A trucker who had been driving the same route for 50 years had the bad luck of running into a lone bison on a highway just north of Byers earlier this week. The driver died after he hit the bison and then swerved off the highway, rolling his rig.
Last week, the Justice Department issued a letter to chief justices and state court administrators to help clarify the obligation "to provide oral interpretation, written translation and other language services to people who are limited English proficient (LEP);" all courts that receive federal financial assistance must provide such services.
Continue reading "Making it Clear When Interpretation is Needed" »
A Boulder climber was airlifted to a Denver hospital after falling about 120 feet from a rock formation and landing in the middle of the westbound lane of Boulder Canyon Drive last Tuesday evening, according to sheriff's deputies.
Over a dozen people, including toddlers and grandparents, required medical treatment for minor to moderate injuries after a small amusement park train tipped over. The accident happened Wednesday at Tiny Town, a long-time favorite tourist spot where a child-size replica of an Old West offers low-tech fun.
As a lawyer, each election year I am asked by friends about the judges on the ballot, due to a lack of knowledge most folks have no idea whether to vote to retain a judge. Now, The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Judicial Institute, and the League of Women Voters of Colorado, have teamed up to provide website that goes a long way toward create helping Colorado voters make informed decisions about the judges on the ballot.
A 15-month-old baby died this weekend after falling two stories through a balcony railing. The little died Friday night after falling two stories from an indoor balcony outside a laundry room at the apartment complex at 2010 Carmel Drive.
A federal appeals court has ruled that qualified immunity does not apply to protect a former deputy district attorney from being personally sued. The claim against the deputy district attorney arises from her approval of a search warrant of a student journalist's home due to a professor's unhappiness over a parody in a University of Northern Colorado community newspaper, the Howling Pig.
Denver police are cracking down on drivers who make illegal lane changes and cut in line on the interstate. Beginning the initiative, police focused on Interstate 225 at the DTC Boulevard exit, giving 56 tickets on Tuesday morning. Most of the tickets were issued to drivers making illegal lane changes that cut off backed-up traffic. Some tickets were also given to drivers passing on the right shoulder.
A truck driver from Illinois will face negligent homicide and other charges after parking on the shoulder around a curve and forcing a traffic situation that caused a fatality on Interstate 70 in Mesa County last Tuesday. The driver placed put reflective emergency triangles on the interstate two miles east of Debeque at about 2 p.m. after his truck broke down. That forced a car driver to swerve her vehicle into another lane, where it was struck.
Now for all you techies that enjoy a libation or two, no worries about having one too many! Last Call is a free, easy way to estimate your blood-alcohol level and determine if it's safe for you to drive after drinking. If not, use it to call a cab. Last Call also provides a list of top local DUI lawyers, provided by Avvo, to call for help if you need it.
A 17-year-old Michigan girl died last week in Estes Park when she was hit by a falling rock. The fatality happened at about 4 p.m. in downtown Estes Park near town hall. The incident happened in a town "green space" in a grassy area with a creek running through it. A cliff, also part of the public parcel, rises above the open space. The top of the park, where the rock outcropping peaks, is an area known as Willow Knolls. The safety of the area is being assessed by the town's civil engineer.
The porch of a southwest Denver home went up in flames early yesterday morning and witnesses told investigators the fire was sparked by a Roman candle. Denver firefighters put out the fire, which was contained to an enclosed porch, in about ten minutes, and no one was injured. But the incident is an early reminder of how dangerous fireworks are.
Black Hawk is the only town in Colorado which bans bicycling through town. And this past weekend it issued the first tickets to bicyclists violating the ban. Black Hawk's new rule was actually enacted in January and prohibits bike riding on nearly every street in town, including the only paved thoroughfare in Black Hawk.
Colorado white-water rafting is a fun and popular recreational sport in Colorado. But the drowning of two raft guide trainees last month, and the disappearance of a tourist into the Cache La Poudre River while inner-tubing on Sunday highlight the dangers of the rivers. But proper safety precautions may prevent accidents and general discomfort. Some safety preparations apply to white-water rafting in general; others are specific to Colorado's high-altitude environment.
The government says about 45 million Americans are not buckling up in their cars. The Transportation Department released its estimate of seat belt use on Monday as it kicked off the annual "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The department says about 84 percent of motorists wear seat belts, an all-time high.
Continue reading "Colorado Click It or Ticket Campaign for 2010" »
A toddler who fell from a third-story window in Northglenn is home again after a brief hospital stay. The accident happened in the early evening last Monday. The eighteen-month-old pushed through a window screen and fell to rocks below. Doctors believe a bush may have helped break her fall.
She was taken by helicopter to Children's Hospital in Aurora. Her injuries were originally described as "traumatic" but ended up being bumps and bruises.
May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. Throughout May, the National Safety Council will encourage motorists to share the road with motorcyclists and be extra alert when they are nearby.
That's the message from the Wyoming State Game and Fish Department. For many the arrival of warm summer weather means boating, particularly at some of the scenic reservoirs of Wyoming.
A bicyclist was killed in a collision with a car at West 29th Avenue and Perry Street in Denver this week, following the death of a bicyclist struck by an RTD bus on April 6th. With the warm weather, bicycle lanes are filling up so motorists need to be more aware. And bicyclists need to ride defensively.
Continue reading "Second Denver Bicyclist Dies in Collision" »
At least 25 workers died on April 5th in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine, owned by Richmond-based Massey Energy Co. The company's chief executive, Don Blankenship, is a highly active GOP fundraiser and bankroller known for his outspoken opposition to labor unions; the Upper Big Branch Mine is not unionized.
Over the course of just four days, Regional Transportation District buses were involved in three accidents that killed a total of four people. Those four days alone -- from April 3 through last Tuesday -- produced more fatalities from RTD bus collisions than any full year from 2005 through 2009.
A man who says he suffers from "electromagnetic sensitivities" has sued a neighbor and now former friend in New Mexico state court, seeking $530,000 in damages and a court order requiring her to turn off her wireless electronic devices.
Continue reading "Do Good Fences Protect Against Electromagnetism?" »
In a new survey of divorce lawyers, 81 percent say they have seen an increase in the use of social networking evidence during the past five years. The survey, conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, pinpoints Facebook as the "unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence" with 66 percent citing it as a primary source, according to a news release about the survey.
Nutritionists have long warned of the dangers posed by consuming the All-American hot dog - excess fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label -- not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children.
If you have a Colorado driver's license or ID, you can now provide emergency contact information to be accessed by authorities. By supplying your driver's license/ID number, date of birth, and the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, you can provide the contact information for two people to be contacted in the event that you are the victim of an accident or crime. It is a simple online form at: https://www.colorado.gov/apps/dor/emergency/contact/start.jsf. Complete the form and you may avoid becoming a "John or Jane Doe."
In a new survey of divorce lawyers, 81 percent say they have seen an increase in the use of social networking evidence during the past five years. The survey, conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, pinpoints Facebook as the "unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence" with 66 percent citing it as a primary source, according to a news release about the survey.
Many divorce lawyers already tell clients to terminate social networking pages immediately. While Facebook has proven to be the evidence leader, the survey notes that 15 percent of lawyers say they've found evidence on MySpace and five percent from Twitter.
Can schools discipline students for Internet speech posted offsite? Federal appellate judges wrestling reached different rulings this week in two Pennsylvania cases which posed this question.
A Colorado car dealership has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a sex- and age-discrimination lawsuit. Arapahoe Motors, doing business as Ralph Schomp Automotive, will pay $1.505 million and "furnish other relief" to settle a suit against the company filed by the federal government on behalf of 10 former employees, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced yesterday.
Google has added a new search function that will find full-text legal opinions from federal and state courts. Users can go to the Google Scholar online search engine and type in case names, topics or key words to find the relevant cases.
More than 200,000 people might be driving illegally in Colorado, and such drivers were involved in crashes that caused nearly one-fourth of all state traffic deaths last year, state auditors reported last week. State legislators requested the audit after Francis Hernandez, an unlicensed driver unlawfully in the United States, was accused of speeding through traffic, hitting another vehicle and killing three people in Aurora, including a 3-year-old in an ice cream shop, in September 2008.
Continue reading "Colorado Roads Flooded With Unlicensed Drivers" »
Losing key members and facing political headwinds, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent a record $34.7 million in the third quarter lobbying against the Obama administration's proposals to overhaul energy policy, financial regulation and health care.
The Chamber's money paid for more than a dozen lobbyists to visit Congress, the White House and agencies from Agriculture to Treasury. Most of the Chamber's positions -- free trade, unfettered credit card lending, Cash for Clunkers rebates -- enjoy broad support among the Chamber's diverse corporate members.
Continue reading "US Chamber of Commerce Loses Members Due to Radical Position" »
The most likely rescue victim in a national park? Young men hiking on a weekend who make a bad decision or two and end up hurt, exhausted or lost. On average, 11 search-and-rescue operations are launched in national parks every day. While expenses average about $900, the price can easily jump into the thousands of dollars, according to a new analysis of search-and-rescue operations over 15 years.
The operators of Crowley County Correctional Facility, a Colorado private prison, have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that male officers forced female workers to perform sex acts to keep their jobs. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement with the Dominion Correctional Services LLC and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America this past Tuesday. Crowley County Correctional Facility is located in Olney Springs, Colorado - just outside of Pueblo.
Continue reading "Colorado Private Prison Guards Settle With Female Co-Workers" »
As Halloween approaches, parents should get ready too. The stores are chock full of costumes for wee trick-or-treaters including some that could be a safety threat.
Consider buying light-colored or bright garments that are visible to motorists. If the costume is dark, apply some reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car's headlights.
Continue reading "Tips for Safe Trick-or-Treating and Halloween Activities" »
The Federal Highway Administration will conduct an intensive study into the cause of the growing number of motorcycle crashes and deaths on America's roads. It's the first study of its kind in almost 30 years.
Nearly 5,300 motorcycle riders died in roadway crashes in 2008, representing 14 percent of all deaths, and 96,000 were injured. Between 1997 and 2008, motorcycle fatalities jumped from 2,116 to 5,290 -- a 150 percent increase, according to the Transportation Department's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
Continue reading "Feds to Study Rise in Motorcycle Deaths" »
States are intensifying efforts to reduce traffic fatalities on rural roads to counter a reality of highway safety: More Americans die on lonely country routes than on more congested urban roads. In 2008, 56% of the USA's 37,261 traffic deaths occurred on rural roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 23% of the population lives in rural areas.
A Kentucky jury deliberated only 90 minutes before acquitting a high school football coach yesterday in the heatstroke death of a 15-year-old player. The coach was accused of ordering his players to run a series of sprints on a 94-degree day, refusing to relent even after some began vomiting. The defense argued that Max Gilpin was more susceptible to the heat because he used a drug for attention-deficit disorder and a dietary supplement.
Observers say that, despite the acquittal, the trial sends a message that coaches have to err on the side of caution on hot days. See High School Coach Charged in Player's Death
Major marijuana operations in the high country have the attention of top law enforcement officials after last week's seizure of 14,500 marijuana plants in the Pike National Forest near Deckers. The seizure last week is believed to be the largest in Colorado history. A hiker made the discovery and notified authorities, who estimated the haul to be worth millions of dollars.
Pinnacol Assurance, the insurance company responsible for Colorado workers' compensation claims, paid bonuses to claims adjusters and doctors based on performance standards that included net income targets. State Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora has accused the insurance company of rating employees on how quickly they disposed of claims, giving claims adjusters an incentive to dismiss them. Carroll said claims adjusters were also rated based on "customer satisfaction," which Pinnacol told her were the businesses that paid for the insurance, not the injured workers who needed medical attention, giving Pinnacol an incentive to hold down costs.
Years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, some businesses still don't get it. A national credit card company refused to help a vision-impaired woman with a disputed charge and a bank refused to cash a check for a man missing both arms because he could not provide a thumbprint.
Two companies and two executives accused in the deaths of five workers in a 2007 fire inside a tunnel at a Colorado hydroelectric plant have been indicted on federal charges. Xcel Energy, RPI Coating Inc. and two RPI executives face criminal charges in the deaths in a federal indictment that alleges they knew about the danger and did nothing about it. The 17-page indictment, made public Friday, accuses RPI of trying to cover up shortfalls by altering, destroying, or concealing the cameras, journals and cell phones of two of the dead workers.
Continue reading "Tragic Tunnel Explosion Yields Indictment" »
As football season begins in high school leagues across the nation, coaches are issuing protective equipment to players. The mother of an injured East St. Louis High School football player Demond Hunt Jr. is seeking damages of more than $200,000 in a lawsuit filed on his behalf against the local school district and head football coach. She alleges that her son suffered permanent brain injuries as a result of negligence on the part of the coach and the district.
Nearly half of the 1.2 million people killed in traffic accidents around the world each year are not in even in a vehicle. They are on motorcycles and bicycles or walking along roadsides. That finding, released in a report last month, may help explain why 90 percent of the world's traffic fatalities occur in a group of countries that together have fewer than half of the world's cars.
Tragically the first Colorado Springs case of hepatitis C linked to the surgical technician recently arrested has been identified. One person who underwent surgery at the Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs appears to have contracted hepatitis C from surgical technician Kristen Diane Parker, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment reported today.
Every teen or pre-teen party seems to offer the opportunity to bounce on some form of inflatable game. Inflatables come in all shapes and sizes with names like moonwalker and bounce house. They're big and bouncy and irresistible to kids.
Nolo, a publisher of do-it-yourself legal books and software, has created a free dictionary app for the iPhone with plain-English definitions of nearly 4,000 legal terms. Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary contains 3,800 plain-English legal definitions, including many newly coined terms you'll find online and off, such as "typosquatting" and "patent troll". Of course, if you need definitions for legal standards -- even when they're in Latin -- you'll find those too.
The app is based on Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary, which was first published in May and is available both in print and as an eBook. Among the app's features: Users have the ability to suggest words to add to the dictionary, and there is also a searchable directory of lawyers.
Black's Law Dictionary--which defines 43,000 terms and perhaps has a different target audience than Nolo's dictionary--became available on iTunes in April. That app, however, will set you back about $50.
It's a mother's worst nightmare - a tragic accident befalls your child. Every year, about 50,000 children go to U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries on home playground equipment. About 80% of the injuries occur when children fall from play equipment. Children are also injured when they are hit by swings or other moving equipment or are cut from sharp edges and protruding bolts on play structures.
And each year several children die on home playgrounds, primarily as a result of entanglement or strangulation from ropes, cords, or leashes attached to play equipment, or when clothing drawstrings and items worn around children's necks catch on the equipment. Others die when their heads or necks are trapped in narrow spaces, they fall from the equipment, or when they are struck by play equipment that moves or tips over.
After a very poor report on response time for first responders last year, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has announced plans for cutting response times for basic life-support situations nearly in half and those for advanced life support by more than a third from their dismal rates recorded last year. The plans came from a task force charged with improving the city's emergency medical response.
Yesterday was full of memories of two promising young Coloradans, each killed by the overconsumption of alcohol at a fraternity house. A memorial service was held for former Arapahoe High School honor student Jason Wren, while the last claims in a lawsuit brought by the mother of a CU student who died of alcohol poisoning in 2004 were settled.
More lawyers are donating more time to representing the poor for free, a study by the American Bar Association has found. The study found that 73 percent of attorneys provided some pro bono representation to persons of limited means, or organizations that represent such people, during the prior year. That's up from 66 percent in a 2005 study conducted by the group. Attorneys provided an average of 41 hours of pro bono work over the past year, up from 39 hours in 2005.
After seven years of legal fighting, trial began in federal court Wednesday with animal-rights groups accusing Ringling Bros. of violating the Endangered Species Act when it's use of bullhooks and chains to control the performing elephants.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute and other activist groups assert that Asian elephants are injured physically and emotionally by their treatment in the circus. The groups say long hours traveling to more than 40 cities a year by train harms the highly social and intelligent animals,, and they want Ringling Bros. to stop using them in their shows.
Forbes magazine recently ran an article asserting that American law students are "victims of an unfolding education hoax on the middle class"--the myth that college and advanced degrees translate to a life of economic privilege.
The average law grad has $100,000 in student debt, according to the magazine. An UCLA law professor says the problem can be worst for African-American students, who are lured into law school to improve diversity rankings without being told that less than half will pass the bar. Schools also "goose employment statistics by temporarily hiring new grads and spotlighting kids who land top-paying jobs, while glossing over far-lower average incomes," the story says.
Continue reading "Law School - Liability or Door to Luxury" »
In a very troubling new trend spreading across the nation n, teens and pre-teens are sending nude or semi-nude pictures to one another on their mobile phones in a practice called "sexting".
Though the youngsters see the activity as tantalizing fun, for some it is starting to lead to serious consequences. Recently, teenagers have been arrested on child pornography charges and there have been reports of high-schoolers losing jobs or college scholarships as a result of being identified in sexually-suggestive pictures that have appeared on the internet.
Continue reading "Teen 'sexting' craze leading to child porn arrests" »
A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who claims to have turned fat, extricated in liposuction, into biofuel for his car has skipped town after US officials raided his surgery in an investigation into his procedures.
Dr Craig Alan Bittner, who runs the Liposculpture clinic on Rodeo Drive, said that he had created "lipodiesel" with his patients' excess subcutaneous fat. Dr Bittner is under investigation by the California Department of Public Health because it is illegal in the state to use human medical waste to power vehicles.
Continue reading "Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Fueled Vehicles with 'Lipodiesel'?" »
Denver firefighters evacuated an apartment building primarily full of University of Denver graduate students yesterday afternoon after a graduate student had called for help. She was groggy when she answered her door. Another student, found in an adjacent apartment, was taken to a hospital after she was found unconscious on the top floor of the three-story, 42-unit Josephine Place building at 2035 Josephine St. just before 5 p.m., said a spokesman for the fire department. This student tragically died later in the night.
Though the apartment is adjacent to the university, it is not a campus facility. Investigators found the carbon monoxide had leaked from a flue from the boiler that had been repaired Monday after wind damage last week.
Continue reading "Another Tragic Colorado Death Due to CO" »
For many, Grinch and Who-ville are old holiday traditions, but officials in Louisville, Kentucky found that lawyers can ruin even the best of well-intentioned holiday plans.
The city of Louisville had hoped to include a recreation of the iconic Dr. Seuss village and characters as part of its annual holiday celebration, Light Up Louisville. The plans called for an area called "LouWhoVille," complete with costumed characters from the Dr. Seuss classic such as Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated an assault conviction despite evidence that jurors lied about racial bias in the case against an American Indian. The 10th Circuit, representing of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, focused on the sanctity of the jury deliberation process even when a juror stepped forward to accuse others on the panel of racial bias against American Indians.
After seven years of litigation, and a U.S. Supreme Court victory for the school district, the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case has been settled for payment of $45,000 to the former student.
In 2002, when the Olympic torch was making its way across Alaska, Joseph Frederick, a then 18-year-old high school, displayed a banner across the street from the high school. The banner read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," a phrase intended to be humorous and nonsensical. High school principal Deborah Morse lacked a sense of humor, confiscated the banner and suspended Frederick from school.
Change will be felt in courtrooms as well as the White House after elections this past Tuesday, as two chief justices and two supreme court incumbents were unseated after weeks of negative television ads and millions of dollars of fundraising.
Michigan's Supreme Court race turned into the nation's nastiest judicial campaign, according to a nonpartisan organization that monitors judicial races. Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, a bipartisan organization in Washington, D.C., that tracks state judicial elections, described the race as an "orgy of negativity."
These tough economic times have resulted in countless foreclosures and evictions, but one this past weekend in Pontiac, Michigan posed some unusual problems for authorities responsible for emptying the premises – what to do with the bodies. The business was a funeral home, and among the items that had to be removed were five bodies and the cremated remains of 22 others.
A poor Colorado man is killed while purchasing firewood for his home, as the result of negligence on the part of business. The business is sued, and when preparing for trial the business asks the trial judge to allow the business to argue that even if it owes the widow for the loss of her husband’s income, the business should receive credit for taxes the poor guy would have had to pay had he lived.
Continue reading "Sometimes Taxes Are Not Certain As Death" »
Last Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the family of a Washington man whose brain was harvested for mental-health research when he died can pursue a lawsuit against King County as well as the institute that received the organ. The state Supreme Court unanimously found that a lower-court judge was wrong to dismiss all claims brought by the family of Jesse Smith, who died of heart problems in 2003 shortly after his 21st birthday. Smith was an organ donor, and his mother and her husband consented by phone to provide brain tissue to the nonprofit Stanley Medical Research Institute of Maryland. Instead of taking a small tissue sample, however, the King County Medical Examiner's office provided the entire brain.
Trucking companies should work harder to ensure that their drivers get required rest, and the government should move toward mandating the use of alarm systems to alert exhausted truckers, a safety commission from the National Transportation Safety Board recommended last week.
The board hearing, held in Washington, D.C., and streamed live on the Internet, was held in response to an early-morning crash in western Wisconsin three years ago in which a bus carrying a high school band slammed into an overturned semitrailer, killing five people.
Camryn Jakeb Wilson was bathed in TV lights the day he was born, celebrated on the local news as Summit County, Ohio 2008 New Year's baby after his arrival at 12:33 a.m. on January 1.
Just 12 weeks later, he quietly died in his mother's arms, the victim of shaken baby syndrome. Camryn was critically injured, with bleeding inside his head and in the backs of his eyes, and several broken ribs -- some of which, according to the autopsy, turned out to be older injuries. Medical personnel at the hospital determined the combination of injuries could only mean abuse.
Those little vehicles that buzz around golf courses as well as parks, sports fields and public recreational areas might be a cost-saving alternative to larger vehicles, but a pair of studies released this week suggests they do have their risks. The numbers of injuries have been increasing as more people rely on golf carts for transportation off golf courses. While there were about 5,772 injuries in 1990, the number more than doubled to 13,411 in 2006. Over the period studied, the researchers counted injuries in almost 150,000 people ages 2 months to 96 years.
Continue reading "Sand Traps and Ponds Aren’t the Only Hazards" »
The chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overseeing a case exploring the extreme fringe of pornography, suspended the obscenity trial after a newspaper reported the judge had posted sexually explicit photos and videos on his own Web site.
Judge Alex Kozinski granted a highly-unusual joint prosecution and defense motion to suspend a trial this week. The case involves charges of obscenity against Ira Isaacs for films he markets.
More than 17 teens die on a typical day on American roads during June, July and August – the three months with the highest teen crash rates. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly 6,000 teens die in car crashes every year, a statistic that hasn’t changed in more than a decade. While research shows that both parents and teens believe alcohol is the cause of most crashes involving teen drivers, the primary causes of most teen crashes – between 2003 and 2005 – was driver error (87 percent).
For 40 years, an incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court justice never lost an election—not, that is, until this month, when a business-backed circuit judge narrowly defeated the first African-American to serve on the state's highest court.
But the victory of Michael Gableman over Louis Butler was stands out because the race came with such cost, partisanship, and confrontation—hardball trends that are expected to appear in judicial races nationwide. At an estimated $5 million, the cost of the Wisconsin race set records, and its campaign ads—largely sponsored by outside groups—were so negative and in some cases so misleading that they were criticized by a state watchdog group. One of Gableman's ads falsely implied that Butler had gotten out of jail a convicted rapist who then committed a second sexual assault. (In fact, the second assault occurred after the man served his full sentence.) Another ad by the pro-Butler teachers union accused Gableman of sentencing child sex offenders far below the maximum, but it used the example of an offender who received a higher sentence than the one the prosecutor recommended.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will pay $20 million to settle the last in a series of lawsuits that claimed it was responsible for poisoning water in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, as depicted in the movie "Erin Brockovich."
This week USA TODAY reported the discovery of a number of lawsuits that alleged corporate malfeasance in cases of pharmacy errors at Walgreens and CVS. Many were settled, and nearly all the settlements included confidentiality agreements.
A Santa Rosa woman who was badly injured by a bulldog has settled her lawsuit against the dog owner for $1 million. Wendy Rydberg will receive $900,000 and her husband and two children will receive about $33,000 each.
Just this week in Colorado, a hunter found the remains of a man killed in the crash of an all-terrain vehicle. Another Colorado hunting party discovered the remains of a northern Michigan man missing since 2003. A coroner says the hunters found the remains of Ray Wiggs, III of Alanson, Michigan. The 19-year-old and a friend traveled to Colorado in October of 2003 for a camping trip.
Outdoorsmen are an integral part of law enforcement, regularly finding human remains in areas killers hoped would keep secrets. But what is remote in August may be well-trodden in November; what was leaf-covered will reveal what's behind. Someone leaving the city for the quiet of autumn woods may find more than serenity or a six-point buck. He may find a crime scene.
Pop Weaver, the nation's second-largest popcorn producer, has pulled the synthetic flavoring, diacetyl, from its microwave popcorn products because of the link between exposure to the chemical and lung disease. ConAgra, the world's largest supplier of the 3 billion bags of microwave popcorn sold each year, said Tuesday that it will eliminate the use of a controversial chemical butter flavoring linked to severe lung disease in workers from its Act II and Orville Redenbacher products.
A few years ago, traffic on Interstate-70 heading from Denver to the mountains was particularly heavy during the ski season as front-range ski enthusiasts headed up for the day. But with the increase in summer tourism and those day-trippers seeking the golden aspens of autumn, traffic is heavy year-round. Average daily traffic at the Eisenhower Tunnel increased 7 percent from 2004 to 2006, according to CDOT.
When 3-year-old Anthony Muniz drowned in a neighbor’s backyard pool here earlier this month, the tragedy was particularly piercing: Little Anthony had been named for his mother’s teenage brother, who died in his family’s pool years ago.
The fence that Anthony climbed over after slipping out of his Long Island home on June 6 was four feet tall, as required by the town where he lived, Brookhaven. An hour’s drive west, the fence would have had to be five feet in the town of Hempstead and six feet in North Hempstead. And the pool he drowned in, built about 30 years ago, was exempt from a new New York state law that requires alarms, but only for new or renovated pools.
The widow of a leukemia victim failed to persuade the Supreme Court Monday to consider allowing her to sue oil companies over her husband's exposure to a toxic chemical, a case her lawyer calls a legal "Catch 22" in Alabama.
The justices without comment declined to take up the case of Martha Jane Cline, who is trying to hold the companies accountable for her late husband's health problems. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case June 4.
Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say they have dramatically boosted inspections of companies that harvest cadaver body parts for transplant, acknowledging weaknesses in government oversight of the multibillion-dollar human tissue industry that last year was rocked by scandal.
The FDA claims the inspections turned up no serious problems. But an internal task force report urges the agency to establish a method for tracking body parts from cadaver to transplant patient as well as other problems, but operators of accredited tissue banks and others familiar with the industry say the report doesn't go far enough to clean up the problem.
By now, most folks have heard about the administrative law judge Roy Pearson Jr. with his $65 million lawsuit against a D.C. dry cleaner for losing a pair of his pants.
Not surprisingly, this isn't the first time Pearson has filed tons of documents and demanded payment in a court case. Just ask his ex-wife. In 2005, the Virginia Court of Appeals denied Pearson's appeal seeking at least $10,000 in spousal support in his divorce from Rhonda VanLowe, legal counsel for Rolls-Royce North America. Pearson wanted VanLowe to help support him because he was receiving unemployment benefits in 2003 before he was appointed as an administrative law judge in 2005.
Continue reading "How to make a pair pants into a $65M suit" »
The insurance industry determined that General Motors' vehicles had the highest and lowest death rates in the period between 2002 and 2005. According to their study, the vehicles with the highest death rate were the 2001 to 2004 Chevrolet Blazers and the Chevrolet Astro minivan was recorded to have the lowest rate. Researchers also reported that the average death rate for all vehicles has declined.
The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Aurora over its pit-bull ban. An Aurora home-owner brought the suit against the city in Arapahoe County District Court, saying that her constitutional rights were violated by the ban. The Aurora City Council imposed the ban on new pit bulls in February 2006. But it did allow all current owners at that time to keep their dogs if they obtained $200 annual licenses and adhered to a number of requirements.
Found 4/13/07 on the front page of the website for The National Law Journal, a link to an article titled:
How to make your family vacation more productive
With spring around the corner, it's time to pack the kids in the car for a family roadtrip. But don't let that stop you from keeping the clock running on your billable hours.
The above lead links to an article explaining how lawyers can pack in billable hours while touring with the family- does this suggest a loss of balance - or maybe sheer looniness- for those firms obsessed with billable hours?
After a five-week trial, in King County, Washington, jury on last Friday awarded $14 million to a 27-year-old skier who was paralyzed after dropping 37 feet from a ski jump at the Summit at Snoqualmie.
Continue reading "Paralyzed skier wins against terrain park" »
Last Halloween it was New York City funeral homes partaking in clandestine selling of cadaver parts, see Modern Day Body Snatchers – now the former director of the cadaver donor program at the University of California, Los Angeles, along with his modern-day Igor, have been charged with conspiracy and grand theft. Both have been accused of illegally trading body parts that had been donated to the University for Medical Research.
Continue reading "Cadaver Parts Becoming “Growth Industry”?" »
Parents of teenagers worry about lots of things: drugs, sex, poor choices of friends. But the activity that poses the greatest danger to your child is driving the family car.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 20-year-olds, with about 5,500 teenage drivers or passengers dying each year. In addition, about 450,000 teenagers are injured, 27,000 of them requiring hospitalization, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported in the December issue of its journal, Pediatrics.
The American Bar Association, the nation's largest lawyers group, is taking on the National Rifle Association, the biggest gun rights organization. The issue is whether an employer has the right to bar workers from leaving guns in their cars while on the job.
Last winter a record 58.9 million skiers and snowboarders hit the nation’s slopes. This season, Colorado resorts are on a pace to break last winter's record of 12.53 million skier visits, with 6.74 percent more in the first part of the season than the same period last year, the industry recently reported. The resorts had nearly 3.3 million skier visits from October through December 2006, up 207,533 when compared to the same period in 2005.
While the mountains have less snow than last year's near-record, TV coverage of snow-covered Denver has well-publicized the great skiing conditions. And Colorado resorts have benefited from the lack of snow suffered in the East and most of Europe.
Two backcountry avalanche accidents last month, including one resulting in a fatality, and one massive slide which closed a Colorado highway, are early-season reminders of the threat of high country avalanches. And with more snow coming, backcountry enthusiasts need to tread, or slide as the case may be, cautiously. For those enjoying Colorado’s beautiful snow-covered Rockies, a visit to CAIC before visiting the out of bounds slopes is essential.
The death of a disabled Viet Nam veteran the week of Christmas in a Denver house fire illustrates the danger of house fires in the winter. Though the cause of this fire is unknown, the high cost of home heating fuels and utilities have caused many Americans to search for alternate sources of home heating. Particularly in Colorado, where a stretch of artic weather has set in, the use of wood burning stoves is growing and space heaters are selling rapidly, or coming out of storage. Fireplaces are burning wood and man made logs. All these methods of heating may be acceptable. They are however, a major contributing factor in residential fires. Many of these fires can be prevented.
Looking forward to having a few friends over for the Big Game on February 4th? If you are hosting a party anytime, you should consider how to best protect your guests and yourself.
Continue reading "Rain or Shine, Party Hosts May Want Umbrella" »
This week the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released the results of a study testing the safety of small cars. With increased gas prices, the fuel savings offered by smaller models have increased their popularity recently. Of the eight models tested, all received passing scores in head-on crash tests, but only one, the Nissan Versa, received high marks in both side- and rear-crash tests. The high marks for Versa is the result of its greater heft, weighing several hundred pounds heavier than competing models.
When is a pig part of the family? According to the Alabama Supreme Court, when the animal is a “potbellied porcine pet” which the owner loves. The pig lover was brought to trial by neighbors claiming the pig, Taylor, violated neighborhood prohibitions against livestock. The court cited precedent that held that Vietnamese potbellied pigs are clearly not meant to be eaten like livestock, and all doubts and ambiguities in a restrictive covenant must be resolved against the party seeking enforcement. According to the court, this was not a case in which a family is treating a farm animal like a pet, such as Arnold, the pig of television’s Green Acres fame.
Continue reading "Forget the Turkey - What About the Pig?" »
Consumer Product Safety Council (CPSC) has reports of 20 toy-related deaths involving children under age 15 that occurred in 2005. Nine of these deaths occurred when a child choked or aspirated on a small ball or other toy parts. Also, in 2005 an estimated 152,400 children under 15 years old were treated for toy-related injuries in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. The majority of these injuries were not the result of a recalled or dangerous product. Instead, injuries from riding toys such as falls, made up a significant number of the injuries. To avoid such tragedies this holiday season, CPSC and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are working together to make this holiday season a safe one by warning all gift givers about the five toy hazards that can take all the fun out of any celebration.
You don’t have to spend much time on any major highway before you feel like your vehicle is about to be blown away by the semis racing past you. The American Trucking Associations, the nation’s premier trucking industry trade group, recognizes the significant public safety risk posed by these speed demons and last week petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to limit the maximum speed of large trucks at the time of manufacture to no more than 68 miles per hour.
Continue reading "Speed Limit Requested for Nation's Semis" »
Many different groups of people, including the very young, participants over age 60, the handicapped and the disabled enjoy ski/snowboard activities. Approximately 10.4 million Americans either ski or snowboard. Final reports indicate that the U.S. ski industry set an all-time national skier visit record of 58.8 million for the 2005/06 season, up 3.5 percent from last season, and up 2.3 percent from the previous record set in 2002/03. As many participants now snowboard as ski. But a day on the slopes can end in the emergency room, or worse. On average, 34 people die each year in the United States while skiing or snowboarding. Another 39 suffer severe, yet nonfatal, injuries, including paralysis and brain trauma.
The classic Halloween image is that of a broadly smiling Jack-O-Lantern, animated by a burning candle. But, reported home candle fires have tripled since their low in 1990. Two-fifths started in the bedroom, while the living room, family room, or den was the leading area of origin for candle fire deaths. Half of the home candle fires occurred after by some type of combustible was too close to the candle; an unattended or abandoned candle was a factor in 18% of these fires. Falling asleep was a factor in 12% of the incidents.
From ghoulies and ghosties,
Long-leggety beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us. - Anonymous
The ghouls and goblins will be out in just three short weeks – make sure your trick-or-treaters enjoy a safe and fun Halloween by reviewing these simple safety points.
Man’s best friend doesn’t always live up to the title – an average 4.7 million people throughout the nation suffer a dog bite each year. The Insurance Information Institute reports that dog bites account for about 25% of all homeowners’ insurance liability claims.
Home is where the heart is, but it may also be where the danger resides. In 2001, there were 33,200 accidental deaths in the home. The four leading causes of such fatalities are, in order: poisoning, falls, suffocation from an ingested object, and fires and burns. While no age group is invulnerable, the two most at-risk groups are children under age 4 and the elderly.
Common wisdom is that the best thing for our children is to get them outside to play - but this may not be such good advice if they head for the background playset. A surprising report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) revealed that over a ten year period, more children died from injuries sustained on backyard playground equipment than on public playgrounds. Data on playground related deaths reported to the agency from January 1990 through August 2000 was reviewed, and studied playground equipment related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms.
It’s not something you do with a rod and reel or an alternative music group. Phishing is an online scam used to commit identity theft. A fraudulent, but official-looking e-mail is sent to a user in an attempt to con that user into divulging personal and/or private information, which is then used for identity theft. The sender is “fishing” for a bite from a few of the millions of recipients of the fake e-mail.
Many in Colorado are familiar with the tragic story of the missing toddler being towed in Carter Lake this past July. He is now presumed drowned, and authorities report that his life jacket was too big for his 25-pound body.
Boating accidents are not so few and far between. The Coast Guard says that each year about 8,000 boating accidents are reported, resulting in the death of more than 800 people.
The natural beauty of Colorado entices many to enjoy the great outdoors on bicycles. But sadly, Colorado motorists are often ignorant of the rights enjoyed by cyclists in our state, or choose to ignore those rights and drive so aggressively as to cause serious accidents. When bicyclists are hit on our roads, severe or fatal injuries are often the result.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, each year about 5,000 people are killed in accidents involving large trucks. Annually, truck collisions account for more than 25,000 injuries requiring emergency room treatment.
With summer approaching, many famiies soon will be loading up kids and bags and heading out on a road trip. But, over 400 4-to-8-year-olds are killed in traffic crashes every year, and roughly 70,000 more are injured. Research has shown that booster seats are extremely effective in reducing injuries in crashes.