Lawsuits are a comin'

Some of you may have heard or read about the collapse of a huMONgous crane, which had to be hand-assembled due to its tremendous size -- 30 stories tall, I think they said -- , on the east side of Houston within the past few days. The crane crashed into a tent, causing injuries and even some deaths.

Questions immediately arose about crane inspections and safety, particularly in Texas. In light of the recent collapses in NYC (two, I believe) and one in Denver (? -- going off the top of my memory banks here), OHSA has been called in and at least one Texas lawmaker is busily trying to get the wording correct on a bill soon to be introduced.


[At least 45 years ago, when hubby and I were traveling to New Jersey to visit his folks, we stopped at a very large excavation site in Pennsylvania to see "Big Mo". As I recall, he told me that it was the world's largest (at the time) bulldozer. I believe it! I can still see it in my mind. Anyway, the crane story reminded me of Big Mo.]



What I want to focus on in this post, however, is just an incredibly unbelievable story about a local bankruptcy attorney, one William Weber. It seems that Mr. Weber decided that it would be all right to dispose of 32 boxes of his clients' files into a dumpster without first shredding them.

Well, the dumpster pickup folks called the police and local television stations were all over the story, including interviews with Mr. Weber ("It was all just a 'misunderstanding'." "I didn't realize that I couldn't do this." etc.) and shots of him loading all of the boxes back into his car. Follow-ups to this included an interview with Mr. Weber stating that everything had now been shredded and additional interviews with former clients, who were now potential victims of identity theft.


Gerald Treece, a professor at South Texas College of Law, stated his opinions about this Saturday morning on his television show. Not only was what Mr. Weber did a bad idea, it was most certainly an ethics violation.

Texas has one of the most stringent ID-theft laws in the nation, he said. Fines of up to $50,000 per violation can be levied in civil court. The case has been sent to the State Attorney General's office.


If there's an update to be had on either of these two issues later, I'll do a post to inform you.



We've all heard the talk about 'frivolous' lawsuits.

Remember the case from Oregon (Washington?) some years back, when a woman sued McDonald's because a cup of coffee that she had placed between her legs (!!!!!) while driving scalded her? She won something like $1 million. Incredible!! How is it possible that you can win a suit against someone else that is the result of your own stupidity?!? Was that ruling ever reversed? I don't remember.


Personally, I find nothing frivolous about Mr. Weber's actions!