Columnist John Leo’s annual survey of the year in victimization (U.S. News, Nov. 21).
Archive for November, 2005
“Man glued to toilet seat sticks to story”
“A man who sued Home Depot claiming that a prank left him glued to a restroom toilet seat has passed a lie detector test, a newspaper reported.” After Bob Dougherty made headlines with his allegations that employees of the home improvement chain failed to respond to his calls for help, “Ron Trzepacz, former director of operations in Nederland, where Dougherty lives, said that Dougherty claimed in 2004 that he was glued to a toilet seat in the town’s visitor center but pulled himself free.” However, Dougherty said he knew nothing of Trzepacz or of such an incident and offered to take the polygraph test, which was arranged by a local television station. (AP/CNN, Nov. 11). Amid the numerous puzzling aspects of the case, one aspect is reassuringly familiar, namely that it’s Not About the Money (see Nov. 7, etc.) “It’s not about the money. I want my health back. I want to be back to normal,’ Dougherty said. ‘I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody ever, ever again.'” His lawsuit asks $3 million for pain, humiliation and other losses. (AP/CNN, “Man glued to toilet may have history”, Nov. 8). Possibly the most groanworthy headline, of several candidates, was the Dallas Morning News’s: “Toilet allegation: Was it stunt No. 2?” (Nov. 8).
Jahkema “Princess” Hansen
Fourteen-year-old Jahkema “Princess” Hansen was dating 28-year-old murder suspect Marquette Ward. Police detectives visited Hansen to see if she had any information about the murder over a PCP-laced marijuana cigarette, which she allegedly witnessed. She told them she didn’t, and then (according to prosecutors) went to Ward and asked for compensation for keeping quiet. The night after the interview, a friend of Ward’s, Franklin Thompson, allegedly stormed Hansen’s DC townhouse and shot her dead, execution-style. (Ward and Thompson have plead not guilty to the two murders, and go to trial in March.)
But what makes this sordid story one for Overlawyered was the reaction of Hansen’s mother, Judyann Hansen, who, through her attorney, Donald Rosendorf, sued the Washington, DC, police department, blaming them for Hansen’s death. “Any time a police officer sets foot in that neighborhood, it gets around and it gets around fast,” Rosendorf said. Thus, he argued, the mere fact of the interview created a legal duty to provide special protection for Hansen. A D.C. Superior Court judge has disagreed, and dismissed the suit. (Henri E. Cauvin, “D.C. Police Not Liable in Witness’s Death, Judge Rules”, Washington Post, Nov. 10). A Marc Fisher column in the WaPo in February painted a more sympathetic portrait of the Hansen family (which included two adult sons serving time for crack-dealing), which led to a Charlotte Allen fisking.
By the numbers
“At last count, Congress Assembled contains two physicists, two chemists, two biologists, one geologist, 234 lawyers and an astronaut. This puts the lawyers within striking distance of an absolute majority in the 538-member Congress.” (Russell Seitz, “Congressional Math”, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 11)(sub-only).
“For Online Parents’ Group, a Legal Scare”
When “a recent question about a preschool prompted a mother and shop owner to recount a bad business encounter with the school’s director, the husband of the school’s director threatened to sue the board’s moderators for defamation.” As “Mr. [Edward B.] Safran’s threats of a lawsuit continued, the moderators were scared into shutting down the message group’s entire archives this month.” (Mokoto Rich, New York Times, Nov. 13).
Federalist Society convention, D.C.
I’m off to the Federalist Society’s annual Lawyers Convention in Washington, D.C. and expect to be back posting on Sunday.
N.Y.: Hotel safety standards for sharehouses?
“In a decision that could have ripple effects across Long Island’s East End summer playground, a Suffolk Supreme Court justice hearing a swimming pool accident case has ruled that a sharehouse owner may be held to the same liability standards as the owner of a hotel, motel or inn.” After Flavio Fornaro injured himself diving, his lawyers argued that the owner of the house in Quogue should have mounted decals on the swimming pool to indicate relative depths, a step that might be standard for a hotel or motel pool but which is not expected of homeowners. A judge ruled that the claim could go to trial. “The decision could create a whole host of new and previously unanticipated duties for both rental property owners and others who have pay-to-attend events at their homes.” One Riverhead attorney wondered whether the hiring of lifeguards might be required, and a realtor called the decision “quite disturbing”, with its implication that prudent private owners might need to mimic the safety precautions of commercial establishments: “You can’t take a person’s residence and make it a Starbucks.” (Andrew Harris, “Sharehouse Owners Held to Public Accommodations Standards in Pool Accident Case”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 2).
Stealing his godly powers
A man named Christopher Roller, who can be safely described as eccentric at least in his views, is suing magician David Copperfield for that alleged offense. (Squander Two blog, Nov. 3).
“Safety fears silence Poppy Day salute”
More on health and safety regulation in the U.K.: “The traditional firing of a salute to mark the beginning and end of the two-minute silence has been cancelled for Remembrance Sunday this weekend on health and safety grounds.” (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 8).
“Cox: Fieger tried to blackmail me about affair”
Further fireworks from the frequently fascinating Fieger files:
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox accused a potential 2006 political opponent, high profile Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, of blackmail Wednesday, claiming that Fieger threatened to reveal his extramarital affair if Cox did not drop an investigation into the lawyer’s alleged campaign finance violations.
(Dawson Bell and L.L. Brasier, Detroit Free Press, Nov. 9). For more on Fieger, whose activities have long been a mainstay of this site, see Mar. 13, Oct. 24, and many others.
More on the story: David Shepardson and Mike Martindale, “Sex scandal”, Detroit News, Nov. 10 (check sidebar for over-the-top statement by Fieger); L.L. Brasier and Patricia Montemurri, “Figure in Fieger-Cox sex scandal has criminal past”, Detroit Free Press, Nov. 10); Dawson Bell and L.L. Brasier, “Cox: Fieger made threat over affair”, Detroit Free Press, Nov. 10 (“one of the most bizarre events in recent Michigan political history”):
Fieger has a long history of stirring up trouble, both for himself and others, and sometimes on a personal level.
In 1998, when he was the Democratic nominee for governor, he suggested that his opponent — then-Gov. John Engler — was not the father of triplet daughters born to his wife, Michelle, in 1994.