Lance Armstrong apparently isn’t pedaling back into America’s good graces anytime soon. He’s now being sued in a class action lawsuit by readers of his book. The suit accuses Armstrong and his publishers of muddling fact and fiction. The bestselling book at the center of the lawsuit is entitled “It’s Not About the Bike.” But the suit also complains about another Armstrong book, “Every Second Counts.” The lawsuit was filed in California....
Ever wanted to know what’s in a reality TV contract? Well, a glimpse into MTV’s Real World contract, signed by its participants, seems to indicate that as a reality TV star, you’re signing away a lot of your rights. Maybe MTV and other networks need to have these kinds of contracts in place. After all, they probably want to make sure that they’re able to (1) capture all those emotional breakdowns and slap fights on camera, and (2) not be liable for injuries that might occur during said slap fights....
W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay $250 million to the federal government for investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination from a vermiculite mining facility in Montana. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) calls the amount the largest in the history of the federal “Superfund” environmental cleanup program (formally known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA). The settlement agreement states that vermiculite ore from the Zonolite mine in Lincoln County, Montana contained “amphibole” asbestos, and that vermiculite and asbestos particles have been found in a number of locations in and around the town of Libby, in the northeastern part of the state....
The U.S Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced last week that Americans had a negative savings rate for 2006. The annual savings rate was negative 1 percent, which was the lowest since 1933. The savings rate from this BEA report is a calculation that takes total disposal income (after taxes) and deducts total spending. Note that this calculation doesn’t include all types of savings (e.g. pensions, 401(k) plans) and doesn’t account for changes in household wealth (e....
Vitaminwater has settled a class action lawsuit over claims that its labeling and marketing were deceptive and misleading. The class action includes Vitaminwater consumers in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, and the Virgin Islands who purchased the product since 2003. As of Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reported that the settlement was still pending approval in a New York federal court. If approved, the settlement will prohibit Vitaminwater from making claims like “vitamins + water – what’s in your hand....
“That’s So Raven’s” Orlando Brown has moved on to “Not So Law-Abiding” and is headed for jail. Move over post-“Parent Trap” Lindsay Lohan, there’s a new former Disney star set for primetime DUI drama. Brown was arrested for drunk driving back in 2011 during a routine traffic stop. But as with most former Disney stars, Brown’s DUI case couldn’t seem to go smoothly. What should have been a relatively minor misdemeanor drunk driving charge spiraled into a drawn-out lesson on how not to handle a DUI charge....
Stair accidents injure more than 90,000 American children each year, and send a child to the hospital on average every six minutes, a new study finds. The greatest number of stair injuries involves children who are just 1 year old, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found. The study is published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers surveyed 10 years’ worth of data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to come up with their findings, CNN reports....
The American Civil Liberties Union is battling the modern day debtors’ prison system. It is a secret system, nestled within criminal justice, and it happens to be profitable for private contractors who benefit when poor people don’t pay fines and end up with jail time. This week, the Ohio chapter of the ACLU filed a suit against Benton County, accusing the locality of illegally incarcerating people who cannot pay their court fines....
That’s because a federal judge whacked Giuliani’s breach of contract lawsuit against Duke and the Blue Devils’ golf coach out of court today. Judge Osteen rejected Giuliani’s claims that he had an orally enforceable contract with Duke and its then golf coach Rod Myers, one that he said enticed him: After Coach Myers died, the Blue Devils new golf coach Orrin Daniel Vincent, III cut the team’s roster in half, and told Giuliani that he would have to ’re-qualify’ for the team....
Qualitest Pharmaceuticals has issued a voluntary birth control recall over faulty packaging. The recall encompasses around 1.4 million packages of birth control distributed to both consumers and pharmacists since last year, according to CNN. The recall concerns a packaging error, reports CNN. Select blister packages were accidentally rotated about 180 degrees. This means that sometimes women may be taking an incorrect pill or dose. Women may accidentally take a hormone-free dummy pill on days that they should be taking pills with active ingredients....
File this one under – it’s just not gonna happen. In partial order of importance, President Obama is currently coping with heathcare reform, global warming treaties, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and somewhere way down the list, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Makes for a quite full day at the White House. In preparation for the June trial, the defense team is now gathering notes, transcripts and reports from interviews between the FBI and members of the Obama team such as Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and union chief Thomas Balanoff....
It’s Bobby Brown’s prerogative to drive drunk. It’s also a Los Angeles judge’s prerogative to send Bobby Brown to jail for his DUI conviction last year. The 44-year-old singer will head to a county jail next month to begin serving his 55-day sentence for his second DUI conviction in less than a year, reports CNN. Brown’s penalty may seem a bit harsh for drunk driving (especially for a celebrity); however, the singer was driving with a suspended license from a previous DUI arrest at the time....
A skilled criminal defense attorney can make a huge difference in the outcome of a case. Take the case of Bruno Mars, real name Peter Hernandez, who was arrested for cocaine possession at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Mars, a singer/songwriter, has been nominated for seven Grammy awards. Mars claimed that the incident, where he was arrested with 2.3 grams of cocaine, was “a foolish thing and [he] never used drugs before,” the Associated Press reports....
Sorry, Charlie. Now that the media has “unmasked” the girl that was Charlie Sheen’s date the night of his alleged rampage at the Plaza Hotel in New York, you can see it coming. As predicted in Celebrity Justice’s prior post on the topic, Sheen’s companion, now named as adult actress Capri Anderson (or, Christina Walsh, or Alexis Capri, take your pick), would like the law to get involved. As much of the western world knows, Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen had a really bad night this week as the result of either a) drugs and alcohol (per the tabloid press) or b) an allergic reaction to medication (per Sheen’s rep)....
Convicted of 23 counts of fraud for intentionally misleading customers into believing his products were gluten-free, North Carolina breadmaker Paul Evan Seelig is now facing 9 to 11 years behind bars. Some are criticizing the sentence as excessive, arguing that Seelig basically sold mislabeled bread. However, if you consider the state of criminal battery law, and the number of people who purchased the bread, Paul Evan Seelig may have actually gotten off easy....
You got pulled over for speeding and you’ve heard about people beating tickets. So you go for it. Before the officer is even by your car, you are preparing your legal arguments, an eloquent list of reasons why you should not be fined for failing to follow traffic laws. You’re pretty sure this will work because you read about people doing this on the Internet. But the officer is unimpressed by your claims and now you have to go to court....
In her keynote address given February 17, before the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO), Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Inez Tenenbaum covered a wide range of topics regarding the work her Commission has accomplished in the past year and hopes to accomplish in the future. Specifically, Chairman Tenenbaum had particular remarks of interest to consumers affected by the recent toy and crib recalls. First, despite what may seem to consumers like a year overwhelming product recalls, Chairman Tenenbaum noted that in 2009, there was a 75 percent decline in toy recalls versus 2008, and an 80 percent decline in toy recalls due to lead violations....
If you are thinking about purchasing an Airsoft gun, you better take a good look at the laws where you live because it’s not always clear when buying an Airsoft gun is legal. Airsoft guns are considered by many to be a toy, and they are becoming increasingly popular among children and teens. However, as these guns have the ability to fire projectiles at a high speed, they can be a safety concern....
Joan Rivers wanted to talk about things, honestly. She was a funny lady who used her biting humor to rise to the top of American comedy and stay there for decades, amusing generations. Then Rivers died of a sore throat, in a manner of speaking, due to the negligence of her doctors. Now, reports the New York Daily News, her daughter Melissa has settled a wrongful death suit with the New York clinic where she was treated....
Josh Duggar reportedly admitted to child molestation. Josh Duggar is the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of 19 Kids and Counting fame. Twelve years ago, he allegedly molested five underage girls. This week he admitted it publicly after allegations of the abuse surfaced. Many people may be wondering, can Josh face criminal charges now? The Molestation According to reports, Josh’s actions haven’t remained hidden all this time. The molestations were actually reported to the police twelve years ago....
