*2003, Andrew Burnett sued Sara McBurnett and the San Jose Mercury News, claiming they had caused him to suffer mental anguish and post traumatic stress disorder. Burnett filed the lawsuit while serving a three-year sentence for killing defendant McBurnett’s dog in a road rage incident, claiming that the incident had caused his suffering. The case was thrown out.
*2005 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Gertrude Walton, who had passed away the year before at the age of 83, after having received notice of her death and a copy of the death certificate. The RIAA claimed that Watson had illegally downloaded and shared over 700 songs. Watson’s daughter claims that she never even had a computer in the house. Although RIAA dropped the case against Watson, it was only one of over 20,000 similar lawsuits filed by the association beginning in 2003. While some of the lawsuits are legitimate cases of piracy, defendants have included a twelve-year-old girl whose parents wound up paying RIAA $2,000, and families who have never owned a computer. Defendants can face charges of $150,000 per song.
*2005, Austin Aitken sued NBC for $2.5 million. He claimed that an episode of “Fear Factor” caused him “suffering, injury, and great pain.” He said that watching the contestants eat rats on television made him dizzy and light-headed, causing him to vomit and run into a doorway. The judge said the case was frivolous and threw it out.
*2006, Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight for $832 million. He claimed to suffer defamation, permanent injury, and emotional pain and suffering because people often mistook him for the basketball star. Heckard dropped the lawsuit later that year.
*Man who previously changed his name to 'Jack Ass' sued media giant Viacom, saying the MTV show "Jackass" plagiarized his name This is real folks. A man in Montana who changed his name back in 1997 to "Jack Ass" (previously Bob Craft), says he did it to raise awareness about the dangers of drunk driving. The show "Jackass," which premiered on MTV back in 2000, featured a group of guys performing crazy and dangerous stunts, that was also made into a movie in 2002. Jack Ass himself is claiming the company plagiarized his name, infringed on his trademark and copyright to his name and defamed his good character. He's only asking for 10 Million. Source: CNN
*An Ontario woman who got drunk at an office party and crashed her car has successfully sued her employer for allowing her to drive. Even though her company offered a cab ride or accommodation if she gave up her keys. Linda Hunt, 52, won more than $300,000 in damages and interest from Sutton Group Realty Ltd., of Barrie, Ont., after arguing her boss should have stopped her from driving home in a snowstorm following a 1994 Christmas party." The judge assessed Hunt's damages from the resulting accident at $1.2 million, but reduced that by three quarters to reflect her own fault in the matter. He "went on to declare it the duty of employers to monitor the alcohol consumption of employees at company functions. The decision is expected to send a chill through offices across the country". (Charlie Gillis, National Post (Canada), Feb. 6). Source - Overlawyered.com
| Get More>>> | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | >>>Next |
No comments:
Post a Comment