Legal Humour News - June 7, 2010

Odd or Amusing Legal Headlines from the Past Week (or Two):

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1 - See You In Court!

Woman sues Google over Utah walking directions
A pedestrian injured by a motorist while following an online route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google supplied unsafe directions. Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit on seeking more than $100,000 in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also named a motorist she says hit her. Rosenberg used her phone in January to download directions from one end of Park City to the other. Google Maps led her to a four-lane boulevard without sidewalks that was “not reasonably safe for pedestrians,” according to the lawsuit filed by the Northridge, Calif., resident.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/06/01/14220536.html

Woman sues airline for leaving her asleep in seat
A woman left locked alone in a plane asleep for about four hours after landing at Philadelphia International Airport is suing United Airlines. Ginger McGuire, 36, is suing for false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64R52C20100529

Court allows inmate 4 bikini photos
An inmate at Wisconsin’s maximum security prison will soon have four reasons to smile. An appeals court ordered prison officials to give inmate Johnny Lacy four photographs of women in bikinis that he ordered through the mail. The court says the four photos do not violate the prison’s pornography ban although several other shots he ordered were too risque and were properly withheld.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/20/14022531.html

Hells Angels, please explain lifestyle
Australia's Hells Angels bikies will be forced to explain how they pay for their extravagant lifestyles with sports cars and high-end bikes after losing a court case brought by the Australian Crime Commission. The commission has sweeping powers to force the bikie bosses to give evidence against fellow bikies if they are involved in crimes including drug and violence offences.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100603/od_nm/us_australia_bikies

2 - Crime and Punishment

NY trash ‘recycler’ avoids $79K in fines
A woman in an upstate New York village nearly had to pay $79,000 in fines for her hobby of picking through curbside trash and piling the items in her yard. Karen Herzog calls herself a trash “recycler” — recovering everything from typewriters to porcelain figurines to discarded bricks. She’s donated much of it to the Salvation Army or found ways to use the objects at her home outside of Binghamton. But neighbours in Johnson City didn’t appreciate the heap of clutter in her yard and reported her for code violations.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/29/14185871.html

Driver on cellphone ignores traffic cop
Police in Sudbury, Ontario say a driver was talking on his hand-held cellphone when he attempted to drive through the city's busiest intersection - contrary to the instructions of a cop who was directing traffic because the street lights weren't working. The driver received a $155 ticket.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/26/14094836.html

Burglar feasts on sandwiches, but leaves money
Police say a burglar broke into a Des Moines Subway store, helped himself to a smorgasbord of cold cuts and made sandwiches for the journey home — but left the store’s cash behind. The burglar made some sandwiches and took a significant amount of cold cut meats, bread and cookies, but he failed to find the store’s kitty, which was hidden.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/24/14062826.html

Man charged with faking his way into Harvard
A Delaware man has been charged with faking his way into Harvard and duping the Ivy League school out of $45,000 in financial aid, grants and scholarships. Adam Wheeler, 23, of Milton, Del., was admitted to Harvard and became a student in 2007 after he falsely claimed he had earned a perfect academic record at Phillips Academy in Andover and had studied for a year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/17/13983516.html

3 - Politics, Law, and Governance

Town council seizes fat dog
Don't overfeed your pets, lest your municipal authorities come take them away. That's a lesson learned by dog owners in the Wyre region of Lancashire, England. The Wyre Borough Council seized Gucci, the obese bull terrier, from her home and sent her to fat camp.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/06/04/14266526.html

Dutch start driving exam for those who fear tests
Some people flunk their driving tests because they can’t parallel park. Others flunk for not entering traffic safely. And an unlucky few flunk for fear of flunking itself. In response, the Netherlands has launched a special driving exam for people who suffer from acute test anxiety. The exam pace is leisurely, and drivers are allowed to take a “time out” if the pressure becomes too much for them.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/05/20/14021026.html

Barcelona moves to keep bikinis off the streets
Authorities in Barcelona, fed up with tourists wandering the streets in their swimming costumes, are preparing a massive campaign to convince them to put on clothes when they leave the beach. Municipal authorities  in the seaside Spanish city have already printed posters showing a couple in swimming costumes with a red line across it, along with another couple dressed normally but without the red line.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100521/od_afp/spaintourismoffbeat_20100521160018

4 - And Now for Something Completely Different

Restaurant tells diners to eat up or else
An Australian restaurateur fed up with the waste left by diners has ordered her customers to eat everything on their plates for their sake of the earth or pay a penalty and not return.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65352520100604