Legal Humour News - January 25, 2010

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

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1 - See You In Court!

Man fired for bringing dog to work
Filed “under “potential lawsuit”, Eric Favetta, a 31-year-old PetSmart employee, was fired for "theft of services" after bringing his dog to work during an overnight shift he'd picked up as a favor to his manager. Favetta — a former military dog handler who'd worked at PetSmart for 18 months — didn't want his 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, Gizmo, to be home alone all day and all night. So he put Gizmo in the store's doggie day care facility.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34963335/ns/business-small_business/

2 - Crime and Punishment

Prostitute fined $820,000 for unpaid tax
Poland's tax office has levied a fine of 2.3 million zlotys ($820,000) on an unemployed woman for failing to pay tax on income worth at least 13.7 million zlotys she said she had earned as a prostitute.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60B41J20100112

Briton faces jail for noisy sex
A Briton whose noisy sex sessions were officially branded anti-social behaviour is liable to find herself behind bars if she fails to stop excessively loud lovemaking, a court has ruled. Caroline Cartwright has been given an eight-week prison term suspended for 12 months -- meaning if she engages in over-noisy coupling again in the next year she will immediately be jailed.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100122/oddities/britain_court_sex_offbeat

Man playing 'GTA' arrested for grand theft auto
Sheriff's deputies in central Florida found a suspected car thief playing the "Grand Theft Auto" video game, and they later charged him with just that. Polk County deputies investigating the theft of a 1998 Dodge Durango arrested 30-year-old Michael Ray Ekes on Thursday. They found the Sports Utility Vehicle outside a Haines City home. Ekes was inside in the house, playing the popular video game.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/22/12577811-ap.html

Alaska man jailed for throwing taco
An Alaska man who hit a Taco Bell manager in the face with a double-decker taco has been sentenced to one day in jail and one year probation. The 31-year-old says he threw the taco because it contained spit after he went through the drive-thru twice because the restaurant messed up his order. He claims the manager accused him of lying to get free food. Strickland is barred from Taco Bell during his year of probation.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/21/12558556-ap.html

British cops used riot shields as sleds
Some British bobbies have been reprimanded after they used their riot shields as makeshift sleds during the country's cold snap.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/14/12465836-ap.html

3 - Politics, Law, and Governance

Fatwa issued against perms in Indonesia
To straighten or not to straighten? Women’s hair styles have become a hot topic for Indonesia’s Muslims after calls from some Islamic clerics to have the procedure banned on the grounds it invites moral danger.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/21/12556881-reuters.html

S.Korea orders lights out to boost birthrate
South Korea's health ministry, which is charged with boosting the nation's low birthrate, is turning off the lights in its offices once a month to encourage staff to go home early and make more babies.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100120/ts_afp/lifestyleskoreapopulationageingoffbeat_20100120171429

Loser claims he was attacked with negative energy
In the latest bizarre claim to come out of Romania's presidential race last year, the loser and his wife have claimed he was subject to attacks of negative energy by aides of President Traian Basescu during a crucial debate.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/18/12508516-ap.html

4 - And Now for Something Completely Different

'Cougars' not welcome on cruise line
Carnival Cruise Lines won’t be sailing anymore with a boatload of “cougars” and their willing prey. The Miami-based company has turned down a request from a singles travel group to book another cruise with the cougar theme. The term refers to older women who date younger men. The singles group says the ban is unfounded. They point to their first cruise on Carnival’s Elation in December that drew about 300 women and the men they call “cubs.”
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/01/12/12431976-ap.html

Impromptu billboard porn film stops traffic
An enormous television screen showing a pornographic film caused a midnight traffic jam in central Moscow as stunned motorists slammed on the brakes to gawk at the writhing naked bodies. The owner of the advertising screen, which sits atop a main road about two km (1.2 miles) south of the Kremlin, told the state-run RIA news agency that hackers had broken into the screen's computer system and turned on the porn.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60E3ZN20100115