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Thursday, March 17 2011 |
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A New York mother is suing her daughter's preschool, calling it "one big playroom" after her daughter was denied enrollment in elite elementary schools.
Nicole Imprescia is suing York Avenue Preschool in New York's Upper East Side neighborhood, seeking damages equal to the $19,000 annual tuition Imprescia paid the school during her daughter's enrollment since the age of two. Imprescia said she heard the school's sales pitch and was hooked by the promise that attendance in the posh preschool would help her daughter on standardized tests used for admission to the city's most competitive public and private kindergartens. Instead of prepping her daughter, Imprescia claims the school "dumped" her daughter with younger children who were learning shapes and colors.
"Indeed, the school proved not to be a school at all, but just one big playroom," according to the lawsuit, which claims Imprescia was deceived and defrauded. A toddler who takes the wrong first step could ultimately trip up his or her chances for acceptance into an Ivy League college and for earning a higher income, the lawsuit claimed. "There is tremendous pressure to choose the right preschool," it said.
An attorney for Imprescia, Mathew Paulose, Jr., said the child was pulled out of the preschool in October 2010, close to the start of the school year and, therefore, the full tuition should be returned.
"It's a case of theft. They promised certain things but it turned out to be another thing," Paulose said.
According to news reports, the lawsuit was filed in the weeks after many elite elementary schools send out their acceptance and rejection letters.
—Source: in.reuters.com |
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Wednesday, March 09 2011 |
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Lebron Jordan, Inc., a Brooklyn, New York footwear start-up, has filed suit against NBA legends LeBron James and Michael Jordan, among others, claiming the basketball stars ruined its business by poisoning its name in the public.
Earlier this year, Lebron Jordan CEO Aaron Fraser received a raft of cease-and-desist letters, first from Nike and followed shortly thereafter by representatives of James and Jordan, including Live Nation and Jump D.C., which are affiliated with Jordan. Nike, in its letter, pointed out that not only does the company own several trademarks using the terms Jordan and LeBron, but one of the shoe models on Lebron Jordan’s Web site appeared to be a carbon copy of Converse’s iconic Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Going further, Nike pointed out that the shoe appears to be standing atop a Converse shoe box.
The company didn't cease or desist, but apparently its potential customers did, giving rise to the lawsuit which seeks $150 million each from the defendants. “The negative press surrounding the threatened action against us has caused us to lose a multimillion dollar deal in addition to declining sales because of the assumption that we have infringed on their respective trademarks,” the company states in its lawsuit.
The company continues to argue that Nike doesn’t have the right to trademark the words Lebron and Jordan in any form. Gotham Dating Partners claims to be the first to secure the name Lebron Jordan, a combination of terms the company says couldn’t be found together on search engines before its brand was launched.
“Lebron Jordan is not Michael Jordan or LeBron James. It is neither Lebron or Jordan,” the company argues in the court filing. “The company is not a single name company, but rather Lebron Jordan.” Fraser defends his position by saying his godsons — who just happened to be named Lebron and Jordan — are his company’s namesake.
—Source: Portland Business Journal |
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Wednesday, February 23 2011 |
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A California man is suing a Studio City sushi restaurant after he claims it gave him a raw deal on the "all-you-can-eat" sushi meal.
David Martin has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against A Ca-Shi Restaurant seeking $4,000 in damages for “humiliation, embarrassment and mental anguish.” Martin, a type-2 diabetic who has to watch his carbohydrate intake, claims he tried to eat the fish only (and not the rice that accompanied his all-you-can-eat sushi meal) and that the owner, Jay Oh, offered to prepare him two orders of sashimi for $25 rather than allow him to eat all he could of sashimi (fish) only. Martin believes the restaurant wanted him to fill up on rice.
According to news reports, Oh said that rice was part of the all-you-can-eat sushi deal (not an all-you-can-eat sashimi deal), “if you only eat the fish, I would go broke.”
A hearing in the case is expected next week.
—Source: CBSLosAngeles.com |
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Monday, February 14 2011 |
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Facebook has made a bank robber more popular than he likely would prefer. Dubbed the "Geezer Bandit," the bank-robbing old man's wrinkled face appears on t-shirts and thousands of people "like" him on one of the two Facebook pages set up to honor the crook.
Photos of the Geezer Bandit show him to be between 60 and 70 years old, although authorities claim he could be someone younger disguised under a lifelike special effects mask. Regardless, they warn, he is an armed and dangerous menace.
One frequent commentator on a Facebook site said he is pleased to see a robber targeting Bank of America. "Talk about a bunch of crooks glad to see you got some of the American people's money back," Kenny Walsh wrote.
The Geezer Bandit is believed to have robbed 13 banks over the last several years.
—Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL) |
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Wednesday, February 09 2011 |
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A San Diego, California mom is suing Ferrero U.S.A., Inc., an affiliate of Italian-based Ferrero International SA, the makers of the hazelnut-spread Nutella, alleging that Nutella's claim that the chocolaty product is "nutritious" and part of a "healthy breakfast" are false and misleading.
Athena Hohenberg filed the claim in U.S. District Court in California. In her statement of claim, Ms. Hohenberg says she was “shocked to learn” from friends “that Nutella was in fact not a ‘healthy,’ ‘nutritious’ food but was instead the next best thing to a candy bar.”
In advertising and labeling that the lawsuit calls “misleading,” Nutella is shown as part of a “tasty yet balanced breakfast” alongside fresh fruit, whole wheat bread and juice. Nutella’s TV ads also show “a mother feeding Nutella to happy, healthy children,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit demands that Ferrero be forbidden from advertising Nutella as “healthy” or “nutritious” and launch a “corrective advertising campaign.” It also demands the restitution of “all monies from the sale of Nutella, which were unjustly acquired through acts of unlawful, unfair and/or fraudulent competition.”
According to the lawsuit, the ingredients “significantly contribute to America’s alarming increase in childhood obesity” and can cause heart disease, type-2 diabetes and other “serious health problems.”
Nutella spokeswoman Elise Titan, said, “We stand behind the quality and ingredients of Nutella hazelnut spread and the advertising of our product.”
—Source: The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON, Canada) |
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