Justice
Yesterday, a couple of similar settlements were reached concerning cases where undue police violence against innocent mentally ill citizens led to death. Read on to find out the details.
Protect our rights
If there’s one subset of the American public on whom corrupt police officers might want to go easy re: civil rights violations, it would probably be civil rights lawyers. Unfortunately, some overzealous Brooklyn cops didn’t get the memo. In 2008, Sgt. Steven Talvy tackled a man in the course of an arrest and, after shackling the now-subdued, peaceful, and compliant man, kicked him right in the face. This excessive force was witnessed by Michael and Evelyn Warren, the aforementioned civil rights lawyers, who then approached Talvy and informed him that he was being pretty brutal as an officer of the law, suggesting that he take the suspect to the precinct instead of, say, beating him to within an inch of his life. After weighing this constructive criticism for a moment, Talvy flew into a rage, punching them both repeatedly in the face and arresting them for “disorderly conduct”.
Though it walks two worlds, it is a master of none
A duckboat is a particular kind of bus that can travel by both land and sea. Typically seen in cities like Philadelphia and Boston, which have prominent and accessible rivers, the boat/bus hybrid is particularly useful for tour companies, the novelty of amphibious sightseeing being extremely attractive to tourists. Rarely do these duckboats cause a problem. Their pre-planned and short water routes don’t get in the way of bigger ships, and on land they operate just like normal buses. Back in July 2010, however, bad luck and negligence conspired conspired to end this reputation of relative safety. A duckboat stalled in the water. A tugboat captain pushing a barge turned down his emergency radio and looked away to answer a phone call. The two vessels — one helpless, one aimless — collided. The duck boat tumbled underneath the barge, bringing two Hungarian tourists to a watery grave. Yesterday, after two years of negotiations and court maneuvering, lawyers associated with the case announced that they had reached a settlement with the tug- and duckboat companies.
Bar upgrade
A unique legal settlement has gone down just across town from Lawyer.com headquarters here in Basking Ridge, NJ. Apparently, a combo bar/restaurant called the Bamboo Grille had its liquor license suspended because of noise complaints from two neighbors. Not, of course, the rowdy roadhouse kinds of noises like bar fights and hollers, but that of amplified live music. Each spring prior to 2011, the bar opened up its mezzanine to the likes of acoustic duo 3 West and the Ed Fleischman Jazz trio. Clearly, raucous and disruptive young punks. These performances, from 7-10 pm Thursday through Saturday (what I like to call “bedtime for boring people”), were enough to rile up a couple of families across the way, who filed numerous complaints with the township over the course of three years. In 2011, the township suspended Bamboo Grille’s liquor license, later returning it on the condition that the bar no longer use electricity for outdoor music. Since then, the bar has been embroiled in a fight for their right to party.
How much are you signing away to get that sweet, sweet 1994 Toyota Tercel?
An article in the New York Times caught my attention today. It’s about the fallout from the 2011 Supreme Court decision in AT&T v. Concepcion, which stated that corporations can write clauses into contracts to prevent class action lawsuits. To do this, the clauses require customers to settle disputes through arbitration (instead of in an actual court of law) and to relinquish their right to litigate as a class. In effect, the contracts waive the customers’ right to due process. Since that decision, the legal world has changed. For the better or for worse?
Keep reading the full post to see what’s up with these clauses and to learn a tip on how to get around them.
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