Misconduct Cases for TSA at Airports - 9600 Cases in Just 2 Years

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Transportation Security Administration officers were cited in more than 9,600 cases of misconduct from 2010 to 2013, and complaints against the agency rose by 26 percent in the last three years.

A new government report reinforces TSA’s reputation of misbehavior that air passengers have long complained about. The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday released its findings, which highlight cases in which TSA officers have stolen money from luggage, accepted bribes from drug dealers, and slept on the job.

The report cites a 26 percent increase in misconduct among TSA employees since 2010, and references the nature of the grievances against them.

Between 2010 and 2012, there were 2,000 reported cases of TSA employees who were sleeping on the job, not following procedures or allowing family members to bypass security checkpoints. There were 3,000 cases of TSA agents showing up late, not showing up at all, or leaving the job without approval.

The report references a specific case in which a TSA employee left an assigned checkpoint to help a relative carry her bag past the screening area. The agency later discovered that the bag contained “numerous prohibited items.”

There were 56 cases of reported theft during the three-year span, involving both cash and electronics. In one case, two former TSA employees admitted to stealing $40,000 from a bag at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Using an x-ray machine, the screeners discovered a wad of cash totaling $170,000, and removed some of the money. They were later arrested.

“[Stealing] was so easy,” Pythias Brown, a former TSA officer who stole more than $800,000 worth of goods, told ABC News last year, describing the agency’s culture of theft. “I walked right out of the checkpoint with a Nintendo Wii in my hand. Nobody said a word.”

Two subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on Wednesday to question TSA officials about the agency’s response to misbehavior. TSA Deputy Administrator John W. Halinski told the joint committees that employees are punished for their delinquencies.

“If they’re stealing, they’re doing drugs or breaching the security system intentionally and I can prove it, they’re out,” he said. But the GAO findings show that this is rarely the case.

The report notes that very few cases of misconduct were punished, and only 50 percent of the workers accused of sleeping on the job were reprimanded. Out of the total number of cases that resulted in penalties, 47 percent resulted in a letter of reprimand, 31 percent resulted in suspensions, and only 17 percent resulted in the employee’s termination from the agency. The agency’s lack of response to misbehavior is a cause for concern, but Halinski claims that letters of reprimand are more serious than they might appear. He said the letters can prevent employees from receiving bonuses or promotions, and haunt them throughout their careers.

“It’s a serious thing,” he said. But aviation security expert Jeff Price told ABC News that he is not convinced that any of the TSA’s penalties are helping to stop employees from misbehaving. In 2010, there were 2,691 reported cases of misconduct. In 2010, there were 3,408 – a 26 percent increase.

Read More...   http://rt.com/usa/tsa-misconduct-increase-three-years-866/

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George Zimmerman, Judge has 2 Issues, Zimmerman is suing NBC News, Bodyguards are Suing Him and Possibly More Lawsuits

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

 

Moments after the six-member jury found that Zimmerman had not committed a crime when he killed Trayvon Martin, Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson told the former neighborhood watch volunteer, "You have no further business with the court."

But Nelson has two issues yet to decide: how long to keep juror names secret and whether to fine prosecutors for behavior that defense attorneys say was unethical. Two civil suits are also pending.

The identities of the six women who served as Zimmerman's jury are a secret because of an order by the judge. How long they will remain so is an open question.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara initially asked that their names be kept under seal permanently, but after more than a dozen media companies objected, Nelson rejected that request.

She signed an order ruling that their names would remain secret during the trial.

O'Mara asked that that be extended for six months. "This should be a sufficient amount of time for any community passions to cool, should an acquittal occur," he wrote in a motion filed June 25, after the jury was sworn in and had begun hearing evidence.

An allegation that prosecutors failed to give defense attorneys damaging evidence from Martin's cellphone and a resulting debate over whether the prosecutors should be sanctioned provided some riveting moments just before the trial began.

Defense attorney Don West was on the witness stand June 6 testifying about what happened and was being cross-examined by Assistant State Atty. Bernie de la Rionda, the lawyer West accused of malfeasance.

"We caught you hiding the information and confronted you about it, and you never gave it to us," West said.

Moments later, when O'Mara tried to call De la Rionda to the witness stand, the prosecutor refused.

O'Mara then suggested prosecutors may have committed "direct criminal contempt," prompting the judge to halt the hearing and say she would take it up after the trial.

She is expected to set a hearing soon.

With the trial over, many who follow the case are speculating about lawsuits yet to be filed: Will Martin's parents sue Zimmerman? Will Zimmerman seek damages?

Two suits are already pending. In one, Zimmerman is suing NBC News, alleging defamation.

He accuses the organization of splicing together two separate portions of his call to police the night of the shooting to make it seem as if he had, unprompted, blurted out that Martin was black. In reality, Zimmerman was answering a question from the dispatcher.

The suit also accuses the network of falsely reporting that during the call, Zimmerman used a racial epithet.

"Defendants pounced on the Zimmerman/Martin matter because they knew this tragedy could be, with proper sensationalizing and manipulation, a racial powder keg that would result in months, if not years, of topics for their failing news programs," the suit says.

NBC said in a court filing that there was no basis for the suit and that it had "fairly and accurately reported about a news event that has captivated the nation."

Read More... http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-zimmerman-legal-20130722,0,1535050.story

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Disney and Publix Want to Cut Lawsuit - Millions on Payouts

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Millions of dollars are at stake. Publix Super Markets and Walt Disney World — are spearheading an effort to cut the size of civil-lawsuit awards, which could lead to enormous savings for the frequently sued companies through smaller jury verdicts and pretrial settlements.

Their goal is to persuade state lawmakers to rewrite the way medical damages are determined if a business is found responsible for an accident, whether a customer slips in the aisle of a grocery store or a tourist is hurt aboard a theme-park ride.

Records show that Publix alone spent more than $37 million last year defending itself against or settling civil lawsuits, with about 80 percent of those costs incurred in Florida. Other documents show the Lakeland-based grocery chain expects it could save at least $1 million a year, and potentially much more, if lawmakers enacted its proposed changes.

Businesses lobbyists argue that the current system has been manipulated by shrewd trial lawyers and by complicit doctors who exaggerate the cost of medical services and perform more work than is necessary on accident victims — which then encourages juries to award much larger amounts in damages.

Read More... http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-07-10/business/os-disney-publix-lobby-for-lawsuit-changes-20130710_1_accident-victims-walt-disney-world-jury

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More Lawsuit's for New Legal Front Against Swine ISO, Having Farmers Kill their Animals

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Chippewa farmer sues DNR in federal court.

For over a year now, four different lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Invasive Species Order on swine have been making their way through Michigan county courts. Recently a fifth lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan challenging the swine ISO on grounds that an 1842 Treaty between the Lake Superior Chippewa Indian Tribe and the United States of America controls over any Michigan laws. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) is serving as custodian of the funding provided for the lawsuit.

The plaintiff in the case, FTCLDF member Brenda Turunen, is a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), a federally recognized tribe located in the Upper Peninsula. Turunen, along with her husband Roger (who is a plaintiff in one of the four state court lawsuits challenging the ISO), raises heritage breed hogs in Baraga County on land that is adjacent to the KBIC reservation. Turunen’s complaint states, “KBIC is the modern day successor in interest of the L’Anse and Ontonagon Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.…Both the L’Anse and Ontonagon Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians were signatories to the 1842 Treaty.”

The 1842 Treaty ceded portions of the Western Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin to the United States; in exchange, the treaty reserved to the Indian signatories the right to hunt in the territory ceded to the U.S. along with the other usual privileges of occupancy.” Turunen’s complaint argues that the historical record shows the phrase, “the other usual privilege of occupancy,” includes the right to commercially farm land within the Ceded Territory. The complaint points out that the policy of the United States at the time of the 1842 Treaty was to “encourage commercial farming, including animal husbandry activities,” among American Indians and that “subsequent to the negotiation and signing of the 1842 Treaty, the United States provided pigs and other domestic animals to KBIC’s predecessors in interest.”

In addition to Keith Creagh, the Director of the Michigan DNR, the suit also names Jamie Clober Adams, the Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) as a defendant. The complaint notes, among other things, that MDARD has attempted to interfere with plaintiff’s business “by arbitrarily disapproving certificates of veterinary inspection issued by her veterinarian for animal shipped” to markets in New York and Pennsylvania and “by engaging in a pattern of harassment targeted at plaintiff’s veterinarian in order to discourage him from working go for Plaintiff.”

Like the lawsuits challenging the ISO in the state courts, the main thrust of Turunen’s complaint against DNR centers on the department’s Declaratory Ruling of December 2011 in which DNR disclosed it would determine whether a hog was prohibited based on its physical characteristics, not on whether it was actually feral; according to the declaratory ruling, a pig with a curly tail can be prohibited as can a pig with a straight tail. The complaint notes that in 2006 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Invasive Species Advisory Council approved an “Invasive Species Definition Clarification and Guidance White Paper”. The White Paper states,

             It is also essential to recognize that invasive species are not those under human control or domestication; that is, invasive species are not those that humans depend upon for economic security, maintaining a desirable quality of life, or survival.

In an April press release announcing her lawsuit, Turunen said,

                      I have always believed that every American has the right to farm, a right that should be protected and promoted by the government. It is disturbing to watch these state agencies attack farmers, trying to make them into criminals. I feel sorry for the farmers of Michigan who have to deal with such agencies and I thank God that my right to farm is protected by the 1842 Treaty.

Baraga attorney Joseph O’Leary is representing Turunen in the lawsuit. The Michigan state Attorney General’s office has filed an answer to the complaint asking the court to dismiss the case; Turunen has filed a response opposing the state’s motion.

The swine ISO is an issue that will not go away for DNR; more people are realizing it is a threat to genetic diversity, property rights, the ability of small farmers to make a living and consumer choice. The opposition to the order will only increase as the court challenges to the ISO progress.

The plaintiffs in the other cases are heritage hog farmer and FTCLDF member Mark Baker, game preserve operator Greg Johnson, pet hog owner Matt Tingstad and heritage breed hog farmer Roger Turunen.

Source.... http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=7750

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Carnival Cruise Ship Hit With Lawsuits Over 'Floating Hell'

                                 Not told very much from Cruiseline, people start to spell out Help

Living conditions on the Carnival Cruise Ship was like a Third World Country, Sewage was seeping down the walls from burst plumbing pipes, carpets were wet with urine, stomach virus from drinking bad water, Fights, cells phones stolen, hoarding food,  insulin in three days and medics wouldn't go to rooms for disablity passagers, many had nightmares about a Titanic happening.

 With many more to come the first lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines has been filed and it is expected to be the beginning of a wave of lawsuits against the ship's owners.

Cassie Terry, 25, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit today in Miami federal court, calling the disabled Triumph cruise ship "a floating hell."

"Plaintiff was forced to endure unbearable and horrendous odors on the filthy and disabled vessel, and wade through human feces in order to reach food lines where the wait was counted in hours, only to receive rations of spoiled food," according to the lawsuit, obtained by ABCNews.com. "Plaintiff was forced to subsist for days in a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell."

Terry's attorney Brent Allison told ABCNews.com that Terry knew she wanted to sue before she even got off the boat. When she was able to reach her husband, she told her husband and he contacted the attorneys.

Allison said Terry is thankful to be home with her husband, but is not feeling well and is going to a doctor.

"She's nauseated and actually has a fever," Allison said.

Terry is suing for breach of maritime contract, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and fraud as a result of the "unseaworthy, unsafe, unsanitary, and generally despicable conditions" on the crippled cruise ship.

"Plaintiff feared for her life and safety, under constant threat of contracting serious illness by the raw sewage filling the vessel, and suffering actual or some bodily injury," the lawsuit says.

Despite having their feet back on solid ground and making their way home, many passengers from the cruise ship are still fuming over their five days of squalor on the stricken ship and the cruise ship company is likely to be hit with a wave of lawsuits.

"I think people are going to file suits and rightly so," maritime trial attorney John Hickey told ABCNews.com. "I think, frankly, that the conduct of Carnival has been outrageous from the get-go."

Hickey, a Miami-based attorney, said his firm has already received "quite a few" inquiries from passengers who just got off the ship early this morning.

"What you have here is a) negligence on the part of Carnival and b) you have them, the passengers, being exposed to the risk of actual physical injury," Hickey said.

One of the passengers already thinking about legal action is Tammy Hilley, a mother of two, who was on a girl's getaway with her two friends when a fire in the ship's engine room disabled the vessel's propulsion system and knocked out most of its power.

"You talk about the emotional trauma and just last night, feeling what we went through last night while we were on land with our families and our insides just trembling," she said. "I don't think it begins to even say what is needed here."

In addition to the money, passengers will receive a full refund for the cruise, transportation expenses and vouchers for another cruise.

"We made our own nest [on deck] because we were just too terrified to go inside because of the smells and the germs, so we just banded together and made our own little nest and just survived," Hilley's friend Ann Barlow said.

Her friend Carolyn Klam said she got a stomach virus from drinking bad water once the power went out and friend Tammy Hilley said her cell phone was stolen this morning as the boat came into port.

"I think going back to our room was kind of traumatic and seeing that from day one we had no home, we were homeless," Hilley said. "We would go downstairs below deck and your feet could feel the sludge that you were walking through. The smells and the liquids draining from the ceiling and the stories of people sleeping in the hallways and the sanitary bags in the hallway, that was traumatic to just watch it start piling up."

"My mother is a diabetic, and they would not even come to the room because she cannot walk the stairs to help her with insulin. She hasn't had insulin in three days," Dorsett said.

After power went out, passengers texted ABC News that sewage was seeping down the walls from burst plumbing pipes, carpets were wet with urine, and food was in short supply. Reports surfaced of elderly passengers running out of critical heart medicine and others on board squabbling over scarce food.

"It's degrading. Demoralizing, and then they want to insult us by giving us $500," Veronica Arriaga said after disembarking the ship.

Videos and read more... http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/carnival-cruise-triumph-passengers-return-home/story?id=18509079