Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Tony G]

Those of us who represent clients that are seriously injured by the fault of others have to constantly put up with the image created by frivolous lawsuits. If the Judge really has a brain, not only will the case be tossed, but the attorney who brought it will be sanctioned by being heavily fined.

I'm disappointed, but not really surprised, Little League isn't helping the defense

[Tony G]

Some more items from other stories

Elizabeth Lloyd is seeking more than $150,000 in damages to cover medical costs stemming from the incident at a Manchester Little League game two years ago.
Lloyd was sitting at a picnic table near a fenced-in bullpen when she was hit with the ball.
Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher.
The lawsuit alleges Migliaccio?s errant throw was intentional and reckless, ?assaulted and battered? Lloyd and caused ?severe, painful and permanent? injuries.
Matthew?s father, Bob Migliaccio, said they were concerned for Lloyd when it happened. Then his son started receiving threatening and nasty letters, he said.
?The whole thing has almost been surreal,? Migliaccio said. ?It?s absurd to expect every 11-year-old to throw the ball on target.?

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/eliz...#ixzz1yie67MmX

Washington Post
The lawsuit filed April 24 alleges Migliaccio?s errant throw was intentional and reckless, ?assaulted and battered? Lloyd and caused ?severe, painful and permanent? injuries.

A second count alleges Migliaccio?s actions were negligent and careless through ?engaging in inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity? near Lloyd. She continues to suffer pain and anguish, incur medical expenses and has been unable to carry out her usual duties and activities, the lawsuit says....

....Migliaccio said if his son had been horsing around, he would feel differently. But Matthew was doing what his coaches told him to do, he said, and noted Little League players aren?t always accurate in their throws. ?It?s absurd to expect every 11-year-old to throw the ball on target,? Migliaccio said. ?Everyone knows you?ve got to watch out. You assume some risk when you go out to a field. That?s just part of being at a game.?


ABC News

A 45-year-old woman is suing a 13-year-old boy in New Jersey because she believes he intentionally threw a baseball at her face, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Two years ago, Matthew Migliaccio was helping the pitcher of his Little League team in Manchester, N.J., for which he was a catcher, with his bullpen session. When he overthrew the ball, Matthew hit Elizabeth Lloyd in the face, causing multiple fractures.
Lloyd, who was at the game to watch her son, is now seeking $500,000 in damages for permanent injury she has suffered, according to the Asbury Park Press. She believes the teen intentionally hit her.
A court date has not been set yet.
?He throws his best fastball over the bullpen into the picnic area, striking my client in the face,? Riaz A. Mian, Lloyd?s attorney, told the Asbury Park Press. ?Life is now different for my client.?
Matthew, a Yankees fan, insisted it was not intentional.
?I ran over to see if she was all right,? Matthew told the Asbury Park Press. ?She said she was OK. I was just on with warming the pitcher up, and I was not horsing around.?




Apparently the monetary amount has changed?
Forbes
Little League Catcher Sued By Grownup Hit In Face With His Preteen Throw

+ Comment now

Perhaps Elizabeth Lloyd of Manchester, N.J., thinks Matthew Migliaccio is a major-league catcher, rather than a Little League catcher. Otherwise, otherwise how could she think she could get a possible$500,000 out of him over his throw that hit her in the face, and think that he meant to bean her?
According to the Asbury Park Press, Lloyd has sued the 13-year-old Matthew over a 2010 incident in which, at the age of 11, he was warming up one of his pitchers in a fenced-in bullpen area by the third-base line, and overthrew that pitcher, sending the ball over the fence and into the face of Lloyd, sitting five feet outside that area.
At the time, Matthew told the newspaper, he checked to see if Lloyd was OK, and the 45-year-old, there to watch her son play, said he was. As it turned out, Lloyd suffered multiple facial fractures. Lloyd?s lawyer, Riaz Mian, told the Asbury Park Press she needed reconstructive surgery and still suffers from headaches, and the suit was filed ?after attempts to reach a settlement with insurance companies failed.? (The Associated Press has set the damages figure at $150,000, which comes from an earlier version of the Asbury Park Press story. The latest version I?ve seen has the figure at $500,000.)
One issue pointed out in the Asbury Park Press is that Little League International has liability insurance covering participants, but it doesn?t cover spectators. If Little League games actually printed tickets, they would say, Major League Baseball-style, that you accept all the risks of attending and don?t hold the team or league responsible if you?re injured. (The link goes to a lawyer who argues that at a Major League game, you can?t win a lawsuit if you?re, say, hit by a foul ball or a player diving to make a catch, or anything else that comes from the field of play. However, if the injury is from something outside the field of play, like a drunk guy falling on you, you?ve got a case.)
So it would seem like there?s no case, right, because how can you win over an accidentally thrown ball hitting you in the face? Well, one way you try is to assert, as Lloyd and her lawyer do, that Matthew ?intentionally? struck her.
The story does not reveal any motive for Matthew?s alleged act of violence. However, I have a hard time believing this was anything but an accident. Have you seen 11-year-old catchers throw a baseball? A lot of them have enough trouble, as Matthew did in that warmup, hitting the pitcher?s glove consistently, much less trying to hit, spot-on, a small- to medium-sized object far away.
The story notes that Matthew plays a lot of baseball, but let?s be realistic. If at the age of 11 he could spot someone?s face 60-odd feet away, outside the fenced-in area in which he was squatting, and intentionally hit it with great force, then he had the arm and accuracy, at age 11, to be a major-league catcher right at that moment.
Clearly, Lloyd and her lawyer are looking for someone else to pay for her very unfortunate injuries, one that no doubt has caused her great pain. Unfortunately for Matthew, his is the last name on the list before legal oblivion. If she?s at all successful, I?m quitting this gig, becoming a lawyer, and handing out my card at ballfields nationwide. With most young players? games being little BUT a series of errant throws, soon enough I?ll be making a living deposing glove-toting preteens.

[lineygoblue]

I can't believe the lawsuit has gotten past the clerk's office.

[Ghengis Jon]

I wonder if Talent's nom d' courtroom is Riaz Mian...

[lineygoblue]

That s**t sandwich just gets bigger and bigger for Penn State.

http://http://fox6now.com/2012/06/30...ate-officials/

[Tony G]

Yep, they are now officially screwed in a major way. Sounds like perjury convictions for the staff. PSU just released the letters now inspite of earlier subpoenas so I would imagine some sort of obstruction charge. It's also time for them to just sign the checks for the victims.

[Tony G]

That s**t sandwich just gets bigger and bigger for Penn State.

http://http://fox6now.com/2012/06/30...ate-officials/

Liney, take one of the "http://" out of your link

Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials

Posted on: 6:46 am, June 30, 2012,

Jerry Sandusky - mug shot

(CNN) — With convicted serial child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky behind bars, new questions are surfacing about what Penn State officials knew about a 2001 incident involving the former assistant football coach’s encounter with a boy in the shower — and whether they covered up the incident.

After the 2001 incident, Sandusky sexually abused other boys over the course of years until his arrest.
CNN does not have the purported e-mails. However, the alleged contents were made available to CNN.

The messages indicate former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former university officials knew they had a problem with Sandusky after a 2001 shower incident, but apparently first decided to handle it using a “humane” approach before contacting outside authorities whose job it is to investigate suspected abuse.
“This is a more humane and upfront way to handle this,’ wrote Gary Schultz, then vice president at the university.
Records show no authorities were ever contacted and Sandusky was eventually charged with having sexual contact with four more boys after the 2001 incident. On June 22, Sandusky was convicted of abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

In an exchange of messages from February 26-28, 2001, Spanier allegedly acknowledges Penn State could be “vulnerable” for not reporting the incident, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.
“The only downside for us is if the message (to Sandusky) isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it,” Spanier purportedly writes.

The alleged e-mails among Spanier, Schultz, 62, and former Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, never mention Sandusky by name, instead referring to him as “the subject” and “the person.” Children that Sandusky brought on campus –some of whom might have been victims — are referred to as “guests.”

The exchanges began 16 days after graduate assistant Mike McQueary first told Coach Joe Paterno on February 9, 2001, that McQueary believed he saw Sandusky make sexual contact with a boy in a locker room shower.

Since the scandal broke, Spanier, Schultz and Curley have publicly maintained McQueary reported only inappropriate conduct — horsing around. The purported e-mails indicate the men could be at additional risk for not disclosing the matter to authorities. Schultz and Curley are currently charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse. They have pleaded not guilty.

Paterno testified before a grand jury that McQueary was “very upset” and said he saw Sandusky “doing something with a youngster. It was a sexual nature,” according to a transcript. Paterno testified he told his boss, Curley. Curley and Schultz contacted McQueary about a week and half later about the incident.

In an alleged e-mail dated February 26, 2001, Schultz writes to Curley that he assumes Curley’s “got the ball” about a three-part plan to “talk with the subject asap regarding the future appropriate use of the University facility,” … “contacting the chair of the charitable organization” and “contacting the Department of Welfare,” according to a source with knowledge of the case.

Schultz refers to Sandusky as the “subject” and Sandusky’s Second Mile charity as the “charitable organization,” according to a source with knowledge of the e-mails.

Pennsylvania law requires suspected child abuse be reported to outside authorities, including the state’s child welfare agencies.
But then, something changes.
The next evening, February 27, Curley allegedly writes to Spanier. Schultz, who’s out of the office for two weeks, is copied.
Curley refers to a meeting scheduled that day with Spanier and indicates they apparently discussed the Sandusky incident two days earlier.
Curley indicates he no longer wants to contact child welfare authorities just yet. He refers to a conversation the day before with Paterno. It’s not known what Paterno may have said to Curley.

Curley writes: “After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps.”

The athletic director apparently preferred to keep the situation an internal affair and talk things over with Sandusky instead of notifying the state’s child welfare agency to investigate Sandusky’s suspicious activity.
“I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved,” Curley allegedly continues.

Curley writes he’d be “more comfortable” meeting with Sandusky himself and telling him they know about the 2001 incident and — according to a source with knowledge of the case — refers to another shower incident with a boy in 1998 that was investigated by police, but never resulted in charges against Sandusky.

Curley writes to Penn State’s president Spanier that he wants to meet with Sandusky, tell him there’s “a problem,” and that “we want to assist the individual to get professional help.”
In the same purported e-mail provided to CNN, Curley goes on to suggest that if Sandusky “is cooperative,” Penn State “would work with him” to tell Second Mile. If not, Curley states, the university will inform both Second Mile and outside authorities.
Curley adds that he intends to inform Sandusky that his “guests” won’t be allowed to use Penn State facilities anymore.
“What do you think of this approach?” Curley allegedly wrote to Spanier.
About two hours later, Spanier responded to Curley in another e-mail and copied Schultz. Spanier allegedly called the plan “acceptable”, but worries whether it’s the right thing to do, according to two sources.
“The only downside for us is if the message (to Sandusky) isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it,” Spanier purportedly wrote.
“But that can be assessed down the down the road. The approach you outline is humane and a reasonable way to proceed,” he adds.
The next afternoon, Schultz allegedly responded to the Penn State president and its athletic director. Schultz signs off on handling the matter without telling anyone on the outside, at least for now.
“This is a more humane and upfront way to handle this,’ Schultz purportedly wrote. But he made clear Penn State should inform Sandusky’s charity Second Mile “with or without (Sandusky’s) cooperation.”

As for telling child welfare authorities, he added, “we can play it by ear.”
No one ever reported the 2001 shower incident. A decade later, a 2011 grand jury found no Pennsylvania law enforcement or child welfare agency was ever told.
“It was not only not humane to give Sandusky a pass, but inhumane towards young men who fell prey to him,” said attorney Tom Kline, who represents Victim 5. About six months after the February 2001 incident witnessed by McQueary, Victim 5 was molested. Last week, Sandusky was convicted of having unlawful sexual contact with Victim 5, among 44 other counts involving nine other boys.

Schultz and Curley already are charged with perjury fofr allegedly lying to a grand jury and failure to reported suspected child abuse.
Sources say based on the e-mails and other documents, they could face additional charges. Spanier, sources say, could also be charged, law enforcement sources and legal experts say.
As part of an ongoing grand jury investigation, state prosecutors are pouring over the e-mails turned over by Penn State as part of its own investigation, led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh.
According to court papers, the government is also examining a Sandusky file left behind by Schultz. In a statement, Schultz’s attorney Tom Farrell says Schultz who retired in 2009, did not keep any “secret” files.
Prosecutors say the file was created, maintained, and possessed by Schultz and assert documents in the file are “inconsistent” with statements made by Schultz and Curley to a grand jury.
One inconsistency may involve Schultz’s grand jury testimony stating the state’s child welfare agency was notified about the 2001 shower incident. “My recollection would be … (in 2002) … that they were asked to look into this allegation,” Schultz testified.
He also testified any notes he “probably” took about the 2002 incident may have been destroyed when he retired in 2009.
Curley’s grand jury testimony also appears inconsistent with the e-mails. In the messages, he refers to “a first situation” in 1998, yet he told a grand jury he wasn’t aware of any other allegations of alleged sexual conduct involving Sandusky.
A prosecutor asked Curley: “Specifically, a 1998 report, did you know anything about that in 2002?” Curley responded: “No, ma’am.”
Schultz and Curley, through their lawyers, consistently maintain McQueary didn’t tell them about a sexual assault in 2001, and instead said McQueary described “inappropriate conduct” or horsing around.
McQueary has repeatedly testified he told Penn State officials he saw a boy with his hands up against a wall with Sandusky behind him and heard slapping, rhythmic sounds. He added that someone wouldn’t have to be “a rocket scientist” to figure out what was going on.
A jury acquitted Sandusky of rape involving the 2001 incident, and instead found Sandusky guilty of several other counts involved in that shower incident including unlawful sexual contact.
Spanier’s lawyer did not respond to calls from CNN seeking comment for this story.
According to Penn State’s board of trustees, Spanier was fired last year because “he failed to meet his leadership responsibilities.”
Shortly after his dismissal, Spanier issued a statement that said, in part, “I was stunned and outraged to learn that any predatory act might have occurred in a university facility or by someone associated with the university. … I would never hesitate to report a crime if I had any suspicion that one had been committed.”
In a statement to CNN, lawyers for Schultz and Curley said both men were doing the best they could about a report of “inappropriate conduct” by a man with a stellar reputation.
“As Governor Tom Corbett stated, ‘If we were going to do this case, we had to have the best possible case to go against somebody like Mr. Sandusky who was … loved by everybody. Carried out of the football stadium on the shoulders of his football team. How can anybody say there must be something wrong with him?’” the lawyers’ statement read, citing Corbett’s remarks in a June 25 article by The Patriot News.
“For Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno, the responsible and ‘humane’ thing to do was, like Governor Corbett (said), to carefully and responsibly assess the best way to handle vague, but troubling allegations. Faced with tough situations, good people try to do their best to make the right decisions.”
A spokesman for Paterno’s family, who has not seen any e-mails, told CNN Paterno didn’t communicate by e-mail and defended the coach.
“Everyone should want the truth … and Joe always told the truth,” Dan McGinn told CNN. “He did the right thing. He told his boss about McQueary.”
One thing is clear. There’s no evidence Penn State did anything to find the boy involved in the 2001 incident.
The night Sandusky was led away in handcuffs, Penn State issued a statement calling for healing. So did the family of Joe Paterno.
Healing might take time. Everyone is waiting for the results of Freeh’s investigation, anticipated by this fall. It’s unclear when state investigators will finish their work. The Justice Department is also conducting a probe, as is the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA.
And Penn State is already reaching out to attorneys representing Sandusky’s victims.
Their lawsuits have yet to be filed.
Kline, Victim 5′s attorney, said he wants to see the results of Penn State’s investigation.
“Everything we saw in this trial could have been stopped by Penn State,” Kline told CNN.
“This is an American tragedy of monumental proportions.”

CNN’s Dana Garrett and Chris Boyette contributed to this report

[entropy]

Report: KU players supplied with pot?


Updated Jun 30, 2012 12:59 AM ET





KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)

A Kansas man at the center of a large-scale marijuana case allegedly supplied the drug to multiple players from the 2010-11 Kansas men's basketball team, a federal prosecutor said.






The Kansas City Star reported Friday (http://bit.ly/OKVO4p) that an assistant U.S. attorney made the claim during a June 18 detention hearing for Samuel Villeareal III.

The 32-year-old from Overland Park was among numerous defendants charged June 11 with a scheme to distribute more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana in Johnson and Douglas counties. His attorney, Jonathan A. Bortnick, said he had no comment.

A court transcript obtained by The Star shows the prosecutor, Terra Moorhead, claimed during the hearing that Villeareal supplied pot to multiple members of the Jayhawks' squad.

Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said in an email to the AP that he could confirm that the federal prosecutor stated during a hearing ''that the defendant sold marijuana to members of the KU basketball team from the 2010 and 2011 season.'' Cross said he couldn't provide additional information and that Moorhead would be unavailable for comment.

The AP's attempts to reach Kansas coach Bill Self and associate athletic director Jim Marchioney were unsuccessful. Two players from the team contacted by The Star said they'd never heard of Villeareal, while two others refused to comment.

Morehead told a federal magistrate that prosecutors know who Villeareal was selling to because of text messages obtained from an iPhone seized from his home and from surveillance that was done throughout this investigation, The Star reported.

Morehead said the phone ''became kind of a key component to this entire investigation.''

She also described what agents watching Villeareal observed.

''At one occasion law enforcement had Mr. Villeareal this basketball season at the Sprint Center sitting behind the KU basketball bench with a number of the players,'' she said. ''So we know that he had probably not only a personal relationship with them but a professional relationship as well.''

The 44-page complaint and supporting affidavit contain no information about Villeareal's alleged connection to basketball players. Instead, the documents outline the extensive investigation that began in 2008 and included the use of court-approved interceptions of cell phone conversations between the alleged conspirators.

The detention hearing concluded with Judge James O'Hara ruling that Villeareal could be released on bond but would have to reside at a halfway house until trial. Villeareal also was ordered to have no contact with any witnesses or co-defendants, including any of his alleged marijuana customers.

Morehead said: ''He obviously knows who those are, and so do we because we have a cell phone and have all of that documentation. And again, we will be monitoring that.''

The University of Kansas' internal drug-testing policy requires all freshman or new transfer student athletes to take a drug test ''within a reasonable amount of time'' after arriving on campus. All teams that qualify for post-season play also may be subject to testing.

The university also conducts unannounced, random testing during the year, according to the policy. Athletes who test positive are required to undergo counseling and are subjected to more frequent testing. The policy does not call for suspension from game competition until after a third positive test.

[WM Wolverine]

That is really bad news for PSU; victims just got a lot richer.

[lineygoblue]

Thanks, Tony. My computer skills are still at the grammar school level ...

[Jeff Buchanan]

“This is an American tragedy of monumental proportions.”

No it's not. The 911 attack is but what happened at PSU is nothing more than evil men acting evilly and I include Sandusky and all persons who had knowledge of his abusive sexual perversions and chose not to act because they thought someone else was taking care of it.

It is unfortunate that, after the fact, there will be accountability. If Jerry Sandusky had been outed in 2001, like he should have been, the suffering of this sexual predator's victims after that time would have been prevented.

What this whole affair reflects is the decline in moral and ethical rectitude that has characterized the first decade of this Millennium. Greed and the advancement of selfish interests over honesty, integrity and concern for the general welfare of mankind, are dishonorable qualities being exhibited by these despicable men all of whom should have known better.

[entropy]

Agree..

[madootra]

Thirded....

[Rob F]

Profound...

[UMStan White]

Can't say it any better than that.