National Roundup

New York
Lawyer: LaBelle settles suit over NYC lobby run-in
NEW YORK (AP) — R&B diva Patti LaBelle has agreed to pay $100,000 to a Manhattan woman who accused her of hurling curses and water at her and her 18-month-old daughter during a dust-up over parenting in an apartment building lobby.
Roseanna Monk and her husband, Kevin, filed a lawsuit against LaBelle last year.
The couple lives in a Manhattan building where the Grammy Award-winning singer stayed while appearing in the Broadway musical “Fela!”
The couple’s lawyer, Sam Davis, tells the New York Post LaBelle settled the case even before being deposed. The Monks will donate the money to a children’s cancer charity.
LaBelle’s publicist declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, LaBelle chastised Roseanna Monk, threw a bottle of water and launched into an obscenity-filled tirade during the Nov. 11, 2010 argument.

Minnesota
3M, Avery: We’ll try to address antitrust issues
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Office products makers 3M Co. and Avery Dennison Corp. said they have not cancelled the agreement for 3M to acquire Avery Dennison’s office and consumer products operations and will work to address federal antitrust concerns and seal a deal.
The companies issued a statement late Tuesday in response to a Justice Department release saying the companies had dropped the proposed acquisition. They said they have withdrawn their application for antitrust clearance to work on addressing antitrust worries.
The proposed deal would have given 3M, maker of Post-It sticky notes, more than 80 percent of the U.S. business in both labels and sticky notes. The Justice Department had threatened to sue to halt the acquisition.
The government said the proposed acquisition, which includes Avery’s label business, would have substantially lessened competition in the sale of labels and sticky notes, resulting in higher prices and reduced innovation.
The Justice Department’s investigation found that 3M, based in St. Paul, Minn., and Avery, based in Pasadena, Calif., have dominated those areas of the office products business for many years — Avery in labels and 3M in sticky notes. But 3M entered the labels market in 2009 and began competing with Avery. Avery responded by selling its own brand of sticky notes.
The companies said in January that 3M would buy the business from Avery for $550 million.

Kansas
Petition filed seeking grand jury for statue
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A group that believes a sculpture of a partially clad woman should be removed from an arboretum in a Kansas City suburb has filed a petition asking a grand jury to determine if the statue violates anti-obscenity laws.
The American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri contends a sculpture, “Accept or Reject,” in the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens violates a state law against promoting obscenity to children. On Tuesday, the group turned in petitions with about 4,700 signatures to Johnson County officials, said Phillip Crosby, director of the group.
The group needed just under 3,700 valid signatures, The Kansas City Star reported.
Mike McLain, Johnson County court administrator, said a copy of the petition will be sent to the Johnson County Election Commission to verify the signatures. If enough signatures are valid, the petition will be returned to the court and assigned to one of the court’s civil judges, who will oversee the grand jury.
Johnson County will have 60 days to empanel the jury after the signatures are verified.
The sculpture, by Yu Chang, is among 11 artworks donated to the arboretum by a group of Chinese artists. The life-size bronze, on display at the arboretum since November 2011, shows a woman wearing an opened blouse, her breasts exposed, taking a picture of herself.
Overland Park officials have said they do not intend to remove or relocate the sculpture from the arboretum. Two signs have been posted near the site telling visitors that “some pieces include a display of the human body.”
“This has been a process to get the city of Overland Park, the council, to listen to the grievances about this sexting statue,” Cosby said. “Fortunately, Kansas does have a tool by which the citizens can have their day in court when those in a position of power become indifferent to the law.”
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said “grand juries are unique in that the presiding juror speaks on behalf of the rest of the jury and controls what evidence they want to hear.” That would include whether the petitioners are allowed to present evidence, The Star reported.

Louisiana
Court reversal in cab co. liability in boy’s death
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A state appeal court has reversed itself, ruling that a Bossier City taxi cab company owner can be held personally responsible for the death of a 12-year-old Stonewall boy allegedly killed by a cab driver.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled 3-2 that there is a legitimate legal question of whether Action Taxi owner David McFarlin can be held liable for hiring a driver whose license showed he was a sex offender, The Times (bit.ly/PI3qAg) reported. The driver is accused of posing in text messages as a girl to lure Justin Bloxom into his cab, then killing him.
During a second hearing on the question, McFarlin’s attorney argued that the circumstances “could not be reasonably foreseen or anticipated.”
But the court disagreed. “In fact, placing a known sex offender in a taxi cab, with unfettered access and control over his passengers who assume they are in a position of safety is akin to placing the proverbial fox in the hen house. The purpose behind the sex offender registration law is to protect the public from repeat offenses,” Judge Larry Lolley, of Monroe, wrote for the majority.
The decision Friday sends the case back to DeSoto District Court Robert Burgess, who had dismissed McFarlin from a lawsuit filed by Justin’s mother. No court date has been set because an appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court is expected.
Justin Bloxom’s body was found March 30, 2010 in woods off U.S. Highway 171 near Stonewall after he had been reported missing from a friend’s house. Brian Horn, 35, of Keachi, is awaiting trial on a charge of capital murder.o