DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Women passengers complain that TSA agents are targeting them for extra screening.

The Transportation Security Administration has a policy to randomly select people for extra screening, but some female passengers are complaining. They believe there is nothing “random” about the way they were picked.

A Dallas woman says TSA agents repeatedly asked her to step back into a body scanning machine at DFW International Airport. “I feel like I was totally exposed,” said Ellen Terrell, who is a wife and mother. “They wanted a nice good look.”

When Ellen Terrell and her husband, Charlie, flew out of DFW Airport several months ago, Terrell says she was surprised by a question a female TSA agent asked her. “She says to me, ‘Do you play tennis?’ And I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘You just have such a cute figure.’”

Link

Feb 8, 2012 4:25 PM, By Pamela Kufahl, editor-in-chief

Cybex International Inc., Medway, MA, reached a $19.5 million settlement in the Barnhard v. Cybex International Inc. product liability lawsuit, the company announced Monday.

“We are financially strong. We were able to withstand this,” Art Hicks, COO of Cybex, tells Club Industry.

In December 2010, a jury found Cybex 75 percent liable for a $66 million judgment in a case involving Natalie Barnhard, an employee at Amherst Orthopedic Physical Therapy, Buffalo, NY, who was stretching on a 25-year-old Cybex 4106 ZR Classic leg extension machine when it fell on her, rendering her a quadriplegic. Cybex has spent the past year appealing the decision.

Link

Chicago teachers allege discrimination: The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday alleging that layoffs last summer targeted tenured African-American teachers, who represent a third of Chicago Public Schools teachers.

Chicago Teachers Allege Discrimination

Associated Press 4:55 a.m. CST, February 7, 2012

EAU CLAIRE, Wis.—
The Menards home improvement chain has agreed to settle a race discrimination case for $1 million.

A Chicago arbitrator recently approved the settlement which compensates hundreds of managers and assistant managers who say they were passed over for promotions because of their race. About 700 employees at Menards Midwestern stores can begin filing claims for their share of the settlement Feb. 23.

The plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Taren tells the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram (http://bit.ly/yGtVYn ) that letters will be sent to employees affected by the settlement. Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott says the company has denied any wrongdoing, but chose to settle because it’s a “wise business decision.”

Link

An Iraq War protest from 2008. (Image Credit: John Sisson)

Attorneys for the City of Chicago told federal judges they reached a settlement in the class action lawsuit brought by more than 800 people arrested after protesters took Lake Shore Drive in a 2003 march against the Iraq War. The Chicago Tribune reports those arrested, charged and detained will potentially receive up to $15,000 and people arrested but not charged would receive $8,750. People held on the street for over 90 minutes will receive $500. In total, the lawsuit will cost the city $6.2 million, not including legal fees.

Towards the end of the march, when the majority of demonstrators exited Lake Shore Drive after a long standoff with police, some 800 people were kettled at Chicago and Michigan Avenues. Most of the arrested just wanted to head home, and some arrestees weren’t even part of the protest, but instead were passersby and onlookers. Federal appellate Justice Richard Posner ruled last year the arrests were unjustified and noted that all of the charges were later dismissed in court.

The National Lawyers Guild, in conjunction with the People’s Law Office, worked on the case for nine years. The People’s Law Office said in a statement:

“Based on our collective experience litigating police misconduct cases for decades, we feel very positive about this settlement and about the amount of compensation for each sub-class member. We also believe that such a significant settlement will send an unequivocal message to the City of Chicago and its Police Department that they must respect your right to demonstrate.”

Link

Pepsi Beverages will be paying over three million dollars to settle a charge of racial discrimination filed by the Minneapolis Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The company will also be providing job offers and training as per the agreement.

The EEOC initiated an investigation into the criminal background check policy formerly utilized by Pepsi. The investigation found that more than 300 African American applicants had been unfavorably affected by a background check under this policy, which unduly disqualified the applicants from permanent employment at the company. According to the policy, applicants would had been arrested pending prosecution were excluded from a permanent position even if they had never been convicted of a crime. Applicants were likewise denied employment if arrested or convicted of particular minor offenses. Denying employment based on arrest and conviction records is a possible violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If the arrest or conviction is not relevant to the job, it could restrict employment opportunities for some people based on race or ethnicity.

“The EEOC has long standing guidance and policy statements on the use of arrest and conviction records in employment,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien in a press release. “I commend Pepsi’s willingness to reexamine its policy and modify it to ensure that unwarranted roadblocks to employment are removed.”

Link

On the first day of trial in one of the cases, Honeywell lawyer Gary Zimmerman of Chicago told Circuit Judge Paul Lawrence that Charm “has unequivocally stated he will terminate his contract with Honeywell rather than be obligated to travel any significant distance to testify, including being obliged to travel to Illinois to testify.”

According to court documents, Charm had previously testified at 22 trials in Bloomington.

On April 7, three days into the trial, Lawrence directed a verdict for plaintiff Vickie Hoogerwerf.

The next day, jurors determined Honeywell owed Vickie Hoogerwerf $2.95 million for the wrongful death of husband John Hoogerwerf, $1.07 million for his expenses and $300,000 for her losses.

In the other case, plaintiff Antoinette Legate and her husband Guy Legate sued Honeywell and other corporate defendants for damages allegedly resulting from Guy’s asbestos exposure.

Link

The night of the crash, Chicago Heights Police Officer Chris Felicetti pulled LaFond over and arrested her for driving with a suspended license.

She blames the officer for handing over her keys to a heavily intoxicated Conner, then 22, after telling the officer she was the designated driver.

“That’s when I grabbed my keys and told him again [that] he cannot drive my car, he has been drinking. And that’s when he said, ‘Everything is going to be under control,’” she recalled.

In legal filings, Chicago Heights has contended LaFond wanted Conner to drive her son home that night. At Conner’s sentencing, Will County Judge Edward Burmilla indicated LaFond bears some of the blame.

Link

Just before Justin Tokar died of a drug overdose last January in unincorporated Will County, his panicked friend texted people questioning what to do, rather than call 911.

A new law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn Monday would allow people like him to call 911 and report an overdose without fear of facing criminal charges for drug possession.

“If this (law) would have been in place, it would have been a pretty simple decision,” said Tokar’s mother, Karen Hanneman of Naperville, who lobbied in favor of the legislation. “Now people can think, ‘I’m not going to be arrested and I can make this call to save his life.’”

New Illinois law grants immunity for those reporting a drug overdose

Hospital conspired to defame surgeon, says lawyer.
Published: February 8, 2012

How bad was the rift between hospital officials at the University of Illinois at Chicago and its one-time chief of surgery? So bad that when the hospital heard that both it and colorectal surgeon Herand Abcarian, MD, were about to be sued for malpractice for the death of one of his patients, the hospital settled with the plaintiff’s son for $950,000 – without letting Dr. Abcarian know. According to court documents, the university specifically instructed the plaintiff’s attorney to individually sue Dr. Abcarian and not serve him. The hospital then reported Dr. Abcarian to the state medical board and the National Practitioner Data Bank. Dr. Abcarian went to court to take his name off the settlement, but was prevented from doing so.

All of this and more is detailed in court records. Dr. Abcarian, MD, an outspoken critic of university authorities over such issues as risk management, faculty recruitment and faculty compensation, only found out about the settlement a few months later, when he was asked to verify the reports, according to his attorney, Joseph M. O’Callaghan. Dr. Abcarian refused to deal with the reports, stating that he had not been involved in the settlement.

Link

All Susan Zwaschka wanted was a light chemical peel to smooth and cleanse her face before a family vacation to Chicago.

But minutes after Dr. Patrick Carney applied the solution, she winced in pain and pleaded with him to stop. Carney took several breaks but continued even after Zwaschka pushed his arm aside and sat up near tears. Days later, pain from the burns intensified. Open wounds on her swollen face oozed fluid and blood.

Devastated by what she saw in the mirror, the 44-year-old attorney, who had often defended physicians in malpractice cases, sued Carney over the 2007 incident and urged the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice to take action against him. The dermatologist argued in court records that Zwaschka was warned of the procedure’s risks. In a deposition, he admitted he was to blame for a peel that “went wrong” and resulted in a “bad outcome.”

Doctors who err escape penalties

A Cook County judge on Friday ruled that medical tests involving Menard Correctional Center guards who received disability settlements at taxpayers’ expense must be turned over to the public.

Circuit Judge Michael B. Hyman heard arguments from the three parties involved — Central Management Services, the Illinois attorney general’s office and the Belleville News-Democrat.

As part of a newspaper investigation, the reporters investigated hundreds of workers’ compensation cases since Jan. 1, 2008, filed by guards at Menard, who claimed they developed repetitive trauma by turning keys and operating cell locking mechanisms. The taxpayer-funded claims totaled more than $10 million, and many guards received settlements ranging from $20,000 to more than $100,000 for carpal tunnel syndrome of the wrist and cubital tunnel syndrome of the elbow.

Link

Reuters 7:35 a.m. CST, January 31, 2012
A restaurant workers group said it will sue Darden Restaurants Inc. in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday, accusing the company’s high-end Capital Grille steakhouse chain of racial discrimination and violations of state and federal labor laws.

The action will pit Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a vocal advocate on industry wages and working conditions, against one of the largest and most respected U.S. restaurant companies.

The lawsuit will charge that white workers have lucrative “front-of-house” positions such as waiter or bartender, while many lower paying “back-of-the-house” jobs like washing dishes or preparing food are given to people of color, said ROC, which will bring the lawsuit on behalf of members who are Capital Grille employees in Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Link

Posted by Ryan Lizza

Today, I’m posting a memo to the President that includes Barack Obama’s handwritten decision at the end of the document. The memo—one of several I obtained for a piece in this week’s New Yorker—was sent to Obama on July 1, 2009, and came back from the Oval Office the following day.

The title of the memo is “Information on Medical Malpractice Reform Options,” and it was sent to Obama by two of his aides: Nancy-Ann DeParle, who was at the time running the White House Office of Health Reform and is now one of Obama’s deputy chiefs of staff; and Susan Sher, a health-care adviser and longtime friend of Michelle Obama who had been promoted to chief of staff to the First Lady a month before this memo was written. (Sher has since departed the White House and returned to Chicago.)

Link

A 78-year-old attorney apparently leaped to his death this morning from his office building across the street from City Hall in the Loop, authorities said.

The man, whose name was not immediately available, was dead on the scene this morning at 111 W. Washington St., according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

A witness heard glass breaking and then saw the man jump out a window about 7:40 a.m., according to police, who said the attorney worked at the Washington Street address.

Man plunges from Loop office building

Mother says her daughter’s life would have been saved if building had sprinklers, proper elevators
January 19, 2012

The mother of a woman who was killed in a North Lake Shore Drive high-rise fire this month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners and managers of the building.

The lawsuit by JoAnn McCoy maintains that her daughter, Shantel, 32, would still be alive if the building had elevators that shut down during such a fire.

Link

Stephon Watts was shot twice by officers in his Calumet City home on Wednesday

An outraged community gathered Thursday evening to protest the death of 15-year-old Stephon Watts, shot dead in his own home by Calumet City police officers a day earlier.

About 75 to 100 people, family members and civic and religious leaders, gathered outside the Calumet City Police Department headquarters, at 1200 Pulaski Road in the far south suburb, to protest officers’ actions.

“The one thing that we look for our police to do is serve and protect,” said Alicia Murchison, one of the protesters who said she is also the mother of an autistic child. “To think of this is just unjustifiable.”

Link

New coalition works to get abuses reported By Tabitha Hurley and Ashley Huntington One out of 4 undergraduate women will be sexually assaulted before they graduate, according to a 2010 Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) study. The study … Continue reading →

In an apparent race to the courthouse, the first U.S. lawsuit has been filed based on the Jan. 13 disaster off the coast of Tuscany. Surprisingly, the named plaintiff is a crewmember, rather than a passenger, who is a resident … Continue reading →

Mike BryantAttorney (866) 735-1102 Ext 555Posted by Mike BryantJanuary 26, 2012 This month, we will be looking at the issue of what claims are available in a Minnesota collision. We have used real examples from stories in the recent news … Continue reading →