April 7th, 2006
So, the good news for Dan Brown and Random House is that the judge in London’s High Court has ruled that Brown did not breach the copyright of Holy Blood and Holy Grail in his blockbuster The Da Vinci Code. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the original nonfiction work must now pay Random House 85% of their almost £1.3m court costs.
the judge, Mr Justice Peter Smith, said The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail did not have a central theme.
“It was an artificial creation for the purposes of the litigation working back from the Da Vinci Code,” he ruled.
Dan Brown did use the previous book to write certain parts of his thriller, the judge decided, but did not substantially copy their work.
Mr Brown said he was “still astonished that these two authors chose to file their suit at all”.
A novelist must be free to “draw appropriately” from historical works without facing a court and having his integrity called into question, he said. [“Court reject Da Vinci copy claim” (BBC News)]
Really, this had been such a stupid lawsuit to begin with.
Tags: Da Vinci Code, lawsuit, BBC News, Conspiracy Theories, Dan Brown, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Random House
August 15th, 2005
Last Thursday, a Kansas jury awarded Dylan Theno $250,000 in a gender-based harrassment suit against the school district. Theno, had spent years being bullied by fellow students, who called him homosexual names (despite the fact that he is not gay) and made high school pure torture for him. The harrassment led to his decision to dropout of school his junior year after school officials reportedly did nothing to even attempt to stop the harrassment.[“Kansas Teen Awarded $250K In Bullying Lawsuit”]
So, my question is this: if the school district is having to pay out $250K for not doing anything, what are the bullies having to pay? It seems to me that until bullies are punished, really punished, nothing will change. Obviously the kids aren’t learning about respecting people and treating them the way they want to be treated either at school or at home. This is a failure of the school system and the parents. Maybe if parents were punished for their children’s bullying behavior, they’d punish the kid.
I really don’t have an answer. I’m not a parent. I know I would never have bullied anyone growing up, but that may be because I had my share of being bullied. I guess I just think that the people doing the actual crime should be punished too.
Tags: lawsuit
August 3rd, 2005
That’s the question. My insurance company has already explained (they broached the topic; I’d not even thought of it) that the other insurance company should be calling me to make an offer for pain & suffering after the car repairs and medical bills are paid for. My insurance company cannot handle that part of the process — though it’s nice that they are going to re-emburse me the $500 I shelled out for the deductible direct deposited into my account within a few days.
Peter and Meg have suggested I contact a lawyer now. My cube-neighbor’s daughter works for the highly televized collision-type lawyer here in Portland and she’s offered to get me an appointment.
Meg and Peter say I’m entitled. My dad seemed to agree. My mother seemed very upset when I mentioned it.
The truth is that while it’s been an inconvenience, my medical bills and my auto repair is being paid for. Yes, I’ll probably be in pain for a few months. Yes, it will interfere with me getting my pig stye ready for the parental visit. Yes, I’m popping Tylenol and Advil 4x a day which can’t be good. Yes, I’ve been unable to really enjoy my hobbies of cooking and…well, cooking anyway. 
But overall, what’s the point of a pain & suffering settlement?
I tried to understand Meg’s explanation about some formula involving soft tissue damage or permanent damage or long-term damage, but it kind of made my eyes gloss over. I kind of wish this had happened in New Orleans so one of them could handle my case.
So, I don’t know what to do? Wait and see if the other insurance place really does call, and if so, how long do I wait? Go ahead and call the lawyer and get him going on it? Just forget about it because this country has really gotten too sue happy and really do I want to encourage that?
I mean, sure, I was eyeing up a home theater system yesterday in radio shack, where I forgot the one thing I meant to buy there…and yeah, it’d be nice to have a little money to put in savings for a possible future vehicle or home purchase…
But the lady was very nice and her insurance company has been very compliant from what I understand and really, I keep thinking about if the roles were reversed and how upset I would be for her and how upset I’d be that my car insurance was going up.
Which is interesting because looking back, I don’t feel the same about the angry woman I accidently hit in Alabama 10+ years ago who slammed her breaks on for no reason and then had her mother the passenger sue me for a long list of items despite the fact that I was the only one who had to go to the hospital and the only one who ended up on crutches.
Hmmm…either I’m older or this lady was truly nice…plus, the roles are reversed. Why would I want to put her through what I went through?
I don’t know…
Tags: lawsuit, car accident
July 25th, 2005
By now, I think y’all know the basics of my car accident last week and all the doctor fun.
The lady’s insurance company has agreed to pay all car damages and medical bills. Because the car damage will end up being over $500 (they discovered one more part that hast to be replaced that with labor puts it at about $525), my insurance company is going to handle collecting that money plus the medical bill charges from them (including co-pays on meds). (So far, I’ve had one Dr visit and 3 prescriptions but have to go see another Dr tomorrow and will possibly get x-rays.
However, I was informed by my insurance company that they cannot act as my
representative for collecting on pain and suffering even though until they mentioned it, the thought of collecting on pain and suffering hadn’t even occurred to me, and that the lady’s insurance company is supposedly going to be calling me soon to discuss this settlement. I would really rather not involve a lawyer as I don’t know that this is a huge deal, but I’d sure like to be able to discuss the value intelligently so I have an idea of what is appropriate.
I haven’t missed any work yet, but I also haven’t been able to do any housework,
social-type activities, or even really focus well on the medication. I can’t blow dry my hair (dryer too heavy) or lift anything even slightly heavy. I am missing art classes I paid for because I can’t operate the tools and machinery or stand for 2 1/2 hours bent over a work table.
To me, outside of the pain in my back and arms and shoulders, this really has been a big nuisance and another excuse to procrastinate. How does one put a value on such a thing?
Tags: lawsuit, car accident, wellness
July 6th, 2005
I’m really quite speechless and if I felt better, I’d giggle uncontrolably. I guess I didn’t realize how important commets were to Astrology and the fate of mankind.
Astrologist sues NASA over comet crash
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday.
NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.
“It is obvious that elements of the comet’s orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope,” Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday’s collision.
A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.
Tags: lawsuit, NASA
June 22nd, 2005
Remember that car accident I was involved in a year ago this month? Remember that stupid lying bastard who sideswiped me and smacked into the backend of the other woman’s car, sending her to the hospital? Remember how he was trying to blame it all on me?
Well, I got a call yesterday afternoon, from my car insurance company. Apparently the guy is now suing me/my insurance for the damages done to his car and the damages done to the car he hit! WTF?
On top of that, the police report is still wrong and my recorded testimony from a year ago has disappeared plus the case worker is no longer employed there.
I was in a real pissy mood last evening, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I recorded new testimony and they have my diagram of the accident that I drew after seeing the incorrect police report. I think they have the photos of my car too. I should have offered to go take pictures of the site where it happened.
I just hope my insurance doesn’t go up because of this.
It’s a wonder I’m not half-way through a bag of Doritos right now. 
Tags: car accident, lawsuit
