Jersey teenager suing her parents and, thankfully, losing:
A
teenager in the US who is suing her parents for cash after leaving home has
lost the first round of her legal case.
Rachel
Canning, 18, has demanded $650 (£390) in weekly child support from her parents
at a court in New York.
The
cheerleader also wanted her private school tuition fees, a college fund and her
lawyers' fees paid.
Her
parents said their daughter voluntarily left home because she did not like
their house rules.
Retired
police chief Sean Canning and his wife, Elizabeth, said they had asked their
daughter to be respectful at home, keep curfews, help with chores and end her
relationship with her boyfriend.
At
a family court hearing in New York on Tuesday, Miss Canning, from New Jersey,
was told her parents would not have to pay child support or her legal costs.
Judge
Peter Bogaard warned that her suit could lead to a "slippery slope",
asking: "Are we going to open the gates for 12-year-olds to sue for an
Xbox? For 13-year-olds to sue for an iPhone?"
The
next case is actually one that I don’t really have a problem with but the case
speaks more of a problem in our internet based society. Trolling has become a
serious issue with little repercussions during many cases. All you have to do
is scroll down through the comments on most news stories and you will see a
wide variety of comments from all different angles.
While
I have no issue with someone having an opinion that they can back up, I do take
issue with people that post anonymous comments with the simple purpose of
attacking someone else. The question is whether the charges will stand, no
matter how distasteful the comments and objectives of the poster really are. One
such situation recently came to light on Philly.com
which could prove to be an interesting case to follow over the next few months.
A warning to people who post comments online: Anonymous is not forever.
A
Philadelphia judge has ordered the owners of Philly.com - who also own The
Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News - to disclose the identity of a person
who posted a comment online.
The ruling
came in a defamation suit filed by John J. Dougherty, the powerful head of
Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
In October
2012, Dougherty sued over a comment posted two months earlier on a Daily News
blog that described a public feud involving Dougherty. The comment identified
Dougherty by his well-known nickname, "Johnny Doc," and called him
"the pedophile."
Dougherty
sued the anonymous poster, and his lawyers subpoenaed Philadelphia Media
Network, Philly.com's parent company, to supply the person's identity.
Mark Block, a
spokesman for Interstate General Media, corporate parent of PMN, referred all
questions to Eli Segal, an attorney for the company.
Segal said
that after receiving the subpoena, the company contacted the anonymous poster
to make sure he or she got notice of the lawsuit and hired a lawyer. He said
lawyers for Dougherty and the person who posted the comment presented their
arguments to Common Pleas Court Judge Jacqueline F. Allen.
On Feb. 26,
Allen ordered the news company to disclose the poster's identity, along with
any comments he or she posted from Aug. 10, 2012, through this January.
And
finally, the true WTF legal case of the past week that I will list in this post
is a case out of Denver, Colorado. This is a case where the only explanation
for the audacity of the lawsuit is the fact that marijuana is now legal because
you have to be higher than a hippie on the International Space Station. The
only other explanation is that the lawyer has a huge set but that can easily be
ruled out by the fact that he is able to walk. The inevitable lawsuit is by a
man who was saved from certain death during a flood back in September who is
suing his rescuers.
This
is a complete load of crap and is definitely in the running for WTF of the
week. Without further delay, I leave you with this report from the Denver Post about the greed,
self-centeredness, and entitlement that exists in the populous…
A Broomfield man who was rescued from his
submerged car during the September floods has filed papers indicating he might
sue his rescuers and first responders.
Roy Ortiz was rescued by North Metro Fire Rescue District and others who responded to the scene after his car was washed off the road on Sept. 12. He says crews took too long to respond to the accident after he became trapped in his upside-down car near the intersection of U.S. 287 and Dillon Road in Lafayette.
He also claims the road should have been closed, thus the accident that left him trapped in the submerged car would never have happened.
No lawsuit has yet been filed, but Ortiz's lawyer, Aurora attorney Ed Ferszt, has filed a legal document that is a typical precursor to filing a lawsuit against a government agency.
Roy Ortiz was rescued by North Metro Fire Rescue District and others who responded to the scene after his car was washed off the road on Sept. 12. He says crews took too long to respond to the accident after he became trapped in his upside-down car near the intersection of U.S. 287 and Dillon Road in Lafayette.
He also claims the road should have been closed, thus the accident that left him trapped in the submerged car would never have happened.
No lawsuit has yet been filed, but Ortiz's lawyer, Aurora attorney Ed Ferszt, has filed a legal document that is a typical precursor to filing a lawsuit against a government agency.
All of these things have to change but, unfortunately, this is not the worst problem that we face in the legal system. But that is another post for another day.
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