The True Stella Awards: Previous IssueThis page shows the issue previous to the most recent. It's intended as a way for subscribers to review the last issue and its case(s) for context on the Comments and Letters section. The most recent issue is here: Most Recent Stella Award.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Randy Cassingham's True Stella Awards for 13 August 2008 ---------------------= http://www.StellaAwards.com =--------------------- WE'RE BAAACKKKK! See below for more on our hiatus. But first, let's get right to the (gulp!) January case briefs. HOUDINI WANNABE Scott Anthony Gomez Jr, 22, was an inmate at the Pueblo County, Colo., jail. He escaped from his cell, made it to the roof ...and fell 40 feet while trying to climb down the outside wall. It was his second escape, but this one cost the county $64,000 to treat the injuries Gomez caused himself. When the county asked him to pay for the medical treatment, Gomez replied by suing in federal court in Denver. The basis? "Defendants ... did next to nothing to ensure that the jail was secure and the plaintiff could not escape," the suit says, and he says he had warned jailers that "there were many ways to get out of the facility." That's right: it was the jail's fault he escaped, because it was too easy. And therefore any injuries he sustained should be paid for by the county. Surely a bit of "pain and suffering" would be welcome too -- the suit doesn't specify the monetary damages he wants. Gomez's attorney had no comment, but Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor did: he says the suit "doesn't pass the straight-face test." The county has spent $1.2 million for security improvements, and there have been no more escapes -- by Gomez or anyone else. STATUS: Apparently still pending. SOURCE: "Prisoner's Lawsuit Says it Was Too Easy to Escape", Los Angeles Times, 13 January 2008 http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?101 -v- JUMP SUITS ARE ALL THE FASHION Jeb Corliss, 31, was grabbed just as he tried to jump off New York's Empire State Building in 2006. He wasn't suicidal: he had a parachute. In addition to being charged with reckless endangerment with "depraved indifference to life" (which made it a felony), the Empire State Building Company sued him for $12 million for endangering bystanders and, I would assume, for exposing them to liability (the Company said it wanted to discourage others from trying a similar stunt). They also accused Corliss of having financial motivations. That's not Stella Awards-worthy, though; this is: in January Corliss counter-sued the Empire State Building Company in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, charging that restraining him from jumping was "unlawful imprisonment," which caused him "emotional distress" as well as "adrenal fatigue" ("very similar to battle fatigue syndrome," he said), which led to loss of income. For all of that, he demands $30 million. Meanwhile, his felony charge was thrown out by a judge, but an appeals court reinstated the reckless endangerment charge as a misdemeanor, ruling the "depraved indifference to life" bit was overdone, but certainly jumping off a building could endanger others. "No one was in any danger of being injured except me," Corliss complains. STATUS: Apparently still pending. SOURCES: 1) "Would-Be Jumper Sues Empire State Building", New York Times, 15 January 2008 http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?102 2) "Bid to Jump Off 86th Floor Was Illegal, Court Rules", New York Times, 5 March 2008. (This one's particularly interesting, even amusing.) http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?103 ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- As Seen in Newsweek, New York Times, USA Today, and More: Environmentally Friendly Hotels helps you find hotels, inns and other lodging that try to step more carefully on the earth. NEW: You can click to *reserve* hundreds of them, too! Search for lodging that meets YOUR green criteria at http://www.EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- COMMENTS AND LETTERS by Randy Cassingham, Publisher We're back. I was finding it extremely daunting to do my characteristic lengthy-yet-entertaining case write-ups; I'm just too busy with my Day Job anymore to do it. Those who have been paying close attention know I brought in a couple of young attorneys to help with the cases, but that didn't work either: while their work was great, they're finding themselves too busy, and we were running into conflict trouble: their firms wanted to ensure the parties involved were not clients, or potential clients -- not just of the attorneys doing the work, but of the firm at large. I can certainly understand that, but vetting each potential case was clearly a burden, so as potential cases continued to mount up, I decided I needed a Plan B. And that was to cut WAY back on the work. After all, the original fake "Stella Awards" cases -- http://www.StellaAwards.com/bogus.html -- are just short paragraphs. While reality demands a BIT more explanation (as well as links to details at the source!), I know I can get points across in a paragraph too. After all, that's what I do at my Day Job! (Which is, for you newcomers, the weekly weird-but-true news feature "This is True". See http://www.thisistrue.com for info and free subscriptions.) So that's my plan. I'm sure I won't be running issues weekly, but this issue only covers the "best" of what I found back in January; I still have plenty of catching up to do. One other gambit I tried: seeing if I could find another objective organization to take the newsletter over. No one viable came forward. Meanwhile, reader Kevin in West Virginia, an attorney, didn't like the idea at all. He wrote: "I shuddered when I saw you are proposing to turn the True Stella Awards over to another organization. It seems a certainty that no matter how hard you try to screen the buyer, that the new True Stella Awards will be taken over by one of the myriad special interest groups supposedly devoted to 'justice' in the legal system who are, in fact, truly devoted to keeping the common people out of the court system in favor business and/or governmental interests. Those types of groups would certainly never highlight cases like the second runner up for the 2007 award, or the SLAPP lawsuit you covered in a previous issue. I truly fear that if the TSAs are turned over to another party that it will simply become another source of propaganda for those in our society who have no true concern about fairness in the legal system, but are concerned only with their own agendas. Although I certainly have not always agreed with you, I do believe that you have strived for fairness in the coverage of the legal system, and that the TSAs have played a role as a voice of reason in a debate that is generally far from reasonable. I hope you'll reconsider." See? I told you that not all lawyers are bad! But he's probably right: no one would go to all this work without having an agenda. (Mine, as I've always said, is to drive discussion toward working out a *comprehensive* solution to a societal problem, which I discussed quite thoroughly in my book. The various "band-aids" suggested by self-interested "tort reform" groups would probably cause more harm than good.) And no, I don't expect anyone to agree with me all the time. That's not my goal; disgusting you all with case after case after case (and all TRUE cases), so that *you* help push for reform? Yep: that's my goal. Piece of cake! My book: http://www.StellaAwards.com/book.html About TSA: http://www.StellaAwards.com/aboutus.html Submit cases: http://www.StellaAwards.com/submit.html Sponsor an Issue: http://www.StellaAwards.com/ads.html -v- TO SUBSCRIBE and receive the TRUE Stella Awards by e-mail for FREE, see http://www.StellaAwards.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE, see the last line of this message. YOUR COMMENTS are welcome -- http://www.StellaAwards.com/contact.html Please include your first name, location and profession. Due to volume we cannot reply to most mail, and NEVER provide legal advice. If you have legal questions, contact an attorney. TO SUBMIT A CASE *please* do NOT e-mail us. Instead, please use the form on our site at http://www.StellaAwards.com/submit.html SOURCE REFERENCES are kept up-to-date on our server as possible; the URLs given should work as long as the articles are available online. Some sites may require registration to view articles. STELLA AWARDS is a project of "This is True" -- http://www.thisistrue.com -- and is published by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA. Copyright 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. ALL broadcast, publication, retransmission to the WWW, e-mail lists, or paper, or copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is PROHIBITED without PRIOR written permission. However, permission is granted to circulate this publication via MANUAL forwarding by e-mail to friends PROVIDING THAT the text is forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the title line on top through the end of this paragraph, and NO FEE is charged. We REQUEST that you forward no more than three copies to any one person -- after that, they should get their own subscription. Stella Awards is a trademark and "This is True" is a registered trademark of THISisTRUE.Inc. Distribution sponsored by Lyris Technologies, Inc. <http://www.lyris.com>
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