Word: plaintiffs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...plaintiff, Controleur Général de Police Michel Gonzales, was confident that no judge would uphold the defendant. In polite society, after all, one never even says merde outright but le mot de Cambronne, a reference to the same word used by a Napoleonic general when the British suggested that he surrender at Waterloo...
...Figures speak, and when they do, courts listen," noted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The plaintiff was Andrew Hawkins, a black carpenter living in Shaw, Miss. (pop. 2,500). His figures were devastating. Though 60% of Shaw's citizens are black, white areas monopolize the town's sewers, fire hydrants, water mains and street lights. A mere 3% of black homes front on paved streets, compared with 99% of white homes. Are those statistics the result of sheer chance-or a patent violation of the 14th Amendment's equal-protection clause...
...court suing a doctor, and the judge would laugh at you." Now many courts have made such suits easier. In several states, lawyers are allowed to cite medical textbooks as expert testimony in some malpractice cases. Under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself), a plaintiff proves a major portion of his case when he shows that his injuries would not normally have occurred without negligence. In turn, the defendant is forced to produce evidence that he was not negligent. Doctors' changing attitudes have also helped aggrieved patients. Though many physicians still fear ostracism...
...determine whether or not the patient really has a case. If they think he has, they recommend that it be settled out of court. Neither doctors nor patients are bound by the panel's decisions. But most go along, and for good reason. In 13 years, no plaintiff turned down by the panel has succeeded in court. Only one doctor refused to settle. When he lost the trial that he had insisted on, the court awarded his patient...
...auto thefts, the New York legislature passed a law forbidding motorists to leave keys in the ignition locks of unattended cars. As a result, Chester Gorski of Rome, N.Y. has been ordered to pay $33,862 in damages because his stolen car was involved in a fatal collision. The plaintiff, whose wife was killed in the crash, had a persuasive witness-the car thief. Donald Smith, 18, who is now in jail as a youthful offender, testified that he downed 18 beers at a firemen's carnival, jumped into Gorski's car, found the key dangling from...