Overlawyered » volunteers

Fined for clearing tornado debris without license

Walter Olson — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:15:03 +0000

A volunteer clearing debris after the recent tornado in north Minneapolis has been hit with a $275 fine for tree trimming without a license [Star-Tribune via Coyote]

More: In other legal news of tree-trimming, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has settled a battle with San Francisco neighbors over charges that the growth of their trees was spoiling his view [WSJ, more] And the city of Charlotte, N.C., has fined a local church $4,000, or $100 a branch, for excessively trimming crape myrtle trees on its own property under a city tree ordinance [Brittany Penland, Charlotte Observer via Amy Alkon]

Tags: environment, Minnesota, North Carolina, volunteers, workplace

Fined for clearing tornado debris without license is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I took you in, and your family sued me

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 05:07:05 +0000

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The parents of a man fatally stabbed at the New Life Evangelistic Center homeless shelter in 2008 have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the center, saying the center did not provide adequate security.” Jeremy Dunlap was 21 years old when he was stabbed at the center by Robert Gamble, another homeless man who was convicted of murder. “We are saddened that the family would claim that we were negligent,” a church assistant said. “We are in the business of trying to help people that nobody else will help.”

Tags: churches, third party liability for crime, volunteers

I took you in, and your family sued me is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

From comments: Before feeding the hungry…

Walter Olson — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:54:52 +0000

…better check whether your church is licensed as a commercial food-preparation facility [Density Duck in comments:]

…Our local church had to shut down its Feed-The-Hungry operation (where a bunch of retired housewives cooked simple meals and froze them to give to the local soup kitchen.) The reason is that the church kitchen wasn’t certified as a commercial food-preparation facility, as one of the lawyers in the congregation helpfully pointed out to the lady in charge of the program.

We’ve covered the issue periodically before.

Tags: churches, food safety, volunteers

From comments: Before feeding the hungry… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“The law that stole Christmas”

Walter Olson — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 11:44:12 +0000

A nonprofit in suburban Chicago each year encourages its woodworker members “to craft and donate wooden Christmas toys to less fortunate children.” After donating upwards of 700 toys a year in the past, it will have to discontinue the program in future since it can’t afford the third-party testing required under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, sponsored by area members of Congress Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). “Woodworking hobby magazines have pegged prices for third-party testing as high as $30,000 for 80 items.” Testing is particularly impractical for items made from donated/recycled wood, since each donated wood source needs to be put through separate testing. Another triumph for CPSIA! [Jenette Sturges, Sun-Times/Beacon-News]

PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGE from John Bate’s 1635 book, The Mysteryes of Nature and Art, Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: CPSIA, CPSIA and Congress, CPSIA and toys, Illinois, volunteers

“The law that stole Christmas” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Tory blitz on compensation culture is revealed”

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 05:24:38 +0000

“Health and safety regulations which burden Britain and lead to good samaritans facing prosecution are to be swept away in a blitz on ‘compensation culture’”. Among the measures are rollbacks of liability for volunteers, emergency service responders and school recreation. “A coalition source said: ‘What we are determined to see is a great extension of personal freedom, at the same times as a rolling back both of the state and the power of the courts.’” [Telegraph]

Tags: emergency services, Good Samaritan, schools, United Kingdom, volunteers

“Tory blitz on compensation culture is revealed” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

An ice fence for Cadillac, Mich.

Walter Olson — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:08:11 +0000

Bob Dorigo Jones reports that volunteers won’t build one for fear of liability. He’s got a second post with more on lawsuit fears and Michigan charities.

Tags: Michigan, volunteers

An ice fence for Cadillac, Mich. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Sue volunteer search-and-rescue teams enough…

Walter Olson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:39:40 +0000

…and maybe they’ll go away.

Tags: Canada, recreation, volunteers

Sue volunteer search-and-rescue teams enough… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Suing the chaperone

Ted Frank — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:58:05 +0000

18-year-old Lauren Crossan, captain of the Randolph (New Jersey) High School cheerleading squad on a trip to the Hula Bowl, plunged naked to her death from a ninth-floor hotel balcony in Maui in 2004. Police arrested two California men who were staying in the hotel room, but then decided that the death was an alcohol-related accident–Crossan had a BAC of 0.17. (The men told police that they fell asleep while Crossan was still in the room after one had sex with her, and didn’t know what happened to her. Police say there was no evidence of sexual contact or of a struggle.) (AP, “Police: Cheerleader’s death an accident”, Jan. 15, 2004; Gary T. Kubota, “Tests show cheerleader was not on illegal drugs”, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jan. 27, 2004; memorial site with obnoxious music).

This was, Crossan’s parents decided, the fault of Hyatt and of Susanne Sadler, the mother of one of the cheerleaders on the Hula Bowl trip, who was allegedly acting as a chaperone for Crossan. The Hyatt suit was “resolved”; an arbitrator awarded $690,000 against Ms. Sadler–reduced from $1.15 million, because the adult Crossan was held 40% responsible for her decision to get drunk, go to a 20-year-old’s room, strip off her clothes, and do whatever it was that led her to fatally invoke the law of gravity. Of course, this is the sort of award that is likely to simply deter chaperoning rather than anything else. Sadler herself claims that she was just there with her own cheerleader daughter, and hadn’t agreed to chaperone, though this may just be a self-serving claim since she did make all of the travel arrangements for the group. (Brian Perry, “Arbitrator finds chaperon responsible for teen’s death”, Maui News, May 16; “Chaperone to pay $690K in Randolph teen’s demise”, Daily Record, Jun. 2 (plus interesting comments from people claiming to be local Randolph residents); AP/FoxNews, “Parents Fear Accompanying Students on Trips After Accidental Death Award”, Jun. 16 (h/t F.R.)). Crossan’s family’s hatred of Sadler extends to charging her with harassment for leaving flowers at Crossan’s memorial. (AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Chaperone charged with harassment”, May 30).

None of the press coverage indicates why the Volunteer Protection Act did not apply.

Note that the streamlined procedures of an arbitration benefits plaintiffs as well as defendants: the parties saved legal expenses; got to trial months ahead of when they would have; Sadler may not appeal, and Crossan’s parents will be able to collect comparatively quickly.

Tags: arbitration, deep pocket, personal responsibility, schools, volunteers

Suing the chaperone is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Possum party poopers

Ted Frank — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 18:33:16 +0000

The Appalachian town of Brasstown, North Carolina, had a tongue-in-cheek tradition of celebrating the new year by lowering, instead of a ball, a captured and fattened possum in a plexiglass cage, followed by a release of the animal. This New Year’s Eve, however, the hundreds of attendees were disappointed when, hours before the event, a PETA member threatened legal action against the organizer, who was sufficiently frightened off by the possibility of needing to hire lawyers to back off the annual event. (Jeffrey Gettleman, “A New Year’s Tradition Lives, but the 4-Legged Star Doesn’t”, New York Times, Jan. 2; Jeffrey Gettleman, “Keep Your Ball. We’ve Got the Possum.”, New York Times, Dec. 31). I suppose PETA wasn’t deterred by the anti-tort-reform propaganda going around the blogosphere that falsely implies that volunteers are protected from lawsuit (Dec. 12).

Tags: animal rights, North Carolina, volunteers

Possum party poopers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system