A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by a retired Los Angeles police officer who sued a gun maker after his 3-year-old son shot him.

Anaheim, California resident Enrique Chavez was off-duty when he was shot in the back by his son, who was not in a car seat when he fired his father's nearby .45-caliber Glock.
 
Chavez, who was left paralyzed from the waist down, sued Glock, alleging that the gun's safety was "non-existent or ineffective."  The defense countered that Chavez admitted he forgot the gun was in the back seat when he put his son in the truck.
 
In dismissing the suit, the judge cited an "exhaustive review" of the gun's safety conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department prior to purchase.
 
The suit also alleged negligence on the part of the maker of the gun's holster, the store where Chavez bought the holster and the store where he purchased the gun.  
 
—Source: The Orange County Register (CA)

A New York woman sued General Mills, Inc. for allegedly misleading consumers about the nutritional and health qualities of its Fruit Roll-Ups and other fruit snacks popular with children.

Self-proclaimed “life-long consumer” of General Mills products and plaintiff Payton McClure filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court alleging that defendant General Mills failed to properly disclose that its fruit products snacks contain partially hydrogenated oil.  McClure is seeking class action status for the lawsuit that claims General Mills’ marketing ads were “false and misleading” because they claimed the snacks were “nutritious” and “healthy to consume.”

According to news reports, a General Mills spokeswoman declined to comment since the company had not yet reviewed the complaint. "To our knowledge, this suit has not been served," said General Mills spokeswoman Kirstie Foster.

The case is McClure v. General Mills Inc., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-05015.
 
—Source: Reuters.com

A Southern Connecticut State University graduate was awarded $47,000 in damages after she sued her father to force him to fulfill their agreement to pay for her college education.
 
Dana Soderberg filed a breach of contract lawsuit against her father, Howard Soderberg, a property developer, after he stopped paying her tuition just before her senior year.  Filed as evidence of her claim, Soderberg submitted a copy of a written contract her father signed following his divorce from Dana's mother.  According to news reports, the written contract required Howard to pay Dana's college tuition until she turned 25 and to cover student loans received by Dana.
 
In response to the lawsuit, Howard filed a counterclaim, alleging that Dana did not fulfill her side of the agreement because she didn't try hard enough to apply for student loans and that she dropped a few classes and kept the money for herself.
 
"Here his daughter's bringing him to court and there's no sadness, no remorse that his daughter was in this situation having to sue him," said Renee Berman, Dana's attorney.  "Nothing that I've researched has shown any cases like this and hopefully there won't be any more, because it's a sad situation."
 
—Source:  Yahoo!Finance.com

The skies were dark over San Diego Bay after the Coast Law Group, on behalf of an organization called the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, sent a notice of intent to sue the Port of San Diego over a planned fireworks display over the bay.

Citing pollution concerns and violation of the Clean Water Act, the notice stated that the firework displays on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July release “substantial amounts of pollution into San Diego Bay.”

Marco Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coast Law Group, which was retained to represent the environmental group, said his clients aren’t looking to shut down the shows, but want the Port of San Diego and Port Tenants Association to get the appropriate permit from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.

”People who think we are trying to stop these shows are wrong,” Gonzalez said. “We are just trying to make them legal and safe for the environment.”

According to news reports, an agreement was reached that allows the 10th annual event in San Diego Bay to proceed in exchange for the coordinator doing some tests and cleanup.

Last week Gonzalez followed through on his threat to file a similar lawsuit to stop the fireworks display in La Jolla, in the name of reducing water pollution due to pyrotechnics.

“It’s going to be quite a wonderful show and it would be nice if Mr. Gonzalez would stop using the media for self-promotion and come down and enjoy the show,” said Deborah Marengo, a founder of the nonprofit La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation.

Marengo said the La Jolla foundation had lined up a pro bono attorney in anticipation of a courtroom showdown.

“We have the resources to secure that the La Jolla fireworks show will continue,” she said, adding that the event costs about $25,000 annually.

—Sources: San Diego News Network and SignonSanDiego.com