World-renowned karate master and Total Gym spokesman, Chuck Norris is suing Penguin publishing. The suit, filed in New York, alleges that Penguin committed trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and violated Mr. Norris’ privacy rights by publishing the book entitled, The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World’s Greatest Human.

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Carlos Ray Norris (Chuck’s real name) claims, “The book’s title [will] mislead readers into thinking the facts [are] true.” The lawsuit alleges that, “Some of the ‘facts’ in the book are racist, lewd or portray Mr. Norris as engaged in illegal activities.”

These “facts” have developed quite a following over the last few years. People seem rather interested to know that Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because the only element he recognizes is the element of surprise. I myself was shocked to learn that “fighting Chuck Norris is what Meatloaf wouldn’t do for love.”

This is not the first time Chuck Norris has filed a lawsuit. According to sources, Mr. Norris, “Once sued Gillette because Chuck Norris is the best a man can get.” Apparently, Chuck is “also suing ‘Myspace’ for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.”

Penguin beware. Mr. Norris is known to be able to kill two stones with one bird.

For info on Trademarks and Infringements post your case to Toronto Lawyers, Vancouver Lawyers or a local Lawyer in your area.

Chris Bosh, Toronto’s favourite basketball icon and a 4 time all-star has gotten much media attention recently in Toronto over his child support lawsuit filed by his former live-in girlfriend and now mother of his daughter.  According to the lawsuit filed by Allison Mathis, Raptor’s star dumped her after his return from the Olympics game.  The lawsuit claims that not only did he no longer supported her financially, he also attempted to remove her from his 1.6 million dollar Texas home.

Allison Mathis at that time did not have a job and as a result was forced to move in with her mother.  After 3 weeks of since their daughter was born, she certainly didn’t waste tiem to file her lawsuit.  She is now on record demanding support for herself and her new born.
Chris Bosh makes 14.4 million usd as it stands.  One can expect the child support payment to be a not so regular child support an average income maker would pay. 

In Chris Bosh’s defense, his lawyer claims Bosh began legal proceedings to support his daughter finincially and gain child visitation rights well before Allison’s lawsuit.

We will just have to see how this plays out and most importantly we will have to wait and see if he is able to settle out of court or if lengthy legal proceedings are required.

We had blogged about Lawyer Marc Dreir in December and reported his arrest in Toronto on criminal charges for orchestrating a $400 million dollar usd fraud.  It is not until in this week the firm’s client list were filed in the New York court.    According to an article in Globe and Mail, the list includes:  Bill Cosby, Tim Burton, Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent, Sammy Sosa and others.  Click here for the article

The actress/singer made huge headlines across major News station for allegedly breaking her parole terms given out for her dui and drug offences back in 2007.  After alot of media speculations, back and forth between Beverly Hills Police Department and Lindsay’s attorney, the warrant was later dropped by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge citing that the terms were not in fact broken.

Amy Winehouse, along with her lawyers, pleaded not guilty to her assault charges laid against by a fan.  The fan claims Amy struck her at a charity concert in London held on September 26, 2008.  The common assault charges were laid on Amy in early March.

Famous baseball player, Roberto Alomar is being sued by an ex girlfriend for unprotected sex. Ilya Dall claims Alomar repeatedly refused to be tested for AIDS claiming that he was tested and AIDS-free. The couple lived together for three years during which time Ilya states she watched as his health worsened.

Alomar was arguably one of the best second base players the New York Mets have ever had. He quit baseball because of health reasons in 2005.

The suit states that Dall and Alomar began dating in 2002. About a month into it, they began having unprotected sex, in part, because Alomar assured Dall he was disease-free. Two years into the relationship, Dall noticed he had cold sores in his mouth. About a year after that, Alomar was diagnosed with thrombocytopenia purpura, which is occasionally linked to HIV. Because of this, the doctor suggested Alomar get an AIDS test and Alomar refused.

Eventually, Alomar took an AIDS test, which came back positive. Afterwards, Dall took the test and, even though the couple had unprotected sex, she came up clean.

Despite this, Dall is suing for $15 million in punitive damages, claiming Alomar caused her emotional distress and exposed her children to the virus. Quoted in the suit as saying, “He jeopardized the health, well-being and life of the plaintiff, which caused her to have a fear of contracting AIDS, often referred to as AIDS phobia.”

In response to the suit, Alomar’s lawyer, Charles Bach stated, “We believe this is a totally frivolous lawsuit. These allegations are baseless.” “He’s healthy and would like to keep his health status private. We’ll do our talking in court.”

Ilya’s attorney, Anthony Piacentini had no comment.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. $15 million is an extremely large amount for some emotional distress. Not to question Ms. Dall’s motives, but the whole situation seems rather dirty. If she had contracted the virus because of Alomar’s actions, it would be a different story, but as it stands, it appears she is overshooting with her claim in an attempt to settle out of court for less than $15 million, but more than she probably deserves.

Many parents believed that mercury-laced vaccines caused their child’s autism, but a special U.S. court ruled otherwise. The court found that there was no direct link between receiving the vaccination and autism.

With copious amounts of scientific research done on the subject, the court had a lot to go on. Inevitably, the court concluded that, “It was abundantly clear that petitioners’ theories of causation were speculative and unpersuasive.” Adding that, “the weight of scientific research and authority” was “simply more persuasive on nearly every point in contention.” And the evidence “is weak, contradictory and unpersuasive,” and “sadly, the petitioners in this litigation have been the victims of bad science conducted to support litigation rather than to advance medical and scientific understanding” of autism.

This ruling brings grim tidings to more than 5,500 families who have filed personal injury claims through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The attorneys for the families must show that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative found in vaccines, more than likely caused their child to become autistic.

The controversy over vaccines has a lot of celebrity proponents. Jenny McCarthy, a television star and Playboy playmate, is one of them. McCarthy’s son is afflicted with autism and, in an attempt to spread awareness; she has done many interviews, most recently with CNN, regarding the connection between vaccines and autism.

Where it gets bothersome is with organizations like Kids Need Options With Vaccines (KNOW). They have a page on their website listing three ‘myths’ about vaccinations including “Vaccines are effective” as one of the myths. According to them, there is no proof vaccines help lower disease rates and that the only true way to do this is through improved hygiene and diet.

In Quebec City, a 15-year-old contracted meningitis in part because he refused the meningitis vaccine. Under Quebec law, people 14 and old have the right to refuse a vaccine without parental consent.

The decision by the court is refreshing. It is nice to know science can still triumph and mob rule is not always status quo. Autism is a challenging disease and it is almost a shame the parents were wrong in the sense that knowing the cause would allow us to change the way we inoculate our young and curtail autism. Nevertheless, they were wrong and the court’s decision puts aside claims by lawyers and their clients that may have hindered finding the true cause of autism and ending it.

The idea of child prostitution draws a lot of emotion and is one of the greatest concerns human rights organizations address. Each year, numerous middle and upper class citizens travel thousands of miles for child-sex “tours” in which hired guides locate prostitution hot spots within impoverished countries, like Cambodia, so the client can fulfill their perverse desires. To address this issue, countries have stepped forward to pass extraterritorial legislation that allows them to bring charges against these “tourists” in their home countries. Recently, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled that Canadian extraterritorial child-sex tourism laws are constitutional.

The law states that it is illegal to engage in crimes related to child prostitution or other forms of child exploitation while abroad. Revised in 1999, prosecuting offenders no longer requires a consular officer from the country in which the act occurred to initiate the proceedings. This is important because many foreign nations state a citizen reaches maturity at the age of sixteen as opposed to eighteen. Before its revision, a lawyer helped Canadian teacher escaped prosecution for a sexual assault against a 17-year-old student in Costa Rica. This is because the Costa Rican government did not initiate proceedings since the student was of legal age under their laws.

Kenneth Klassen is not as lucky. His lawyers fought the constitutionality of the current extraterritorial law to no avail. During his decision last week, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen stated, “A nation has a sovereign interest in preventing the sexual exploitation of children, regardless of where it occurs.” Klassen, a father of three, is charged with 35 sex crimes involving children as young as nine. As it stands now, he may be the first Canadian to go on trial for child-sex tourism.

In 2004, Donald Bakker was the first charged under Canada’s tourism laws. He pled guilty in 2005 to avoid a trial and sentenced to seven years in prison. Notably, NBC Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” program assisted in his arrest, mounting incriminating video evidence of some of Bakker’s exploits.

The United States and Australia are a couple other countries with such laws on their books. Both the U.S. court of appeals and the Australian High Court found their extraterritorial laws constitutional in 2006. Roughly a hundred people from these countries have been arrested in connection to child prostitution abroad.

Debate rages over the validity and necessity of many laws, but when it comes to sex with children, there is little debate. As intimidating as it may seem that a country can charge you with crimes committed outside its domain, it is somewhat refreshing to know that one will be held accountable in these circumstances. Many of the children are forced into prostitution or sold by their parents under false pretenses of legitimate jobs. Of course, the supply is less of an issue than the demand. With continued attention to resolving this problem through extraterritorial laws and successful prosecutions, governments can chip away at child prostitution rings and the sex trade in general.

So the verdict is out. OJ Simpson has been jailed for 15 years on robbery and kidnapping charges.

Simpson’s lawyers and defense lawyers pleaded with the Judge that Simpson be released on bail pending appeal, which she turned down.

Simpson is eligible for parole after 5 years according to Judge Jacke Glass.

Simpson still maintained his position as he was innocent. He claimed that he knew nothing that he was committing any sort of crime. “I thought I was confronting friends and retrieving my property”

Remember Boy George? Yeah, the genius responsible for making “Karma Chameleon” get stuck in your head after you’ve been out to 80’s night. Playing itself on repeat, annoying you to death.

Well, apparently our dear Boy George isn’t just imprisoning us in our minds with his horrible lyrics. The singer is currently on trial (under his real, much less exciting name of George O’Dowd) for false imprisonment. Yeah, really. A Norwegian escort George hired once for a photo shoot, during a second “shoot,” says he was held captive, handcuffed to a wall, while George beat him with a heavy chain. He was able to wrest free and escape, and is now pressing charges.

Though what doesn’t make sense is why our dear Norwegian escort friend (named Audun Carlsen, by the way) went back to George’s place. Carlsen was contacted for and participated in a nude photo shoot with George during their first encounter. However, after this, George had sent him emails accusing him of having hacked into his computer. After receiving several emails in this vein, Carlsen still agreed to go back to George’s place for another photo shoot.

Now, while obviously what Boy George did was illegal and he’ll need to face the relevant legal penalties for his actions, there remains a point I’d like to quibble with here. What reasonably sane and not-braindead person would go back into Boy George’s home, for what is quite obviously very sensitive work, after receiving emails accusing you of having hacked into his computer? And, as it seems here, there’s no indication that you two resolved this issue before you returned to his home? I mean, I know it’s not the safest industry in the world, but seriously, where’s your common sense?

Boy George is obviously not above criticism here. Now, I’m sympathetic to drug problems, these things happen to everyone. But doing too much cocaine is entirely different from paranoid attempts at imprisoning and beating someone you met once before.

I mean, I suppose “strange” is the only really appropriate adjective for this.

Audun Carlsen, after escaping from Boy George’s home, had to run down the street in only his underwear to make his escape. Photos of him with welts on his head and arms have been submitted as evidence of damage inflicted in Boy George’s attempt to imprison him.

[MSNBC]

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Al khalifa’s lawyers and Michael Jackson’s lawyers finally reached an out of court settlement over the law suit of 7 million issued by Mr. khalifa’s lawyers for Michael Jackson not living up the contractual agreement between the 2 parties. MJ was paid a handsome cash advance for promising Khalifa a record, an autobiography and a stage play. According to Al Khalifa’s testimony he had paid for MJ’s living and travelling expenses during his stay in Bahrain. He further testified he got MJ a Motivational Guru and built a studio in preparation for his record.

In defense of MJ, his lawyers called on the fact it was Al khalifa lavishing Jackson with his gifts based on “mistake, undue influence and misinterpretations”. They also urgued successfully that Michael Jackson was taken advantage of by Al Khalifa at a time of vulnerability and by engaging in-appropriate business tactics.

Where I stand I am pretty sure both of them took advantage of each other. Al khalifa is an aspiring song writer while Jackson was in deep need of financial bailout since his child molestation case in 2005.

If either one was serious about this venture, they would have gotten that in writing with lawyer representations from both parties.