Legal Humour News - June 16, 2008

Hi and welcome to this week's newsletter. If it's in the news and it's got a legal slant, we'll do a blawg on it.

Tim Hortons is in trouble again. Franchisees are suing the donut giant seeking class action certification claiming they are losing profits big time since TH made them switch from freshly baked donuts to frozen and microwave heated donuts.  Marcel sees a fresh class action about to happen, by consumers who suffer nervous shock on hearing the news about their favourite donuts being micro zapped.  Read all about it in his blawg, Class Donuts.

Speaking of round objects, is there GST on a bagel chip? Or is it simply a bagel? Fortunately, there is a legal procedure to determine the answer. Read about it in What Goes Around . . .

And of course we have our usual array of hot and weird stories with a legal twist.

Odd or Amusing Legal Stories from the Past Week:

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1 - See You In Court!

Trial Halted Because Jurors Were Playing Sudoku
A judge in Australia has halted a drug conspiracy trial after some of the jurors were found playing the puzzle game Sudoku. The judge was alerted after jurors were observed writing vertically, rather than horizontally. It had been assumed they were taking notes while evidence was being given.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/10/5830066-ap.html

Problem Gamblers Sue Canada Casinos
Thousands of problem gamblers in Canada have launched a $3.5 billion class action lawsuit in Ontario, saying they were allowed into provincially run casinos despite signing up for a program that should have denied them entry.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080611/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_gamblers

Texas Justice Of The Peace Sued Over Paddlings
A family sued a justice of the peace in Texas, complaining that he ordered a man to paddle his teenage stepdaughter in the courtroom and threatened to convict her of truancy if he didn’t.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/05/5781186-ap.html

Indian Court: Airline Can Ground Overweight Cabin Crew Members
An Indian court has ruled that the national airline Air India can ground overweight cabin crew members. Two years ago, Air India warned its nearly 1,600 cabin crew workers to shape up in two months or risk being assigned to ground duties. When the airline grounded staff it deemed overweight, some of them took it to court. The Delhi High Court said in a judgment that there was "no unreasonableness or arbitrariness" in the airline's decision.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/05/5784806-ap.html

LA Obscenity Trial Suspended Over Judge's Web Site
A U.S. federal judge has suspended the obscenity trial of a Los Angeles porn distributor following a newspaper report that the judge had sexually explicit material on his own website.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/12/obscenity.judge.ap/index.html

Court Upholds N.Y. Judge's Removal For Jailing 46
New York’s top court has upheld the removal of a Niagara Falls city court judge who jailed 46 people after no one would own up to a cell phone that rang in court.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/05/5782596-ap.html

Norway Court: Police Dogs Are Public Servants
Police dogs in Norway are finally getting the respect they deserve. The Supreme Court has ruled that they are public servants, making an assault on a police dog as serious as an attack on any police officer.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/05/5782046-ap.html

2 - Crime and Punishment

Kingston Boy Charged After Punching TV
A 13-year-old boy in Kingston, Ont., who punched and broke his family's TV set, got more than just a tongue-lashing from his mom - he was also slapped with a criminal charge. Police say the teen began bickering with his mother Monday morning when she woke him and told him to get ready for school. In anger, the boy walked out to the living room and punched the screen of the 37-inch LCD TV, damaging it beyond repair. The television was valued at $1,000. The teen's mother called police, who arrested the boy and charged him with mischief under $5,000.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/10/5834041-cp.html

7 People Arrested For Cheering At Graduation
Authorities say seven people attending high school graduations in Rock Hill, South Carolina, are facing charges after police say they cheered while students' names were being called.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/10/5834001-ap.html

Vancouver Cops Use Cardboard Cut-Outs To Scare Speeders
Meet the Vancouver Police Department's newest recruit: Cardboard Cop. The force has started setting up cardboard cut-outs of police officers holding radar guns in an area troubled by excessive speeding and accidents. Sometimes there is a real officer behind the cut-outs, while other times there isn't - but drivers don't know as they speed by.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/05/5787271-cp.html

3 - Politics, Law, and Governance

Don't Abandon Car In Motion, Says Cyprus Motor Code
Drivers in Cyprus have been told not to abandon their car in motion, or wave their hands and legs out of car windows. This piece of advice is given in a new road safety code in the first major revamp of guidelines on driving practices in decades.
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL0649680020080606

Voter Turnout For A Tiny North Dakota Town Is An Astonishing Zero
Pillsbury, North Dakota Mayor Darrel Brudevold said voter turnout in the city's primary election usually is fairly high. "I dare say a half-dozen people usually make it to the polls," he said. That represents about a quarter of the residents in the Barnes County farming community in southeastern North Dakota. But, on June 10, no-one showed up. Not even those on the ballot.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/15/5887291-ap.html

Ohio City Approves Jail Time For Failing To Mow Lawn
They take their grass-cutting very seriously in Canton, Ohio. So seriously that homeowners who don't mow their lawns face a stiff fine, even jail time in some cases.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/06/03/5756296-ap.html

4 - And Now for Something Completely Different

Illinois Man Changes Name To 'In God We Trust'
A school bus driver and amateur artist from the Chicago suburb of Zion has legally changed his name to "In God We Trust." A county circuit court judge approved Steve Kreuscher's name change petition. The 57-year-old's first name was changed to "In God," while his last name was changed to "We Trust."
http://www.mercurynews.com/weirdnews/ci_9587870

Couple "Divorced Without Knowledge"
A happily married couple in northern India got the shock of their lives when they learnt they had divorced 10 years ago. The wife had tried to file a case against her in-laws for violence, only to be told by a court in Haryana state that she had been divorced for a decade. Her husband said his brother, a lawyer, had apparently forged the divorce a decade earlier, when the couple were contemplating making a similar complaint.
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0335688320080603

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