KULIFE
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 17, 1993
5
Lead story
In December, the nation's second patent for an animal was awarded to Ohio University for a mouse that carries a human gene. The mouse is to be used in lab studies. The human gene helps make it resistant to viral infections, which limit the utility of ordinary lab mice.
The litigious society
In October, Katherine Balog. 60, filed a lawsuit in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., against Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party to recover damages for the trauma caused by Clinton's candidacy. The fact that Clinton was then on the verge of becoming president, despite allegations that he was a draft dodger and a communist sympathizer, induced in her serious emotional and mental stress that was certain to create future medical expenses, she said.
William and Tonya Parker filed a $10,000 lawsuit in December
against the Holiday Inn of Midland, Mich., claiming that an employee walked into their room without warning on their wedding night while they were having sex. The couple said they now suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome and that their sex life has become dysfunctional. A Holiday Inn spokesperson said the intrusion was an accident, and the couple should have hung the "do not disturb" sign on their door.
■ In January, the New York Times reported that as many as 10 city prisoners over the past three years have had guns smuggled to them and have shot themselfs so they can file lawsuits against New York City for negligence in allowing guns in the cells. One lawsuit was for $8.5 million.
High school student Leigh Ann Fisher and her parents filed a $4.2 million lawsuit for emotional distress in August after she was replaced as captain of her high school cheerleading squad in
A Montgomery County, Maryland, judge in January warned litigant Michael Sindram that he would face contempt of court charges if he filed any more "frivolous" lawsuits. The Washington Times reported that Sindram had filed at least 350 lawsuits, losing all because of their nuisance value except two that were settled out of court, the judge said. Sindram is 0-for-42 at the U.S. Supreme Court.
■ Schenectady, N.Y., jail inmate Jose Rivera Martinez, 33, filed a $750,000 lawsuit in February against the county jail, alleging that he was permanently disfigured in 1990 by the warts he received from eating jail-issued hot dogs, to which he said he was allergic.
In January, former Northwestern University professor Olan Rand filed an employment discrimination complaint against the University, claiming
he had been wrongly fired the month before. Rand was fired after he pleaded guilty to theft of $33,000. He had continued to collect his mother's social security checks in their joint account for five years after she died in 1981. He claimed that the University should not have discriminated against him, since he suffered from the disability "extreme procrastination behavior."
Ella Bagwell filled a lawsuit against the owners of the Friendly Food Mart near Anderson, S.C., in February, claiming they had failed to pay off on a video poker game in the store. She claimed that the store's clerks, by custom, paid 25 cents for each replay earned on the machine, that she had won 999,999 free games in one day, and that she is entitled to $249,999.75. The store owners say the machine malfunctioned.
According to reports obtained by New York Newsday, New York City paid $30 million last year and has paid $320 million since 1978 in lawsuit damages to people who have tripped on sidewalks that were in disrepair. City law requires property owners, not the city, to maintain the sidewalks, but the city can be sued for failure to enforce the law.
Bentonville, Ark., inmate Ross Chadwell filed a lawsuit against Bentton County in February, claiming that Sheriff Andy Lee violated Chadwell's civil rights. Chadwell had tried to escape after being temporarily made a jail trustee, but was soon captured and punished. Chadwell said Lee acted recklessly by putting Chadwell in a place from which he could attempt to escape
In a 1992 medical journal, two doctors in Bristol, England, reported that a 53-year-old man had arrived at a hospital emergency room, alert and oriented, but with two holes in his skull — the result of a suicide attempt with an electric drill. The doctors' literature search of deliberate self harm by craniocerebral penetration produced reports of four incidents with nails, two with ice picks, five with keys, three with pencils and six with chopsticks.
Creme de la weird
Inexplicable
In February, Anthony Thomas, 23, who was facing a maximum of 12 years in prison for selling cocaine in Lake City, Fla., said he thought a long sentence would help him deal with his drug problem. He called a conference with the judge and requested a sentence of 30 years, which the judge granted.
At a wedding reception in Long Beach, Calif., in February, a man described as about 20 years old and upset about the seating arrangements, shot a 33-year-old man to death.
Life's diminishing value
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