Law Office of Raymond J. Dague, PLLC

Those red plastic gas cans which you use to bring gasoline home from the gas station to fuel your lawnmower or snow blower will now be tougher to get thanks to lawsuits against the maker of the gas cans.  Blitz U. S.A., which makes 75% of those gas cans sold in America,  closed its doors recently and went out of business in the face of a slew of lawsuits.  The lawsuits have mostly been brought by people who were burned after they stupidly poured gasoline on an open fire.  Most of lawsuits have already been dismissed as frivolous, but the cost to fight the lawsuits has caused insurance increases to the company such that they can’t stay in business.  This could not come at a worse time for the homeowners dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, because portable gas cans are in short supply just when they are needed to fuel cars and portable generators in the disaster areas.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/20/US-Product-Shortages-Gas-Cans-Unavailable-to-Sandy-Efforts-Frivolous-Lawsuits-To-Blame

A lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act by a man who was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a form of  autism, was dismissed by the federal 2^nd Circuit Court in New York City.  He had sued a nursing care facility where he was a volunteer.  The facility barred him from volunteering there because he was following women in the hallways and making inappropriate comments to them.  He claimed in his lawsuit that his behavior was related to his disability, but the court said that even if it was, the nursing care facility could let him go.  His request for the facility to accommodate his malady was basically a request that the facility be more tolerant of his harassing behavior.  The court rejected this argument, and said that an institution does not need to put up with his conduct.

http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/40734d38-e8d5-41eb-b86d-d8dd1666286b/2/doc/11-4366_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/40734d38-e8d5-41eb-b86d-d8dd1666286b/2/hilite/

Students who graduated from law school and can’t find a job are suing their former law schools for fraud.  They are claiming that the law schools falsified their job placement statistics, and lured them to attend their school when they knew that they would have a hard time finding employment afterward. But the law schools are winning these cases, including a recent one in Chicago decided earlier this week.  Across the country there have been about 14 of these lawsuits by former law students, including ones against several New York law schools.  So far all have been dismissed.  Who would hire one of these guys to handle your case?  Anybody, I suppose, who can dream up a frivolous law suit and convince one of these losers to take it on.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202578060103&Judge_rejects_fraud_claims_against_two_law_schools

Soon New York will have enhanced and tougher penalties against family members who commit repeated acts of domestic violence, even if there is no serious physical injury to the victim. On October 25, 2012 a new statute was enacted which creates the “E” felony of Aggravated Family Offense for abusers who commit repeated crimes against family members. Until now much domestic violence has been a violation or a misdemeanor and not a felony unless serious injury resulted. The new statute will up-the-ante to the felony level for those who continually commit lower levels of domestic violence even if there is not serious physical injury. The new law will take effect in 90 days. The statute is a good move, since the terror someone feels from being victimized is often vastly greater than the physical injury which occurs. Once an abuser is convicted for the first time, his second act of domestic violence could lead to four years in state prison under the new law.