Posts Tagged ‘Lawsuits & judgments’
Federal Court Tells Defrauded Annuity Investors to “Get Lost”
If you’re a member of a professional association or labor union, can you count on its leadership to act in your best interests? Unfortunately, you can’t. There’s a long and sordid history of corruption in the highest reaches of America’s labor unions. Questionable financial practices continue in America’s unions to the present day. A case [...]
If You Hire an Obese Worker, You May Have to Pay for Their Weight-Loss Surgery
Maybe it’s the bad economy. Or perhaps it’s just bad karma. But for whatever reason, there’s been a huge spike recently in what I can only characterize as unbelievable lawsuits. Let’s say you operate a restaurant. Now, restaurants fail at a high rate in even the best of times, but in an economic downturn, they [...]
You, Too, Can Sue Over Global Warming!
It’s time for another installment in my periodic postings on frivolous lawsuits. This one comes from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last month that landowners in Mississippi have “standing” to sue oil and coal companies for emitting greenhouse gases. In their class-action lawsuit, the landowners claim that these emissions contributed to [...]
Inventor Awarded $388 Million for Taxpayer Abuse
Ordinarily, I despise lawsuits. But, I just learned of one jury award I can endorse unequivocally. On August 14, a jury in Nevada awarded inventor Gilbert Hyatt a whopping US$388 million in his lawsuit against California’s Franchise Tax Board. (The FTB is California’s version of the IRS.) The jury award consists of $138 million in [...]
Won the Lottery? Call Your Lawyer!
While the odds are against you if you play the lottery, you might get lucky and win the jackpot. But if you do, your first call shouldn’t be to friends or family to tell them of your good fortune. It should be to your lawyer. Once you tell others of your winnings—or they learn about [...]
The Coming Lawsuit Tsunami [Part II]
In my last post, I described how economic downturns always lead people to sue each other out of anger and desperation. Both of these emotions are plentiful now, and will become more so as the depression deepens. Perhaps to insure that lawyers don’t become jobless as the economic gloom deepens, the Obama administration has declared [...]
The Coming Lawsuit Tsunami [Part I]
It’s bad enough to be in the middle of a global financial panic that could be worse than the Great Depression. But if you’re an American, even if you manage to avoid investment losses, you could be wiped out by the coming “lawsuit tsunami.” People sue because they’re angry, desperate, or think they can get [...]
You Can Sue for Anything in a Lawsuit
When someone sues you, that person usually wants money. But not always. In a recent divorce case, Richard Batista, a New York surgeon has asked his estranged wife to return, of all things, the kidney he donated to her in 2001. Unfortunately for Dr. Batista, he probably won’t get his kidney back. In a rare [...]
Avoid a Ponzi Scheme—and Get Sued!
The most important lesson of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme is that even the world’s most sophisticated investors—not to mention regulators—were asleep at the wheel. It underscores why you need to be skeptical of something that seems too good to be true, because it probably is. But there’s another, mostly overlooked, lesson as well. If [...]
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
If you ever feel compelled to help someone in an emergency situation, I have some free advice: think twice. You might get sued. Most states have so-called “Good Samaritan” laws that shield would-be rescuers from legal liability in emergencies. However, these laws vary widely from state to state. And they often have holes large enough [...]