Civil Trials

Shame Upon Shame: Use BitTorrent to Snag Some Free Porn? The Feds May Be After You

"Harlem Shake" Video Goes Horribly Wrong at Palm Beach Subway

Fuck you, Jared. The Subway chain has a new advertising campaign -- the "Harlem Shake." But unlike the unremitting charm of the Jared Campaign, the sandwich king just can't seem to get this one right. (Or at least a recent lawsuit alleges.)

New Details on Alleged Sexual Harassment by Craig Ferguson, Former Thompson Academy Director

The former director of boys' lockup Thompson Academy, Renza "Craig" Ferguson, resigned under a cloud of suspicion in March. Staff members had made allegations that he was transporting young male inmates off campus and bringing them home to shower. See also: - Our cover story on abuse at Thompson A ... More >>

Kenneth Nolan Hits Panther While Riding Motorcycle, Sues Florida Department of Transportation

See also "Urban Sprawl Kills Endangered Florida Panther"Some lawsuits make you want to punch mankind's collective crotch and pray to the gods that the Mayans are right about the whole 2012 thing. Case in point: Kenneth Nolan filed a suit in Broward County Court seeking $15,000 from th ... More >>

Banking on the Disabled: Serial Filer of Lawsuits Saves the Disabled... and Makes Some Bucks

Boca Lawyer Doug Schapiro Has Sued Nearly 100 Local Businesses Over ADA Infractions

"The urinal is too high," says Douglas Schapiro, a pudgy lawyer dressed casually in a red polo shirt. He's squished into the men's room of Mi Fondita Mexicana Y Café in Hollywood fiddling with a measuring tape. "It has to be 17 inches from the floor. This is 24 inches."From the proper height of pis ... More >>

Steak 954 Owners Sued in Class-Action Lawsuit

A class-action federal lawsuit filed on Friday alleges that Starr Restaurants Hotel Group stiffed employees on overtime wages. Starr Restaurants, according to its website, is the parent company of Steak 954 in Fort Lauderdale and Makoto in Bal Harbour. The suit was filed by a man named Jean Valsin, ... More >>

George Elia Accused of Running Fort Lauderdale Ponzi Scheme

​It's probably not a good sign that a $4 million lawsuit regarding an alleged Ponzi scheme seems like "only" $4 million.While the accusations against 68-year-old Fort Lauderdale real estate broker George Elia pale in comparison to Scott Rothstein's billion-plus Ponzi scheme, people definitely stil ... More >>

South Florida Earns a Spot on the List of "Judicial Hellholes" for the Ninth Year in a Row

​Another year has just about gone by, which means it's time for South Florida to appear once again on the American Tort Reform Association's list of "judicial hellholes."Now every year since 2003 -- when they actually just picked Miami-Dade County -- South Florida has maintained its spot among ... More >>

Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino in Lawsuit Against Abercrombie Over G.T.L. Shirts

andpop.com​"You need to be on your tip-top game with your GTL to stay FTD to get the girls to DTF in MIA... say that 5 times fast." -- Michael "The Situation" SorrentinoA South Florida federal court and the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch now have a situation -- the Situation.The Jersey S ... More >>

Hack-a-Shaq: The Former Basketball Superstar Wages Digital War Against an Ex-Con Computer Geek

RaceTrac Hit With Another Personal Injury Suit

Bad gas... station? ​RaceTrac, an Atlanta-based gas behemoth known for its gut-busting soda fountains, has gotten slammed with another slip-and-fall lawsuit, some two months after a local couple filed suit against the 320-store petroleum conglomerate. Isaura Velez walked into a Hollywood RaceTrac ... More >>

Juveniles Alleging Sexual Assault and Abuse at Thompson Academy Agree to Settle Lawsuit

​Ending a seven-month legal battle that raised questions about living conditions at private juvenile prisons, the teenagers who alleged they were physically and sexually abused at the Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines have reached a settlement with the owners of the for-profit lockup.A federal cl ... More >>

Thompson Academy Calls Alleged Sex Assault of Teenager Consensual

Defendants allege the sex was consensual.​The 14-year-old boy who filed a lawsuit alleging he was twice sexually assaulted by a counselor at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center last year was a willing participant in the encounters, lawyers for the Pembroke Pines center allege.In court d ... More >>

Kids Claim Abuse and Violence at Juvenile Lockup Thompson Academy

Eddie Santana Makes Six Figures by Suing Restaurants From the Inside

Nevada Lawsuit Sheds Light on Inner Workings of VIP Nightclubs

​In a lawsuit filed this week, a young woman who hostessed at a Las Vegas nightclub -- Jet nightclub at the Mirage -- claims her bosses at the Light Group and Dancing Monkey coerced her to drink at work, do massive amounts of coke, and get a boob job.According to Jane Doe's attorney, she was "pres ... More >>

DJSP, Processing Company for Foreclosure Attorney David J. Stern, Lays Off 96 Employees

David J. Stern, whose law firm is under investigation for foreclosure fraud.​The latest round of layoffs at DJSP Enterprises, the foreclosure processing company for the law offices of David J. Stern, could add fuel to a class action case against DJSP and Stern, according to a lawyer for the compan ... More >>

New York Hedge Funds Strike Back In Rothstein Suit

We've heard all about how the Centurion and Platinum hedge funds in New York sank hundreds of millions of dollars into Scott Rothstein's Ponzi scheme.  Fort Lauderdale attorney Bill Scherer is suing them, claiming they were privy to the fraud and now must cough up ... More >>

Congressman Dennis Kucinich Sues Restaurant Over Olive

Donkey Hotey Watch those Olives!​Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is suing the operators, owners and suppliers of the House of Representatives cafeteria in Washington, DC for selling him a sandwich wrap that had an unpitted olive in it back in 2008. The lawsuit claims the Congres ... More >>

Thompson Academy's Owner Faced Similar Abuse Allegations in Other States

Youth Services InternationalA snapshot from a recent morale-boosting event at Thompson.​Allegations that teenaged inmates were sexually assaulted, malnourished, and physically abused at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines echo similar accusations the center's owner ha ... More >>

Suit Filed in West Palm Against Chiquita; Banana Company Accused of Paying Colombian Terrorists

Flickr: Jennifer I.​In a filing that's been anticipated for months, a group of Colombian families have sued Chiquita Brands International in West Palm federal court over reports that the banana company paid a terrorist group that then kidnapped and murdered relatives of those families.The suit, in ... More >>

Juice Obtains Civil Suit Filing Against Chiquita Listing 242 Plaintiffs

Today's suit alleges Chiquita funded AUC terrorists​The Juice has obtained the 110-page civil suit filed yesterday in West Palm Beach Federal District Court on behalf of 242 Colombian plaintiffs against Chiquita Brands International. The suit, brought by Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, which ha ... More >>

Are Animal Rights Activists -- and Local Multimillionaire -- Behind the McDonald's-Causes-Cancer lawsuit?

flickr user: nukeit1​Today, newswires were abuzz with the information that a Washington-based nonprofit group called the Cancer Project, on behalf of two plantiffs in Connecticut, filed a class-action lawsuit against Burger King, McDonald's, and Friendly's.  The lawsuit alleges that chicken s ... More >>

Chinese Drywall Leaves Florida Homeowners Looking for Someone to Blame

Sunday Reading: The Wayne Huizenga Story

I just happened on this classic written by Steve Almond in 1994 about South Florida's hard-driven, complicated, and sometimes brutal mogul.  Uh, it jumps.   Citizen Wayne - The Unauthorized Biography A college dropout and the product of a broken home, H. Wayne Huizenga rose ... More >>

Crist's Secrecy Prompts Suit

Wall Street in Miami

A slick L.A. movie producer gets slammed in the subtropics

Trump Team Ordered To Name Reporter

The Bad-Hands People

You say you want United Auto Insurance to pay your medical bills? Be ready to go to war.

Bullet Bob

Smooth-talking philanthropist Bob Montgomery has a dark side you don't want to see

West Palm Heat

Is sheriff's candidate Ric Bradshaw Dirty Harry or Mr. Clean? Voters want to know.

Gamblin' Men

Big-ticket casino deals plus a messy internal power struggle equals even more legal woes for the Seminole tribe

Barred For Life

The process for restoring the civil rights of felons in Florida works perfectly -- if not restoring their rights is the goal

Indian War

A Hollywood man has spent the past decade trying to pry open the Seminoles' accounting books -- without much success

Felon Follies

A problem that marred the 2000 ballot is back

The Double Cross

Two years ago, Ken Eggleston was Palm Beach County Sheriff Ed Bieluch's heir apparent. Now, they are implacable foes. What happened?

The Enforcer

John Garon may be a partial quadriplegic, but he wields federal civil-rights lawsuits with consummate skill

Call Me Now! ...And Pay Me Later

With all the millions Miss Cleo brings in, her Broward-based bosses have little trouble paying their way out of those pesky lawsuits

Police Beat

More than four years after a Delray Beach cop gave him a body full of bruises and a face full of pepper spray, a local doctor is still seeking justice

Osama's Bull's-eye

Two Stuart men find a novel way to exact revenge on the notorious Saudi: Take him to court.

Requiem for a Butcher

Need a tummy tuck? Plastic surgeon Jerry Lingle may not be your guy.

Guardian Gone

Irv Reisfeld fought ferociously for Broward's forgotten children. Then his boss axed him.

Crustacean Disputation

A shrimpy Ecuadorian company wants DuPont to stop spoiling its H20

At Work in the Fields of the Lord

Long hours. Low pay. Hardly any rights. It's the life of Palm Beach County's hidden underclass: migrant farm workers.

Grave Injustice

Do those who bury loved ones in Boca Raton's public cemetery have the right to decorate graves and erect markers? Apparently not.

A Vehicle For Racism

Isn't selling cars for Republic Industries hard enough without your boss cracking racist jokes all the time?

A Southern Belle in Black and White

The City of Belle Glade may be forced to annex the Okeechobee Center and put an end to alleged discrimination against its mostly black residents

Robert Lockwood's Hush Money

Broward's Clerk of Courts wants a million of your dollars to kill a racial bias suit before he faces questions under oath. Here's why.

Witness for the Persecution

Kim Mascola's life reads like a made-for-TV movie script. In fact, it nearly became one. Then the lawsuits started to fly.