Monday, January 29, 2007

Sunday, January 28, 2007

"Halliburton sued in alleged Iraq rape of a Florida woman"

Vanessa Blum has the story here (and there are an awful lot of comments that follow from readers):

"Keys for those units were kept in an unsecured, unguarded key box and apparently a large number of employees knew where it was," [Miami attorney John] Spiegel said. "This dangerous situation clearly began with this gentleman having an opportunity to gain access to her studio," he said. "Imagine a woman checking into a hotel and the hotel allowing pretty much anybody access to room keys. I think the public would be outraged."Spiegel said Halliburton also turned a blind eye to alcohol consumption on premises, creating unsafe conditions for the small number of female employees working among hundreds of men.The woman reported the rape the following morning and was flown to a Baghdad hospital where a rape kit was performed to collect DNA samples.After taking several weeks' medical leave in Florida, she returned to Iraq but left permanently in July because of emotional difficulties.The suit seeks compensation for pain and suffering.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

“They have stolen the courthouse from the Superior Court of California, and I mean nothing short of that.”

So said Mike Tein in front of Judge Altonaga yesterday. Robert Parks wasn't happy about it and the gloves came off. Julie Kay has the whole story here.

In this corner...



I'm not sure you ever want to be a defendant when the plaintiffs are federal judges. Looks like we're closer to litigation over the new courthouse. Earlier coverage here. Said William J. Zloch, the chief judge for the Southern District of Florida: ``We are frustrated. The general contractor is basically unable to perform and there are numerous problems that have led the GSA to evaluate its legal rights.''