When asked by Curry's defense attorney how he recognized Curry from 11 months ago, Smith said it was her glasses and her voice.

Curry later testified that she doesn't wear glasses and produced a driver's license as evidence.

Upset because she felt targeted, Curry said she began to raise her voice as Smith raised his.

Curry said when the other employee placed the drink on the counter, she grasped it, then let go when Smith grabbed it and tried to pull it toward him. He spilled the drink on himself, she said, when she let go of the cup.

"I was very much upset," she said. "He accused me of going to a store in Jantzen Beach and in his words running a scam. I was offended. . . . I don't need to steal for or scam for a $4.20 drink."

Smith called 911 after the incident, claiming that "a customer [just] assaulted me with a hot drink." We'd like to think that Curry would be entitled to a freebie if her iced tea was served scalding hot.

Starbucks' corporate office essentially sided with Curry, saying: "Providing great customer service is part of (the company's) commitment and if a drink isn't perfect, we want customers to let us know and we'll make it right."

Dispute over spilled Starbucks mocha ends up in Portland court [The Oregonian]
(Photo: ka3vo)

James Teegarden Jr., the former vice president of operations at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, explained Tuesday in U.S. District Court how he and others at the company made up much of the content that appeared in Enzyte ads.

He said employees of the Forest Park company created fictitious doctors to endorse the pills, fabricated a customer satisfaction survey and made up numbers to back up claims about Enzyte's effectiveness.

"So all this is a fiction?" Judge S. Arthur Spiegel asked about some of the claims.
"That's correct, your honor," Teegarden said.

When customers ordered a product, the company's goal was to keep charging their credit cards for as long as possible, Teegarden said.

He said first-time customers were automatically enrolled in a "continuity program" that sent Enzyte to their homes every month and charged their credit cards without authorization.

"Without continuity, the company wouldn't exist," Teegarden said. "It was the sole profit of the business."

If customers complained, he said, employees were instructed to "make it as difficult as possible" for them to get their money back. In some cases, Teegarden said, Warshak required customers to produce a notarized statement from a doctor certifying Enzyte did not work.

"He said it was extremely unlikely someone would get anything notarized saying they had a small penis," Teegarden said.

Former exec: 'Enzyte' ads all lies [Cincinnati Enquirer via Fleshbot (NSFW)]

RELATED
"Jury Selection For Enzyte Trial Started Today"

The company, based in Forest Park, is best known for the male enhancement supplement Enzyte and it's spokesperson, "Smiling Bob".

The 84 page indictment accuses the company of lying about the effectiveness of its products and side effects, and well as its money-back guarantee. The company owners are also accused of making millions of dollars by charging customers credit cards without their approval. The indictment claims customer loss tops $100 million dollars.

"Company Behind "Smiling Bob" On Trial" [WKRC-TV Cincinnati]
(Thanks to David!)
(Photo of vengeful lion: Getty)

She writes:

My name is Krystyl. I recently signed up for Sprint, to utilize their wireless broadband card, where I can use the internet on my laptop virtually anywhere where there is a wireless signal. I signed up for the unlimited $59.99 plan, at which I had 30 days to keep or cancel the service. Within the first week of having the service, the card that was sent to me no longer worked. I called to cancel the service, and the gentlemen I spoke with told me that they didnt want to lose me as a customer, so they would drop my service for half the cost and send me a new card. I figured, why not, this is still within my 30 day trial. They sent me a new broadband card, and it the speeds it gave me were in a 14k modem speed, which is about a dial up connection speed or slower these days. I called Sprint for them to tell me to take the card to the store and do an instore return. The nearest store they sent me to that allowed returns was 25 minutes away from where I live. Once I got there, the store told me they could not return the package because the upc code was different than that they carry in the store. The next day I called sprint for them to tell me to give me a run around. After 2 hours on the phone, I finally told them I wanted to cancel the service. At which they did on December 10th.

I checked my mail today to recieve another bill from sprint, for $14,062.27.

If Sprint's customer service representatives say anything short of "Ha! Gotcha! Now let's fix this," then call Sprint's nifty executive customer support hotline for Consumerist readers, at: (703) 433-4401.

Largest Sprint Bill Ever [YouTube]

I have read many comments and articles that I had my hard drive replaced after I learned of my suit. This could not be further from the truth. What most people don't know, if I did have my hard drive replaced after I was served the initial complaint to this suit, that would be considered spoliation of evidence, which is a criminally prosecutable offense. All the following dates, keep in mind so you can see the timeline yourself.

The day MediaSentry (the RIAAs 'investigative' company) said I was caught illegally sharing songs over KaZaa was February 21, 2005. My computer crashed approximately 2 weeks later. The only reason I know why it crashed is this: my boys were playing a video game and in the middle of some epic battle on their game, the computer froze up, then the screen went black, and in my child's frustration, the side of the computer was smacked. After that, the computer would not load and I would receive error messages.

I brought my computer into Best Buy for repairs on March 7, 2005. Remember, I brought it in for repairs under the extended warranty, not to have the hard drive replaced. And if anyone who has used a large chain electronic store to repair their electrical equipment knows, these companies do not replace hard drives on the whim of the customer if they have to pay for the hard drive replacement covered under warranty. They try to do whatever is cheaper for the company, which normally means fixing the issues with the hard drive. With my hard drive, the issues couldn't be fixed so Best Buy, not me but Best Buy, made the decision to replace the hard drive.

The RIAA didn't subpoena my personal information from Charter until late April 2005, almost 2 months AFTER my hard drive was replaced. As with all RIAA subpoenas to ISPs, I was not notified of the court date when the subpoena was issued. I was only notified after Charter Communications was served with the subpoena. This letter came late April 2005, again 2 months AFTER my hard drive was replaced. I didn't officially hear from the RIAA until late August 2005, almost 6 months AFTER my hard drive was replaced. The lawsuit itself wasn't officially started until April 2006, over 1 year AFTER my hard drive was replaced.

As you can see, I did not replace my hard drive to hide any evidence of anything. The replacement wasn't my choice and I would have to be psychic to know 2 months in advance my personal information was going to be subpoenaed and a year later, I would be sued.

Yes, all this information was given to the jury during the trial. The main problem that arose concerning my hard drive was the date I gave my attorney for when the hard drive was replaced. I didn't check the records for Best Buy before I gave my hard drive to Mr. Toder, so when I told him the hard drive had been replaced, the date I gave was January or February of 2004. Obviously, after we received all the information from Best Buy, we saw that the hard drive was replaced in March 2005. We also found out I didn't even own the computer until March 2004, one month after the date I told my attorney.

This story raises some interesting questions about the implications of surrendering broken hard drives to retailers like Best Buy. Interesting questions, and scary ones, too.

Jammie Thomas: her story in her own words [p2pnet](Thanks, David!)

The chairman of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania says, "In many ways, rats and mice get greater protection as research subjects in the United States than do humans."

Animal research centers have to register with the federal government, keep track of subject numbers, have unannounced spot inspections and address problems speedily or risk closing, none of which is true in human research, Mr. Caplan said. Because no one collects the data systematically, there is no way to tell how safe the nation's clinical research is or ever has been.

"Report Assails F.D.A. Oversight of Clinical Trials" [New York Times]
(Photo: Getty)

Nokia, Cingular To Try MasterCard Phones in NYC [Gear Log]
NYC Mobile Trial Sign Up, If You Dare...

As if it weren't enough that they swelled up horribly, tore at their flesh, and had to have their toes amputated, recent tests show they have no detectable T-cells.

Without toes, you can't walk. Without T-cells, the victims are susceptible to a variety of auto-immune diseases where the body attacks itself.

This is the very condition that the drug was designed to treat.

Having paid a nominal sum to the victims, Parexel denies further liability. Some of the patients are suing, but they may not live to see their legal effort's fruition.

Renewed ordeal of the Elephant Men The Sunday Times. (Thanks to Francis!)

Some more details are coming out about the clinical trial, which has put six men into the hospital, two of whom are not expected to recover. Raste Khan, one of the men who received the placebo, has described the experience of watching his peers drop like flies as "like Russian Roulette".

"This one man was yelling 'doctor, my head hurts, my back hurts. I need help, I can't breathe.' He was just shouting and rambling to himself," said Khan, one of two men given a placebo.

"Everyone was continuously vomiting," Khan said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Sky News.

"It was like Russian Roulette — two of us got away and were lucky."

Another person who applied for the clinical trial but did not decide to participate had this to say:

"I went through and read ... the consent form they got me to sign while rushing me. It didn't really explain it fully in there, so when I tried to contact them, there was no answer and no return of my message so I just left it at that and decided not to pursue it."

When we reported on this story yesterday, some of you seemed to think we were insinuating that TeGenero meant for this to happen. Of course they didn't. That doesn't change the fact that this sort of thing should not happen in properly conducted and researched clinical trials. Quotes like the above make it extremely obvious that this was neither. You don't get fucking sloppy with people's lives.

Drug test 'like Russian Roulette' [CNN]
Related: Drug Trial Goes Horribly Wrong

BBC reports, "But relatives are said to be unhappy with the information given from the firm behind the anti-inflammatory drug."

"Ms Marshall [pictured], 35, whose boyfriend is critically ill, said the normally healthy 28-year-old's face was so puffed, he "looks like the Elephant Man".

Soooo, it's an anti-inflammatory drug and his body is badly swollen... that would strike us as humorously ironic if we weren't so busy crying.

"Lawyer Ann Alexander, representing one of the critically ill men, told the BBC the companies had been asked whether any of the animals used to test the drug had died.

"I understand that yesterday, they were told a dog had died during the testing. Today that was denied," she said."

Right, so if a pooch dies during testing, that's usually a pretty good sign that the drug isn't ready for human use.

"A day ago I was talking to him and he was fine and now they are saying he could die at any moment," said Ms. Marshall.

From The Independent:

"One victim was named as trainee plumber Ryan Flanagan, 21, of Highbury, north London. His family were told he could not breathe unaided, and his head and neck had swollen to three times their normal size."

"Raste Khan, one of two men taking a placebo who was unharmed, said his co-subjects "went down like dominoes". He told The Sun: "First they began tearing their shirts off complaining of fever, then some screamed out that their heads felt like they were about to explode. After that they started fainting, vomiting and writhing."

A former student described yesterday how he nearly took part in the Parexel trial but dropped out of it.

But he felt rushed. ''Something told me to be suspicious about it even though I did not know why I should,'' he said. ''It seemed a bit haphazard.'"

Two Drug Trial Men Critically Ill [via Digg]