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The US Isn’t the only wacky lawsuit country. In China, KFC won a defamation lawsuit filed by an elderly gentleman who accused the fast food chain of damaging his social standing, because he felt their “teadog set meal” implied that he and his grandson had become “dog friends.” [China Daily]
If you like spinach you might not want to read a new report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called “FDA and Fresh Spinach Safety.”
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The TSA is expanding it’s skiing-themed “self-selection” security lanes beyond Denver and into Orlando, Boston, and Spokane [TSA via Gridskipper]
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If you’re on SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) and used Taxcut Online from H&R Block to file for your stimulus payment, it may have told you to print out the wrong form. The right form is 1040A, not 1040EZ.
A Verizon store employee in Monticello New York was charged with criminal possession of a weapon after threatening two customers with a switchblade knife after getting into an argument with them. The disagreement spilled out into the parking lot where the 27-year old employee, Shereem S. Burch, continued to wave his blade at the couple. Most likely they were probably trying to get out of contract without paying termination fee and Shereem decided to take matters into his own hands and exact a little termination fee of his own devising.
THE QUOTE:In a statement, the TSA said that the agency and “Federal Air Marshals Service take this matter seriously and it is receiving immediate attention.”
We recently received our “Economic Stimulus Payment Notice,” and it seems worth far less than the $41.8 million the Treasury spent on printing and mailing. The letter contained no surprises, but did extend the tantalizing possibility that we would receive “a notice and additional information shortly before the payment is made.” Check out the full letter and a handy eligibility chart, after the jump.
The CPSC would like you to know that the Hobby Lobby has a couple easter-themed recalls.
The FTC slammed nuisance advertiser ValueClick with a record-breaking $2.9 million fine for littering the internet with deceptive ads for free iPods, PS3s, and plasma TVs. Instead of providing freebies, ValueClick tricked people into signing up for useless services and then failed to safeguard their personal information.
A California judge has ordered Starbucks to pay its employees more than $100 million in tips and interest that was paid to shift supervisors, says the Associated Press.
Choke back the tears, kids—Verizon, not Google won the majority of the wireless spectrum actioned off by the FCC.
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A 9-page look at how big business has been scoring big wins in the Supreme Court over the past 30 years [NYT].
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The IRS is holding $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds for 1.3 million people who still haven’t filed a 2004 tax return. [IRS]
Josh discovered a mysterious $13 fee on his parents’ phone bill, and as he tracked down the source of the bogus charge, he learned a lot about cramming. The FCC describes it as “the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill” by third party companies, who bank on you being too confused/distracted/annoyed by your hard-to-read bill to notice.
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The FCC banned apartment buildings from signing exclusive deals with phone operators, allowing tenants to exercise consumer choice. [NYT]
Andrew’s wife got mugged, the thief rand up purchases on her credit card, and now CapitalOne has sued them for $1200 and won. How can this be? Andrew writes:
In May of 2005 my wife was mugged at one of the elevated train stations in Chicago. After calling the police and filing a police report, she started calling each credit card company to cancel each account. Except she forgot about one card, her CapitalOne card. A card hardly ever used and only had a $500.00 limit…
GMAC Bank is suing mortgage company HTFC for selling improperly secured loans, which lead to the hilariously blue and aggressive deposition from HTFC CEO Aron Wider. Wider dropped the f-bomb 73 times, frustrating the opposing counsel’s attempts to get him to answer difficult questions like “Where are you currently employed?” Some of the more colorful and creative expletives from the testimony of Mr. Wider, who, according to his company website, serves as company Coprorate Information [sic], CEO / Senior Underwriter, and Radio Engineer, inside…
A PR hack sent us a stupidly long press release a few hours ago about Clear, the company that—for an annual $100 fee—will pre-authorize you with TSA to speed up your passage through security. Clear started operating in select airports over a year ago, and this month will add Reagan National and Dulles International airports to its list. So, is the service worth it? We guess that depends on how much you’re willing to spend to be able to jump ahead of all the poor people waiting in line like the common criminals they surely are. We wanted a slightly more objective way to evaluate it, though, so we started looking around online for first-hand experiences of what exactly happens when you flash your Clear card.
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