The Associated Press and one of its reporters was sued for violation of privacy and copyright infringement for publishing photos of Navy SEALs who posed with Iraqi prisoners. A federal judge in San Diego, California dismissed the lawsuit this week. (KESQ, “Judge dismisses Navy SEAL lawsuit against The Associated Press,” Jul. 14.)
Posts Tagged ‘San Diego’
“Users of Assistance Dogs Leave a Trail of Lawsuits”
Erma Miller has filed 21 discrimination claims in southern California over alleged failure to serve her because of her assistance dog. Some defendants suspect a scam: Miller regularly alleges that the failure to permit entrance to the dog meant she couldn’t use the restroom and soiled herself. They’re also suspicious of Miller’s “practice of providing Rottweilers to other people, who took the dogs to businesses, got bounced and filed lawsuits,” and hints that her disbarred-attorney ex-con husband has a hand in the litigation. Lynn Stites had served eight years for a multi-million-dollar litigation-related insurance fraud scheme out of a Grisham novel:
During the 1980s, Stites organized a clandestine network of attorneys who infiltrated complex civil cases in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties by getting insured defendants to hire them in place of their insurance company lawyers.
Posing as independent and, at times, snarling adversaries, they worked in concert to manufacture new legal controversies so that lawsuits would grow in complexity and cost.
In some cases, the lawyers paid kickbacks to clients for the right to defend them on the insurers’ dime. Stites essentially franchised the litigation, directing strategy and assigning lawyers to various defendants. His minions, in turn, kicked back a cut of their take—paying in cash, precious metals, and improvements to his house.
Three cases are scheduled for trial in the next few months. Miller has already collected six digits worth of settlements, but a suit against Marriott did not go as well:
As part of her deposition, Marriott lawyers videotaped Miller with Giggy, the Rottweiler mix involved in the Marriott suit and several others. Giggy could not obey commands to sit, to pick up Miller’s cane or to help her through the door.
(Myron Levin, LA Times, Jul. 10). More on service dog suits: May 5 and links therein.
Disclosure: At my former firm, I represented Marriott in unrelated litigation. As with all my posts, I speak for myself, and not for my current employer, my former employers, nor my former clients.
“Reduced-sugar” cereals not healthier? Sue
A San Diego mother is suing the makers of such cereals as Trix, Cocoa Puffs and Froot Loops “seeking class-action status for all consumers in the state who bought the low-sugar cereals thinking they were healthier than full-sugar versions.” The manufacturers, her suit alleges, substitute other refined carbohydrates for the missing sugar, leaving calorie count and nutritional value little changed. (“Mother sues cereal makers over ‘lower-sugar’ slogan”, AP/Pasadena Star-News, Mar. 28; Greg Moran, “Mother sues over cereal nutrition”, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 29; “Mother sues over ‘deceiving’ cereal labels”, ABCNews.com, Mar. 30). Among those who wonder why she couldn’t have looked more closely at the nutrition label in the first place: Christine Hurt, GeoBandy, and commenters at DrudgeRetort. See also Mr. Sun.
Helping themselves to class action funds
Federal prosecutors say they’ve caught two men masterminding unrelated complex schemes to siphon off large sums from class action settlements by falsely posing as members of the class. Richard Lagerveld was charged with mail and wire fraud after settlement administrators in two class actions mailed $9.2 million to his stated address in San Diego, which was in fact a homeless shelter. Authorities said he had a long criminal record including aliases and stolen identities; in one of the class actions, he submitted forged brokerage records to document his claim that he’d owned $145 million worth of stock in Oxford Health Plans, the target of securities litigation. In a second case, he collected a check for $2.3 million after claiming to be an owner of a fictitious company that had purchased glass from companies settling a class action. In the other case, inmate Alan N. Scott, who resides in the Schuylkill federal correctional institution in Pennsylvania, is charged with orchestrating an $8 million assortment of false settlement claims of which about $200,000 had been received as of the time of his arrest. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Scott used co-conspirators to correspond with claims administrators in about 90 securities class actions, “and routinely sent directions and correspondence to his co-conspirators by falsely labeling the correspondence ‘legal mail.'” (Onell R. Soto, “Ploy paid man millions, authorities say”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 18; Department of Justice press release, Feb. 9; Robert E. Kessler, “Two are charged in separate scams”, Newsday, Feb. 10; Securities Litigation Watch, Jan. 18).
Real vote fraud
I wrote about the frivolous legal challenge to the Ohio presidential vote earlier today. But real vote fraud and voting shenanigans seem to be taking place in Washington state.
John Fund writes about a real threat to voting rights in Washington state — efforts to “find” votes for the gubernatorial candidates in what had been a close election, which became closer every time King County looked at its in-box.
UPDATE: And for more fun with voter intent and attempts to obtain executive office through fraud, check out the coverage of San Diego’s controversial mayoral election here.
Update: San Diego v. Roe
We earlier covered the ridiculous decision in Roe v. San Diego (Jan. 29), where a police officer claimed to have a first-amendment right to sell both homemade porn videos using his official uniform and his official uniform–and the Ninth Circuit actually agreed that this was a triable claim. The Supreme Court thought otherwise in a short 9-0 decision yesterday, throwing out the case without oral argument in a stern rebuke of the lower court. (Onell R. Soto, “High court backs firing of officer in San Diego”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 7; David Savage, “High Court Upholds Firing of San Diego Police Officer”, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7; see also Catherine Seipp, “Coffee, Tea, or Fired for Blogging?”, NRO, Nov. 24).
Lockmaker class actions
Following revelations that some Kryptonite bicycle locks can be easily picked, the maker has offered to replace all of the locks with new ones free from the flaw. This has however not mollified class action lawyers who’ve been rushing to sue the firm. “What if people don’t want a Kryptonite lock anymore?,” asks Darrell Palmer, one of two lawyers who filed would-be class actions in San Diego County Superior Court. Company spokeswoman Donna Tocci said that the newly revealed security issue “is not just a Kryptonite concern. Anything with a tubular cylinder — vending machines, soda machines, ignition systems, coin-operated laundry and other security products — could be a concern.” And indeed, lawyers pursuing intended class actions (and s. 17200 actions in California) have been suing other makers of U-locks as well, including Master Lock. (Pam Smith, “Plaintiffs Firms Lock Onto Kryptonite”, The Recorder, Sept. 28).
Seized cars at auction: buyer beware
Buying at auction a car confiscated by government authorities — seems like a thrifty idea, no? However, in at least three cases in the vicinity of San Diego and nearby Tijuana, Mexico the buyers appear to have gotten more than they bargained for: illegal drugs were later found concealed in the cars, and the hapless motorists in all three cases spent time in jail before the seeming mixup was straightened out. A lawyer for one of the buyers, U.S. citizen Adrian Rodriguez, is now trying to prove that the Customs Service conducted a less than thorough search for contraband before the auctions because it didn’t want to impair the cars’ auction value by cutting them up too drastically. The agency denies the charge. (Anna Cearley, “Customs evidence preserved?”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 27).
ADA suits close another beloved eatery
Once again it’s happening in central California: “After more than 40 years in business, Roy’s Drive-In in Salinas is closing — in part because the owner can’t afford a lawsuit that accuses him of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Jarek Molski of Woodland Hills in southern California, who uses a wheelchair, “is suing Patterson because he claims the restaurant is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Molski has sued over 200 small businesses for not meeting ADA requirements. …Built in the 1950s, Roy’s Drive-In does not have ramps to access the windows and restrooms, but employees say the business is accessible to all of their customers — including the disabled,” through car-hop service. The restaurant is scheduled to close today. (“Roy’s Drive-In Closing After 40 Years”, TheKSBWChannel.com, Sept. 20; Claudia Melendez, “Roy’s Drive-In to close”, Salinas Californian, Sept. 18). Last year (see Sept. 2, 2003) On Lock Sam, a beloved 105-year-old Chinese restaurant in Stockton, closed after being hit with an access suit.
Complainant Molski has been known to call himself “Sheriff”, and his activities (assisted by lawyer Thomas Frankovich) have caused an uproar lately in central California. His suits repeatedly recycle identical allegations concerning the lack of accessibility of establishments he says he has visited, and demand money over such putative misdeeds such as placing paper towel holders at an incorrect height. Hundreds of residents “filled the Morro Bay council chambers” after Molski hit a dozen local restaurants with suits. (Andrew Masuda, “Residents speak out over ADA lawsuits”, KSBY, Sept. 14). “Customers are calling Molski’s tactics a get-rich-quick scheme,” reported KSBY. Molski is “asking for $4,000 a day until the remodeling is completed,” says Ruth Florence, who owns Ahedo’s Mexican Restaurant in Grover Beach. “That’s ridiculous.” (Carina Corral, “China Bowl owner speaks out”, Sept. 15). More coverage on the same station: Sept. 8, Sept. 9, Sept. 10, Sept. 14.
Nor is Roy’s Drive-In the only casualty: “Owners of The Hungry Fisherman restaurant on Beach Street in Morro Bay say that Molski’s lawsuit caused the establishment to close after 28 years.” (Lindsay Christians, “Disability suits worry Morro Bay”, San Luis Obispo Tribune, Sept. 14). More coverage in the same paper: Sept. 11, Sept. 15, Sept. 15 again, Sept. 16, Sept. 18. San Diego-based lawyer Amy Vandeveld has also represented Molski (Matt Krasnowski, “Flood of ADA lawsuits irks small businesses”, Copley/San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 12). For Morse Mehrban’s recent activities in Fresno, see Jul. 9. For much more about disabled-rights filing mills, see Mar. 9 and links from there, and my City Journal article, “The ADA Shakedown Racket“. Update Dec. 12: judge declares Molski vexatious litigant.
Update: smog fee lawyers snag $23.7 million
Latest development in the affair that brought unwelcome scrutiny to former Calif. governor Gray Davis and his ties to the Litigation Lobby (see Dec. 5, 2000 and Jun. 22-24, 2001): “Court-ordered arbitration secretly delivered a $23.7 million payday to attorneys who successfully battled the state over smog fees wrongfully charged to 1.7 million motorists. The award,” down from an original $88.5 million, “represents as much as arbiters could give the team of attorneys led by a high-powered San Diego law firm, under limits imposed by a Court of Appeal ruling in 2002.” State officials had unsuccessfully sought to keep the earlier award under wraps, and attorney General Bill Lockyer was not exactly at pains to publicize this one: “The California Attorney General’s office, after rebuffing repeated inquiries into the status of the arbitration, this week confirmed that a ruling had been issued but refused to release any more information, citing attorney-client privilege.” The Schwarzenegger administration, however, responded promptly to an open-records request. (Michael Gardner, “Lawyers get $23.7 million in smog-fee fight”, San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 20).