AÂ fatal Tesla Model X crash involving a "dozing driver" is blamed on the car's autopilot feature in a new lawsuit against the electric vehicle company led by Elon Musk. Read the rest
• Dr. Rick Bright, head of the agency responsible for vaccines in the Trump administration, released a statement Wednesday that blames political motives for his abrupt reassignment.
• "I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science – not politics or cronyism – has to lead the way."
WASHINGTON: Dr. Rick Bright, a leading official at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, says he was demoted for fighting efforts to “fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections,” and for opposing hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by Trump as a coronavirus treatment. Read the rest
The Daily Mail ran leaked a March 2015 audio recording' of medics looking for Johnny Depp's severed fingertip. In a 2018 deposition Depp says his wife at the time, Amber Heard, threw a vodka bottle at him and it shattered, cutting off his finger.
From Vanity Fair:
Heard’s story, which she told in her own deposition at the time, differs dramatically. She said that the fight was sparked over her former co-star Billy Bob Thornton. While she alleged that Depp hit her with one hand, he was “slamming a hard plastic phone against a wall with his other until it was smashed into smithereens. While he was smashing the phone, Johnny severely injured his finger, cutting off the tip of it.” At some point later that night, Depp had written on the walls with a mixture of paint and the bloody finger, “Billy Bob” and “Easy Amber.” (Depp reportedly denies all of her account, except for the writing on the wall).
Image: By gdcgraphics, CC BY 2.0, Link Read the rest
A father and son who paid almost $300,000 for a white Lamborghini Huracan Spyder are suing the dealer after the paint job took on a yellow tinge, reports CTV News. Calogero Caruso took a second mortgage on his home to buy the Italian sports car for his son, because it was his child's “dream to own such a luxury vehicle... instead, it has been a total nightmare.” From CTV News:
The plaintiffs claim the problem developed just days after they took possession of the luxury car when they noticed it had started to turn yellow.
The Carusos say the dealership's boss, John Scotti, told them the car was indeed white but can look a little yellow in the sun.
The plaintiffs say they gave the dealer the benefit of the doubt and parked the car indoors but still noticed that it was turning yellow.
Caruso and son no longer want the car. They want a refund plus damages, but the dealer won't give it to them. Caruso returned the car to the dealership, but he is still making mortgage and insurance payments.
Photo by Thomas Haas on Unsplash Read the rest
A 24-year-old New Jersey woman booked a camel ride in Morocco through TripAdvisor's Viator tour booking site. The camel she ended up riding was pregnant and it threw her off and she broke her arm, reports the Boston Globe. The woman said doctors in Morocco had to perform surgery on her arm to prevent permanent nerve damage. Now she's suing TripAdvisor for negligence and breach of contract.
Photo by Andre Iv on Unsplash Read the rest
Does cooking a Impossible Burger on the same surface used to cook normal burgers "contaminate" them with meat by-products? Is Burger King doing this? A vegan diner makes these claims in a lawsuit filed Monday against the fast-food chain. Reuters:
Read the restThe lawsuit filed in Miami federal court seeks damages for all U.S. purchasers of the Impossible Whopper, and an injunction requiring Burger King to “plainly disclose” that Impossible Whoppers and regular burgers are cooked on the same grills. [Burger King] describes the Impossible Burger as “100% Whopper, 0% Beef,” and adds that “for guests looking for a meat-free option, a non-broiler method of preparation is available upon request.”
“Half our customers are drunk and vaping like mo-fos, who the fuck is going to notice the quality of our pods?” Juul's then-CEO Kevin Burns allegedly said when a senior vice president told him Juul should include an expiration date on the packaging of the nicotine pods it makes. The quote is in a lawsuit filed against the company by an aggrieved former employee.
From Buzzfeed:
A former Juul executive is alleging in a lawsuit that the fast-growing startup shipped out 1 million contaminated e-cigarette pods earlier this year — but did not tell customers or issue a recall.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Siddharth Breja, a former senior vice president of global finance who worked at the San Francisco–based company from May 2018 to March 2019. In the lawsuit — filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California on the same day that Juul confirmed its plans to lay off about 500 people — Breja claims he was retaliated against for raising concerns about the contaminated shipment.
Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash Read the rest
The owners of the copyright for the theme song to the “Charlie Brown Christmas” TV special are suing Dolly Parton's 'Dollywood' in federal court for copyright infringement. Read the rest
Attorney and disgraced anti-Trump media gadfly Michael Avenatti has been sued again, this time over allegations he siphoned off a paraplegic client's $4 million settlement. Read the rest
LuLaRoe, a multi-billion dollar maker of garishly patterned garments, has been hit with multiple lawsuits for being a pyramid scheme. Vice has a 30-minute documentary about the company. Read the rest
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, an unidentified man, age 40 is suing his parents for $87,000 for dumping his porn collection. Apparently he had been living with his folks following a divorce but recently moved into his own home. When his folks delivered his stuff to the new digs, his 12 boxes of porn magazines and films were nowhere to be found. He called the cops but the Ottawa County prosecutor would not pursue charges.
In an email filed as evidence in the suit, the man's father wrote: "I did you a big favor by getting rid of all this stuff."
According to the Associated Press, the porn has an estimated value of $29,000 but "the man is seeking triple financial damages."
(image: Frank Carroll/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Read the rest
The city attorney for Los Angeles is suing the company behind The Weather Channel and its mobile app, and says the app covertly mined user data. Read the rest
Stephen Keys, an actor who has appeared in many movies, including Soul Plane, was on a flight from Reno to Los Angeles last week. When he raised his armrest so he could get his seatbelt, his pinky got stuck in a hole under the armrest. According to a lawsuit he filed against American Airlines and SkyWest Airlines, "The spring mechanism embedded inside of this hole in the armrest applied intense pressure to plaintiff's finger, immediately inflicting injury, swelling and pain."
"By this time, dozens of passengers became aware of Mr. Keys' perilous condition, causing his dire situation to become a humiliating public spectacle," the suit alleges. "By the end of it all, he remained entrapped in this nightmarish condition, suffering for nearly an hour."
From NBC:
Flight personnel and members of a fire department rescue team were unable to free Keys' finger, which was finally accomplished with the help of an airline mechanic who disassembled the armrest, the suit says.
The injury to his finger left Keys unable to perform such previously routine tasks as driving and playing with his children, according to his complaint, which says he experienced weeks of intense pain and severe emotional distress. Read the rest
My name is Kelsey Juliana and I’m suing the United States government for causing and accelerating the climate change crisis. I’m 22 years old and I’ve been a climate advocate for more than half of my life. Read the rest
