Tortelicious: Car Keys Locked in Car? Rob a Bank!

July 26th, 2010. By LucyC

Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal stories making news—and there’s certainly no shortage of them. 

Three Strikes… and a Bit…and You’re Out! A woman in Montana, who successfully carried out two bank robberies struck out on number three. Why? Well, she locked her keys in her getaway car, so why not? Ok, so I won’t feel quite so stupid next time I discover I’ve done the same thing in a very public place—like the supermarket parking lot. 

Maybe this woman was a bit distracted (although I’m not quite sure what would take your mind off getting away immediately), or just blasé about her success and got careless. Not only had she committed two robberies, she had also managed to escape while in captivity—as the expression goes. 

Apparently she was caught—at some point—but while under arrest she complained of feeling unwell and she was taken to the hospital. And, low and behold, didn’t she just make a miraculous recovery and check herself out. Free to rob another bank. Which she did. 

Needless to say she’s in custody now—but for how long is anyone’s guess.

Not Feeling the Love? Better duck. A 23-year old in Iowa City was reportedly overtaken by the urge to hug someone one Sunday afternoon not too long ago. Whether this was a special someone or not, I don’t know, and whether there was any back story to this—I also don’t know. Clearly something was going on because when the hugger went to hug the huggee, the huggee spurned him! So, the hugger did what any self-respecting Read the rest of this entry »

Katie Morales’ DisceRNment: Making the Legal Industry Proud

July 23rd, 2010. By Kristine B

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series we hope to present to celebrate and commend the behind-the-scenes volunteer work (including pro-bono cases), donated funds and/or time, and the overall commitment those in the legal industry generously give—most often quietly, without fanfare or cameras rolling—to those in need. We thank Katie Morales for all that she and her team at DisceRNment do, and for taking the time to speak with us.

Sometimes, when you focus on lawsuits and drug side effects, it can be easy to forget how much good there is in the world. Katie Morales, who we profiled previously in a Pleading Ignorance blog post, is one of the people doing a lot of good. So much good, that we had to talk about her. 

Katie is a legal nurse consultant and runs a company called DisceRNment (online at discernment.biz). Both privately and through her company, Katie works to make the world a better place. 

“Just this weekend, we adopted a mile as part of ‘Keep Cobb Beautiful,” Katie says. “You adopt the mile and are responsible for cleaning it. We participate in Service Juris, an event in Atlanta where attorneys help an inner city area; we helped to convert an abandoned area into a green space.” 

Katie, her husband and DiseRNment are involved in donating water, sponsoring a swim team and sponsoring six children through World Vision.

“We sponsor older boys because we’ve been told it’s hard to get people to sponsor older Read the rest of this entry »

Asbestos News Roundup: 7.23.10

July 23rd, 2010. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. 

Asbestos Lawsuits

Bloomington, IL: Two men who have asbestos mesothelioma and who filed a lawsuit alleging conspiracy among corporations that caused their illness, fell short of a unanimous jury verdict this week.

The case took six weeks in court, and the jury took just three days to declare that they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. Consequently, a mistrial was announced on July 16.

One of the men, Mr. Dunham, worked as a firefighter in Springfield, and the plaintiff, Mr. Shoopman, was a teacher in Bloomington. They sought damages from Pneumo Abex, Honeywell, and Owens-Illinois, claiming they conspired with other companies for decades to conceal the hazards of asbestos. (St. Clair Record)

Asbestos Law

New York, NY: The Department of Environmental Protection, a city agency that certifies the private inspectors who test buildings and construction sites, says measures have been taken to improve oversight in the licensing process. The news comes three months after a safety inspector admitted to falsifying hundreds of reports concluding that buildings were free of cancer-causing asbestos. There are reportedly some 550 agents licensed through the agency.

The new measures include sharing information with federal, state and city agencies, computerizing its filing system and substantially increasing audits and spot checks of inspectors in the field. (NYTimes.com)

The Fight to Ban Quebec Asbestos

Montreal, PQ: The fight to keep the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine afloat was dealt a huge blow Read the rest of this entry »

3 for Hall of Shame Forgot their School Lessons (1st up, BP)

July 22nd, 2010. By Hunter West

There are three events going on in the world right now that are downright shameful. And while the three are not at all related, there is enough of a common denominator to illicit a cry of, “what the hell???…” 

Item: BP somehow manages to unleash the worst oil spill in US history. The environment, fragile eco-systems and the livelihoods of thousands of innocent people are affected by the misguided actions of a few… 

Item: Toyota knew in 1996 that there was a problem with the steering rods in its sport utility vehicles (the 4Runner over here, but marketed under another name in Japan). Toyota quietly switched the rods to a better version, but didn’t tell anybody. It was only when the accidents started happening in Japan that they bowed to a recall in their own country. In 2004, eight years later. Oh, but the 4Runners in the US are fine, they said. 

A year later, in 2005, they recalled more than 900,000 vehicles 1996 and prior… 

Item: More than 1000 war veterans will have to be tested for communicable diseases such Read the rest of this entry »

Not All Pharma Sales Reps Happy with Novartis Overtime Decision

July 21st, 2010. By AbiK

When it comes to lawsuits that affect a lot of folks, there are always those who feel they’ve come out ahead, and those who don’t…

If you read some of the comments floating around online about the Novartis overtime pay ruling that happened a couple of weeks ago, you just might be surprised. Most of us automatically assume that when someone sues for overtime pay—and wins!—that everyone’s hopping around with glee and a sort of “yeah! screw them!” attitude about the offending employer.

Not so with Novartis.

But it’s not because anyone seems to have a lot of love for Novartis. No, the issue is more about the bigger picture—and the age-old question of “what’s in it for me?”.

Well, if you’re a “sales” representative at Novartis, the “what’s in it for me?” question may be answered with a “not much.” Seems this decision sort of makes you a bit of a non-entity in the scheme of things—ie, the scheme of things being labelled “sales”. What do you do? Do you sell? No. Do you work on the marketing plans—as in a more senior, independent decision-maker role? Uh, no. So you, therefore, don’t meet the outside sales or administrative exemptions for overtime pay—and gee whiz—you can get—and should’ve gotten—overtime pay!

Note, I said “non-entity”. That’s not meant as a low blow here. The fact of the matter is Read the rest of this entry »