High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The…
The plant in Georgia that produced peanut butter tainted by salmonella has a history of sanitation lapses and was cited repeatedly in 2006 and 2007 for having dirty surfaces and grease residue and dirt buildup throughout the plant, according to health inspection reports. Inspection reports from 2008 found the plant…
A new study finds that hundreds of young children in the Washington D.C. area experienced potentially damaging amounts of lead in their blood when lead levels were rising in the city’s tap water. In some neighborhoods, the number of toddlers and infants with blood-lead concentrations that can cause irreversible IQ…
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a former Colleyville woman who says that a forced traumatic exorcism left her so physically bruised and emotionally scarred that she later tried to commit suicide. Attorneys for Laura Pearson filed an appeal before the court arguing that the Texas…
Workers who cooperate with their employers’ internal investigations of discrimination may not be fired in retaliation for implicating colleagues or superiors, according to a unanimous Supreme Court ruling. The court voted to reverse the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the anti-retaliation provision of Title VII of the…
The family of a Wisconsin teenager killed on a 2007 amusement park ride will be paid $1 million in the settlement of their lawsuit against the operators. The girl aged 16, died July 14, 2007, in a fall from a giant swing ride at Lifest 2007 when her safety harness…
An Army investigation called the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq a “negligent homicide” caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors. Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, died as a result of negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that “qualified electricians…
More than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger, according to federal health officials. The list ranges from goodies like cookies and ice cream to energy bars. Even food for dogs may not be entirely safe, with a national company recalling some of its…
On Dec. 8, 2008, a jury awarded $873,000 to an insurance adjuster who claimed he was fired for cooperating with an FBI investigation. In 2003, the FBI began investigating fraud allegations made against one of Fred Klecka’s co-workers. Klecka claimed that when his managers learned he was cooperating with the…
The Food and Drug Administration said that salmonella was found in a package of peanut butter sandwich crackers made by Kellogg. Kellogg said that a previously recalled peanut butter-sandwich cracker tested positive for salmonella. The outbreak has led to 474 reported illnesses and may have caused six deaths, according to…