Tag: Lawsuits

Boeing Dodges A Bullet

Who does the government work for?

Any ideas?

After hundreds of deaths, shoddy safety measures, lousy construction and let’s not forget the whistleblowers that mysteriously dead after coming forward, Boeing was set to face a trial for their actions or are they?

Last week federal prosecutors recommended the Justice Department bring criminal charges against Boeing over its failure to keep the terms of an agreement sparing the company from legal action in 737 Max crashes that killed a combined 346 people. A lawyer for the families of those crash victims say what’s in the works is a “sweetheart plea deal.”

Reuters reports the DOJ plans to criminally charge Boeing, with sources saying the company can go to trial or take the deal, which is said to include a $487.2 million fine (Boeing would be credited for a previous settlement and only pay half) and the assignment of an independent monitor to audit the company’s safety practices for a three-year period. The DOJ is said to have briefed victims’ relatives on Sunday. More:

  • Standout lines: “The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this,” victims’ lawyer Paul Cassell tells the BBC, saying the “families will strenuously object to this plea deal.” He adds, “The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people. It also appears to rest on the idea that Boeing did not harm any victim.”
  • What the families want: Per a letter Cassell sent to the DOJ in June, the families of victims of the October 2018 Lion Air and March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crashes wanted to see Boeing’s then-top executives prosecuted and a $24.8 billion fine levied.
  • Next steps: USA Today reports that should Boeing accept the plea offer, US District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas will be the one to decide whether to accept the plea agreement in the public interest. Lawyers say victims’ families plan to fly in from around the world to attend any hearing and voice their opposition.
  • The timeline: CNN explains that the DOJ in June let Boeing know that the safety failures it has racked up lately put the company in breach of the 2021 agreement through which Boeing avoided criminal charges (specifically, criminal conspiracy charge to commit fraud) related to the 737 Max crashes. The DOJ said that meant Boeing is subject to criminal prosecution, but it had not announced whether it planned to prosecute the case. The DOJ has a July 7 deadline to file charges, so Boeing will have until week’s end to decide whether to accept the plea deal.
  • Side note: Reuters reports it’s atypical for the DOJ to loop in third parties (in this case, the victims’ families) about its plans prior to alerting the company it intends to charge. Reuters sees the shift as a reaction to the relatives’ outcry over the original 2021 agreement, which they learned about after it had been reached.
  • The anger: The Guardian reports that “on a conference call on Sunday, one official is said to have been asked by a family member how he sleeps at night.”

You realize this will go to the Supreme Court and we know how that will work out with the political hacks on the court, right?

Chevron gets pass, dark money gets a pass, so forth and so on….

The court has become a huge joke….those people have NO business using the Constitution and law has toilet paper.

Impeach all of them and start over without political hacks…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–29Mar24

By now most everyone knows about the trouble with the pesticide known as Roundup….but did you know that the maker of this pesticide is the aspirin people, Bayer? (Think about that for a moment)

Bayer is fighting in most states to stop all the lawsuits against it and its product Roundup….as a public service I want to pass on what this company is up to in your state.

On TikTok, Iowa State Representative Megan Srinivas is angry.

“To me,” she says, pointing at herself with both hands, her eyebrows raised, “Iowa’s farmers matter more than corporate interests.”

Srinivas, a Democrat, posted the video on February 7 to draw attention to a bill that was just starting to make its way through the statehouse. If passed, the legislation could prevent individuals who use pesticides from suing manufacturers based on the argument that the manufacturer should have warned them the products could cause cancer or another illness.

Srinivas is a physician, and one specific concern added to her outrage. Less than a year earlier, the Iowa Cancer Registry released data showing Iowa now has the second highest cancer rate in the country, after Kentucky, and is the only state where rates significantly increased between 2015 and 2019. For the first time, researchers at the Iowa Cancer Consortium have a plan to evaluate whether the incredible volume of weed- and bug-killers used in the state is a contributing factor (although an annual report released at the end of February focused more on high rates of binge drinking).

However, while other states have seen a flurry of more than 100,000 lawsuits brought by individuals claiming Roundup—the most widely used commercial product that contains the weedkiller glyphosate—had caused their cancers, Iowa stands apart. Especially in agriculture, most people trust the safety of pesticides, locals say, and Roundup is the most common and coveted.

Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits

Check with your state rep to see just what Bayer is up to in your state.

I am sure that money will be the answer to their problems….after all there are elections come up…..and soon.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Musk And His Employees

Elon Musk has been making news all over the place…..from his purchase of Twitter to his cage match with the Zuck to his many lawsuits…..employees are trying to get what he promised them in the past.

Since Elon Musk took over as CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, the company has been a lawsuit magnet. There’s that class-action suit in California by former employees who claim they weren’t paid promised bonuses. Another claims the company hasn’t ponied up $500 million in severance pay to employees who were laid off.

Now add more than 2,200 arbitration cases, according to a complaint filed earlier this week in Delaware. All told, the social media giant is potentially on the hook for more than $3.5 million in filing fees, according to CNBC‘s estimate. When it rains, it pours!

The deluge of arbitration cases was revealed in a court document filed by former employee Chris Woodfield against X and Elon Musk. Last month, Woodfield slapped the company and Musk with a separate complaint, claiming they hadn’t paid him his promised severance.

The cases underline Musk’s bull-in-a-china-shop approach when he first took over the social media giant in October last year. When he became CEO, Musk laid off legions of workers, cutting staff numbers from around 8,000 to just 1,500 as of this April. That’s a lot of pissed off people with an axe to grind — hence the flood of suits.

The arbitration cases from former employees add another messy wrinkle to the legal challenges X and Musk are facing.

Arbitration is a legal process in which two opposing parties agree to mediate their dispute with a third party arbitrator rather than going through the court system. At Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, employees are forced to sign arbitration agreements as a requirement for employment in states where it is legal, which is a move some politicians decry as a way to hide complaints of discrimination, which Tesla has faced.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-twitter-employees-lawsuit

It is not bad enough that he is moving into the Trump camp but he now acts like the robber barons of old.

X has lost about 60% of its ad revenue….and Musk had to borrow millions from SpaceX, you know that multi-billion dollar enterprise that cashes many government checks.

My thought is he is a feminine hygiene cleansing agent that one might use on a Summer’s Eve.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Is ‘Famous’

By now the whole country has heard of the landmark court case on Roe v Wade…..but did you know that it originated in my state of Mississippi?

And that is not the only ‘famous’ court decision that originated in Mississippi…..25 years ago the landmark tobacco settlement originated in Mississippi.

Yep time for that short trip into history.

If Mississippi’s political leaders had stuck to their plan, the state would now have a trust fund of more than $4 billion earning about $320 million annually to spend on health care, based on projections made in 1999.

But, as often is pointed out, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Such is the case with the health care trust fund that was created in 1999 with the money from the state’s settlement with the tobacco companies of a landmark lawsuit to collect government funds spent treating smoking-related illnesses.

The settlement funds have been delivered to Mississippi as promised, but the promise of a trust fund was broken long ago.

The lawsuit, which originated in Mississippi, turned into a $365 billion national settlement that was announced by then-Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore and others on June 20, 1997 – 25 years ago.

The lawsuit guaranteed Mississippi $4 billion over 25-years with annual payments of $100 million or more, based on a formula, continuing forever.

https://mississippitoday.org/2022/06/26/landmark-tobacco-lawsuit-settled-25-years-ago-what-happened-to-money/

The new cash was earmarked for health issues….but since the GOP runs this state and their push to cut spending the state Congress has been hitting the fund to plug all the holes that they have created by all the austerity measures.

This is typical for Mississippi…they lie.

Like casino tax money was earmarked for education and yet the state education system sucks because there is little money.

Do you pay attention to how your tax dollars are spent?  Or do you just care about issues that mean little to the people of your state?

I can wait for the answers.

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scrfibo”

Sue The Bastards!

Closing Thought–01Sep21

If the violated police cannot get justice from the DoJ…then take Shakespeare’s advice and “sue the bastards”……..

In a turn there has been a lawsuit filed by police officers….

Former President Trump just got with another lawsuit over the Capitol riot, this time by officers who were injured by his supporters. The lawsuit also implicates several Trump allies, including Roger Stone and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

  • Main claim: The lawsuit filed in federal court in DC accuses Trump of intentionally setting a mob upon the Capitol as part of his bid to remain in office. Trump “worked with white supremacists, violent extremist groups, and campaign supporters to violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, and commit acts of domestic terrorism in an unlawful effort to stay in power,” says the suit, per the AP. That 1871 statute is aimed at violence meant to disrupt the actions of Congress.
  • Accusers: Seven Capitol Police officers filed the suit, reports the New York Times. “This is probably the most comprehensive account of Jan. 6 in terms of civil cases,” says Edward Caspar of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed the suit on behalf of the officers. “It spans from the former president to militants around him to his campaign supporters.”
  • Details: The suit includes first-hand accounts from the officers, including Governor Latson, who describes how rioters beat him and hurled racial slurs at him. Latson, who is Black, also was injured by “exposure to noxious pepper spray, bear spray, fire extinguishers and other pollutants sprayed by the attackers,” says the suit, per the Washington Post.
  • Details, II: Another officer, Jason DeRoche, describes being hit with batteries and doused with mace and bear spray while on the steps of the Capitol. Officer Michael Fortune says “it was like a war zone, with chemical fog in the air, tables flipped, statues defaced, feces on the walls, blood and broken glass on the floors.”
  • Other suits: This lawsuit makes similar allegations to those made by individual members of Congress in previous litigation. While Trump has not responded yet to the officers’ lawsuit, he has sought to dismiss the earlier ones by saying he was acting in his official capacity as president and thus is immune from civil suits. A special House panel also is investigating the events of Jan. 6.

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-michael-pence-4cd64aab06e0f943ca8f83fd0b65037d

GREAT!

Now take these slugs for every penny they have.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

The Fight For Voter Rights Heats Up

Most of us know of the voting laws that 48 states are trying to enact……and now the DOJ has stepped up to act as the legal voice of the nation….it begins with the voting laws in the state of Georgia.

The Justice Department is suing Georgia over the state’s voting laws, per the AP. The decision, to be announced later Friday by Attorney General Merrick Garland, comes two weeks after Garland said the Justice Department would scrutinize a wave of new laws in Republican-controlled states that tighten voting rules. He pledged to take action if prosecutors found unlawful activity. The move also comes as pressure grows on the Biden administration to respond to GOP-backed laws being pushed in the states this year. An effort to overhaul election laws was blocked this week by Republican senators. As of mid-May, 22 restrictive laws had passed in at least 14 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which researches voting and supports expanded access.

While much of the more controversial aspects of Georgia’s new voting law were dropped before it was passed, it is notable in its scope and for newly expansive powers granted to the state over local election offices. Under the bill, the GOP-dominated legislature gave itself greater influence over a state board that regulates elections and empowered that board to remove local election officials deemed to be underperforming. That has raised concerns that the state board could intervene in the operations of Democratic-run county election offices in metro Atlanta, the state’s Democratic power center. The bill also adds a voter ID requirement for mail ballots and will result in fewer ballot drop boxes in metro Atlanta.

These laws should be challenged because they are an assault on the right of every American.

Let the others follow suit (no pun intended)ma and take on these laws that are trying to lessen the democratic process in most states.

On a lighter note–today is my birthday….74 and counting…..I shall spend the day with family and burgers on the grill.

Peace out my friends.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Murderer Gets His Due

The policeman that killed Floyd has been convicted of his crimes and now he has been sentenced.

Derek Chauvin is going to prison for the murder of George Floyd. A judge in Minneapolis on Friday sentenced the former city police officer to 22 and a half years behind bars, reports the AP. Prosecutors had asked for 30 years, while Chauvin’s legal team said he deserved only probation. The 45-year-old Chauvin was previously convicted of murder and manslaughter charges after he pinned his knee to Floyd’s neck and kept it there for more than nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020. With good behavior, he could be paroled in 15 years. Prior to sentencing, Chauvin himself addressed the court, per the Star Tribune:

  • Examples of other statements before the sentencing, per CNN:

    • Chauvin’s mother: “It’s been difficult for me to hear and read what the media, public and prosecution team believe Derek to be an aggressive, heartless and uncaring person,” said Carolyn Pawlenty. “I can tell you that is far from the truth.” Chauvin is a “good man,” she said.
    • Floyd’s brother: “On behalf of me and my family, we seek the maximum penalty,” said Terence Floyd. “We don’t want to see no more slaps on the wrist. We’ve been through that already… no, no, no, no.”
    • Floyd’s daughter: 7-year-old Gianna Floyd delivered a victim impact statement via video. Asked what she would tell her father if she could see him again, she answered, “It would be I miss you and I love you.”
    • Another brother: “Every day, I have begged for justice to be served, reliving the execution of George while others begged and pleaded for officer Chauvin to simply just allow George to take a breath,” said Philonise Floyd. “I haven’t had a real night’s sleep because of the nightmares I constantly have, hearing my brother beg and plead for his life over and over again. Even saying, ‘They’re going to kill me, please, officer,’ screaming for our mom.'”
    • More to come: This is far from the end of the Chauvin-Floyd saga. Chauvin will almost certainly appeal, plus he faces separate federal civil rights charges. And three other fired Minneapolis officers are awaiting trials of their own.
       

     

One down many more to go…..use this and get justice where justice is needed.

Not to worry…..Chauvin will probably become the darling (in more ways than one) of the imprisoned white supremacists…..or he will find religion (a usual occurrence)…..either way he will have 22.5 years to contemplate his actions.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–10Jun21

An unusual turn around the insurrection of 06 January…..one Congressman sues another over the action…..

Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in March accusing former President Trump and his allies, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani, of inciting the January 6 mob attack on the US Capitol. Now, Swalwell has finally served the last person named in the suit—his fellow congressman, Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican, the Hill reports. It’s apparently been quite a feat trying to get him served, and Brooks claims Swalwell’s people broke the law when they finally managed to do so. He tweeted an accusation that they snuck into his house and “accosted” his wife, an allegation Swalwell’s attorney swiftly denied to CNN.

“No one entered or even attempted to enter the Brooks’ house,” he says. “A process server lawfully served the papers on Mo Brooks’ wife, as the federal rules allow. This was after her initial efforts to avoid service. Mo Brooks has no one but himself to blame for the fact that it came to this. We asked him to waive service, we offered to meet him at a place of his choosing. Instead of working things out like a civilized person, he engaged in a juvenile game of Twitter trolling over the past few days and continued to evade service. He demanded that we serve him. We did just that.” Brooks responded to that on Twitter by claiming home security video will prove him right, and that he’ll be seeking an arrest warrant. 

Glad to see someone in DC has stepped up and attempted to make those who incited the rabid crowd to breach the Capitol.

There needs more actions to make the mouthpieces of the insurrection to be held responsible for their part in the breach.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Covid-19 And Lawsuits

Remember when those idiots on the Right Jordan and Crenshaw introduced a bill that would allow Americans sue China for this virus….I said then that these two were idiots and would open a whole new can of worms…..And those worms have come home to roost…..

Repubes trying to be cute in the face of danger have opened up the lawsuit lotto…..

The largest union of nurses in the US will gather outside the White House on Tuesday to read aloud the names of colleagues who have died during the COVID-19 outbreak and to demand more money for better protective gear. National Nurses United wants Congress and President Trump to invoke emergency measures to provide money for N95 masks and other types of protection. Coverage, including the first major lawsuits filed collectively by nurses:

  • The anger: “We’re tired of being treated as if we are expendable,” NNU President Deborah Burger tells the Washington Post. “If we are killed in this pandemic, there won’t be anybody to take care of the rest of the sick people that are going to come.” Later, she added, “We’re beyond angered at this.” She estimates that more than 100 names will be read aloud at Tuesday’s White House protest.
  • Three lawsuits: The New York State Nurses Association has sued the state health department and two hospital systems there (Montefiore and Westchester), citing inadequate protection. It’s one of the first collective legal actions by health care workers amid the outbreak, per CNBC.
  • Personal stories: The lawsuits include first-person accounts from the nurses, who describe “war zone” conditions. Read them here. “I began experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, including cough and fever,” says Montefiore nurse Pamela Brown-Richardson in her affidavit. “I reported my symptoms to Montefiore and asked for testing. I was informed that Montefiore would not test me… I obtained testing on my own… [and] found out that I tested positive for COVID-19.”
  • Specific demand: Among other things, the New York nurses want enforcement of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s directive that each direct-care nurse receive a new N95 mask daily, reports CNN. “New York’s hospitals have turned into petri dishes where the virus is allowed to spread, unchecked by basic protective equipment and measures,” say attorneys for the union in a memorandum of law.
  • Taking a stand: During protests against the state lockdown in Colorado, nurses in scrubs stood in counter-protest among the protesters, reports NBC News. One in Denver, who gave her name only as Alexis, said the protests felt like “a slap in the face to medical workers.” Nobody wants to be stuck at home, she said, but “that’s not the point.”

Morons to the Left……Idiots to the Right…..and I’ll take vanilla.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Just How Stupid Are They?

Every day it seems that some ignorant mental midget grabs a gun and goes on a rampage…..and the pundits and wonks have the same coverage and conversation on a growing problem…..and the same result of all the debate and analysis….we wait for the next attack so we can have the “talk” all over again.

Basically it is……deaths….talks…..wait….rinse and repeat……

I had my little rant because of something completely different….it is the butt hurt Rep from California Devin Nunes who is suing Twitter for 250 million……

Newsweek reported that an attorney representing Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is arguing that two parody Twitter accounts making fun of the congressman are as dangerous as guns.

The lawsuit alleges that the parody accounts, called “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow,” constitute “an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life,” and for Twitter to keep them operating is equivalent to negligently giving someone a firearm without determining if they are qualified to use it.

Nunes filed the $250 million defamation suit against these two Twitter accounts, as well as Twitter itself and Never Trump GOP strategist Liz Mair, earlier this year. He has also alleged that Twitter was secretly “shadow banning” his account by preventing people from finding him in search results, which Twitter says never happened, and which doesn’t present any clear legal injury even if it was true.

(Raw Story)

If you are against gun laws then I suggest you read that again.  (Pause here for the slower readers)

Maybe someone should tell the idiot Nunes that he is doing some damage just because he got butt hurt over criticism.

This lawsuit could have wide ranging consequences…..I am not a lawyer but even I can see the chances here….maybe the NRA should hold a consultation with Nunes and suggest that he drop the lawsuit to avoid any long term damage he could possibly do.

“An action has an equal but opposition reaction”

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”