Yearly Archives: 2016

Blog, Family, Legal News, Personal Injury

10 Year Old’s Death Shows Need for Water Park Oversight

Posted by Thomas Dennis
August 10, 2016 2:51 PM

Orlando is known as the theme park capital of the world.   It’s home to Disney and Universal Studios, along with many other theme parks such as SeaWorld,  Wet’n’Wild and FunSpot.  Many theme parks in Orlando have begun to incorporate water parks as additional attractions for families to enjoy.  These include SeaWorld’s Acquatica, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach along with Universal’s Volcano Bay that is slated to open in 2017.

While most patrons will enjoy the rides and return home safely, we are beginning to see more and more water park ride injuries occurring. Sadly, one that is making news right now is from a water park in Kansas City, Kansas.

On Sunday, June 7, 2016, ten-year-old Caleb Thomas Schwab plunged to his death on the Verrückt waterslide in the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas.  The son of State Representative Scott Schwab was attending the park as part of its “elected officials’ day.”  (source: People)

This death highlights the need for better oversight of water parks.  The Verrückt, which mean “insane” in German, is the tallest water slide in the world, topping out at over 168 feet.  Surprisingly to many, this waterside was never inspected by the Federal Government as there is no Federal oversight for such structures.  The State of Kansas, who handle such oversight, had not inspected the slide since 2012, before the slide was even open.  In Florida, many injuries at theme parks and water parks get under-reported, due to voluntary reporting and the circumstances and injuries that need to occur to generate a report.

According to witnesses, “The slide itself made a noise that didn’t sound right,” and the Velcro straps that were meant to secure riders, “[weren’t] that secure being strapped in.”  One rider, Paul Oberhauser, noted that, “As soon as I hit the bottom of the first curve the shoulder strap just, kind of busted loose.”  When he mentioned this to ride workers, he claims they responded, “They kind of said ‘Oh no, really’ or something ‘Yes, that’s no good,’ and so it sounded like, you know, they were going to do something about it.”

In a statement, Schlitterbahn said safety in their “top priority” and the rides are inspected daily.  The theme park has been closed since Sunday’s incident but expects to reopen tomorrow.  It is unclear how long Verrückt will remain closed.

Unfortunately, it requires a tragedy such as what has occurred on the Verrückt, that may finally give rise to a call for better inspection, maintenance, safety, and reporting procedures to be implemented at all water parks across the country.

Sourced From   – http://orlando.legalexaminer.com/defective-dangerous-products/10-year-olds-death-shows-need-for-water-park-oversight/#comment-1243

Blog, Business Law, Civil Rights, Divorce, Family, Legal News, Supreme Court

Appellate Court Rules Mel Gibson’s Ex-Wife Violated Confidentiality Agreement

by | 5:58 pm, August 12th, 2016

On Tuesday, California’s 2nd Appellate District ruled (PDF) on a celebrity case that had been out of the public eye for a while:Mel Gibson’s disputes with his ex-wife, Oksana Grigorieva. The case is technically titled ““M.G. v. O.G.,” but the numerous details in the order make it perfectly clear who’s involved. The court affirmed a previous ruling in Gibson’s favor to the effect that that Grigorieva violated the terms of an out of court settlement between the two by addressing her domestic abuse allegations against Gibson.

TBT TAPES

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You may recall that in 2010, Grigorieva recorded her phone conversations with a disturbingly unhinged Gibson, including one (embedded above) where he threatened to kill her, saying “I’ll put you in a f—ing rose garden you c–t! You understand that? Because I’m capable of it. You understand that?” If he had much of a career left, that changed. Grigorieva sued Gibson in separate cases (one for paternity of their child, one for battery and defamation), and according to the appellate ruling, here’s how those were resolved:

At the same time, the parties entered into a separate settlement agreement to resolve O.G.’s civil claims, pursuant to which M.G. agreed to pay O.G. a total of $750,000 in three equal installments spread over the course of five years. As part of the settlement agreement, O.G. agreed to keep confidential “any and all information and facts related to the asserted claims and events underlying this Agreement.” The agreement specified that a breach of the confidentiality obligation would result in O.G.’s forfeiture of all outstanding installments of the $750,000 settlement payment.

From there, nothing really happened until Grigorieva appeared on The Howard Stern Show on May 21, 2013:


Howard Stern – Oksana Grigorieva – 5/21/13 by MrBenjyBronk

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While Grigorieva never outright said in the interview that Gibson physically abused her, in the context of the interview, it’s clear that she’s giving credence to Stern’s statements about Gibson hitting her. That’s where Gibson objected, and that’s why the appellate court agreed with Gibson. From the ruling:

Full Article – http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/appellate-court-rules-mel-gibsons-ex-wife-violated-confidentiality-agreement/

Blog, Divorce, Family, International, Legal News

There’s just one country other than the Vatican where divorce is illegal — and some want to change that

Ana P. Santos
What do you do when you find yourself in an unhappy marriage but live in a country where there is no divorce?

You go on Facebook and hope to find others like you.

“I didn’t have anyone to talk to,” said 45-year-old Maviv Millora. “I was sure there were others like me who wished there was divorce in the Philippines, I just had to find them.”

After being married for more than 20 years, Millora separated from her husband in 2011. Since then, it’s been a vicious cycle of survival. She supports the two youngest of her four children with her earnings as an English teacher. She cannot claim child support since she is still technically married, but she also can’t afford the considerable legal costs of separation proceedings.

Online, she found Divorce Advocates of the Philippines, a Facebook group of more than 5,000 people. The group has since spun off into two other divorce groups, Pro-Divorce Philippines and Divorce for the Philippines Now International.

Some members were depressed and wanted to talk; some were angry and wanted to vent; and some just wanted legal advice without going to a lawyer who would charge by the hour – but they all wanted to demand the legalization of divorce.

In this devout Catholic country with deeply conservative views on marriage and family, Millora and others like her were expected to hide any cracks in the marital union and simply suffer in silence.

Full Article – http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-philippines-divorce-snap-story.html

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Boston mobster turned Memphis pastor discusses $500 million art heist

MEMPHIS – An ex-Boston mobster who secretly moved to Memphis in 2013 is opening up about his life as the boss of a Boston mafia crew and his knowledge of the largest art heist in world history.

In the 1990s, Robert Luisi, Jr. was the leader of a mob crew in a Boston. Two of the men in his crew, Robert Guarente and 80-year-old Robert Gentile, are suspected by the FBI of stealing $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Luisi moved to Memphis in 2013. With guidance from the federal government, he changed his name to Alonso Esposito and started a new life.

Now, Esposito lives in a Memphis suburb with his wife, Julie Esposito, and their children.

Guarente died in 2004. Investigators have searched Gentile’s home in Philadelphia, but didn’t find the paintings. Gentile is awaiting trial for unrelated charges, and he claims he knows nothing about the missing art.

For 26 years, the investigation has led investigators to dead ends. And even with Esposito opening up about his knowledge, the art is still nowhere to be found.

When asked if men in his crew were involved in the heist, Esposito said, “I think several of them were. Yeah, that was my crew.”

But Esposito said he didn’t connect with Gentile and Guarante until a few years after the heist.

“I was coming back to Boston from Martha’s Vineyard,” Esposito said, describing what he was doing on March 18, 1990 – the night the paintings were stolen. “That crew that they suspect actually did the robbery, I really didn’t hook up with them until about ’94.”

No one has ever been arrested for stealing the art, but leads have continually taken investigators to men related to Esposito’s former friends in Boston, Philadelphia, Connecticut and Florida.

Full Article – http://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending-now/boston-mobster-turned-memphis-pastor-discusses-500-million-art-heist-1/413196610

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, International, Legal News

Picasso Weeping Woman painting theft: The great art heist that shocked Melbourne

Christopher Talbot, Herald Sun

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IN December 1985, the National Gallery of Victoria became the proud owners of the Picasso masterpiece Weeping Woman.

It was the most expensive artwork acquired by an Australian art gallery and cost Victorian taxpayers $1.6 million.

Eight months later it was gone.

When the painting was first acquired in 1985, gallery director Patrick McCaughey said the painting would “haunt Melbourne for the next 100 years”.

He wasn’t wrong. The biggest art heist in Victoria’s history has never been solved and the culprit (or culprits) never caught.

On Monday, August 4, 1986 The Age newspaper received a letter addressed to then-arts minister Race Mathews that read: “We have stolen the Picasso from the National Gallery as a protest against the niggardly funding of the fine arts in this hick State.”

ranson

The paper phoned the gallery and indeed the most expensive painting in the nation was gone.

“Confronting the bare wall and the fake label, I was aghast. I excused myself from the committee meeting and began a search of the gallery, desperately hoping that it was a prank and that the painting had been hidden in the building,” McCaughey said in his book The Bright Shapes and the True Names.

Full Article – http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/picasso-weeping-woman-painting-theft-the-great-art-heist-that-shocked-melbourne/news-story/0cf39d2d98b0a354bd5c5fc29b720a8f