Category Archives: Settlements

A person is sitting at a table displaying a GoldieBlox kit, which includes a booklet and a construction set. A sign with illustrations of diverse girls is visible, promoting the engineering toy. The tablecloth is purple.

A Musical Nuisance

A toy with a price

Concluding an ongoing legal battle over a toy company’s potentially illegal use of a hit song created by the musical group Beastie Boys, the two parties have officially settled the lawsuit. According to a spokesperson for GoldieBlox, the settlement includes “the issuance of an apology posted to GoldieBlox’s website, [and] payment by GoldieBlox, based on a percentage of its revenues, to one or more charities selected by [the] Beastie Boys that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls (Blistein, Rolling Stone, 2014). The Beastie Boys song “Girls,” was first released in 1987 and included lyrics such as “Girls to do to this dishes…Girls to do the laundry” (Blistein, Rolling Stone, 2014).  GoldieBlox altered the catchy song’s original lyrics to help promote the company’s incentive of empowering young girls to become more involved in the sciences and engineering industries. GoldieBlox’s video for the Princess Machine was eventually removed from the internet but not before the video went viral and garnered over seven million views.

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Age Discrimination Lawsuit

Still able to work?

In this day and age, it is out with the old and in with the new. Who doesn’t want the newest iPad or HD TV? But, should the same logic apply when companies attempt to get rid of an older employee? How about when that employee is fulfilling his/her job expectations? In what has been suggested as the largest award in Los Angeles legal history, Bobby Nickel, age 66, was awarded $26 million by a jury that found he was discriminated against and harassed based on his age by his supervising managers at Staples. Bobby Nickel was hired by Corporate Express in 2002 as a facilities manager. In 2008, Corporate Express was acquired by Staples Contract and Staples Inc and Bobby Nickel lost his job in 2011, age 64. Continue reading →

A wooden gavel with a golden band rests on its sound block against a plain white background.

Think Before You Post

Bringing down the gavel

In case you needed one, here’s another reason to be careful about what you post on Facebook. An age discrimination case that originates back to 2010 between Patrick Snay and the Miami-based Gulliver Preparatory School began when “Gulliver declined to renew Snay’s contract following years of employment” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). The case took a surprising turn when Mr. Snay’s daughter, Dana Snay posted an antagonistic comment on Facebook. The comment, which was seen by Dana Snay’s approximately 1,200 Facebook friends, stated “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT” (Stucker, CNN, 2014). Unfortunately for the Snays, Dana’s comment was posted just days before the deal was set to be finalized.

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Man Who Kills 7 Awarded $451,000

Chicago

So why is a man who killed seven people being awarded $451,000 in a civil matter? We will get to that in a second but first, who is this person? According to the Huffington Post, a former handyman, James Degorski, is serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of seven people at a suburban Chicago restaurant Brown’s Chicken and Pasta. Degorski and an accomplice manage to leave the scene with less than $2,000. The accomplice was also sentenced to a life sentence.

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New Jersey Teen Sues Parents For Funds

Kids these days…

Rachel Canning is one of the most talked about teens in the country as of late. This Lincoln Park, NJ resident is suing her parents, “accusing them of tossing her out of the family home when she turned 18 and refusing to pay for her private high school and college education”. The lawsuit filed is demanding that Rachel’s parents not only fund her college education, but also her current private high school tuition, living expenses, and also her legal fees. Rachel claims that she is an honor student and a cheerleader, who could potentially lose her opportunity to attend college after being cut off from her family. However, her parents tell a different tale; they state Rachel was not kicked out, but left willingly because she did not want to abide by their rules. Read More