August 2010 Archives

Everyone knows who Madonna, Beyonce and Oprah are without uttering their last names, but what about Lindsay? That question lies at the heart of actress Lindsay Lohan's defamation lawsuit against E-Trade alleging they used her likeness in a television commercial, according to a Reuters article. 

E-Trade's legal team is trying to sway a New York judge to dismiss the case, but her New York personal injury lawyer recently filed her own papers in an attempt to block the motion. 

Lindsay Lohan filed suit in response to an advertisement in which one baby refers to another baby named Lindsay who is a "milkaholic" and a "bimbus." The actress believes it was a sly attack on her, given the star's own struggles with substance abuse.

An appeals court in Argentina ruled in favor of Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. in a case claiming the companies were liable for including sex-related Web sites in the search results for Argentinean celebrity Virginia Da Cunha, The New York Times reported.

Although a New York personal injury lawyer could explain how defamation is handled by the courts works in this country, the law likely varies somewhat in Argentina.

The lower court found the two Internet search companies liable for defaming Virginia Da Cunha and ordered them to pay damages and remove the disputed sites from their indexes. But the 2-1 appeals court ruling said Yahoo and Google could be held liable for defaming the entertainer only if they knew about the illegal content and did nothing to remove it.

While posting a message that a classmate has contracted AIDS, has sex with animals, and has turned into the devil certainly can be considered a form of "cyberbullying," a New York judge ruled that it is not defamation, according to a MediaPost article.

Judge Randy Sue Marber dismissed a lawsuit against four teenagers who were accused of defamation when they made those comments about classmate Denise Finkel:

"The entire context and tone of the posts constitute evidence of adolescent insecurities and indulgences, and a vulgar attempt at humor. What they do not contain are statements of fact."

The New York Times explores the disparity between personal injury payouts for wrongful death cases and those involving serious injuries, as illustrated by the recent $3.25 million settlement for the police shooting of Sean Bell. In short, injured plaintiffs get much higher payouts than the families of those wrongfully killed.

Sean Bell was shot to death by police in 2006 on the day of his wedding, apparently the victim of a botched police response to reports of a scuffle. The police were found liable for his death resulting from the debacle.

A New York Mets fan is suing the baseball team, Major League Baseball and the player whose bat shattered and hit him, according to an Associated Press article republished by Sports Illustrated. The bat in question was made from maple, which has been a subject of debate because of the wood's propensity to shatter upon impact.

Plaintiff James Falzon suffered numerous facial fractures when the shattered maple bat of Mets player Luis Castillo flew into his face during a 2007 game at Shea Stadium, according to the suit filed in Manhattan. He said his 11-year-old son was traumatized by the incident.

Pet sitting agency Doggie Love in Queens has been sued for $1 million after a New York couple returned from a trip to find their pet French bulldog, Percy, dead on their apartment floor, according to CBS News. The incident happened in July 2009, according to court documents cited in the article.

While $1 million is quite a lot of money for the loss of a pet, most dog owners would understand their response to the tragedy. With the help of their New York personal injury lawyer, the couple expressed the impact of their loss in their negligence complaint:

"The emptiness that has been left by Percy's death and the anguish we suffered has not and will never be filled or go away."

The New York Post reported on a $5 million lawsuit filed by 16-year-old Rebecca Sacerio against the state's Department of Education for an injury to her finger sustained during softball practice. The incident took place on May 2, 2009. 

The Brooklyn girl claims her Lincoln High School softball coach told her to "take it like a man" after she reported her finger injury. Although her right index finger was broken in three places, she took her coach's advice and completed the five-hour training session.

But now, if the girl's New York personal injury lawyer prevails, it looks like the coach is the one who will have to "take it like a man." 

Former U.S. Dept. of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod's defamation suit against right-wing political blogger Andrew Breitbart for defamation just might stick in court, legal experts told journalism watchdog group Media Matters. New York Personal injury lawyers may agree with Los Angeles attorney Deborah Drooz, who said the former USDA employee "most certainly" has a strong case:

"What Mr. Breitbart did was to create the false appearance that Ms. Sherrod was a racist. He used that to further his conservative agenda. He deprived the viewer of the ability to decide for himself what Ms. Sherrod said."