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A Massachusetts court has recently had to resolve the question, as a matter of tort law, what duty of care a pair of non-married adults owe to each other for injuries resulting from consensual sex between them. I'll leave the details of the case for those with strong stomachs who are willing to read the opinion found in the preceding link. In summary, however, the plaintiff (male) was injured when the defendant (female) changed her position during the middle of intercourse. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, finding that, as a matter of law, there...

SEATTLE - Should the people who make and sell "violent video" games be held accountable if someone commits a crime because of playing them? That's something our state lawmakers are considering, to open game makers up to more liability. House Bill 2178 proposes to hold the makers and sellers of violent video games liable if someone under 17 years old commits a crime, due in any part, to playing the game. Supporters of the bill, like Bill Hanson with the Washington Police and Sheriff's Association, say "kids" are getting the games, and they're becoming desensitized. "If you sit up and...

$17 million verdict has many concerned Worries arise about impact on churches fearful of liability By DERRICK NUNNALLY dnunnally@journalsentinel.com Posted: Feb. 23, 2005 Last week's jury verdict that said the Archdiocese of Milwaukee should pay $17 million to the 84-year-old victim of a car wreck caused by a parish group volunteer has some observers worried about the decision's impact on religious institutions fearful of liability issues. That one parishioner's accident could have such an economic consequence for an entire archdiocese alarmed Philip K. Howard, the New York-based chairman of Common Good, a group critical of what he has called "America's...

Lawsuits filed over the crash of a commuter plane en route from St. Louis to Kirksville, Mo., last October claim two airline companies failed to provide the plane with proper safety equipment. The wife of Paul Tilley, one of 11 passengers who died in the crash along with both pilots, filed a suit in Texas claiming Corporate Airlines and American Airlines acted negligently by operating the craft without an enhanced device to warn pilots how close the ground was. Tilley's wife, Alicia Tilley, also claims that members of the flight crew had been on duty for nearly 15 hours at...

City officials plan to pursue "every legal remedy available" after a jury sided Tuesday with two former Inglewood police officers in a case stemming from the 2002 arrest of a teenager. Jurors agreed with former officers Jeremy Morse and Bijan Darvish, who claimed they had been discriminated against by the city when they were not allowed to return to their jobs. The ruling results in a $2.4 million award. Morse, 26, who is white, was shown on the tape slamming a black teen, Donovan Jackson, to the trunk of a police car at an Inglewood gas station and punching him...

   http://www.news.com/ State bill could cripple P2P By John Borlandhttp://news.com.com/State+bill+could+cripple+P2P/2100-1028_3-5540937.html Story last modified Tue Jan 18 17:55:00 PST 2005 A bill introduced in California's Legislature last week has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online.The proposal, introduced by Los Angeles Sen. Kevin Murray, takes direct aim at companies that distribute software such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Morpheus. If passed and signed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Bush Social Security Revolution? The Social Security Act was the signature accomplishment of Franklin Roosevelt's newly created American welfare state in 1935. It switched the American ethos from individual and community reliance to national government responsibility for personal security and welfare. Its early and apparently costless success provided the legitimacy for all of the expert-directed federal social programs that have followed to this very day. Yet, today, it and its entire supporting apparatus stand near bankruptcy.President George W. Bush has now raised a challenge to the whole justification of this historic substitution of bureaucratic for personal responsibility for the general...

Onstage Murder Could've Been Prevented, Security Experts Say Concert venues need trained staff and metal detectors, they insist. The onstage murder of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott leaves not just Damageplan fans, but concertgoers everywhere, with many troubling concerns. Chief among them was that the tragedy might have been prevented for less than $50, the price of a handheld metal detector. "It should have been a common practice. It should have been something they had," said Paul Wertheimer of Crowd Management Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in concert safety. "If it was used right, it would have caught the gun and you...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Supreme Court in Illinois frees gun makers of liabilityBy Audrey HudsonTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished November 19, 2004 The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday refused to hold firearms manufacturers responsible for Chicago street violence or of knowingly supplying guns to criminals -- a decision that could affect the filing of future lawsuits.     The city of Chicago sued 18 gun manufacturers, four distributors and 11 dealers -- asserting the firearms industry is liable for causing a "public nuisance" -- and demanded $433 million for health care costs and city emergency expenses.     Writing for the court, Justice Rita Garman said...

Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Nov. 18 -- The Illinois Supreme Court threw out two lawsuits accusing gunmakers of knowingly letting weapons fall into the hands of gang members and other criminals, in a ruling Thursday that the manufacturers cannot legally be blamed for street violence. Both rulings were unanimous, but five of the seven justices were so disturbed by allegations raised in the case that they wrote a separate opinion urging the state legislature to create tougher gun regulations. The lawsuits, filed by the city of Chicago and victims of shootings, claimed the defendants created a public nuisance by pouring...

...President Bush has won a clear mandate for his big second-term agenda, including the giants of Social Security reform and tax overhaul. Yet his ability to do anything still rests with the Senate.... Republicans [picked] up Democratic seats in both Carolinas and Georgia, as well as Louisiana and Florida. They weathered storms in Kentucky and Oklahoma, and even held Alaska. But the big daddy came with the overthrow of Mr. Daschle. That ouster... was as much a repudiation of obstructionism as it was Mr. Daschle's own record. [C]onsider not just the Republicans' numerical gains, but their ideological ones. With the...

DENVER: A woman assaulted by a Mexican national at a Denver pro-immigration forum sponsored by First Data/Western Union filed a civil lawsuit today in Denver District Court. The lawsuit includes claims for ethnic intimidation, civil conspiracy, assault and battery, robbery, personal injury, and property damage against Colorado-based First Data Corporation, its subsidiary Western Union, the First Data/Western Union Foundation, the attacker and her former employer, Hep C Connection.

If Hollywood's pampered millionaires, their trial attorney cronies and some pandering politicians have their way, innocent third parties could be held legally liable for the criminal acts of others. Such is the intention of legislation pending in the U.S. Senate, S. 2650 the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004."This misguided legislation would hold manufacturers of computers, software, TiVO, MP3 players and other technologies criminally liable if their legal products were misused to reproduce copyrighted material. Under the legislation, the mere production of such technologies would be regarded as an "inducement" to copyright infringement.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) today issued the following statement on Senator Kerry’s travel to St. Louis: “Senator Kerry was ranked by National Journal as the most liberal member of the United States Senate. His voting record against medical liability reform is one of the reasons they gave him that rating. Missouri is in the middle of a medical liability crisis with doctors being forced to leave the state and health care costs rising for everyone. “Instead of taking action to help Missouri families by curbing the medical liability lawsuits that are costing as much as $108...

Guess who's suddenly saying nice things about litigation reform? None other than John Kerry. Explains his campaign Web site: "There is no question that abuses of our legal system have hurt companies and individuals who are acting responsibly." The scarcity of insurance for doctors should spur us to action: "Access to care is threatened. . . . Lawsuits should be the last, not the first, line of defense." You might almost think the Massachusetts senator had just accepted the Republican nomination.... Feeling skeptical? With reason. In the Senate, to begin with, Mr. Kerry has cast a routine vote against restrictions...

Rhetoric V/O: “At this pace, we would need 23 days to show the 12 million Latinos without health insurance.”CHYRON:  “More than 12 million without insurance.” The Facts Access To Health Care Has Improved For Children And Those Without InsuranceNumber Of Uninsured Children At “Lowest Level On Record” In 2003.  “The percentage of American children with no health insurance has dropped to the lowest level on record because of expanded state programs, the government said … Only 10.1 percent of U.S. children were uninsured last year, the lowest level ever recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In...

Rhetoric ANNOUNCER: “Step right up, step right up. Watch the amazing George Bush take three sides of an issue. Gasp as he takes credit for bills he opposed. Gawk in amazement as you listen to George Bush flip-flop on the Patients Bill of Rights.”PRESIDENT BUSH:  “That’s not true, I do support a national Patients’ Bill of Rights. As a matter of fact, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to do just that in the state of Texas, to get a Patients’ Bill of Rights through.”ANNOUNCER:  “The amazing George Bush actually vetoed the Patients’ Bill of Rights. Then it became...

With West Nile virus surfacing in the Sacramento Valley, mosquito control agencies on Thursday asked growers to pay more to offset the rice industry's massive mosquito-making machine. Growers flood 500,000 acres every summer to produce their crop, creating prime habitat for mosquitoes. That fact took on new significance as public health officials confirmed Thursday that the dreaded mosquito-born disease has invaded rice country. "It's time for the people who cause the bulk of the problems to step up," said Jim Camy, manager of the Butte County Mosquito & Vector Control District. "They need to ... come up with some real...

"John Kerry has repeatedly blocked reform of frivolous lawsuits and his obstruction is resulting in higher healthcare costs of up to $100 billion per year for patients across the country." -Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman Frivolous Lawsuits Cost Americans Billions Medical Liability Lawsuits Cost Between $65 Billion And $108 Billion Per Year. (July 25, 2002 HHS study: "Confronting the New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality and Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System"; www.hhs.gov)Kerry Opposes Lawsuit Reform Kerry Is A "Longtime Opponent Of Damage Caps And Product Liability Reform." "Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a longtime opponent...