Texas: Ex-State Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips sued
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and his wife have been sued over the 2009 death of a teen in a traffic accident.
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges Phillips and his wife, Lyn, let minors drink alcohol at their home.
The Austin American-Statesman reports the suit was filed last week in Bastrop by Cheryl and Bobby King, whose 17-year-old daughter Audrey died in the single-vehicle wreck. They seek unspecified damages.
The lawsuit says the ex-judge’s then-20-year-old son had a party, his parents were home and were aware “that minors were getting drunk in their backyard.”
Attorney Richard Mithoff, representing the Phillips family, denied that the couple served or provided alcohol or allowed anyone to become intoxicated.
Phillips retired from the high court in 2004 and is now in private practice.
Indiana: Archdiocese settles sex abuse lawsuit
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has reached a cash settlement in a man’s lawsuit alleging that a former Catholic priest sexually abused him as a child.
The archdiocese agreed to compensate for medical treatment associated with the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of Harry Monroe and cover the lawsuit’s legal fees. The archdiocese didn’t disclose the payment amount, but attorney Jay Mercer told The Indianapolis Star it was less than the $199,000 paid in May to settle another lawsuit associated with Monroe.
The man’s lawyer, Pat Noaker, said since the man’s case involved memories repressed until 2003 it would’ve been a complex case for a jury. The man said the abuse happened at St. Andrew Parish of Indianapolis in the mid-1970s.
Monroe was removed from ministry in 1984.
Missouri: Discrimination lawsuit at TV station settled
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A gender and age discrimination lawsuit against a Kansas City television station has been settled.
KMBC announced last week that the lawsuit filed by Kelly Eckerman, Peggy Breit and Maria Albisu-Twyman — known on air as Maria Antonia — had reached an amicable settlement. The station said in a statement that the three women will remain at the station, but provided no other details of the settlement.
The Kansas City Star reports that the women sued the station in 2008, alleging a pattern of discrimination and harassment of veteran female reporters.
The lawsuit claimed all three were either pulled from anchor spots or had their schedules changed, partly because they are women older than 40.
Louisiana: Suit alleges recalled meat caused illness
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A 75-year-old Florida man says he was in intensive care for more than a month after eating jellied pork that had been recalled.
The Advocate reports that Gerard Gremillion sued Veron Foods last week in state District Court in Baton Rouge.
Attorney Greg Rozas says Gremillion was hospitalized with listeriosis on May 20, two days after eating some head cheese his son had bought a few days earlier.
Veron Foods recalled a half-million pounds of sausage and head cheese Aug. 14; Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said a sample had tested positive for bacteria that can cause the potentially fatal disease.
Veron Foods general manager Neal Sheets declined comment on the lawsuit. He said Veron passed a state inspection and resumed production this week.
California: 65-year-old sues sheriff after being Tasered
WOODACRE, Calif. (AP) — A 65-year-old man is suing the Marin County Sheriff’s Office after a deputy repeatedly shocked him with a Taser stun gun at his home last year.
A video on the KGO-TV website shows Peter McFarland on his couch ignoring a deputy’s order to put his hands behind his back.
In the video, a deputy says he must place McFarland on a psychiatric hold. When McFarland stands up, he is shot with the Taser.
The two deputies had responded after paramedics treated McFarland after he slipped on steps.
McFarland’s suit accuses the deputies of excessive force.
Sheriff’s officials said they had not seen the suit, but they did issue a written statement saying they were “confident the actions of our deputies will be found to have been both within the law and department policy.”
California: SoCal mosque informant refiles civil rights lawsuit
SANTA ANA, California (AP) — A former FBI informant who infiltrated a Southern California mosque has revised his lawsuit against the U.S. government and a local police department, saying they violated his civil rights and were negligent.
Craig Monteilh filed amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana last week, two days after a federal judge dismissed the remnants of a complaint he filed earlier this year. The personal trainer and convicted felon is seeking $10 million in damages.
Monteilh, 48, helped the FBI build a case against an Afghan-born man who was arrested last year on terrorism-related charges.
But Monteilh grew embittered with the agency when he says they failed to protect him from an arrest on grand theft charges by a detective at the Irvine Police Department. The ex-spy alleges he was arrested for work he was doing for the FBI as part of a drug ring investigation.
Texas: Sierra Club sues coal-fired power plant in Texarkana
TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) — The Sierra Club has filed a federal lawsuit against the owner of an east Texas coal-fired power plant.
The suit filed last week in Texarkana alleges the Martin Lake plant in Rusk County exposes the public to harmful air pollution in violation of the federal Clean Air Act. The club seeks to reduce air pollution from the plant where three electric generating units operate.
Neil Carman of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter says the Martin Lake coal plant is “among the dirtiest in the entire nation and one of the worst polluting coal plants in Texas every year.”
The suit lists as defendants the plant’s owner, Luminant Generation Co., and Energy Future Holdings Corp. Both are based in Dallas.
Luminant spokeswoman Ashley Monts says the Sierra Club’s allegations are without merit and unsupported by the law.
