An Ohio woman has been charged with endangering her child following a drinking and driving incident.  Genine Compton, a 39-year-old mother, was driving; her child was drinking. 

More specifically, another motorist reported that Compton was both breast-feeding the youngster and talking on the phone while driving.

Local police used the license plate number to track down the driver.  When confronted, Compton defended her action by saying she wouldn't let her child go hungry.

"Our issue is not the fact that this woman was breastfeeding in public," Kettering (Ohio) police officer Michael Burke said. "Our issue is that she created the condition that placed her child's health and safety at risk."

At a recent court hearing, Compton entered a plea of not guilty.  Compton faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor.

—Source:  Dayton Daily News (Ohio)

A New York man has filed a notice of claim against the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) alleging that the conductor drew unwelcome attention to his disability.  Anthony Faggiani has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.  According to court documents, the LIRR conductor failed to quickly help Mr. Faggiani off the train and then repeatedly announced over the public address system that the train was delayed because of a “wheelchair patient.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for “serious psychological injuries and distress.”

“He just kept emphasizing 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair,' 'wheelchair,'” said Mr. Faggiani.  “You could just imagine all those eyes staring at me.”

LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said train crews “would never seek to embarrass any passenger needing assistance, including those with disabilities.  At the same time, we do have an obligation to communicate with all customers about the reason for a train delay.” 

Since the filing of the lawsuit, the Long Island Rail Road announced a new directive that employees no longer refer to the disability of a customer as the reason for delay, but, rather, that “a customer needs assistance.”

—Source:  Newsday (New York)

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and his wife got the go-ahead from a Los Angeles judge to proceed with a lawsuit against the brokers who sold them what they thought was a party-worthy Hollywood Hills home.

The lawsuit, which seeks more than $1 million and punitive damages, alleges that real estate agent Gregory Holcomb and Sotheby's International Realty misrepresented the house, saying it was a good location to hold big bashes.  Slash claims the home is smaller than advertised and is located on a public street with parking restrictions.

The judge refused to dismiss the couple's claims, but will allow Sotheby's to dispute the punitive damages.

—Source: The Associated Press

Rapper 50 Cent ended up on the right side of the decimal point in a $50 million lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend.  Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins' claim that 50 Cent orally agreed to take care of her for life was unenforceable and unlikely.

"It is incredible that two then-unemployed, penniless, 21-year-olds would make such an oral contract," Judge Edmead said.  She further ruled that the breach of contract claim was barred by the six-year statute of limitations.

According to news reports, the rapper (real name: Curtis Jackson) denied promising to support Tomkins forever if he "made it big."  Judge Edmead said 50 Cent stated that if that was what he intended, he would have married the mother of his son.

This was "an unfortunate tale of a love relationship gone sour," Judge Edmead added.

—Source:  The Associated Press