As the United States Senate Finance Committee convenes today for a meeting entitled "The Rising Cost…
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As Senate Finance Committee Convenes on Healthcare Costs, First Do No Harm

As the United States Senate Finance Committee convenes today for a meeting entitled "The Rising Cost of Health Care:  Considering Meaningful Solutions for All Americans," the enduring adage of medical care applies:  Do no harm.

Specifically, as we've detailed at CFIF, we must especially avoid potentially catastrophic ideas like drug price controls (whether through so-called "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) programs or any other) and violations of patent and intellectual property (IP) protections in which the United States leads the world.  Indeed, our more free-market approach explains why America leads the world in lifesaving healthcare innovation, accounting for an astonishing two-thirds of all new drugs introduced to the world each year:

The reasons that MFN schemes would only exacerbate…[more]

November 19, 2025 • 08:48 AM

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Jester’s Courtroom
Lawsuit Trumps Comedy
Wednesday, February 06 2013

Donald Trump is suing Bill Maher for $5 million, claiming the comedian failed to make good on a public bet.

Last month, Maher told Jay Leno he would give $5 million to Trump's charity of choice if Trump could prove he's not "spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan."  As proof of his lineage, Trump sent Maher a copy of his birth certificate which lists Fred Trump as his father.  Now, Trump wants Maher to make good on his promise.

“He promised me $5 million for charity if I provided certain information,” Trump recently told news sources. “Well, I provided the information. He didn’t pay. So today I sue Bill Maher for $5 million for charity.”

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday.

Source:  The Washington Post

Will This Lawsuit Be Bounced Out of Court?
Thursday, January 31 2013

A Miami lawyer is suing the San Antonio Spurs basketball team for sitting out some of their star players in a game against the Miami Heat.

According to the class action lawsuit filed by Larry McGuinness, Spurs coach Greg Popovich's decision to rest Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Tony Parker constituted a violation of Florida's deceptive business practices law.  McGuinness claims the Spurs failed to notify the NBA, the Miami Heat, and the thousands of fans who paid premium ticket prices under the guise of seeing the star players in the line-up.

The lawsuit seeks economic damages.

Source:  ESPN

A Trip (not Slip) and Fall
Wednesday, January 23 2013

A Texas woman is suing her city after allegedly tripping over a loose board on a suspension bridge in the local park.

Port Arthur (TX) resident Pati Paulino was walking her dog across a suspended bridge when a floor board came loose and caused her to fall. Two years after the alleged accident, Paulino is suing the city for failing to inspect and maintain Herman Park and warn visitors of the hazard.

Paulino's lawsuit fails to identify the nature or extent of her injuries, but does state that she seeks exemplary damages on the grounds that the city acted in malice. Paulino seeks an unspecified amount of damages for her alleged past and future medical expenses, mental anguish, pain, impairment, disfigurement and lost wages.

"She proceed (sic) to walk across a suspended bridge when one of the floor boards came lose (sic), causing her to fall," the suit states. "Due to defendant's negligence serious injury resulted."

Source:  Southeast Texas Record

Retired Schoolteacher Fears Children, Sues School District
Thursday, January 17 2013

A former Ohio schoolteacher is suing her former employer, Mariemont School District in the Cincinnati area, because she says it discriminated against her by making her teach kids.  Maria Waltherr-Willard, 61, claims she suffers from Pedophobia, a fear of children.

According to news sources, Waltherr-Willard, who had been teaching high school since 1976, said that after the district transferred her to a middle school in 2009, the younger student body set off her phobia, causing her to suffer chest pains, vomiting, high blood pressure and ultimately forcing her into retirement. Waltherr-Willard said the phobia is covered under the American with Disabilities Act and the transfer violated the law.  

Source: thestir.cafemom.com

Prisoners Try to Capture $1 Billion
Wednesday, January 09 2013

Five Idaho inmates are suing some of the nation's top liquor and wine companies for $1 billion, claiming alcohol led them to commit the crimes for which they are doing time.
 
Keith Allen Brown, Steven Thompson, Woodrow Grant, Cory Baugh and Jeremy Brown filed a lawsuit in Boise's U.S. District Court last month naming eight defendants, including Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Miller Brewing and American Brands, the owner of Jim Beam whiskey. All of the prisoners claim that alcohol led them to their crimes, which range from manslaughter to grand theft.  They further claim that they should have been warned of the beverages' addictive nature
.
"If I was not an alcoholic, the shooting would never have happened," Jeremy Brown said in his affidavit. Brown, 34, is serving a 20- to 30-year sentence for a 2001 shooting that seriously injured a man. "I have spent a great deal of that time in prison because of situations that have arose because of people being drunk, or because of situations in which alcohol played a major role.  At no time in my life, prior to me becoming an alcoholic, was I ever informed that alcohol was habit forming and addictive."
 
The inmates do not have an attorney.
 
Source: news.yahoo.com



Notable Quote   
 
"Federal prosecutors announced new indictments Thursday in the widening Minnesota fraud scandal, this time involving two Philadelphia-based men accused of traveling to Minneapolis after a friend told them the taxpayer-funded programs there presented 'a good opportunity to make money.'Anthony Waddell Jefferson and Lester Brown are accused of siphoning millions from federally funded programs administered…[more]
 
 
— Jonah Kaplan and Michael Kaplan, CBS News
 
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