|
Thursday, August 01 2013 |
|
An Ohio couple is being sued by the local electric utility company because of the placement of their swimming pool. According to news sources, Ohio Edison Co. is suing Joseph and Marsha Bettura of Boardman, Ohio, claiming their in-ground swimming pool interferes with safe and reliable electricity delivery over the company's 69,000-volt overhead transmission lines.
Yet, the pool has been there for 21 years. "Why now?" Joseph Bettura asked.
"We periodically review our easements, and, if we detect a potential safety violation, we need to take steps to rectify that situation,” answered Mark Durbin, manager of energy delivery communications for First Energy Corp., parent of Ohio Edison.
Ohio Edison is seeking recovery of the costs associated with moving the electric line to remedy what it calls a safety-code violation that results from defendants having a pool in the company's 1949 easement for electric transmission. Additionally, the suit seeks to enjoin the Betturas from enlarging their pool or placing any new items in the right of way such as flagpoles, storage sheds, decks, wells or septic systems.
After the power lines were raised and the Betturas signed an encroachment agreement in which they agreed to increase their liability insurance, refrain from placing new items on the easement, and absolve Ohio Edison of any liability issues, they thought the matter ended.
“We felt the issue had been resolved based on their raising the lines and the encroachment agreement,” Bettura said. “It’s like, ‘Here comes big brother.’”
—Source: Youngstown Vindicator |
|
|
Thursday, July 25 2013 |
|
A Houston area family is suing a neighboring little league program, alleging players were using an unlicensed and illegal bat.
Emmett Parsutt, Sr. is seeking $1 million in damages against the League City (Texas) Little League after Parsutt's son, Emmett Parsutt, Jr., was struck in the head by a line drive off a League City bat. The 12-year-old was on the mound at the time, pitching for his Santa Fe (Texas) Little League team. According to the lawsuit, Parsutt Jr. was sent to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe concussion. He claims he still suffers from eye twitches and persistent headaches, and will be forced to sit out from all sports action for six months while he recovers from his injuries.
News reports indicate that the umpire working the game said the bat being used seemed different. Santa Fe parents claim it never should have been allowed on the field and that the suspicious bat allegedly was quickly hidden in the trunk of a car after the incident by a League City parent. The bat sent for inspection by the Little League International officials was cleared as legal; questions remain whether it was the same bat that contributed to Parsutt Jr.'s injury.
—Source: listofsports.com |
|
Thursday, July 18 2013 |
|
A Tennessee man who blames Apple for the demise of his marriage is suing the technology giant, claiming it failed to install any filter in its devices to prevent his porn addiction.
Chris Sevier calls Apple a “silent poisoner” responsible for the proliferation of “arousal addiction, sex trafficking, prostitution, and countless numbers of destroyed lives.” In his 50-page complaint, Sevier claims he had never seen porn of any kind or been to a strip club or sex shop until he got his Apple MacBook. He further claims that his addiction started when he accidentally replaced the “a-c-e” in Facebook with a “u-c-k,” launching him to an adult website that “appealed to his biological sensibilities as a male and led to an unwanted addiction with adverse consequences.”
According to news reports, Sevier alleges that he started to prefer the images on the “F***book site” to his own wife, causing his wife to “disappear” with his son. He further accuses Apple of enabling “unfair competition” between porn actresses and his wife.
“The Plaintiff became depressed and despondent, unable to work as a result of observing porn on his MacBook and the impact it caused,” Sevier’s lawyer said.
A former attorney, Sevier claims in his complaint that since Apple is “concerned with the welfare of our Nation’s children, while furthering pro-American values” it should “sell all of its devices in ‘safe mode,’ with software preset to filter out pornographic content.” Sevier is seeking damages from Apple, but said he will drop the lawsuit if Apple agrees to sell devices with a “safe mode."
—Source: HuffingtonPost.com |
|
Thursday, July 11 2013 |
|
A lawsuit against a school district and its insurance company involving spilled soup has been dropped.
According to news reports, the family of an 8-year-old student at Powers Elementary School in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the local school district and its insurance company after the student was burned by hot soup served by cafeteria workers. The suit stated that the hot soup was placed on the student’s tray and as she carried it to another table someone bumped her, causing the tray to tip and the hot soup to spill on her left forearm.
The suit charged that the district and its employees were “negligent in serving a substance at an unsafe temperature to an 8-year-old child, were negligent in failing to properly instruct its students on how to carry the unsafe substance, failing to properly warn its students of the unsafe substance and the dangers thereof, and failing to properly supervise its employees, agents and students at all times material to this complaint."
The school district countered that it follows food service regulations and trains teachers to supervise students in the cafeteria and reminds them how to act appropriately, such as walking in the cafeteria or to recess. The district, especially cafeteria employees, were upset the student was burned, but the district and its insurance company were "very adamant" they held no liability and were not willing to pay a nuisance settlement.
In the student's March 1 deposition, she said her arm no longer hurts, and she didn't have any scars from the burns.
"My client had made it very clear that we were not going to settle the case - that it was ridiculous," Margery Tibbetts-Wakefield, attorney for the district and its insurance company, said. "I think the plaintiffs finally saw that they were going to spend a lot of money and not get a recovery."
Under the agreement to dismiss the lawsuit, no monetary payments will be made and neither party will be required to pay the other’s legal fees or any other costs.
—Source: GazetteXtra.com (Janesville, WI) |
|
Wednesday, July 03 2013 |
|
A Texas business owner is being sued for injuries suffered by an elevator lift his company didn't install.
Tim Byrom and his son, Clint, and their construction company Brint Construction are being sued by homeowner James Keene who claims to have injured his arm when he tried to repair a cargo lift in his beach house. “They sued us, but we didn’t make it, install it, or guarantee it,” Byrom said in a recent interview.
According to news reports, Byrom said the story begins years ago when Keene inquired about his company installing an elevator. After noting the cost, $20,000, Byrom heard nothing more until years later he was contacted by a cargo lift company, EasyLift Cargo Lifts, to do electric work.
“They contacted EasyLift on their own. We didn’t refer them and weren’t involved in their decision. The only work we did was installing the electrical system for the lift,” Byrom said. “It appears they were using the cargo lift as an elevator despite the warning sign: ‘This device is NOT to be used for lifting human beings or animals.’”
Byrom said he can’t understand how his company could be responsible for the man’s injuries, when it had nothing to do with the lift itself. Keene, who is seeking $1 million in his lawsuit, claims Brint Construction recommended the lift.
“People with legitimate claims have to wait because of cases like this,” Byrom said. “This has to stop, people have to take some personal responsibility.”
—Source: The Southeast Texas Record |
|
|
|
