Free Republic

The fraudulent nature of many legal cases alleging damage from exposure to asbestos, long documented in legal and other publications, was officially confirmed to the world by a savvy federal judge in Texas three years ago. However, if allegations in a new report are true, similar rip-offs are still being tried. The most disheartening thing about the report, “Trial Lawyers Inc. Asbestos,” fifth in a series from the Manhattan Institute, is that the reader can count on the fingers of one hand the number of doctors and lawyers who have been punished for abusing the system. A federal grand jury...

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) - Mercury discharges into the Detroit River are causing cancer, amount to "child abuse" and are damaging the quality of life in this border city, American environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. said Sunday.

State reportedly offers $100,000 to forestall lawsuits over massacre RICHMOND, Va. - Families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre would receive $100,000 each under a settlement the state is proposing to prevent lawsuits, according to a victim's relative who received a copy of the proposal. Medical and counseling expenses would be provided to the families of the 32 killed and dozens of surviving victims, said the person, who asked Monday to remain anonymous because those involved were told not to discuss the settlement. Families would also have the opportunity to question the governor and university officials about the...

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080310/NEWS/80310045 rules-link only----suspended for wearing shirt with gun on it.

AUSTIN — The Texas Democratic Party warned Thursday that election night caucuses scheduled for Tuesday could be delayed or disrupted after aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton threatened to sue over the party's complicated delegate selection process. In a letter sent out late Thursday to both the Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns, Texas Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn warned a lawsuit could ruin the Democrats' effort to re-energize voters just as they are turning out in record numbers. Spokesmen for both campaigns said there were no plans to sue ahead of the March 4 election. "It has been brought to my...

When a train conductor was performing an inspection, he was goosed and fell down; he sues his employer on February 4, 2008.

Buddy Holly's widow in fight to stop book By Ben Martin Last Updated: 2:48am GMT 13/01/2008 The widow of Buddy Holly, the late American rock and roll pioneer, is trying to prevent the woman made famous by her husband's hit song Peggy Sue from publishing a book about the music legend. Maria Elena Holly has instructed lawyers to oppose the publication of Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue, an autobiography of Texan woman Peggy Sue Gerron, after whom the song was named. Mrs Holly, 62, claims the book is unauthorised and will harm Holly's name, her own reputation and that of...

Absolute moral authority? "A Missouri mother says she will do “whatever it takes” to stop former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from becoming president, because he freed the man who went on to rape and murder her daughter, Carol Sue Shields (pictured). “I can’t imagine anybody wanting somebody like that running the country,” Lois Davidson of Adrian, Mo., told the Blotter on ABCNews.com. Wayne Dumond was initially sentenced to life plus 25 years for raping a 17-year-old Arkansas high school cheerleader. In 1999, a parole board voted to free Dumond, after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his desire to see him released."...

Arabic-speaking passengers sue AmericanThe Associated Press DETROIT --Six men of Iraqi descent who were flying home after a stint training Marines sued American Airlines on Thursday, saying employees publicly humiliated them after a passenger expressed concerns about them to security guards. The men, who sued in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleging racial discrimination, say airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks. The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were returning to the Detroit area after training Marines at Camp Pendleton in California when another passenger...

Christian schools sue University of Calif. LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A lawsuit soon to go to trial charges the University of California with discriminating against prospective students who attend Christian schools. The suit, brought by an association of Christian schools, supports the conviction of many conservative Christians that there is hostility to their faith in public schools, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. "This is just another example of what's happening on a much larger scale," said Robert Tyler, a lawyer for the Christian schools. The outcome of the trial in U.S. District Court could affect California's estimated 800...

A Texas family is suing Gov. Rick Perry and a school district over a state-mandated moment of silence in schools, according to The Dallas Morning News. David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, of Carrollton, Texas, have three children at Rosemeade Elementary and argue that the moment of silence is unconstitutional and amounts to state-sanctioned school prayer.

INDONESIAN militant Abu Dujana will sue the police, saying he was shot in the thigh by members of an elite anti-terrorist unit after surrendering, one of his lawyers said today. Dujana, who is believed to head a military wing of the South-East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was captured on June 9 during a police raid in central Java. Lawyer Achmad Michdan said the country's anti-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, had violated the suspect's rights by shooting him after he had surrendered. "We will sue the Indonesian police and Detachment 88 and we will ask the court to examine the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The House voted on Tuesday to allow the government to sue the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for price manipulation, which the White House threatened to veto saying it could raise gasoline prices. With average U.S. pump prices at an all-time, inflation-adjusted high of $3.22 a gallon, the House voted 345-72 to approve the "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007," or "NOPEC." The bill would revoke the sovereign immunity OPEC members currently enjoy from U.S. legal action and allow the Justice Department to sue them in U.S. courts.

Dr. Alexander Dlugi had sued student Lauren Ellis for loss of income and pain and suffering that was the result of a bike/skate collision between the two in 2003 when Ellis was only 11 years old. After closing arguments were heard, the Morris County civil jury deliberated for only 15 minutes today and ruled in favor of the teenager. The jury agreed that Ellis was not responsible or at fault for the accident that happened on Sugar Maple Row that October day. The physician -- who earned $800,000 in 2004 and got $750,000 for half the sale of his former...

Ryan Hoeft was a rookie St. Louis Park cop on Nov. 6, 2001, when his handgun went off in his squad car, the bullet hitting his head and killing him. The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. But his parents allege in a lawsuit filed this week that their son did not kill himself and that his gun fired accidentally. Mary and Terry Hoeft, of Rice Lake, Wis., accuse the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department, the county medical examiner and St. Louis Park police of failing to properly investigate their son's death. The suit, filed Tuesday in Hennepin...

Two men who were asked to rap to get out of a ticket are seeking large amounts of money for what they believe was a violation of their civil rights. One of the men has filed a claim against the city of Tempe for $50,000 and the other filed a claim for half a million dollars. A claim is the first legal step toward a lawsuit against a government entity. James Baker and Robert Tarvin, who are black, were shown rapping on a segment of the police-produced cable-TV show "Tempe StreetBeat" after Tempe police Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulled them over...

NEW ORLEANS - Residents whose homes were flooded during Hurricane Katrina can sue the Army Corps of Engineers over claims the agency ignored warnings about defects in a nearby navigation channel, a federal judge ruled Friday.

JEDDAH, 28 December 2006 — A two-day conference organized by the Makkah-based Muslim World League yesterday called for a consultative commission in order to take legal action against those who abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islamic sanctities, at local and international courts of justice, the Saudi Press Agency said. The conference titled “In Defense of the Prophet” called upon Islamic countries and governments to stand united to defend the Islamic faith and its Prophet. It denounced the smear campaigns to tarnish the image of the Prophet and urged Muslims to make all-out efforts to...

HOUSTON - A group of illegal immigrants who worked for Wendy's International Inc. is suing the restaurant chain because the company fired them after discovering it had missed a deadline for joining a federal program that would have helped them attain legal status. The lawsuit, filed Friday in state district court in Houston, is a companion to a similar class-action suit filed last month in Dallas against Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's, its subsidiary Cafe Express and the Houston-based business law firm Boyar & Miller. The immigrants, who worked for Cafe Express, are seeking unspecified damages. Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal...

Talk show host threatens legal action over fan's campaign SEPTEMBER 19--"If nominated, Oprah Winfrey will serve...a cease and desist letter. Lawyers for the talk show host are threatening legal action against a retired Kansas City teacher who has mounted a one-man campaign urging the star to run for president in 2008."