The battle over the highly controversial topic of fracking — a mining technique that has gained popular use as a method of extracting natural gas from the earth — continues as New York state’s highest court has ruled that towns can use zoning laws to effectively ban the practice. [More]
lawsuits
SCOTUS: Google Must Face Lawsuit That Its Street View Data Collection Invaded Consumers’ Privacy
By 6.30.14
The Supreme Court was busy on Monday, not only did it make a ruling in the long-awaited Hobby Lobby case, but it also declared that Google must face a lawsuit over privacy invasions that occurred while gathering Street View data. [More]
Lawsuit: Former Benjamin Moore Worker Claims Certain Paint Names Are “Racially Offensive”
By 6.30.14
While in some cases it might be pretty cool to have a paint color named after you, an African-American former worker for Benjamin Moore claims in a new lawsuit that the company fired him after he complained about paint colors that seemed to be named after him. [More]
Broadcasters Using Aereo Ruling To Try To Shut Down Dish’s Streaming Service
By 6.30.14
The fallout from last week’s Supreme Court ruling against streaming video startup Aereo continues, with broadcasters arguing that the SCOTUS decision bolsters their legal efforts to shut down Dish Network’s Dish Anywhere service. [More]
Porn Copyright Trolls Trying To Use “Six Strikes” Warning System To ID Pirates
By 6.27.14
After years of outrageous lawsuits with 6- and 7- figure penalties thrown at people who illegally shared some music or movies online, the cable industry’s Copyright Alert System (better known as “Six Strikes”) was supposed to represent a happy middle ground, where Internet Service Providers sternly warn alleged violators that they’re onto your file-sharing ways and could you please stop so this doesn’t have to go to court? But folks who make a lot of money off of the threat of copyright lawsuits are hoping to use Six Strikes info to identify pirates. [More]
KlearGear.com Ordered To Pay $306K To Couple Who Wrote Negative Review
By 6.26.14
The saga of the harmless little negative online review that resulted in a $3,500 “Non-Disparagement Fee” continues, with a Utah court ordering the owners of KlearGear.com to pay damages of $306,750 to the couple who wrote that review. But whether the company will ever pay up is another story. [More]
Faygo Founder’s Grandson Claims Soda Company Fired Him Because Of His Age
By 6.24.14
It’s not all in the family anymore at Detroit’s Faygo soda company, which has been in business for more than 100 years: One of the founders’ grandsons says he was fired from his job as director of marketing at the bottling plant, because at 68 he was over the hill. He’s claiming in a lawsuit that Fagyo discriminated against him because of his age. [More]
Court Won’t Let Viacom Stop Cablevision’s Anti-Bundling Lawsuit
By 6.23.14
Sick of being forced to accept Viacom’s massive bundle of barely watched cable channels — Palladia and MTV Hits, anyone? — just to get the handful that its subscribers want to watch (MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon), New York-based Cablevision sued Viacom in early 2013, alleging the broadcaster was violating federal antitrust laws. Viacom has since tried to have the case dismissed, but a U.S. District Court has ruled that the case can move forward. [More]
Man Sues CVS Claiming Prescription Mix-Up Made Him Go Blind In One Eye
By 6.20.14
Taking the wrong prescription can have devastating consequences. Just ask a Houston man who alleges a mistake at the pharmacy counter made him blind in one eye. [More]
Kohl’s Shopper Sues Store For Bugging Her About $20 Debt
By 6.19.14
While most of the complaints we hear about debt collection involve consumers who don’t owe the money they are being hassled to pay. But what often goes undiscussed is the fact that the anti-harassment rules still apply to collectors regardless of whether or not they are trying to collect a bona fide debt. [More]
Suit Seeks $10 Billion Compensation For GM Vehicle Owners Over Brand Damage
By 6.18.14
If you’re keeping a running tally of the General Motors ignition switch defect lawsuits, you can add one more. The company faces a new lawsuit seeking compensation – in the tune of more than $10 billion – for owners of who have lost resale value on their GM vehicles. [More]
No, A Supreme Court Victory By Aereo Would Not Crush The NFL
By 6.18.14
The Supreme Court could issue a ruling in the dispute between the broadcast networks and startup streaming service Aereo as early as tomorrow (though it could also not come down for quite some time). And some folks are claiming that a victory by Aereo in the case would be devastating to the NFL. These people are very, very wrong. [More]
Starbucks Can’t Fire Pro-Union Worker For Cursing At Manager
By 6.18.14
When is it okay to for a Starbucks employee to use profanity within earshot of customers? You might say never, but a National Labor Relations Board has ruled that the coffee colossus was in the wrong for firing a worker for dropping some R-rated words when involved in pro-union protest. [More]
LinkedIn Has To Face User Lawsuit Over E-Mail Privacy Violations, Judge Rules
By 6.13.14
We’ve all been there: somebody you knew like eight years ago joins LinkedIn, and the site asks you to go add them as a contact. You ignore the e-mail, because hey, you don’t even remember Bob that well, but LinkedIn doesn’t let it go. It asks you again and again to go add Bob to your network. And by the third message you might well be thinking, “Bob! Stop it! I never want to hear from you again! Go away!” Well, now Bob — and all the real, actual people just like him — can sue LinkedIn about that, a court has ruled. [More]
Supermarket Sued For Selling Inedible Bull Penis For Human Consumption
By 6.13.14
While bull penis, or pizzle, is often sold as something for dogs to gnaw on, and it can be — and sometimes is — eaten by humans, it’s not cool to take something out of a package that’s labeled as unfit for human consumption and then sell it to people. [More]
Porn Company Labels Anti-Troll Blog A “Fanatical Internet Hate Group”
By 6.13.14
The nation’s largest source of “pay us or we’ll sue and tell everyone about the porn we say you downloaded” legal threats doesn’t like being talked about on a website for those opposed to so-called copyright trolls, and has gone so far as to describe that site’s users as a “fanatical Internet hate group.” [More]
Victims Of Saturn Ion Crash Accuse GM Of Letting Driver Plead Guilty To Accident She Didn’t Cause
By 6.10.14
The driver of a Saturn Ion who pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide, and the family of her boyfriend who was killed in the 2004 crash, have sued General Motors in federal court, alleging the car maker knew of the ignition problem that caused the crash but sat and watched while the driver was prosecuted. [More]
