Free Republic

California taxpayers forked out $10.2 billion for public employee pensions in 2003-04 and are likely to face even greater liability in future years, according to a study released Monday. The study prepared for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association by the Center for Government Analysis at Newport Beach analyzed 130 public pension systems statewide and found taxpayer outlays doubled from 1997-98 to 2003-04. "State and local governments are going to have to put more money into these systems and that means less money for police, less money for teachers, less money for schools, less money for roads, less money for parks...

The greatest differentiator between OS vendors is no longer a question of features, function, performance, customer support, security, reliability or any feature of the product itself. The future of computing may depend on the lawyers.The last month has seen both Oracle and Microsoft take their gloves off in their competition with open source software. Where Oracle has taken a seemingly straightforward approach of copying the competition and undercutting their prices, Microsoft's move to invoke intellectual property and the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL) to counter open source competition is much more potentially damaging. What's more, while Oracle's success...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A person who has reason to believe he or she has HIV may be sued by sexual partners if they become infected, the California Supreme Court ruled on Monday, broadening the state's view of when liability arises from the disease. Knowingly passing along HIV, which leads to AIDS, is already illegal in California and people who do so may be sued for damages in state court. The California Supreme Court's decision widens the scope for law suits against sexual partners over negligent transmission. In their decision, a majority of the court's justices held that they "cannot...

The safety of Tasers, the electric pistols that are widely used by police, is under new scrutiny after a study by a Wisconsin scientist showed that shocks from the guns cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating. The finding contradicts previous studies that showed that Taser shocks did not cause heart disturbances in pigs, whose hearts are similar to those in humans. John G. Webster, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin who conducted the new study, said the earlier studies contained serious errors because they did not account for the fact that pigs have...

CAMDEN, N.J. -- A flea market will have to pay the record industry to compensate for the pirated CDs and cassettes sold there, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Jerome M. Simandle issued a written opinion on Friday finding the Columbus Farmers Market liable for sales of thousands of pirated recordings sold at the massive indoor-outdoor flea market in Burlington County. The exact amount will determined later, but the Recording Industry Association of America, which sued the flea market for copyright infringement on behalf of 14 big record companies, said damages could range from $500,000 to as much...

A PUB must pay a fine for a murder on its premises more than 300 years ago. Auditors discovered the long-forgotten penalty for The Swan in Ipswich, Suffolk, while balancing the books for the town’s St Mary Le Tower Church Charities. The annual bill of 40 shillings, equivalent to £2, seems to be a punishment for a killing in 1664 when Charles II was king. --------- It was a huge amount of money in 1664 — a labourer would have to work for six months to earn 40 shillings.

A near-unanimous state Supreme Court has swept aside an $8.3 million civil judgment against the state for the vicious beating in 1999 of a Somali refugee by a group of teenagers living in a West Seattle foster home.

A recent episode of the television animated comedy "South Park" mocked Tom Cruise -- suggesting that he is homosexual, and lying to hide that fact. Could Cruise bring a defamation suit against the show?

Merry-go-rounds, seesaws and tall metal slides are gone. East Valley schools also forbid tackle football, jumping off swings and hanging upside down from monkey bars. Students can still play tag — but they must "power walk" or skip at some schools because running is too dangerous. Pioneer Elementary School in Gilbert prohibits tag altogether. And that’s just the beginning of the rules that principals, playground aides and lawmakers have created in recent years to keep schoolchildren safe. Johnson Elementary School in Mesa banned flip-flops this semester to protect children from twisted ankles and stubbed toes. Sonoran Sky Elementary School in...

When faced with a new battle, the enemies of gun manufactures, tobacco companies, fast food chains, and free enterprise in general usually adhere to the following well-tested pattern for whipping-up some public sympathy: Step 1: Identify people who knowingly and willfully caused harm to themselves or others. For example, a good selection would be someone who smoked for 30 years despite the large warning with the word "cancer" prominently featured on the side of every single pack of cigarettes they ever touched. Another good selection would be someone who loaded a Beretta 92, walked into a 7-Eleven, and shot the...

A state appeals court yesterday reinstated the indictment of a Hunterdon County man charged with obtaining the heroin used by a friend who died of an overdose. Lewis Morrison of Raritan Township had been charged with strict liability for a drug-induced death, manslaughter and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and faced up to 35 years in prison. Morrison got the trial judge to dismiss the indictment, and the state appealed. In its decision yesterday, a two-judge panel of the appellate division reinstated the strict liability and controlled substance charges while dismissing the manslaughter count. The case was sent back...

WASHINGTON, July 29 - The Senate agreed to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits on Friday, as Congress broke for a monthlong recess after sending President Bush energy and transportation bills that had been years in the making. Long sought by the gun lobby, the Senate measure - approved 65 to 31 - would prohibit lawsuits against gun makers and distributors for misuse of their products during the commission of a crime. Senate supporters said the plan was needed to protect the domestic firearms industry from a rash of lawsuits that threatened its economic future. "This bill is...

The nation's gun lobby is close to realizing a long-sought goal of protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held legally responsible for violent crimes committed with their handguns and automatic weapons. Supporters believe they have the votes in the Senate to pass as early as today a bill making it virtually impossible for victims of gun violence to file civil suits against the industry -- a testimony to the political clout of gun manufacturers, which have become increasingly vulnerable to civil lawsuits in the District and several states. Twelve Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), are...

Los Angeles (Reuters) A California woman is suing a hospital for wrongful death because her husband fainted and suffered a fatal injury after helping delivery room staff give her a pain-killing injection. Jeanette Passalaqua, 32, filed the suit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Southern California Permanente Medical Group Inc. in San Bernardino County state court last week. In June 2004, Passalaqua's husband, Steven Passalaqua, was asked by Kaiser staff to hold and steady his wife while an employee inserted an epidural needle into her back, court papers said. The sight of the needle caused Steven Passalaqua, 33, to faint and...

The California Supreme Court issued two rulings Thursday making it easier for victims of violent crime to recover damages from the owners of the businesses where the crimes occurred. The rulings mark a departure from a recent trend in the law and are likely to have significant ramifications, according to legal experts. "I think it is highly significant," said Sharon Arkin, president of the Consumer Attorneys of California, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in one of the cases and applauded the decisions. "I think the pendulum is swinging back a little" in favor of victims after a number of adverse...

News item: The Chicago City Council initiated efforts to cancel contracts with the Wachovia Savings Bank after the bank apologized for its ties with the slave trade. An investigation, required by the bank’s participation in a public housing project, revealed that of the more than a hundred banks North Carolina-based Wachovia has acquired, one of them once put hundreds of African-American slaves to work on railroads and another accepted slaves as collateral for loans that defaulted in the early 1800s. Members of the City Council are also discussing seeking reparations from the bank. An Address to the Chicago City Council...

Experian Abandons Thousands of Consumer Data Records Paper, Computerized Records Left Behind in Office Move By Martin H. Bosworth ConsumerAffairs.Com June 16, 2005 Identity theft doesn't always happen through sophisticated online scams or because of high-tech criminal rings. Sometimes it can be as simple as leaving boxes of documents and computers unattended for months on end. That's what Augie Bogina of Kansas City found when he bought a building formerly occupied by the Topeka Credit Bureau and the Experian credit reporting agency. Inside the building, Bogina found the previous tenants had left "thousands and thousands" of printed documents and many...

Denise Jack and other car owners thought they had it bad when a 75-foot retaining wall in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan collapsed on May 12, burying their parked vehicles beneath untold tons of debris. But their ordeal was actually just beginning. Their cars remain buried there today, and none are expected to be unearthed until the rest of the wall is stabilized and the rubble removed - up to a year from now. Until then, they are caught in the world of insurance limbo. Mrs. Jack's policy, for example, has liability coverage that does not cover landslides. For her...

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...