Evidence

20,000 DWI Cases Called Into Question in NJ: Is Yours One of Them?

A federal class action lawsuit seeks to throw out thousands of DWI convictions in New Jersey after a State Police sergeant was accused of botching the calibration of breathalyzers police use on suspected drunk drivers. The lawsuit was filed last month in federal district court of New Jersey by an Ocean County woman who was convicted last year based on a breathalyzer test reading showing .09 …


Scandal Could Lead to Lawsuits Against Sugary Beverage Industry

Recent findings reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine show that the sugar-sweetened beverage industry has financially backed scientific researchers to discard a link between sugary beverage consumption and metabolic outcomes such as obesity and diabetes. It is the latest in a series of related scandals to rock the public health world. This news, coupled with the revelation that two of …


Lawsuit Over Cellphones and Cancer Hits a Stumbling Block

An appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday dealt a setback to a long-running lawsuit against the wireless industry over health concerns surrounding cellphones, deciding that a different legal standard for evidence should have been applied. The decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals will further prolong the litigation, initially filed in 2001, as plaintiffs must now produce …



Fraud Lawsuit Against Bronx Dems Won’t Halt Election

Fraud allegations won’t stop the Democratic Party primaries from rolling on in the Bronx — at least for now. A group of activists who sued the Bronx Democratic Party — claiming they were used as straw candidates for political posts — have not shown they will suffer enough “irreparable harm” to justify halting next week’s elections, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. But Judge Kimba Wood said in …


Refugee Hopes UK’s Iraq War Inquiry Revives Her Lawsuit Against Bush Administration

An Iraqi refugee who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against former President George W. Bush over the Iraq War has filed an appeal containing new evidence released by the United Kingdom’s Iraq Inquiry Committee. Iraqi refugee Sundus Skaker Saleh, who fled her home country due to war, and her attorney, Inder Comar, the legal director of San Francisco-based Comar Law, …


Caddies Appeal Dismissal of $50 Million Lawsuit Against PGA Tour

The Battle of the Bibs continues. Mike Hicks and 167 other professional caddies have appealed U.S. District Judge Vince Girdhari Chhabria’s decision to dismiss their $50 million class-action lawsuit against the PGA Tour. The caddies raised contract, antitrust and intellectual property claims against the Tour when they filed suit in February 2015, alleging that the Tour had reduced them to …


Facebook Defeats Class-Action for Allegedly ‘Leaking’ Users’ Names to Advertisers

Handing a victory to Facebook, a federal judge has ruled that the company won’t have to face a class-action lawsuit for allegedly violating its privacy policy by “leaking” people’s personal information to advertisers. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte said this week that class-action treatment isn’t appropriate because “individualized questions will predominate” in the dispute. Most of …


Former Scranton Housing Inspector Appeals Dismissal of Retaliation Lawsuit

A former Scranton housing inspector has appealed a federal judge’s ruling that dismissed her political retaliation and gender discrimination lawsuit. Patricia Jennings-Fowler contends U.S. District Judge Malachy Mannion erred when he ruled she failed to present sufficient evidence to support her claims. Ms. Jennings-Fowler had worked for the city in various capacities since 2009.


Lawsuit Claims Sheridan Evidence Destroyed

A Somerset County investigator has challenged the probe into the September 2014 deaths of Camden hospital executive John Sheridan and his wife. Jeffrey Scozzafava, a detective with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, contends crime-scene evidence from the couple’s home “was improperly collected, improperly preserved and subsequently destroyed.” The criticisms are …