Monthly Archives: July 2012

An Eye for an Eye, but $20 Million Is Fine, Too

Off the court

There is a big difference between popping bottles and throwing bottles.  Just ask frenemies Chris Brown and Drake.  During the early morning hours of June 14, 2012, a fight broke out between the two music moguls at the über-trendy SoHo nightclub W.i.P (Work in Progress).  Theories abound about the impetus of the scuffle, with many news outlets sourcing it to Drake’s boasts about the affections of Rihanna, but one thing’s for certain: it got out of hand and some innocent celebrity bystanders were injured in the fallout.  San Antonio Spurs superstar Tony Parker found himself in the crossfire when the singers started lobbing bottles at each other.  A piece of glass lodged itself in Parker’s eye, an injury which brings his upcoming Olympic showing into question. Parker has brought a lawsuit against the owners of the club seeking damages to the tune of $20 million on the theory that the owners “should have known better” than to give Drake and Brown alcohol and sit them near each other.  Kind of like tossing a steak between two hungry dogs.

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Red Bull Gives You Spam

Fly away

As a society, we’ve become pretty much immune to spam emails, since, you know, it’s no longer the 90s and no one believes that an email promising to enlarge your penis size is actually legit.  Advancements in technology now allow you to sidestep those cringeworthy emails and store them in the vast wasteland known as your spam folder.  Unfortunately, spammers are always in their R&D departments trying to figure out new ways to inform you of che4p v|ag4ra, in this case by moving on to text messages.  In a recent class action lawsuit filed in Illinois, the energy drink Red Bull has had its wings clipped for sending unsolicited text messages.  The class action lawsuit claims Red Bull violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits companies from sending unsolicited advertisements to anyone without express prior consent.

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Anthrax Settles With Ex-Singer, Shreds Original Request

Musical mishap

Anthrax members Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, and frequent VH1 panelist Scott Ian found themselves caught in a mosh in 2009 when Dan Nelson sued the group for some inaccurate statements they made after his departure from the band.  The band  published that an illness had caused the singer to leave and the band to cancel an upcoming concert tour.  Nelson pursued a $2.65 million lawsuit to refute Anthrax’s “intentional defamation” and collect lost royalties.  “I was never seriously ill or sick at all, as reported in Anthrax’s 7/17/09 press release,” said Nelson. “This statement misled fans, friends, and family members into believing that I was seriously ill when I was not.”  To settle the suit, Nelson was offered a confidential, yet “fairly small”, monetary amount and was given co-writing credit on 11 of the 14 songs on the band’s 2011 release Worship Music.

 

A dimly lit room with a small stage surrounded by mirrors. There's a pole on the stage, and a row of cushioned chairs facing it. The lighting is primarily purple and blue, creating a nightclub-like atmosphere.

Strippers Win Revealing Settlement

Leaving everything on the table

A company in Atlanta just found out the hard way that they’re required to actually pay their employees. Seventy-three exotic dancers from Club Onyx won a total of $1.55 million from their main employer, Galardi South Enterprises.   Apparently the owner of Club Onyx compensated his strippers only by the generosity of the average strip club attendee.  This led to unfair advantages for certain more talented strippers (and, I suspect, more dollar bills could fit in larger g-strings).  The judge’s ruling states that strippers are not qualified as independent contractors, and therefore are due wages beyond any tips they receive.  This follows a rising tide of wage dispute lawsuits, such as Mario Batali’s tip-stealing debacle or California’s lunch compensation conundrum.

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