A court in Ohio last week found an attorney guilty of filing an frivolous lawsuit and fined her $6000.00 which was the amount of the expense for the defendant in the case, now this. Isn't it time to get Harvard law and Yale into court for "manufacturing a flawed" product?
Family of activist killed by IDF bulldozer in Gaza sues its maker
By Reuters
CHICAGO - The family of a 23-year-old activist killed two years ago in the Gaza Strip by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer accused its maker Caterpillar Inc. of "war crimes" in a federal lawsuit, according to court papers.
The suit was filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle by Cynthia and Craig Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, a college student who died on March 16, 2003, while trying to block the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp.
A spokesman for Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar declined comment except to say it was reviewing the suit and referenced an earlier statement that said the company has "neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use" of its equipment after it was sold.
Filed with the aid of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the lawsuit seeks at least $75,000 in compensatory damages plus unspecified punitive damages from Caterpillar.
"The family has been trying to get some accountability for a while," said the center's spokeswoman, Jen Nessel. "They cannot bring a criminal complaint so the only way is to file a civil suit seeking damages."
The complaint alleged Caterpillar was a party to "war crimes; aiding and abetting extrajudicial killing; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; wrongful death; and negligence."
Companion litigation was filed in Israel against the Israeli government, Nessel said.
In its investigation, Israel concluded Corrie's death was an accident and that the driver
of the bulldozer did not see her. The probe said a slab of concrete slid down a mound of earth and crushed her.
But the lawsuit claimed there were two soldiers on the bulldozer as well as a spotter nearby who could not have missed seeing Corrie, who was wearing a bright red vest and waving her arms when she was run over. There were running arguments between the demolition teams and the activists that day, the suit said.
Corrie was among a group of activists from Olympia, Washington, who arrived in the Middle East in January 2003 to stage nonviolent actions and attempt to block the demolition of Palestinian homes.
Human Rights Watch and other groups have called on Caterpillar to stop supplying bulldozers and parts to Israel.
The amazing thing is they actually admitted her into college! Makes me think that college degrees these days aren't worth the paper they're printed on, if her intelligence is indicative of the intelligence level of her college going peers.
wow...i mean, i always knew bulldozers were just amazingy fast, possibly breaking the 8 MPH barrier, but fast enough to run over a person? that thing musta just snuck up behind her or fell off a rooftop on her. oh well..maybe we need to get all these protestors to line up in front of a D10 Cat and see how tough they are and who really has deep beliefs.
Isn't it time to get Harvard law and Yale into court for "manufacturing a flawed" product?
Don't be too hard on them. Law students have to go somewhere and not everybody gets into Texas Tech.
I think anyone dumb enough to go head to head with a dozer deserves to be squashed. Like those nuisances that chain themselves to trees and pretend they are really putting their lives on the line for their cause. Take out one or two and I'll bet the rest couldn't get thier chains off fast enough. The way I see it, if I have the legal right to demolish something and some idiot gets in the way, its his/her fault for getting in the way if something happens. Good job by the lawyers at Caterpillar to get sanctions imposed for crap like this.
__________________
You may beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride!
Anybody ready to sue a Law school??
