LAUREN BOYER York Daily Record, Pa. 1:10 p.m. CDT, May 9, 2012 YORK, Pa.

Teens driving. Treading through icy parking lots. Super gluing.

These, and other potentially hazardous activities, were discussed Friday in a ydr.com live chat featuring attorney Gregory Bair of Stock & Leader.

Bair is a member of the York firm’s litigation practice group.

His concentrations include injury law; domestic law and other issues, such as auto and motorcycle accidents; wrongful death; product liability; animal injuries; and injuries resulting from falls.

Readers logged on to ask Bair questions — the good, the bad, and the downright amusing.

Readers talk insurance, accidents during chat with personal injury lawyer

By JOE HARRIS
(CN) – A fan of the Insane Clown Posse sued the hip-hop group and the organizers of a southern Illinois music festival in Federal Court for personal injury.

James Ford, a Delaware resident, says he was among dozens of fans invited onto stage during the Aug. 15, 2010, concert, dubbed as the “Gathering of the Juggalos” at Cave in Rock, Ill. Ford claims he suffered severe and permanent leg injuries after he fell into a modified trampoline on stage.

Ford seeks damages for his injuries in the Southern District of Illinois. He is represented by Jeffrey Deutschman of Deutschman & Associates in Chicago.

Psychopathic Records, Insane Clown Posse, Juggalo Gathering, Faygo Beverages and Hogrock Inc. are named as defendants. Faygo allegedly sponsored the event that brought Ford to stage.

Insane Clown Posse Show Was Too Crazy, Fan Says

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 10, 2012, 8:56 AM EDT

Two-time Pro Bowl punter Jim Arnold, who has joined the latest lawsuit against the NFL, says punters suffer brain damage in on-field collisions, too.

Arnold told the Detroit News a neurologist examined him about a year and a half ago and told him he suffered “several concussions” during his lifetime.

In a career that saw him play three seasons for the Chiefs, seven for the Lions and one for the Dolphins, Arnold says he prided himself on being able to make a tackle on a punt return if he had to. Although he says, “it took a while for me to clear some cobwebs,” he would keep playing.

Ex-punter Jim Arnold sues NFL, says he had “several concussions”

By LORRAINE BAILEY

CHICAGO (CN) – Police and doctors may be liable for institutionalizing a grief-stricken mother who learned that her son had been shot and said, “If something happens to my son, I’ll just die,” a federal judge ruled.

Susan and Thomas Dobrzeniecki live in Sauk Village, a suburb south of Chicago.

In November 2009, the Dobrzenieckis’ son Peter was shot in the face by an armed robber in Chicago Heights. When the police told Susan about the shooting, she allegedly said: “I’m a good person. Why does this keep happening to me? If something happens to my son, I’ll just die.”

Susan says she is a Sauk public servant and that village police have seen her as a thorn in its side ever since she criticized the department to a television news reporter in 2005. Susan claimed that Officers Rebecca Salisbury and James Vela held a grudge against her, and acted upon that grudge when she went to visit her son at St. James Hospital.

Vela and hospital security locked in a room of the hospital, and Salisbury took her coat, purse and phone, according to the complaint. Then Salisbury and Vela had her involuntarily committed.

That afternoon, the police used Susan’s confiscated keys to enter her home without a warrant and search for a gun, according to the Dobrzenieckis’ complaint. Her husband, Thomas, who has multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair-bound, repeatedly asked how the police got into his home and asked them to leave.

Psych Ward May Have Been Overkill for Mom

Consumers Energy is appealing a $300,000 verdict and thousands more in legal fees after a woman won a sexual harassment lawsuit.

A federal judge in Grand Rapids recently awarded $684,000 in fees to Theresa Waldo’s lawyers. The case was filed in 2006 and went through two trials.

Waldo said she was a victim of repeated harassment by men in the utility’s transmission lines department. There was evidence that Waldo was required to climb transmission towers on a cold, windy day without proper safety equipment.

Utility Appeals Loss In Sexual Harassment Case

by: John Bachtell May 1 2012

CHICAGO — With extraordinarily high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and skyrocketing suicides, US military veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq occupations urgently need a means to share experiences and deal with the pain and trauma of war.

And the growing number of active duty and veteran women in the armed forces need a means to share their unique experiences not least the pain and trauma of rampant sexual harassment, rape, assault and other violence while in the military.

Women veterans are sharing their experiences in a powerful and eye opening exhibit at the National Veterans Art Museum (NVAM) called “Overlooked/Looked Over.” The exhibit includes the work of 8 women artists including members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). It opened on March 10 in honor of the centennial celebration of International Women’s Day and will run through Memorial Day.

Overlooked and looked over: women veterans tell their story

By Kari Lydersen April 20, 2012

“We don’t go to work to be touched, to be talked down to, to be told what our bodies look like. We know what our bodies look like when we put on our clothes in the morning,” Uylonda Dickerson said.

But constant remarks about their bodies, and unwanted touching, advances, mean-spirited “pranks” and other forms of sexual harassment are a regular occurrence for many of the more than 30,000 women—like Dickerson—who work in the warehouse industry in the Chicago area, according to a report (PDF) released this week by the group Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ). And women often face retaliation for reporting harassment.

In an extreme example that is currently the subject of a lawsuit, 19-year-old Priscilla Marshall, her mother and her teenage friend allege they were repeatedly subject to aggressive and abusive sexual assaults and language by a 45-year-old manager at the Partners Warehouse in Elwood, Ill. After the three women and Marshall’s uncle and the mother’s boyfriend complained, they were fired or suspended and accused of theft, which resulted in Marshall and her mother spending 15 and seven days in jail, respectively, according to the lawsuit filed March 9.

Sexual Harassment in the Warehouse

Chicago Sexual Harassment Lawyer

Posted: Apr 21, 2012 11:14 AM CDT Updated: Apr 21, 2012 11:14 AM CDT, By JUSTIN POPE AP Education Writer

A closed- door encounter between two college acquaintances. Both have been drinking. One says she was raped; the other insists it was consensual. There are no other witnesses.

It’s a common scenario in college sexual assault cases, and a potential nightmare to resolve. But under the 40-year-old federal gender equity law Title IX – and guidance handed down last year by the Obama administration on how to apply it – colleges can’t just turn such cases over to criminal prosecutors, who often won’t touch them anyway. Instead, they must investigate, and in campus proceedings do their best to balance the accused’s due process rights with the civil right of the victim to a safe education.

Lately, though, the legal ramifications of such cases are spilling off campus, with schools caught in the middle.

Colleges that do too little about sexual assault could lose federal funds. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is currently investigating a dozen colleges and universities over their response to sexual violence (documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show schools that have recently agreed to take steps to resolve OCR complaints over Title IX policies include universities such as Notre Dame, Northwestern and George Washington).

For colleges, rape cases a legal minefield

‘brought on by concussion during career’ – the SECOND in a year

By Julian Gavaghan PUBLISHED: 05:29 EST, 23 April 2012

• Ray Easterling ‘shot himself’ at home after struggling to cope with dementia
• The 62-year-old former Atlanta Falcons star was suing NFL amid claims it covered up links between football and brain injuries
• He is thought to have developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy – or  ‘punch drunk syndrome‘ after repeated blows to the head during career
• Follows suicides of NFL star Dave Duerson and NHL player Wade Belak

Former football star Ray Easterling has become the latest sportsman to kill himself after suffering from depression believed to have been linked to head injuries during his career.

The 62-year-old, who police say shot himself at his home in Richmond, Virginia, played for the Atlanta Falcons during the 1970s and later sued the NFL over its handling of concussions.

He began showing signs of brain damage 20 years ago with bouts of depression and insomnia.

SECOND Former NFL star kills himself after lifetime of depression

U of C signed the settlement without admitting fault, even though the suit claimed negligence

The family of former Sun-Times publisher and Chicago Businessman James Tyree has reportedly agreed to a $10 million settlement with the University of Chicago medical center over a wrongful death suit, according to reports.

The 53-year-old died accidentally last year after a dialysis procedure created a fatal air-embolism created when a catheter was removed. Pneumonia and metastatic stomach cancer were listed as secondary causes of death, according to the Medical Examiner.

Half of the settlement, about $5 million, will be paid to Tyree’s widow, Eve Tyree, and Tyree’s three children immediately. The remaining $5 million will be paid over the course of fiver years in installments to Eve and the children, according to the Chicago Tribune.

U of C Agrees to $10 Million Settlement in James Tyree Death

KANKAKEE, Ill. (CBS) — A lawyer is accused of taking his clients’ money and leaving them high and dry, as he tried to decide whether to party in Chicago or California.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports, the Facebook page of Illinois attorney Michael Duval says he’s updated his current city to Newport Beach, Calif.

One client says Duval posted the question on Facebook — should he ring in the New Year in Chicago or California?

Clients: Attorney Took Our Money, Left Us High And Dry

The law in 38 states plainly allows citizens to record police, as long as you don’t physically interfere with their work. Police might still unfairly harass you, detain you, or confiscate your camera. They might even arrest you for some catchall misdemeanor such as obstruction of justice or disorderly conduct. But you will not be charged for illegally recording police.

Twelve states-California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington-require the consent of all parties for you to record a conversation.

However, all but 2 of these states-Massachusetts and Illinois-have an “expectation of privacy provision” to their all-party laws that courts have ruled does not apply to on-duty police (or anyone in public). In other words, it’s technically legal in those 48 states to openly record on-duty police.

7 Rules for Recording Police

The daughter of a Palos Hills woman killed in a 2011 plane crash in Missouri filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

Vilma Biliene filed the suit regarding the death of her mother, Violetta Badagliacco, against Chicago-based Neplusultra Corp. and the estate of the pilot, who was also killed in the crash.

They were on a single-engine Piper aircraft headed from Palm Coast, Fla., to Eau Claire, Wis., when they disappeared from radar just before 2 a.m. March 27, 2011, according to preliminary findings from the National Transportation Safety Board.

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By John Frank – jfrank@newsobserver.com

RALEIGH — The executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party resigned Sunday as questions mounted about a secret agreement to pay a former staffer to keep quiet about sexual harassment allegations.

Jay Parmley, who served less than a year at the helm of the party, denied harassing any employee and blamed right-wing political enemies for “spreading a false and misleading story.”

“Even though I have not done anything wrong, it is clear to me that I need to move on,” Parmley wrote in his resignation letter. “I refuse to be a distraction.”

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Chicago Sexual Harassment Attorney

Chicago police responded to 34 reports alleging battery, assault or sexual violence from 2009 to 2011 at Rainbow Beach Care Center, while health inspectors cited other violence. “The facility vehemently denies any allegations of wrongdoing and is aggressively defending against” the state citations, said facility attorney Holly Turner.

March 2009 to January 2010: An “extremely violent” 54-year-old man repeatedly struck residents, breaking one woman’s nose and eyeglasses. Inspectors said the facility did not have a plan for dealing with his aggressive behavior.

August 2009 to January 2010: A 43-year-old male resident allegedly assaulted at least seven people in the facility, punching several in the face.

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In late June 2010, lawyer Gloria Allred, on behalf of former marketing contractor Jodie Fisher, sent a letter accusing Hurd and HP of sexual harassment. A company investigation found no merit to her claims.

Through the course of the investigation, though, HP said it discovered that Hurd had falsified some reports to disguise some expenses he incurred that ranged from $1,000 to $20,000 each for meals and travel with Fisher.

Both Hurd and Fisher said that the relationship was not sexual. Hurd also insisted that the expenses he made were for legitimate business purposes and offered to pay for expenses that were incorrectly filed. Still, Hurd resigned in August 2010, a few weeks after the probe began and settled with Fisher for an undisclosed sum.

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by Lacy Schley April 12, 2012

Sexual harassment strikes nearly half of Chicago public middle and high school students, according to a report released Wednesday evening by Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education (CReATE).

And nearly 65 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer and questioning students feel unsafe, according to the same report.

Other statistics released in the report showed nearly 11 percent of Chicago high school girls stated feeling too unsafe to go to school.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) – AT&T has aided and abetted cellphone thieves for years by reactivating stolen phones, particularly iPhones, and fraudulently telling customers that it “cannot” block calls to and from the stolen phones – so customers will have to buy new ones – a class action claims in Superior Court.

The class claims AT&T does this “in order to make millions of dollars in improper profits, by forcing legitimate customers … to buy new cell phones, and buy new cell phone plans, while the criminals who stole the phone are able to simply walk into AT&T stores and ‘re-activate’ the devices, using different, cheap, readily available ‘SIM’ cards (computer chips).”

Hilary White and two other named plaintiffs sued AT&T for conspiracy, fraud, breach of contract, accessory to theft, unfair trade and other charges.

They claim: “On a regular daily basis in California and elsewhere, the cell phones, Apple Computer Corporation ‘iPhones‘ in particular, are stolen by criminals from lawful purchasers and users.”

Class Claims AT&T Aids & Abets Cellphone Thieves, for the Profit

CHICAGO (CN) – A federal judge refused to order the release of a peer-reviewed report on a surgery in which doctors cut a woman’s bowel, spilling its contents into her abdomen and causing an infection that killed her five days later.

Maria Quintana underwent an October 2008 elective total hysterectomy at the Mount Sinai Hospital Center of Chicago.

“During the surgery, her bowel was lacerated and its contents began leaking into her abdomen,” the court explained. “Five days later, she died from an overwhelming infection.” She is survived by her husband and four children.

Ms. Quintana’s estate sued the United States under the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA), since one of her surgeons, Dr. Maryam Siddiqui, was employed by the government. It also sued Mount Sinai Hospital, various physicians and a physicians’ foundation, Access Community Health Network, for failing to timely diagnose and treat Quintana’s postoperative infection.

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CHICAGO (AP) – An attorney for relatives of the late Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson says the NFL wants to have a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the league moved from Cook County court to federal court.

Thomas Demetrio says he’ll fight the effort because he doesn’t want the case lumped in with lawsuits filed around the country by former NFL players. Demetrio says the NFL wants the cases consolidated because the separate cases add up to what he calls a “bureaucratic nightmare” for the league.

In the lawsuit, Duerson’s family alleges the NFL negligently caused the brain damage that led the 50-year-old Duerson to take his own life in February 2011 by not warning him of the negative impact of concussions.

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