[ad_1]
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
Tag: Lawsuit
-
“Rust” director takes stand in armorer’s manslaughter trial
“Rust” director takes stand in armorer’s manslaughter trial – CBS News
-
The Wild Claim at the Heart of Elon Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit
[ad_1]
Elon Musk started the week by posting testily on X about his struggles to set up a new laptop running Windows. He ended it by filing a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of recklessly developing human-level AI and handing it over to Microsoft.
Musk’s lawsuit is filed against OpenAI and two of its executives, CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman, both of whom worked with the rocket and car entrepreneur to found the company in 2015. A large part of the case pivots around a bold and questionable technical claim: That OpenAI has developed so-called artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a term generally used to refer to machines that can comprehensively match or outsmart humans.
The case claims that Altman and Brockman have breached the original “Founding Agreement” for OpenAI worked out with Musk, which it says pledged the company to develop AGI openly and “for the benefit of humanity. Musk’s suit alleges that the for-profit arm of the company, established in 2019 after he parted ways with OpenAI, has instead created AGI without proper transparency and licensed it to Microsoft, which has invested billions into the company. It demands that OpenAI be forced to release its technology openly and that it be barred from using it to financially benefit Microsoft, Altman, or Brockman.
“On information and belief, GPT-4 is an AGI algorithm,” the lawsuit states, referring to the large language model that sits behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It cites studies that found the system can get a passing grade on the Uniform Bar Exam and other standard tests as proof that it has surpassed some fundamental human abilities. “GPT-4 is not just capable of reasoning. It is better at reasoning than average humans,” the suit claims.
Although GPT-4 was heralded as a major breakthrough when it was launched in March 2023, most AI experts do not see it as proof that AGI has been achieved. “GPT-4 is general, but it’s obviously not AGI in the way that people typically use the term,” says Oren Etzioni, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington and an expert on AI.
“It will be viewed as a wild claim,” says Christopher Manning, a professor at Stanford University who specializes in AI and language, of the AGI assertion in Musk’s suit. Manning says there are divergent views of what constitutes AGI within the AI community. Some experts might set the bar lower, arguing that GPT-4’s ability to perform a wide range of functions would justify calling it AGI, while others prefer to reserve the term for algorithms that can outsmart most or all humans at anything. “Under this definition, I think we very clearly don’t have AGI and are indeed still quite far from it,” he says.
Limited Breakthrough
GPT-4 won notice—and new customers for OpenAI—because it can answer a wide range of questions, while older AI programs were generally dedicated to specific tasks like playing chess or tagging images. Musk’s lawsuit refers to assertions from Microsoft researchers, in a paper from March 2023, that “given the breadth and depth of GPT-4’s capabilities, we believe that it could reasonably be viewed as an early (yet still incomplete) version of an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system.” Despite its impressive abilities, GPT-4 still makes mistakes and has significant limitations to its ability to correctly parse complex questions.
“I have the sense that most of us researchers on the ground think that large language models [like GPT-4] are a very significant tool for allowing humans to do much more but that they are limited in ways that make them far from stand-alone intelligences,” adds Michael Jordan, a professor at UC Berkeley and an influential figure in the field of machine learning.
Jordan adds that he prefers to avoid the term AGI entirely because it is so vague. “I’ve never found Elon Musk to have anything to say about AI that was very calibrated or based on research reality,” he adds.
[ad_2]
Will Knight
Source link -
Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, claiming “stark betrayal” of the AI company’s mission
[ad_1]
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, with the Tesla founder alleging they violated the artificial intelligence company’s original mission statement by putting profits over benefiting humanity.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in San Francisco, comes amid a larger debate over the potential impact of AI, such as that it could produce misleading or harmful information. In the lawsuit, Musk alleges breach of contract and fiduciary duty, among other claims, against OpenAI, Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman.
Musk, who helped found OpenAI in 2015, cites the lab’s founding agreement that the company would use its technology to benefit the public and that it would open its technology for public use. Yet OpenAI has veered away from that mission with its latest AI model, GPT-4, which it hasn’t released to the public, the suit alleges.
At the same time, OpenAI has formed commercial ties with Microsoft, which has invested billions in the AI company. Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s GPT-4 tech into its software programs and developed an AI app called Copilot that’s geared to helping consumers automate various tasks.
The relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI represents “a stark betrayal of the founding agreement,” Musk suit claims.
“Mr. Altman caused OpenAI to radically depart from its original mission and historical practice of making its technology and knowledge available to the public. GPT-4’s internal design was kept and remains a complete secret except to OpenAI — and, on information and belief, Microsoft,” the complaint alleges. “There are no scientific publications describing the design of GPT-4. Instead, there are just press releases bragging about performance.”
Instead of helping humanity, OpenAI’s tech is now primarily serving Microsoft’s commercial interests, the lawsuit claims. GPT-4 “is now a de facto Microsoft proprietary algorithm,” it alleges.
OpenAI and Microsoft didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Musk is asking the court to order OpenAI to make its AI models open to the public, and to prohibit it from using its technology to benefit its executives, Microsoft or any other person or company. He also is asking the court to force OpenAI, Altman and Brockman to repay all the money they received from their dealings with Microsoft.
Musk has more direct interests in the future of artificial intelligence. In 2023 he formed xAI, which recruited researchers from OpenAI and other top tech firms to develop an AI tool called Grok that the startup said wil aim to “maximally benefit all of humanity.”
[ad_2]
-
New Diddy Lawsuit, the Wins of the “Uncommitted,” and Fat Joe’s Trump Sneaker Addition
[ad_1]
Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss the new Diddy lawsuit and the internet’s reaction (13:28), the rumored big names in the lawsuit (27:37), and Meek Mill’s response to being implicated. Then, they give their impressions of the “uncommitted” vote protest in Michigan (49:06) before going over the gender politics of marriage proposal (1:22:40).
Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh SmithSubscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher
[ad_2]
Van Lathan
Source link -
Oregon nurse replaced patient’s fentanyl drip with tap water, wrongful death lawsuit alleges
[ad_1]
The first lawsuit brought amid reports that a nurse at a southern Oregon hospital replaced intravenous fentanyl drips with tap water seeks up to $11.5 million on behalf of the estate of a 65-year-old man who died.
The wrongful death suit was filed Monday against Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, CBS affiliate KOIN-TV reported. It also names nurse Dani Marie Schofield as a defendant.
Last month, Medford police disclosed that they were investigating potential crimes against patients involving the theft of “controlled substances,” which may have led to “adverse” outcomes for some.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has helped fuel the nation’s overdose epidemic, but it is also used in legitimate medical settings to relieve severe pain. Drug theft from hospitals is a longstanding problem.
Police declined to provide more information. Schofield agreed to a voluntary nursing license suspension last November “pending the completion of an investigation,” according to Oregon Board of Nursing records. No charges have been filed.
Justin Idiart, a southern Oregon lawyer, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he represents nine clients whose medication was swapped out, and five others have reached out for possible representation. They include the loved ones of patients who died as well as some who survived. All of his clients were treated by Schofield, he said.
Other local law firms also have been exploring litigation. Attorneys say they expect as many as three dozen cases could be filed.
The hospital did not immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday. The AP could not immediately locate contact information for Schofield, and it was not clear if Schofield is represented by an attorney.
“We were distressed to learn of this issue,” Asante said in a statement last month. “We reported it to law enforcement and are working closely with them.”
Idiart filed the lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court over the death of Horace E. Wilson, who died in February 2022. Wilson, the founder of a cannabis company called Decibel Farms in Jacksonville, Oregon, was treated at the hospital after he fell off a ladder. He suffered bleeding from his spleen and had it removed.
But doctors then noted “unexplained high fevers, very high white blood cell counts, and a precipitous decline,” the complaint said.
The medical center ordered Schofield to administer fentanyl to the patient starting on Jan. 29, KOIN-TV reported, citing court documents. Plaintiffs are alleging the nurse replaced the fentanyl with non-sterile tap water, bringing more bacteria into his bloodstream.
Rick Bowmer / AP
Tests confirmed an infection of treatment-resistant bacteria, Staphylococcus epidermidis. Wilson progressed to multi-system organ failure and died weeks later.
Court documents said the hospital reported three central-line associated bloodstream infections in 2021, which surged to 15 cases in 2022, KOIN reported. Plaintiffs also allege Asante admitted the infections were linked to bacteria in April 2023, KOIN reported, but the company didn’t report water contamination at any of its medical centers.
Idiart said patients who were deprived of medication suffered as a result of the medication diversion. In Wilson’s case, his family believed he was in pain even though he was supposed to be sedated, Idiart said.
Asante last December contacted Medford police regarding a former employee “that they believe was involved in the theft of fentanyl prescribed to patients resulting in some adverse patient outcomes,” the complaint said.
That month, hospital representatives “began contacting patients and their relatives telling them a nurse had replaced fentanyl with tap water causing bacterial infections,” it said.
“We continue to request the public’s patience as we strive to understand the full implications of these allegations and their effects on those involved,” Medford Police said in a statement, KOIN reported.
[ad_2]
-
More news organizations sue OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright infringement
[ad_1]
Legal claims are starting to pile up against Microsoft and OpenAI, as three more news sites have sued the firms over copyright infringement, The Verge reported. The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet filed separate lawsuits accusing ChatGPT of reproducing news content “verbatim or nearly verbatim” while stripping out important attribution like the author’s name.
The sites, all represented by the same law firm, said that if ChatGPT trained on copyright material, it “would have learned to communicate that information when providing responses.” Raw Story and AlterNet added that OpenAI and Microsoft must have known that the chatbot would be less popular and generate lower revenue if “users believed that ChatGPT responses violated third-party copyrights.”
The news organizations note in the lawsuit that OpenAI offers an opt-out system for website owners, meaning that the company must be aware of potential copyright infringement. Microsoft and OpenAI have also said that they’ll defend customers against legal claims around copyright infringement that might arise from using their products, and even pay for incurred costs.
Late last year, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, saying it “seeks to hold them responsible for the billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages”. OpenAI asked a court to dismiss that claim, saying the NYT took advantage of a ChatGPT bug that made it recite articles word for word.
The companies also face lawsuits from multiple non-fiction authors accusing them of “massive and deliberate theft of copyrighted works,” and by comedian Sarah Silverman over similar claims.
[ad_2]
Steve Dent
Source link -
Don Henley is asked at
[ad_1]
Don Henley was asked in a New York courtroom Monday about a seamy episode from his past: his 1980 arrest after authorities said they found drugs and a naked 16-year-old girl suffering from an overdose at the Eagles co-founder’s Los Angeles home.
Henley was testifying at an unrelated criminal trial, where three collectibles dealers are charged with conspiring to own and attempt to sell handwritten draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits without the right to do so. The men have pleaded not guilty.
A prosecutor asked about the singer and drummer’s November 1980 arrest early on, apparently to get ahead of defense lawyers. They previously indicated that they planned to question the 76-year-old about his memory of the era and his lifestyle at the time.
The arrest was briefly reported on at the time, and it gained only a passing mention during the recent #MeToo movement, when many such incidents involving public figures were reexamined.
On Monday, Henley told the court that he called for a sex worker that night because he “wanted to escape the depression I was in” over the breakup of the superstar band.
“I wanted to forget about everything that was happening with the band, and I made a poor decision which I regret to this day. I’ve had to live with it for 44 years. I’m still living with it today, in this courtroom. Poor decision,” Henley testified in a raspy drawl.
YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images
As he did in a 1991 interview with GQ magazine, Henley testified that he didn’t know the girl’s age until after his arrest and that he went to bed with the girl, but never had sex with her.
“I don’t remember the anatomical details, but I know there was no sex,” said Henley, who said they’d done cocaine together and talked for many hours about his band’s breakup and her estrangement from her family.
He said he called firefighters, who checked the girl’s health, found her to be OK and left, with him promising to take care of her. The paramedics, who found her in the nude, called police, authorities said at the time.
Henley said Monday that she recovered and was preparing to leave with a friend she’d had him call, when police arrived hours later.
At the time, authorities said they found cocaine, quaaludes and marijuana at his Los Angeles home.
Henley pleaded no contest in 1981 to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to probation and a $2,500 fine, and he requested a drug education program to get some possession charges dismissed.
Henley says he never gave away “Hotel California” lyrics
Henley was asked about the incident on Monday before he gave the court his version of how handwritten pages from the development of the band’s blockbuster 1976 album made their way from his Southern California barn to New York auctions decades later.
Henley testified he never gave away handwritten pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits, calling them “very personal” in testimony that also delved into an unrelated piece of his past: his 1980 arrest.
Henley, the Grammy-winning co-founder of one of the most successful bands in rock history, is prosecutors’ star witness in an unusual criminal trial surrounding about 100 legal-pad pages from the birth of a blockbuster 1976 album.
Henley says the documents were stolen from his barn in Malibu, California. He testified Monday that he was appalled when the material began turning up at auctions in 2012.
“It just wasn’t something that was for public viewing. It was our process. It was something very personal, very private,” he said. “I still wouldn’t show that to anybody.”
At issue are about 100 sheets of paper inscribed with lyrics-in-the-making for multiple songs on the “Hotel California” album, including “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and the title track that turned into one of the most durable hits in rock. Famed for its lengthy guitar solo and puzzlingly poetic lyrics, the song still gets streamed hundreds of millions of times a year. The album is the third-biggest seller in U.S. history.
On trial are rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz and rock memorabilia specialists Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski. They bought the pages through writer Ed Sanders, who worked with the Eagles on a never-published band biography and isn’t charged in the case.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property. The men’s lawyers maintain that Henley willingly gave the pages to the scribe and that nothing criminal happened at any point.
“Hotel California” lyrics
Frey and Henley wrote the lyrics to 1976’s “Hotel California” in a Beverly Hills house rented for the purpose, since the tidy Henley’s tendency to pick up after Frey “would drive them crazy” if they worked in their own homes, Azoff testified.
Henley did most of the writing, he added, with Frey leaning in to make suggestions such as the phrase “Life in the Fast Lane,” which became the title of a hit single.
In 2016, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King asked Henley about the meaning of “Hotel California.”
“Well, I always say, it’s a journey from innocence to experience. It’s not really about California; it’s about America,” Henley said. “It’s about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It’s about excess, it’s about narcissism. It’s about the music business. It’s about a lot of different…. It can have a million interpretations.”
The Grammy-winning song is still a touchstone on classic rock radio and many personal playlists. The entertainment data company Luminate counted more than 220 million streams and 136,000 radio plays of “Hotel California” in the U.S. last year.
In 2016, Henley told Gayle King that in the 1970s, the band was indeed living “life in the fast lane.”
“Yeah… Everybody was doing it. It was the ’70s,” Henley said. “It was what everybody was doing, which doesn’t make it right necessarily. And you know, looking back on it, there’s some regrets about that. We probably could have been more productive … although we were pretty productive, considering.”
[ad_2]
-
Women who accused Phoenix doc of botched surgeries want restraining order
[ad_1]
Two metro Phoenix women who sued a Glendale doctor over allegations that he performed plastic surgeries while drunk and disfigured them now claim they’ve been threatened and fear for their safety.Wendy Ellsworth and Alicia Armijo sued Dr. Bradley Becker last fall for medical negligence, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Since then, they and their attorney, Robert Gregory, have been on the receiving end of threats, stalking and intimidation that have left them concerned about the safety of their families, according to documents filed with Maricopa County Superior Court on Feb. 15.
The women and their attorney want to meet with sheriff’s deputies to discuss their safety and allegations of threats. They also are seeking a restraining order against Becker. In the meantime, Ellsworth asked a judge to make her lawsuit against Becker inactive for four months, while Armijo wants to dismiss her case.
“Because of the fear that Plaintiffs are presently experiencing regarding their personal safety, and their strong belief that either Dr. Becker or those acting on his behalf are seeking to intimidate Plaintiffs so that they will dismiss their action against him, Plaintiffs are not able to continue the instant action until they are able to coordinate recent events with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and to take whatever action is appropriate to secure their safety,” Gregory wrote in a motion filed in Ellsworth’s case.
In a motion for Armijo’s case, Gregory wrote that Armijo doesn’t want to continue her case while “pursuing her options with the Maricopa Sheriff’s Office” but isn’t “surrendering her claims against Dr. Becker.
“Plaintiff has expressed to her counsel her concern that continuing with this litigation will constitute an ongoing threat to her personally and will create additional emotional anxiety and fear,” Gregory wrote in the motion.
Ellsworth and Armijo alleged in affidavits that since suing Becker, they have seen vehicles parked in front of their homes and, on one occasion, Armijo said she spotted Becker in a vehicle outside her home before he sped away. Gregory said he received a threatening phone call from an unknown number in which the callers said they knew who he was and demanded to know where he lived.
Becker denied the latest allegations in an affidavit filed on Wednesday.
“I have no information about or involvement in any of the alleged incidents of unknown persons allegedly being parked outside or driving by or near the homes of Alicia Armijo or Wendy Ellsworth, and I also have no information about or involvement with any persons allegedly following Ms. Armijo or Ms. Ellsworth while they walked outside or near their homes or elsewhere,” Becker said in the court filing.
Richard Kent, one of Becker’s lawyers, also requested that the court dismiss Ellsworth’s lawsuit.
Phoenix New Times first reported the women’s lawsuits and detailed their experiences with Becker in December. The suits accused Becker of performing plastic surgeries while drunk and botching the operations. Becker, in a court filing, said he “complied with the standard of care” and that he was not impaired during the surgeries.
Raees Mohamed, an attorney for Bradley Becker, said the plastic surgeon is considering defamation suits against women who publicly aired allegations about procedures Becker performed.
TJ L’Heureux
Strange cars and demand letters
In the weeks after they filed the lawsuits — Ellsworth on Sept. 30 and Armijo on Oct. 2 — strange things started to happen, according to their affidavits.
Armijo called Ellsworth on Oct. 22 and said that Becker had allegedly driven by her house in Surprise. She recognized the surgeon as he drove slowly by, she said in the court filing, but the vehicle sped off before she was able to get the full license plate number. Armijo said her 14-year-old son also witnessed the event and “could attest to seeing a man fitting the description of Becker.”
Kent said Armijo was spreading a “false narrative” on social media and in the press, according to the court document filed on Wednesday.
“The fact that Ms. Armijo never made any reference to this alleged event that occurred on October 22, 2023, until almost four months later — when she is desperate to keep her lawsuit from being dismissed and while she is in the process of attempting to drum up additional media attention for her claims — is further evidence that her allegation is not credible and not a basis for the Court to take any action other than dismissing this lawsuit,” Kent wrote.
Gregory, Armijo’s attorney, filed a motion on Feb. 16 to dismiss her lawsuit.
About a week after Armijo claimed to see Becker in October, Ellsworth said an unfamiliar car parked outside of her home, according to court documents. As she went on a walk with her son in their neighborhood, she noticed a black sedan idling outside her home. When she walked to the end of her driveway, it abruptly sped off.
Ellsworth and Armijo did not notice anything suspicious for several weeks. Then, New Times reported on their lawsuits on Dec. 29. That was followed by coverage from at least two national media outlets.
Afterward, “many women who had undergone cosmetic surgery by Dr. Becker contacted me and/or Alicia about similar experiences they had had at the time of their respective surgeries. More specifically, these women informed us that Dr. Becker appeared to be in an altered state of mind at the time of their surgeries,” Ellsworth said in her affidavit.
On Jan. 18, Ellsworth hosted a meeting with 10 of those women at her house. Gregory also attended. Between Jan. 22 and Feb. 8, nearly all of the women received letters from Raees Mohamed, an attorney for Becker, according to the affidavit. None of the women had filed a lawsuit against Becker at the time they received the letter, making them question why they received the letter.
Mohamed told New Times that the surgeon is considering a defamation case against some of the women. He added that he decided which women to send the letter to based on their statements about Becker on social media.
‘It was very intentional and threatening’
In her affidavit, Ellsworth alleged that in late January, she and her husband were walking around their neighborhood with their children when a white sedan approached them from the opposite direction.
“Instead of going wide to avoid us like normal drivers would do, the white sedan deliberately drove dangerously close to us, making us concerned they would deliberately strike one of the kids,” Ellsworth said. “They narrowly missed striking the kids a couple times. We turned around as they drove by to see who was in the vehicle but were unable to identify the occupants because of the darkness. Instead of leaving the scene, the vehicle drove to the east end of the street, turned around, and again approached us very slowly as if to strike us.”
Ellsworth said the car then intentionally drove close to the family again, despite having to drive on the other side of the street.
“It was very intentional and threatening,” Ellsworth said. “My husband and I were terrified by the incident and didn’t know what to think about it as we live in a very upscale neighborhood in Gilbert and never experienced anything like this before.”
On Feb. 8, Ellsworth noticed two cars idling in front of her house. Her son tried to take a picture of a license plate, but the flash went off. A woman with blonde hair in a messy ponytail jumped out of a sedan and got in the other vehicle, which quickly left. Ellsworth and her son saw two men in the sedan. Afraid, they went inside and called for Ellsworth’s husband. The vehicle stayed on the street for a short time, then sped away.
“This time, the incident felt deeply personal, unnerving and terrifying,” Ellsworth wrote in her affidavit. “My fear is that the driver(s) of the vehicle(s) intended to either harm us, intimidate us or worse, harm my family. I am uncertain who they were/are.”
She told Armijo about the incident, who said she had seen an identical vehicle parked on the route to the school of Armijo’s child, and that there had been two different drivers.
The same night Ellsworth saw the two cars, Gregory received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller demanded to know the location of his home and said they knew who he was, according to court documents.
“Because of the many threatening actions taken against Wendy Ellsworth, Tyler Ellsworth, women who are contemplating legal action against Dr. Becker, and against myself, the Plaintiffs and I will be speaking with Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to explore our options in order to protect ourselves and our families,” Gregory wrote.
Becker, in his affidavit filed on Wednesday, said he was not involved in the incident in early February.
“That unknown person was not me; I do not own or drive a white sedan, was not near Ms. Ellsworth’s home any time in early February 2024, and have never driven my vehicle close to Ms. Ellsworth or her family in a threatening manner or in any manner that posed potential injury or harm to them,” Becker said.
Becker also said he has not driven by the homes of either woman and that he has not made any calls to Gregory.
[ad_2]
TJ L’Heureux
Source link -
Wake schools to sue social media companies for ‘addicting’ young people
[ad_1]
Several school districts have filed lawsuits accusing social media companies behind Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook of having a negative impact on students.
TNS
CARY
The Wake County school system is taking the owners of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube to court, accusing them of creating a mental health crisis among young people.
The Wake County school board unanimously voted Tuesday night to join a federal class-action lawsuit against social media giants Meta, Google, ByteDance and Snap Inc. The lawsuit accuses the companies of financially profiting by targeting children to get them addicted to social media.
“These companies have designed their products to attract and addict teen and adolescent users, using targeted algorithms, constant notifications, insufficient parental controls, and endless scrolling, resulting in what the U.S. Surgeon General has described as ‘just not a fair fight’ between children and Big Tech,” said school board chair Chris Heagarty. “Over one-third of children ages 13-17 report using one of the companies’ applications ‘almost constantly.’”
No fees unless Wake wins lawsuit
Wake joins at least 12 North Carolina school districts in the lawsuit, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Johnston, Union, Moore and Wayne counties.
More than 200 school districts across the nation are suing the companies. Additionally, attorneys representing 42 states, including North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, have filed litigation against Meta, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Wake County would not pay legal fees unless it won the lawsuit. The attorneys would be paid a 25% contingency fee if the district recovered money.
Wake used a similar approach to win settlements against e-cigarette companies, accusing them of promoting a vaping epidemic among young people. On Tuesday, the school board heard a presentation on how the district will use $5.9 million in settlement money to try to reduce tobacco use.
‘Social media addiction’
Janet Ward Black of the law firm Ward Black Law in Greensboro gave a presentation to the school board to explain why the district should join the lawsuit. Wake worked with the firm in the e-cigarette litigation.
“This is an opportunity for Wake to come alongside those other school boards to help make a mighty force together to be able to change what’s happening with social media and the addiction that’s occurred,” Black told the school board.
Black told the board that social media addiction is causing mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and eating disorders among young people. She said it’s forcing schools to divert resources to help students in need of mental health services.
“We plan to change how social media companies operate, in order to safeguard children and adolescents, who are their most vulnerable consumers,” according to the legal presentation. “In addition, we seek to receive meaningful compensation for school boards for past, present and future expenses.”
In one instance, students at South Alamance Middle School in Graham were recording TikTok challenge videos in the school bathrooms as many as nine times a day, USA Today reported. The situation became so bad that South Alamance Middle School removed the bathroom mirrors, and the visits have dropped dramatically.
Meta didn’t respond Tuesday to the News & Observer’s request for comment. But Meta has recently announced stricter messaging setting for teenagers on Instagram and Facebook.
This story was originally published February 20, 2024, 8:13 PM.
[ad_2]
T. Keung Hui
Source link -
NC’s Cannon textile family, Atrium Health feud over who gets millions in inheritance
[ad_1]
One of North Carolina’s prominent families has filed a lawsuit against Charlotte’s largest hospital over millions of dollars in inheritance.
Cannon textile mill descendants want to stop Atrium Health from receiving distributions from the family trust, according to a petition filed in N.C. business court. The trust was created in 1965 by Ruth Coltrane Cannon, wife of longtime Cannon Mills president Charles Albert Cannon, for her grandson Charles Albert Cannon III, who died Oct. 28.
Textile magnate Charles Cannon founded Cannon Mills in Kannapolis. It was the world’s largest producer of towels and sheets for decades. The mill, bought by Pillowtex 1982, closed abruptly closed in 2003 wiping out 7,650 jobs. It was the largest one-day job loss in the history of North Carolina and the textile industry at that time. The mill was demolished in 2005 and is now the site of the 350-acre North Carolina Research Campus.
Following Charles Cannon III’s death, Ruth Cannon said in her will that she wanted the trust to go to Cabarrus Memorial Hospital, according to the Feb. 7 petition. If the trust could not be paid “expressly” to the Cabarrus County-owned hospital, it would be distributed to “religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes,” the petition states.
The filing does not specify the trust’s value.
Cabarrus Memorial has not existed since the 1980s and became part of Atrium through a series of mergers in the 2000s, according to the petition. Atrium is now part of Advocate Health with revenue of more than $27 billion.
Since Cabarrus Memorial does not exist, “the trustees have preliminary concluded that Atrium Health is not the proper remainder income beneficiary,” and trustees should proceed with alternative income distribution, according to the petition.
“Atrium Health does not meet the trust’s express condition that remainder income be paid out for ‘charitable purposes,’” the petition states.
On Jan. 24, Atrium objected to the trust’s interpretation of the will and laid claim to it, threatening legal action if income distributions did not begin on Feb. 15.
The trust is represented by Kearns Davis, James C. Adams II and Agustin M. Martinez of Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey & Leonard LLP.
The petition requests a jury trial.
Atrium Health officials and attorneys representing the trust did not respond by Friday afternoon for requests for comment.
Law360 trade publication first reported the case.
[ad_2]
-
2/16: CBS News Weekender
[ad_1]
2/16: CBS News Weekender – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
-
A DC man thought he won a $340 million Powerball prize. But it turned out to be a website ‘mistake’ – WTOP News
[ad_1]
A D.C. man thought he won the jackpot, but when he went to redeem the prize, he was informed there had been a mistake.
A D.C. man thought he won the lottery jackpot, but when he went to redeem the prize, he was informed there had been a mistake.
Joseph Cheeks has filed a lawsuit against the District, Powerball and additional government offices and affiliated companies, saying they have refused to pay him a $340 million prize after his numbers came up on the D.C. Lottery’s website last year.
Though Cheeks, who bought the ticket on Jan. 6, 2023, didn’t see the Jan. 7 drawing, when he pulled up the D.C. Lottery website in the early morning hours of Jan. 8, his numbers were displayed under “Winning Numbers.” The Powerball prize at that time was $340 million.
“I got a little excited, but I didn’t shout, I didn’t scream,” Cheeks told NBC Washington. “I just politely called a friend. I took a picture as he recommended, and that was it. I went to sleep.”
But when Cheeks went to redeem his winning ticket at a licensed retailer, he was denied his prize. Then, when he brought the ticket to the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming prize center, he was denied again.
What Cheeks didn’t know was the numbers posted on the D.C. Lottery website weren’t the same numbers as the ones from the Jan. 7 Powerball drawing.
Eventually, Cheeks was told that one of the lottery’s contractors, the D.C.-based Taoti Enterprises, made a ”mistake” and had posted the wrong numbers to the website. However, Cheeks’ numbers remained up on the D.C. Lottery website for three days, according to the lawsuit.
“They have said that one of their contractors made a mistake,” his attorney Richard Evans told NBC Washington. “Even if a mistake was made, the question becomes: What do you do about that? There is a precedent for this, a similar case that happened in Iowa, where a mistake was admitted by a contractor and they paid the winnings out.”
According to court documents, while Taoti Enterprises has admitted to mistakenly posting the wrong numbers, it has denied all other allegations. Taoti Enterprises has countered some of Cheeks’ claims, including alleging that “he purchased the alleged winning Powerball ticket using errant numbers mistakenly posted on the website in advance of the actual Powerball drawing.”
Cheeks is suing for breach of contract and negligence, among additional counts, claiming he is entitled to the entirety of the Powerball prize or to damages for the defendants’ gross negligence.
Taoti Enterprises declined to comment on an active legal matter.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
[ad_2]
Jenna Romaine
Source link -
90 Day Deadline Running to File Public Water Claims for Billion Dollar Settlement
[ad_1]
Press Release
•
Feb 15, 2024
COLUMBIA, S.C., February 15, 2024 (Newswire.com)
–
The Federal Court in South Carolina overseeing the massive PFAS settlement of public water systems across the country issued its first filing deadline. On February 8, 2024, Judge Gergel formally approved the Dupont/Chemours/Corteva $1.185 Billion settlement. In doing so, the court set a claim deadline for all Phase One Claimants of 90 days from the date of the court order. This assumes no appeals are filed. The court has not set deadlines for the $12.5 billion 3M settlement but is expected to do so soon.Mike Stag of Stag Liuzza, which represents numerous water systems around the country, underscores the short time window now set for Phase One water providers to file their claim seeking funds from the Dupont/Chemours settlement: “Public water systems should understand remediation money will be available this year. If they don’t file by the deadline, they could forfeit the right to receive funds or delay funding by several years. Failure to file any claim will likely forfeit the right to receive funding.” Public water systems submitting qualifying claims could receive payments as early as this summer.
Stag Liuzza continues preparing and filing claims for their clients. “We want our public water clients to receive money as soon as funding becomes available,” Mr. Stag stated. The settlement requires submission of water system data that will be used by the settlement administrator to calculate payments to water systems. Stag adds, “The data collection process for claims is multi-faceted, requiring several steps to recover full funding. Sometimes we also recommend additional PFAS testing to maximize recovery.”
More information about the national PFAS Public water system settlement, or filing suit to recover money for PFAS contamination, can be obtained by contacting Mike Stag, Stag Liuzza at mstag@stagliuzza.com or by visiting www.cleangroundwater.com.
Source: Stag Liuzza
[ad_2]
-
ACLU sues Children’s Hospital Colorado for halting adult gender-affirming surgeries
[ad_1]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado alleges Children’s Hospital Colorado is discriminating against transgender patients by refusing to perform surgeries it offers to cisgender patients with other conditions.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Denver District Court, also states the hospital is discriminating on the basis of disability, because gender dysphoria — distress when a person’s sense of their gender doesn’t align with physical characteristics — is a medical condition.
The ACLU filed it on behalf of an 18-year-old Denver patient who was on track to receive gender-affirming surgery before the hospital discontinued that service.
The main reason young cisgender men seek chest reconstruction is if they developed feminine-appearing breasts because of hormonal imbalances or medication side effects, according to the lawsuit. The hospital also sometimes performs breast reduction surgery on young women who have excessive chest tissue that causes pain, it said.
The patient, who is identified in the lawsuit by the pseudonym Caden Kent, started receiving care at Children’s for mental health concerns when he was 16. He was diagnosed with gender dysphoria a few months later and had undergone about eight months of assessment before determining he was a candidate for surgery once he turned 18.
In July, the hospital announced it would no longer offer chest reconstruction surgery for transgender patients, though they could still receive other gender-affirming treatment, including counseling, puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The hospital had only offered surgery to patients who were at least 18.
The hospital stated it had received an unusual number of referrals for gender-affirming surgery as programs shut down in other states, and that it didn’t shut down the program because of threats. It came at a time when children’s hospitals were scrubbing references to transgender care from their websites, though, with at least 21 removing information in 2022. A search on the hospital’s website for its TRUE Center for Gender Diversity no longer turns up any results.
According to the lawsuit, Kent chose to undergo surgery at Children’s because he received other care there, and hoped to recover from the surgery before leaving for college in the fall. Other surgical providers who accept his family’s insurance are booked up, meaning his parents will have to pay out-of-pocket for him to undergo the surgery in that time frame. Kent had resorted to chest-binding to ease his dysphoria, but found himself withdrawing from others when binding became too painful and he couldn’t otherwise hide the breast tissue, it said.
“(Children’s Hospital Colorado’s) abrupt cancellation of all gender-affirming surgeries for its trans patients was devastating to Caden, other impacted patients, and Colorado’s transgender community,” ACLU of Colorado legal director Tim Macdonald said in a news release. “Refusal to provide medically necessary care based on the identity of the person seeking it, and the condition for which they are seeking it, is discriminatory and illegal under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get health news sent straight to your inbox.
[ad_2]
Meg Wingerter
Source link -
Sarah Silverman’s copyright infringement suit against OpenAI will advance in pared-down form
[ad_1]
Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against OpenAI will advance with some of her legal team’s claims dismissed. The comedian sued OpenAI and Meta in July 2023, claiming they trained their AI models on her books and other work without consent. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the unfair competition portion of the lawsuit will proceed. Judge Martínez-Olguín gave the plaintiffs until March 13 to amend the suit.
US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín threw out portions of the complaint from Silverman’s legal team Monday, including negligence, unjust enrichment, DMCA violations and accusations of vicarious infringement. The case’s principal claim remains intact. It alleges OpenAI directly infringed on copyrighted material by training LLMs on millions of books without permission.
OpenAI’s motion to dismiss, filed in August, didn’t tackle the case’s core copyright claims. Although the suit will proceed, the judge suggested the federal Copyright Act may preempt the suit’s remaining claims. “As OpenAI does not raise preemption, the Court does not consider it,” Martínez-Olguín wrote.
The US court system has yet to determine whether training AI large language models on copyrighted work falls under the fair use doctrine. Last month, OpenAI admitted in a court filing that it would be “impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials.”
The result of Silverman’s OpenAI hearing is similar to one in San Francisco in November when Silverman’s claims against Meta were also slashed down to the core copyright infringement claims. In that session, US District Judge Vince Chhabria described some of the plaintiffs’ dismissed claims as “nonsensical.”
Other groups suing OpenAI for alleged copyright-related violations include The New York Times, a collection of nonfiction authors (a group that grew after the initial lawsuit) and The Author’s Guild. The latter filed its claim alongside authors George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and John Grisham.
[ad_2]
Will Shanklin
Source link -
Amazon Prime Subscribers Fight Back Against Ad Tier In Class Action Lawsuit
[ad_1]
Source: CBS Evening News YouTube Amazon has been hit with a class action lawsuit from Prime subscribers who claim that they were mislead when they were charged an additional fee to stream movies and TV shows without ads.
Amazon Hit With Lawsuit
Filed in California federal court on Friday, the proposed class action lawsuit “claims breach of contract and violations of state consumer protection laws on behalf of users who saw the terms of their subscriptions with Amazon change when it pivoted to making its ad tier the default for its over 100 million subscribers,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Amazon announced plans in December of last year to turn on ads for all Prime Video viewers, rolling this change out last month, immediately becoming the largest ad-supported subscription streamer.
Prime subscribers can pay an additional $2.99 per month to go back to viewing content without ads.
Related: Amazon Employees Protest Sale Of ‘Anti-Trans’ Books During ‘Die-In’
Specifics Of Lawsuit
The issue at hand is that users who had previously signed up for annual subscriptions were impacted as well in an act that they claim was deceptive on Amazon’s part.
“For years, Amazon advertised that its Prime subscription included ad-free streaming of movies and tv shows,” the filing states, according to Forbes. “Like other consumers, Plaintiff purchased the Prime subscription, believing that it would include ad-free streaming of movies and tv shows. But it does not. Plaintiff brings this case for himself and for other Amazon Prime members.”
“Instead of receiving a subscription that included ad-free streaming of TV shows and movies, they received something worth less. They cannot enjoy ad-free streaming unless they pay an extra $2.99/month,” the suit states, according to The Wrap. “Thus, Amazon’s false advertisements harm consumers by depriving them of the reasonable expectations to which they are entitled. Subscribers must now pay extra to get something they already paid for.”
The class action suit is seeking at least $5 million as well as a court order that bans Amazon from engaging in further deceptive conduct on the behalf of users who subscribed to Prime before December 28, 2023.
Related: Brats With Blue Checks Remind Us of Amazon, Facebook and Twitter’s Genius
Amazon’s Goals
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy spoke out during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call to say that he believes that Prime Video would become a “large and profitable business” thanks to this add change. He went on to voice plans to continue investing in “compelling and exclusive content” such as “Thursday Night Football” and The Lord of The Rings.
“With the addition of ads on Prime Video, we’ll be able to continue investing meaningfully in content over time,” he added.
USA Today reported that Amazon Prime Video sent an email to customers at the end of December notifying them of an “upcoming change to your Prime Video experience” before introducing “limited advertisements” to allow the platform “to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers,” the email continued. “No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.”
Amazon has yet to comment publicly on this lawsuit.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
[ad_2]
James Conrad
Source link -
Apple reaches possible settlement with the startup it sued for trade secret theft
[ad_1]
Apple has reached a possible settlement with Rivos, the Mountain View startup it accused in 2022 of poaching its employees and stealing its trade secrets. In the companies’ filing seen by Bloomberg and Reuters, they told the US District Court for the Northern District of California that they have signed an agreement that “potentially settles the case.” Their deal would allow Apple to conduct a forensic examination of Rivos’ systems, as well as of its activities.
When Apple sued Rivos, it said the startup led a “coordinated campaign” to hire away employees from its chip design division. Apple also accused the defendant of instructing the employees it hired away to steal presentations and other proprietary information for unreleased iPhone chip designs that cost billions of dollars to develop. Rivos countersued Apple last year, accusing the larger company of restricting employees’ ability to work elsewhere and of hindering emerging startups’ growth by using anticompetitive measures.
The court dismissed Apple’s trade secret claims against Rivos in April 2023, though the company was allowed to file a revised complaint. Apple already settled with its six former employees who filed a countersuit against Apple along with Rivos after they dropped their claims against each other last month. Both companies are now requesting the court to put their cases on hold until March 15, when they expect the settlement to be completed.
[ad_2]
Mariella Moon
Source link -
Man ticketed for shouting expletive at Buffalo officer can sue police, appeals court rules
[ad_1]
A man who sued Buffalo police after he was ticketed for shouting at an officer to turn on his headlights can move forward with his legal action, an appeals court ruled.
The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals last week reversed a ruling by a U.S. district judge in Buffalo who had dismissed the case, saying the officer had reasonable grounds to cite the man for a noise violation after he called out “Turn your lights on,” and punctuated the remark with an expletive.
The new ruling sends the case back to district court for trial, arguing that the profane statement during the December 2016 encounter might be considered an “eminently reasonable” attempt to avert an accident.
R. Anthony Rupp III, a civil rights attorney, said he did not initially intend to sue over the incident, but changed his mind after learning the same officers were involved two months later in the arrest of an unarmed man who died of an asthma attack after struggling while being handcuffed.
A 2017 investigation by the attorney general’s office found insufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges against Officers Todd McAlister and Nicholas Parisi in the death of 20-year-old Wardel “Meech” Davis.
Rupp, though, said he felt the need to stand up for the dead man. He sued the city, the police commissioner and the officers at his traffic stop, claiming false arrest, malicious prosecution and First Amendment retaliation. Rupp told The Buffalo News he is only seeking $1 and an acknowledgment that the officers acted inappropriately.
“When I saw that it was the same two cops who were involved in my incident, when they retaliated against me because I (angered) them and Meech Davis (angered) them by resisting arrest, I went forward with a lawsuit that I never would have brought,” Rupp told the newspaper.
A Buffalo police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Rupp’s contact with the officers started about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 1, 2016, as he and his wife were leaving a downtown restaurant.
Rupp saw an approaching vehicle with its headlights off come close to hitting two pedestrians, then referred to the driver with a profanity while calling out: “Turn your lights on.”
It was only after McAlister pulled the vehicle over in response that Rupp saw it was a police SUV, according to court filings.
“You know you can be arrested for that,” McAlister told Rupp through an open window.
Rupp responded that McAlister should not be driving after dark without his headlights activated and told the officer he almost caused an accident.
McAlister then “got out of his vehicle and told Rupp he was detained,” the lawsuit said.
The situation escalated with the arrival of other officers, including Parisi, who refused Rupp’s request to issue McAlister a traffic ticket for driving without headlights. Instead, Rupp was issued a citation for violating the city’s noise prohibition. The citation was later dismissed at a hearing.
Rupp said a letter he wrote to the police commissioner the day after the encounter went unanswered.
“I wrote that letter because I thought these guys needed more training,” Rupp said. “They needlessly provoked an incident. They were in the wrong. They confronted me. They used the power of their badge to cite me.”
Lawyers for the city, in court documents, said Rupp’s legal claims were unsupported.
A U.S. district judge concurred, writing in a March 2021 ruling that the officer had probable cause to ticket the attorney for his shouted comment.
“Given both the volume and nature of Rupp’s yell in the presence of bystanders, a reasonable person of normal sensitivities could be annoyed and have their quiet, comfort, and repose disturbed,” the ruling read.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed in its Jan. 31, 2024, ruling. A jury might view the shout as “unreasonable noise” if all five words were expletives, the appeals court said, but a “rational juror” could easily view Rupp’s actual words “as an attempt to avert a possible accident.”
[ad_2]
Source link -
Investors sue NBA over ties with Voyager following $4.2b loss
[ad_1]
The NBA faces a lawsuit due to its promotional associations with the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital Holdings Inc.
According to investors, the partnership is responsible for financial damages amounting to $4.2 billion. According to Bloomberg reports, accusations of severe negligence have been leveled against the NBA for its promotional agreement involving Voyager and Mark Cuban, the previous Dallas Mavericks’ majority owner.
The legal action follows a prior lawsuit against Cuban for his endorsement of what is now deemed a fraudulent and unregulated venture. In 2022, investors charged Mark Cuban with deceit over Voyager’s security assurances, alleging that his representations contributed to their financial losses. Cuban has dismissed these accusations as completely unfounded.
Additionally, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has pursued legal action against Voyager’s co-founder Stephen Ehrlich, accusing him of deceptive practices in managing a digital asset trading and custody platform. Ehrlich has countered these allegations, claiming his designation as a “scapegoat” for others’ misconduct.
The lawsuit highlights a broader trend of NBA teams engaging in promotional activities with cryptocurrency entities, including the beleaguered FTX exchange. FTX’s collapse led to fraud convictions for its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
[ad_2]
Mohammad Shahidullah
Source link -
Fort Worth Fire Department turns control of Sandman Hotel over to property owners
[ad_1]
A security guard sits at Houston Street and Eighth Street on Jan. 13, 2024, after Houston Street was opened following cleanup from the explosion in the Sandman Signature Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. Twenty-one people were injured in the explosion.
Special to the Star-Telegram
READ MORE
Full Coverage: Fort Worth Hotel Explosion
Find the latest stories on the Sandman hotel explosion in downtown Fort Worth.
Expand All
The Fort Worth Fire Department has stepped back from leading the investigation into the Jan. 8 explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel and turned control of the property over to the hotel’s owner, Northland Properties, officials said.
The fire department investigated the criminal and public safety aspects of the explosion on behalf of the city. The initial investigation “revealed no indication of a criminal nexus or a recurring public safety concern,” fire officials said in a letter Wednesday to interested parties including the defendants and plaintiffs in lawsuits related to the explosion.
Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek told the Star-Telegram on Saturday that the department’s investigation isn’t complete. It’s stepping back so other parties can conduct investigations needed for the multiple civil lawsuits connected with the explosion, which authorities have said was linked to a natural gas leak believed to have started in or near the basement.
“It’s going to be a collaborative effort,” Trojacek said of the ongoing investigation.
“Investigators with the Fort Worth Fire Department Arson and Bomb Division will continue monitoring the progress of the investigation, including all site examinations, as an interested party,” the letter says.
The investigation into the exact origin and cause of the blast is expected to be complicated and lengthy. If at any point anything is uncovered to indicate the explosion was caused by or involved “criminal intent,” the fire department will take the investigation back over, according to Trojacek.
The fire department’s letter states that the other parties should coordinate their investigations and reach agreements on issues including access to the site and handling of evidence, “affording an opportunity for all to investigate the incident and to protect their respective interests.”
On Thursday, Northland Properties filed a court document indicating the hotel owner has reached an agreement with natural gas supplier Atmos in regard to preserving evidence at the scene of the explosion. The Rule 11 agreement has been filed in every lawsuit in which Northland and Atmos are parties, including a suit in which Atmos has sought to place the blame on the hotel owner.
The document states that Northland and Atmos anticipate working with other parties, including the attorneys for injured employees and guests who are suing, to agree on plans for a joint investigation.
According to the terms of the Rule 11 agreement, Northland won’t take any action or permit any entity under its control to do anything “that would alter, modify, or destroy any condition or item currently existing in the basement area of the building” without giving Atmos written notice three business days in advance.
Atmos agreed not to take any action to “alter, modify, or destroy” the gas line “that runs along 8th Street between Houston and Throckmorton Streets and the supply line branching off that line to supply gas to the Hotel” without providing Northland with written notice three business days in advance.
Atmos representatives can participate in investigations of the hotel’s first floor and basement conducted by Northland or “any representative or expert for any other party in the lawsuits in which this Rule 11 Agreement is filed.”
Atmos won’t be allowed to access the hotel except for the reasons mentioned in the agreement, written permission by Northland or by court order.
Northland representatives can participate in Atmos’ investigation of its hotel gas supply line.
The final stipulation of the agreement is that “Atmos Energy shall withdraw or nonsuit its currently pending request for injunctive relief in this case,” according to the document.
Atmos Energy wrapped up its initial investigation into the explosion on Jan. 12 and said it found no evidence that its lines or equipment caused the blast. In spite of those findings, Atmos has been named as a defendant in at least nine lawsuits filed on behalf of 33 plaintiffs. The hotel owners’ insurance company has also made several claims against Atmos related to the explosion, according to the lawsuit Atmos filed against Northland.
According to Atmos, someone at the Sandman hotel called the gas company to report a leak about 11 minutes before the blast. The Atmos representative told the caller to evacuate the building, but there’s no evidence the hotel staff tried to follow those instructions, the company’s lawsuit against Northland Properties states. Atmos argues that the leak originated inside the building, for which the property owner is responsible.
The lawsuit filed in Tarrant County asked the court to declare that Atmos holds no liability for the explosion. As part of the agreement, Atmos withdrew its request for the court to stop the fire department from releasing control of the scene to Northland.
In another one of the lawsuits, a Dallas County judge on Jan. 12 signed a temporary restraining order preventing cleanup of debris at the Sandman Signature Hotel to preserve evidence due to a lawsuit from José Mira, an employee of the basement-level Musume restaurant who was injured in the explosion.
The restraining order was originally granted for one week, but was later extended. It expired on Friday.
[ad_2]
Source link
)