Posted inLawsuits

Taylor Cannot Swiftly Escape This Lawsuit

Copying a song?

A 2017 copyright lawsuit in reference to Taylor Swift’s popular hit “Shake It Off” is going back down to the US District Court level for further proceedings.  Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler sued Swift for her lyric “players gonna play…haters gonna hate.”  According to Hall and Butler’s claim, Swift allegedly stole the line from a 2001 song they wrote entitled “Playas Gon’ Play” for the music group 3LW.  When the 2017 lawsuit was dismissed, a judge ruled that the original 2001 lyric was “too brief, unoriginal, and uncreative to warrant protection under the Copyright Act.”  A recent panel of three judges, however, disagreed with that reasoning, and were in favor of the plaintiffs’ appeal.

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Posted inLawsuits

Caught on Camera

Airplane antics gone wrong

Traveling in an airplane is scary enough, without the thought of your flight crew spying on you. In a February 2017 flight, embarking from Pittsburgh to Phoenix, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant discovered an iPad in the cockpit.  The iPad was live streaming a video of the other pilot using the bathroom.  The flight attendant, Renee Steinaker, took out her personal cell phone to photograph the iPad, as a way of documenting the incident. Due to the unprofessional and intrusive nature of the streamed video, Steinaker reported the event to her superiors at Southwest.  Steinaker was not met with an ethical response, however, and was told to not reveal the contents of the video to anyone.

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Posted inLawsuits

Pitt Needs to Make It Right

Constructing a sound lawsuit

Brad Pitt is in the spotlight again, and the reason is something other than promoting a new movie. A lawsuit filed on behalf of several victims of Hurricane Katrina are taking action against Pitt and his charitable organization, Make It Right.  In an effort to assist those devastatingly impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Pitt’s foundation built homes to replace the structures lost in the hurricane.  According to the lawsuit, the homes constructed by the organization are quickly deteriorating.  Although many victims are left to live in homes that are apparently unlivable, Brad Pitt is denouncing all responsibility and involvement in the alleged neglect.

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Posted inLawsuits

Walmart Customers Forced to Window Shop

Beauty can get ugly

A $0.48 comb could escalate into a lawsuit worth thousands of dollars.  Essie Grundy, a California resident, filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Riverside County.  The filing stems from several shopping trips Grundy took to Walmart, during which she succumbed to asking an employee to unlock a cosmetic counter. The beauty products behind the glass, Grundy argues, were specific to only African American use.  On one particular occasion, Grundy asked to see a $0.48 comb from behind the glass and was not allowed to physically take the comb until an employee walked it up to the register to be purchased.  Feeling racially attacked, Grundy proceeded with legal action.

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Posted inLawsuits

JUUL May Not Be a Polished Alternative

Young smokers at risk

In the midst of lawmakers pushing for a ban on e-cigarettes, a student, Maxwell Berger, has filed a lawsuit against JUUL Lab, Inc.  The 22-year-old suffered a stroke in July 2017, and says the cause was related to his frequent e-cigarette use.  Initially attracted to JUUL’s different products and flavors, Berger started smoking in 2015 at the age of 18.  Only a high school senior at the time, Berger was unaware of any potential side effects related to JUUL products.  It is difficult to believe that a sleek, easy-to-use pen with a variety of tasteful flavors could ever cause a stroke in a young person.  The lawsuit points the finger at JUUL’s misleading marketing tactics that lure young smokers into using their e-cigarettes. 

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