Results tagged “lawsuit”

Guess he wanted to catch up on the Forum Letters! A Florida prisoner filed a handwritten lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Penthouse magazine for not fulfilling his subscription request.

A woman is suing her investment banker husband, alleging assault and battery, emotional distress and false imprisonment that apparently started well before they married. In court papers filed yesterday, Miryam Allam claims husband Jason Meyers, founder of Aspatuck Holdings, repeatedly hit her and forced her to perform sexual acts "she did not want to do."

While the debate rages on over whether it was a moose or a caribou, another new twist has emerged in the case of the tumbling taxidermy that injured a woman at a Lower East Side restaurant in October. 32-year-old Raina Kumra made headlines yesterday when she filed a lawsuit against White Slab Palace, where a moose head crashed down on her during a party. To this day she suffers from chronic neck pain, anxiety, fatigue, dizziness and embarrassment. But now it seems the 150-pound moose head may have been tampered with before it fell!

A Bronx man has filed a lawsuit against the NYPD after an accident with a cop car left him bruised. And scratched! Details are sketchy, but cyclist Michael Molina's lawyer tells the Daily News, "He's doing okay now." The lawsuit accuses officer Patrick McKenna of driving at an unreasonable speed and failing to brake properly before crashing into Molina near the Macombs Dam Bridge on April 25th. The city's law department says they have not yet received the legal papers, but we'll follow up if there's more info and hopefully please God some video of the incident.

What's 14 years of a man's life worth? About $1.25 million, according to a Manhattan federal judge. That's how much David Lemus will receive after being locked up for more than a decade for a crime he didn't commit. Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo were found guilty of a 1990 shooting outside East 14th Street's Palladium nightclub (now an NYU dormitory), but their convictions were overturned in 2005 when evidence linked two other men to the death of bouncer Marcus Peterson. Lemus — who filed a $50 million lawsuit against police and prosecutors — claims that investigators knew as early as 1994 that two other men committed the crime, the Daily News reports. His attorney, Steven Schiesel, told the Post: "No amount of money can fairly compensate Mr. Lemus for spending his youth being shuffled from prison to prison."

Lower East Side restaurant and bar White Slab Palace "had a duty to provide ... an environment free from falling objects," according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court. But the restaurant allegedly failed in the modest task that was its charge, and now 32-year-old Raina Kumra suffers from "chronic neck pain, anxiety, fatigue, dizziness and other serious and severe personal injuries," including "embarrassment." All this pain and humiliation could have been avoided had White Slab Palace just made sure that their giant 150-pound moose head was securely fastened to the wall.

Back in 2002 a troupe of models sued agencies like Wilhelmina and Ford for allegedly fixing prices (details of the lawsuit can be found here) — the settlement was reached in 2005 but has been delayed until now after some disagreements arose concerning how to divvy up the money. In the end, the class-action suit got the models $21 million, with $2 million ordered to go to charities.

If you've ever tried to fight a ticket handed to you by a cop in the subway system, you'll be familiar with the "hearings" held by the NYC Transit Adjudication Bureau (TAB), during which you waste half your day in Brooklyn waiting to plead your case before a bored bureaucrat in a small room with a tape recorder. These typically anticlimactic hearings are closed to the public, unless the accused consents to an observer’s presence. Naturally, the NYCLU opposes these closed doors, because they "deprive the public of information about the fairness of the hearing process and accused transit riders of an understanding of the adjudication process."

As many as 4,500 women who worked as strippers at the Rick's Cabaret on West 33rd Street have been given the green light to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against the club. The lawsuit alleges that Rick's, a publicly traded company comprised of 19 adult nightclubs, paid strippers less than minimum wages for taking off their clothes and even charged them for using the facilities. In a press release titled "XXX-Mas Comes Early for New York Strippers," attorney E. Michelle Drake slammed the club with brio:

Spoiler alert! He loses. So, back to the beginning... a few years ago there was an epic Christie's auction that catered to the world's most crazed fans: Trekkies. Items on the block went for much more than estimated, and the History Channel even streamed the auction action live.

Following the NYPD shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006, the NYCLU filed a Freedom of Information request with the NYPD, asking for the NYPD’s annual statistical reports on police shootings from 1996 through 2006, as well as data about the race of civilians shot at by police. In response, the NYPD released some annual statistical reports, but it denied the NYCLU’s request for full racial data. A lawsuit ensued, and now a judge has ruled that the NYPD can't withhold the data, which will show the racial breakdown of people shot at but not struck by cops.

The owner of Williamsburg's Monkey Town tells us there's "the tiniest pinprick of light under the door" suggesting that he may not have to close down his eclectic restaurant and performance space on January 24th. According to owner Montgomery Knott, his landlords—a group of four artists who own the building—violated an agreement made over the summer, and he's suing them in state Supreme Court for $1.2 million. If his lawyer can persuade a judge that the landlords violated a signed stipulation, Monkey Town's demise could be delayed. But if that happens, Knott will be in a bind because he stopped programming acts after January 24th. And that's where musician Yoko Ono might come in.

Following a lot of noisemaking by artist/activist Robert Lederman after his two recent arrests on the High Line, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe has personally assured him there will be no more trouble. Quite the change of tune considering it had been reported that Benepe personally ordered his arrest earlier this month!

Kerry Sullivan, a longtime Staten Island gadfly who's awaiting a liver transplant, claims that police arrested him outside his home in August as retaliation for his outspoken criticism of Borough President James P. Molinaro. Yesterday the NYCLU filed a federal lawsuit on Sullivan's behalf, naming the City of New York and the two police officers who arrested Sullivan as defendants, and claiming they violated Sullivan’s rights under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendments; the New York State Constitution; and New York common law. Those are a lot of violations! But what's really outrageous is what the cops allegedly told Sullivan during the arrest.

An unidentified male cop in the notorious Brooklyn South Narcotics unit allegedly took personal photos of a female drug suspect during multiple, unauthorized strip searches. Claudia Bova, 23, was arrested in a Coney Island drug sweep in June 2007, and taken to a building in downtown Brooklyn for booking. The officer allegedly told Bova he would have to perform a body search because there were no female officers available, in violation of an NYPD policy prohibiting cross-gender searches. Bova claims he led her to the bathroom and ordered her to lift up her shirt, "shake out her bra" and pull down her pants, according to court papers obtained by the Daily News. But it didn't end there!

After Governor Paterson decided to withhold 10% of payments to schools and municipalities—a move he deemed necessary to keep the state from going "insolvent"—a teachers union and other school officials have sued, accusing him of violating the State Constitution. New York State United Teachers vice president Alan Lubin told the NY Times, "This is a terrible day in New York’s history. ;For this coalition to stand back and watch the governor take the money that was allocated by the State Legislature for schools, for programs, for children, and pull it back, is really a terrible thing to have witnessed."

A Queens woman is suing a Flushing spa for a botched butt job! She claims the procedure given to her at Bellstetika Spa resulted in "disabling injuries," according to the Daily News. The treatment took place in 2007 and was to "augment her unflattering buttocks," but all it resulted in was a malpractice suit. Spa owner Alejandro Moreno, however, says the suit "is crazy," because they don't offer any invasive procedures that could cause injury. He explains, "We have girls who give massages and we give advice about nutrition. But there are no needles, no injections."

Today's frivolous lawsuit that will probably flush away more of your tax dollars in an out of court settlement: A Queens teenager is suing the city because she broke her ankle in a base sliding drill during high school softball practice. Francis Lewis High School sophomore Alina Cerda had to have six screws and a metal plate implanted in her ankle after sliding on a muddy base path during a May practice. You'll never guess who's fault that was!

Yet another employee is suing the New York Post, accusing the editors and reporters at the tabloid of racist and sexual harassment. You'll recall that former editor Sandra Guzman filed a discrimination lawsuit in November, describing the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house run by the crude, misogynistic editor in chief Col Allan. (Among other things, Guzman claims they fired her in retaliation after she complained about a controversial political cartoon.) Weeks later, a black reporter named Austin Fenner filed his own lawsuit expanding on Guzman's allegations, and now another black reporter, Ikimulisa Livingston, has joined his lawsuit. What's new here is that she is actually still employed at the Post, and famous reporter Steve Dunleavy has been targeted for some allegedly racist conduct.

Four waitresses at the super douchey Nolita "hotspot" Cafe Habana are suing the owner for fostering a "sexually charged environment." Known for its celebrity clientele, attractive staff, and Mexican grilled corn, the tiny restaurant has been a favorite of "keeping it real" stars like Josh Hartnett, Serena Williams, Adrien Grenier, and Owen Wilson. In fact, the Marley & Me star is mentioned in the recent lawsuit because one of the waitresses claims she was punished after rejecting his date request.

Five years ago, Liza Minnelli's bodyguard and driver M'Hammed Soumayah sued her for $100 million, claiming that she beat him and forced him to have sex with her. For those of you wondering, Soumayah was paid $283,000 and his lawsuit stated, "Fearing loss of his lucrative job, [Soumayah] tolerated Minnelli's violent outbursts and did not complain about them to her or anyone else." The Cabaret and Arrested Development star had countersued him but now it turns out the two sides have settled just a few days before going to court. (The Post says Soumayah claimed to have "physical evidence of his sexual relationship with Minnelli.")

According to the Post, the family of a 66-year-old Bronx woman fatally struck by an off-duty detective—who was charged with DWI—intends to sue the NYPD and feds for $20 million. The Post reports, "Dusta Juncaj, 66, was struck by off-duty Detective Kevin Spellman as she crossed Kingsbridge Avenue on Oct. 30. Spellman, a veteran detective in a joint NYPD-federal fugitive task force, was driving a Chevrolet leased by the US Marshals Service and had a blood alcohol level of .21 -- more than 2½ times the legal limit -- five hours after the crash, sources said."

The owners and managers of M. Slavin & Sons' fish distribution center in Brownsville have been hit with a federal lawsuit accusing them of subjecting black employees to a torrent of racist, sexual harassment. According to the suit, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the misconduct included "groping their buttocks, putting fish hooks into their buttocks and unnecessarily rubbing their bodies into the employees when passing them by... One owner used the term 'n----r' and another manager made comments such as 'African b-----d' and 'Let me see you run like you are in Africa.'" Oh, and then there were bestiality "jokes."

When the state's highest court ruled in October that the new owners of Stuyvesant Town should not have raised rents beyond certain set levels while also receiving tax breaks from the city for major renovations, other landlords started to sweat. Tishman Speyer, which bought the sprawling housing complex in 2006 but must now pay back millions of dollars in rent rebates, is not the only property owner in the city to raise rents on formerly rent-stabilized units, while also getting a J-51 tax break. Smelling fresh meat sensing injustice, the lawyers have sprung into action!

On Friday, the NY Times reported that the Google engineer struck by a falling tree branch in Central Park was suing the city and Central Park Conservancy for negligence. Now, it turns out the still-hospitalized Sasha Blair-Goldensohn's lawsuit is worth $120 million.

A Queens judge threw out a patient's lawsuit against his doctor for purportedly giving him bad investment advice. John Otto, a former patient of renowned erectile dysfunction expert Dr. Arnold Melman, claimed that the physician abused his power by repeatedly suggesting that Otto put money into his drug development company. Throughout years of treatment of a "highly special nature," Melman allegedly recommended that Otto buy $1 million of shares in Ion Channel Innovations — an investment that Otto claims hasn't paid off, the Daily News reports. According to court documents, the doctor's lawyer says it's too early to expect results. "Dr. Melman is also an investor in Ion Channel, and he, too, has yet to receive a return on his investment," the attorney said. "That is the nature of investing in a startup biotech company."

The 33-year-old who suffered brain and spinal injuries this summer when he was struck by a falling tree limb in Central Park is suing the city and the Central Park Conservancy for negligence.

Before she left West Village restaurant Centro Vinoteca to embrace her new life as a Food Network star, Anne Burrell spent her days toiling in the kitchen, making killer meatball sandwiches, pasta, and offensive insults about the female front-of-house staff, a lawsuit alleges. The suit, filed in March, accuses Burrell of repeatedly harassing employees with offensive slurs, and claims that after they complained to the restaurant's owners, they were terminated. A bartender says Burrell called her a "ho" and told her she had "saggy boobs," while others were constantly called whores by Burrell, who once allegedly told a waitress, "You must be tired today from f--king all night."

After agreeing to settle an explosive $600 million lawsuit filed by five female former employees, Hawaiian Tropic Zone has backed away from a deal to settle out of court for $2 million. It's a surprising move for HTZ, which is famous for its bikini-clad servers; having reopened its midtown location in May, you might think the Riese Organization, HTZ's parent company, would just want this to go away. Each of the women have accused upper management of looking the other way as the former general manager at the midtown location turned the establishment into a "sexual playground" for "boyhood fantasies."

Busta Rhymes has been busted for many things, and often gets of scott free. But not today! The NY Post reports that a Brooklyn judge ordered the rapper to pay $75,000 to a fan, Alex Duncan, that he assaulted at a 2003 concert. Allegedly Duncan wasn't a fan of the rapper at all, but was there to see Fabolous, who canceled. Allegedly when he stood up at the show and Rhymes took notice, Duncan told him he wasn't there to see him, and yadda yadda yadda Busta doused him with water, pelted with water bottles, and had his bodyguard punch him.