Daily Archives: November 9, 2012 - 5 results

Historically, a “will” was used to distribute of real estate after one’s death and a “testament” was used to dispose of personal property. Today those instructions are combined into a single document, called a “last will and testament.” British Scientist James Smithson make a bequest in 1829 in his last will and testament, instructing: “I then bequeath the whole of my property… to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an …

A woman who drove up on a sidewalk to pass a stopped school bus full of children in Cleveland will have to wear a sign in public identifying herself as an idiot, a judge ruled. Sheena Hardin was filmed by a school bus driver in September as she veered onto the sidewalk so she wouldn’t have to wait for the bus as it stopped to let schoolkids on and off. A judge ordered Hardin, 32, to stand for an hour …

A doctor who performed a flaming C-section on a patient is not liable for the woman’s burn injuries, a jury ruled last month. Stephen Brown, an obstetrician at Crouse Hospital in New York, was conducting a cesarean section on Kira Reed in March 2010 to deliver her second child. During the operation, Reed noticed a strange odor in the air. “I could not come up with the word for what I was smelling,” she told a local news source. “It did …

It’s bad enough when workers are forced to file a harassment or discrimination claim against an employer. But some employers make it worse by badgering workers who complain. Workers who suffer the consequences for filing claims against their employers can also sue for retaliation – and not only get their jobs back but also back pay and punitive damages. Retaliation by employers was at an all-time high in 2011, according to statistics released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). …

Former National Guard soldiers who are lining up to sue KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, for exposing them to toxins during the early days of the Iraq War got a big boost on Nov. 2 when a Portland, Ore. jury awarded 12 veterans of the Oregon Army National Guard a total of over $85 million. The jury agreed with the plaintiffs that U.S. government contractor KBR negligently exposed them to hexavalent chromium – a known carcinogen in the anticorrosion …