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Christian Boot Camp Accused of Abusing Kids
Topics in Legal News |
2009/02/26 13:42
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Thayer Learning Center and its successor the Teen Life Skills Center abused children at its "Christian boot camp," hog tying them naked and spraying them with a hose, duct-taping children together overnight, throwing ice water on them as they shivered naked on a concrete floor, putting them in solitary confinement for a month, and forcing a girl to eat her own vomit, one girl's mother claims in Federal Court.
The mother, Ruth Romer, claims that Teen Life Center, of Kidder, Mo., "is a mere continuation of the predecessor Thayer Learning Center and that the creation of the successor for in whole or in part for the purpose of escaping liability for the tortious acts of Thayer Learning Center."
Teen Life is a Utah corporation. Also sued are Dorothy Steele, Willa Bundy and John Bundy, all of Springerville, Utah.
Romer also claims her daughter was provided with inadequate medical care. She says Thayer and its staff tells kids to "suck up your drama," denies them medical attention, and "terminates employees who report abuse to public agencies and law enforcement."
She says the defendants screen mail to and from children, "routinely misrepresent the physical and emotional status of children in their care when speaking to the parents of said children," and "misrepresent to parents the level, or lack thereof, of qualified medical training for staff at Defendant Thayer.'
She claims that "children at Defendant Thayer were routinely 'taken down,' meaning physically incapacitated and taken to the ground through 'choke holds' and other means."
She claims that "when a child was 'taken down' the 'drill instructor' or staff involved, would yell 'grenade,' meaning all other 'cadets' must get on the ground face down with their hands over their eyes and head, so as not to be witnesses to the event."
She claims that "children at Defendant Thayer were routinely 'smoked' meaning that they were forced to perform physical exercise and exertion until they collapsed from physical exhaustion."
She claims that "Some children have spent thirty days or more in solitary confinement, during which time they are forced to hear 'motivational' tapes over and over.
"Children have been restrained with zip ties around their ankles and wrists.
"Children have been restrained and attached to furniture.
"Male children have been stripped to their underwear, 'hog tied' and sprayed with a hose. ...
"A child was thrown into a barbed-wire bundle and told to get himself out.
"During the summer, for punishment, children have been placed in a 'hot box' which is an outside, rubber-sealed tent.
"For punishment, children have been duct taped and/or belted together for an entire day and sometimes overnight.
"For punishment, a child has been forced to brush her teeth for a four hour, non-stop time period.
"Students were stripped down to their underwear, tied up, and laid on a concrete floor and ice cold water was poured on them every hour.
"Restroom breaks were so limited that students regularly soiled themselves.
"The restricted bathroom breaks led to various urinary tract infections and bladder infections.
"One girl was forced to sit in a plastic tub containing urine for at least two and one-half hours. ...
"A female student vegetarian was forced to eat meatballs. The student got sick and vomited in her hands. 'The girl was then forced to eat the vomit.'"
And so on.
Here are the defendants: Thayer Learning Center LLC, Teen Life Skills Center Inc., Parent Help LLC, 2B Enterprises Holdings LLC, A 2B Enterprises LLC, Dorothy Steele, Willa Bundy, and John Bundy.
The Romers seek punitive damages. They are represented by James Thompson with Edelman & Thompson of Kansas City, Mo. |
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Munger, Tolles & Olson Retains Clearwell to lower costs
Legal Business |
2009/02/23 09:59
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Clearwell Systems, Inc., a leader in intelligent e-discovery, today announced that Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP (MTO), a California-based 2008 AMLAW 200 Law Firm, has deployed the Clearwell E-Discovery Platform to help lower e-discovery costs and more rapidly respond to litigation and governmental document requests.
The current financial downturn has spurred a flood of new investigations, surpassing the total number of cases filed from the savings and loan crisis over the last two decades. Affected enterprises and executives face lawsuits and inquiries from investors, financial regulators and the government that require extremely fast responses that drain resources and drive up the cost of e-discovery. Clearwell's rapid processing and analysis of case documents can help clients and law firms respond more cost-effectively to e-discovery requests under extremely tight deadlines. Furthermore, Clearwell's Transparent Search and advanced cull-down features help ensure that only the relevant data is produced and the process is defensible, thus mitigating legal risks.
"Responding successfully to time-sensitive litigation and governmental document requests requires efficient and cost-effective e-discovery processes that maintain accuracy and defensibility, even under tight timelines," said Ron Best, director of legal information systems at MTO. "The Clearwell E-Discovery Platform allows us to more quickly index, search, analyze, and cull-down case data in a product with very robust and transparent tracking and audit capabilities."
"As enterprises navigate through the current financial crisis, many are being hit two-fold with the burden of e-discovery requests from increased litigation and investigations," said Aaref Hilaly, president and CEO at Clearwell Systems. "In order to defensibly respond to these e-discovery requests, enterprises and law firms are seeking products that provide a level of transparency not available with traditional 'black-box' technologies."
About Clearwell Systems
Clearwell Systems is transforming the way enterprises perform electronic discovery in response to litigation, regulatory inquiries, and corporate investigations. By automating the processing, analysis and review of electronically stored information, Clearwell enables enterprises to accelerate early case assessments, lower processing costs, reduce review workload, and gain control of electronic discovery. Clearwell received the highest ranking of 'Strong Positive' in Gartner, Inc.'s, 2008 MarketScope for E-Discovery Software Product Vendors, and was ranked a Top 5 E-Discovery Software Provider Overall in the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. For more information, visit www.clearwellsystems.com or read the E-discovery 2.0 blog at: http://www.clearwellsystems.com/e-discovery-blog/. |
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Microsoft Dodges Class Action For Now
Topics in Legal News |
2009/02/20 09:32
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Microsoft got rid of the class-action status in the Vista Capable lawsuit, but the plaintiffs might retaliate and appeal the recent ruling. Although they had no immediate comments to make after the ruling, one of the partners in the law firm representing the plaintiffs confirmed that they will take action.
Computerworld quoted Jeffrey Tilden, partner in the Seattle law firm Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell LLP, as saying: We anticipate further motion practice in the trial court, followed by -- if unsuccessful –an appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
The plaintiffs argued in the court filling that Microsoft was unfair and deceptive in the Vista Capable matter, creating artificial demand, at artificially maintained prices, for PCs that were not Vista ready. Furthermore, consumers paid (more) for the Vista capability, but did not receive the real Vista capability.
A series of emails revealed in court showed how Microsoft representatives were doubtful about tagging some PCs as Vista Capable, as they would deceive consumers. The plaintiffs said consumers bought Vista Capable PCs only to discover that they were able to run just a basic version of the operating system, and were unable to run Vista’s core feature, the Aero interface.
But U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman granted Microsoft the motion for the class decertification of the lawsuit, while also rejecting its demand for summary judgment. This doesn’t absolve Microsoft from coming back to court though, where 6 individual claims are still standing.
Microsoft will still have a hard time proving that consumers have not been deceived when purchasing Vista Capable PCs, but dealing with individual claims is likely to cost them less than it would have under a class-action lawsuit. |
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Barnhill & Vayernov Investigating Insight Enterprises, Inc.
Headline Legal News |
2009/02/12 09:38
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Barnhill & Vaynerov LLP today announced that it is investigating potential claims against Insight Enterprises, Inc. ("Insight Enterprises" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:NSIT), on behalf of investors. The investigation pertains to possible securities violations related to public statements made by the Company between March 11, 2004 and February 6, 2009, in light of the Company's disclosure that it will have to restate its previously reported earnings.
On February 9, 2009, Insight Enterprises's stock declined nearly 50% after the Company shocked the market by revealing that it expects to restate financial statements included in the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2007, and in the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2008. According to the Company, the restatement will also include a material reduction of retained earnings as of December 31, 2004, related to the accumulation of such errors in prior periods. Insight Enterprises has disclosed that the cumulative effect of the restatement is expected to be $50 million to $70 million. On this news, Insight Enterprises shares declined by $2.85 per share, more than 48%, to close on February 9, 2009 at $3.05 per share, on unusually heavy volume.
If you purchased or acquired Insight Enterprises common stock between March 11, 2004 and February 6, 2009, if you have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or if you wish to discuss these matters or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Maxim Vaynerov, Esquire, of Barnhill & Vaynerov LLP, 8200 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 400, Beverly Hills, California 90211, by telephone at (310) 943-8989, or by email to Vaynerov@aol.com. |
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Sidley Austin Receives Commitment to Justice Award
Legal Business |
2009/02/05 09:29
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Sidley Austin LLP is a proud recipient of a 2009 Commitment to Justice Award given by inMotion, Inc., a leading non-profit legal service provider that helps indigent and working poor women who need divorces, orders of protection and assistance with other family law matters, including spousal/child support, custody and visitation. The ceremony, on February 3, 2009, honored the lawyers of the Sidley Austin LLP Externship Program 2004-2009 with a special Legal Team Award.
"We are deeply honored to receive this award from inMotion," said Joseph Armbrust, co-managing partner of Sidley's New York office. "Sidley prides itself on its strong commitment to pro bono representation and involvement in the community and our partnership with inMotion has been extremely important to the firm."
Since 2004, the firm's New York office has sponsored an innovative full-time externship program with inMotion. The program is open to all Sidley associates who have an interest in family justice. Each Sidley extern works at inMotion's offices in New York City for a three- to four-month period on a rotating basis and receives extensive training from inMotion. The externs litigate family law and contested divorce cases for women throughout New York City in need of legal assistance, especially those with complicated and demanding cases.
Sidley has a long-standing relationship with inMotion and has taken many of its pro bono referrals, as well as serving as one of its corporate partners. In 2003, Sidley received a Commitment to Justice Award for the firm's commitment to the ideal of access to justice for all individuals.
Sidley has a long tradition of providing pro bono services to individuals and organizations in the U.S. and around the world. Sidley's Pro Bono Policy encourages all lawyers to devote time to pro bono legal matters, including assistance to the poor and to charitable, community and other organizations that serve people who are indigent and unable to afford legal representation. In 2007, over 1,000 Sidley lawyers devoted more than 110,000 hours to pro bono matters. In 2008, Sidley was named as one of four recipients of The National Law Journal's Pro Bono Awards, given in recognition of its Veterans Benefits Project. The firm was recognized by NLJ in 2007 for its firmwide Capital Litigation Project and political asylum program. Sidley was also one of five recipients of the American Bar Association's 2007 Pro Bono Publico Awards.
For more information regarding inMotion's Commitment to Justice Awards, please visit: http://www.inmotiononline.org/content/view/211/261/lang,en/
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest full-service law firms, with more than 1800 lawyers practicing in 16 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Every year since 2003, Sidley has been named to Legal Business' Global Elite, its designation for the 18 firms "that define the pinnacle of the legal profession." BTI, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, has named Sidley to their Client Service Hall of Fame as one of only two law firms to rank in the Client Service Top 10 for seven years in a row, and to the BTI Power Elite as one of only seven law firms demonstrating the best client relationships for the fourth consecutive year.
For purposes of the New York State Bar rules, this press release may be considered Attorney Advertising and the headquarters of the firm are Sidley Austin LLP 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212.839.5300 and Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603, 312.853.7000. Prior results described herein do not guarantee a similar outcome. |
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