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Disney sued over ‘severe’ injuries allegedly caused by ‘wedgie’ from water slide

The incident is said to have taken place in October 2019 at the Typhoon Lagoon water park in Florida.
Abigail Nilsson/Disney

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is facing a lawsuit related to an “injurious wedgie” that court documents allege resulted from riding a 214-foot water slide in the resort’s Typhoon Lagoon water park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

The suit pertains to an incident that took place on October 14, 2019, on the Humunga Kowabunga water slide during a two-week visit to Walt Disney World by plaintiffs Emma and Edward McGuinness and their family. The family visited the resort in part to celebrate Emma McGuinness’ 30th birthday.

The slide, which Disney bills on its website as a “near-vertical, 5-story drop — in the dark,” descends 214 feet and plunges riders into a pool of water to end the ride.

The suit, which was filed last week in the Circuit Court for Orange County, Florida, alleges that Disney knew, or should have known, of the risk of painful “wedgies,” particularly for women.

“Specifically, when a rider of The Slide reached the bottom of the ride and traveled into the pool of water designed to stop further travel, the force of the water can push loose garments into a person’s anatomy – an event known as a ‘wedgie,’” the suit says. “Because of a woman’s anatomy, the risk of a painful ‘wedgie’ is more common and more serious than it is for a man.”

The plaintiffs are seeking “damages exceeding $50,000, exclusive of interest and costs” for the count of negligence.

CNN has reached out to Walt Disney World Resort for comment.

The suit alleges that Disney “was negligent and breached its duties of reasonable care” in failing to provide protective clothing, such as shorts, for the slide; failing to warn McGuinness and other women of the risks; and other design and safety failures.

The suit says that McGuinness assumed the appropriate position with her ankles crossed, “as instructed,” but she became airborne toward the end of the slide and slammed into the slide “which increased the likelihood of her legs becoming uncrossed or otherwise exposing herself to injury.”

When McGuinness impacted the slide and the water at the bottom her swimsuit was forced between her legs and water was “violently forced inside her.”

She experienced severe internal pain, the suit says, and blood rushed from between her legs. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and was later transported to another hospital to see a specialist for repair of gynecologic injuries. Court documents say that McGuinness suffered “severe and permanent bodily injury” as well as impacts including mental anguish and lost earnings.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/typhoon-lagoon-disney-sued-over-injuries-wedgie-water-slide/index.html

Kanye West sued for $1m by ex-employee who claims he was forced to work in dangerous conditions and sleep on the floor for months

Tony Saxon claims he had to use his coat as bedding while he worked as a full-time caretaker at a property the rapper owned in Malibu, California.

Kanye West is being sued by a former employee who claims he was forced to work in dangerous conditions and sleep on the floor of a property the rapper was renovating.

Tony Saxon claims he is owed $1m (£800,000) in unpaid wages and loss of earnings after working as a project manager, full-time security, and live-in caretaker at the house in Malibu.

Mr Saxon told Sky News that he was instructed by Kanye West to remove the electricity and windows from the house.

“He wanted it to be like a bomb shelter,” he said. “Ye said to me, ‘This is going to be my bunker, my place to go off the grid and hide’.”

According to the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior court, West, who has legally changed his name to “Ye”, illegally fired Saxon after he refused to comply with the rapper’s “dangerous” demands.

The lawsuit alleges that Saxon was hired by Ye in September 2021 as a project manager who would also serve as full-time security at the multimillion-dollar beachfront property.

Alongside these roles, his duties would include overseeing construction-related tasks, including cleaning, demolition, hiring contractors and coordinating workers.

Ye had reportedly bought the home for more than $55m (£44m) and then proceeded to have it stripped out to begin an extensive remodel.

Tony Saxon at the Malibu property Pic: Tony Saxon

As a result of the property being gutted, according to the lawsuit, Saxon spent the entirety of his employment “sleeping in makeshift conditions, finding empty spaces on the ground and using his coat as a makeshift bedding”.

These conditions allegedly persisted despite “constant complaints” from Saxon about his sleeping conditions and other hazards including workers “unsafely demolishing various parts of the house with no safety equipment”.

At one point, Saxon said he was told to bring power generators inside which he refused to do so on safety grounds.

“He said put it inside,” said Saxon, “I said ‘Are you trying to kill me? Are you trying to kill everyone that works here?’ I had to get fresh, and say this is super irresponsible and super dangerous.

“He told me, ‘If you don’t listen to me then you’re an enemy, you’re a Clinton, you’re a Kardashian and I’m not going to be your friend anymore. I’m not going to give you an opportunity anymore’,” Saxon told Sky News.

Saxon claims he was promised payment of $20,000 (£16,000) per week, but after around a month later he had only received one $20,000 payment for his services along with $100,000 (£80,000) for construction costs, according to the complaint.

“He doesn’t pay anyone,” Saxon alleged.

“He gets people to do all this work and drop everything for him and then changes his mind or forgets. Working for Ye was insane. It was the constant shifting and changing dynamic, wondering [which version of Ye] is going to be on the other end of the phone – the nice pastor or the crazy dictator.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/kanye-west-sued-for-1m-by-ex-employee-who-claims-he-was-forced-to-work-in-dangerous-conditions-and-sleep-on-the-floor-for-months-12960649

Lawsuit contends Constitution’s ‘insurrection’ clause bars Trump from running again for president

FILE – Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. A liberal group has filed a lawsuit to bar Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado. The lawsuit contends Trump is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

A liberal group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to bar former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.”

The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. The complaint was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

It will jolt an already unsettled 2024 primary campaign that features the leading Republican candidate facing four separate criminal cases.

Liberal groups have demanded that states’ top election officials bar Trump under the clause that prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding higher office. None has taken that step, looking for guidance from the courts on how to interpret a clause that has only been used a handful of times since the 1860s.

While a few fringe figures have filed thinly written lawsuits in a few states citing the clause, the litigation Wednesday was the first by an organization with significant legal resources. It may lead to similar challenges in other states, holding out the potential for conflicting rulings that would require the Supreme Court to settle.

Colorado’s secretary of state, Democrat Jena Griswold, said in a statement that she hoped “this case will provide guidance to election officials on Trump’s eligibility as a candidate for office.”

The lawsuit contends the case is clear, given the attempt by then-President Trump to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his support for the assault of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Republican has said he did nothing wrong in his actions.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, helped ensure civil rights for freed slaves — and eventually for all people in the United States. But it also was used to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming members of Congress after the Civil War and taking over the government against which they had just rebelled.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-insurrection-constitution-2024-election-primary-ballot-19ca3f17881e8818302cb1260e7c2aed

Drunk Delta Airlines passenger downs 11 drinks, sexually assaults minor and her mom on 9-hour flight: lawsuit

Victims seeking $2 million in damages say Delta Air Lines was negligent by continuing to serve an intoxicated man drinks

A belligerent drunk on a Delta Air Lines flight was served at least 10 vodka drinks and a glass of wine before groping a 16-year-old girl and her mother, court documents allege.

Delta flight attendants “blatantly ignored” pleas for help from the women as the intoxicated male passenger behaved aggressively toward them and escalated into inappropriate touching over a nearly nine-hour flight that departed from JFK Airport, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York claims.

Staff then allegedly permitted the drunken man to exit the plane at its destination in Athens, Greece, without alerting local authorities or U.S. law enforcement about the alleged sexual assault.

The $2 million lawsuit accuses Delta of gross negligence and demands compensation for the victims. It states Delta flight attendants continued to serve the intoxicated man drinks even though he was noticeably drunk.

A Delta Air Lines flight attendant sells food on board a San Francisco-bound plane April 11, 2014, outside New York City. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The intoxicated Delta passenger appeared to be getting drunker and drunker as the Delta flight attendants continued serving him alcohol,” the complaint states.

The intoxicated man was seated next to the plaintiffs on the flight. As he got more drunk, he attempted to speak with the 16-year-old girl, who tried to ignore him. Angered, the drunk became aggressive toward the girl and began yelling at her.

He also made “obscene gestures,” demanded to know her address and other personal information and grabbed her, putting his hands on her back, which “frightened” her, the lawsuit claims.

The girl’s mother told the man her daughter was a minor who was still in high school. He allegedly replied that he did not care. He then allegedly reached over the girl and began pulling on her mother’s arm.

The Delta Air Lines logo on a passenger plane in Washington, D.C., Feb. 16, 2023. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Other passengers started to notice as the man was screaming loudly at them. But when the women told flight attendants the man was drunk and making them feel unsafe, they told them to just “be patient” and walked away, according to the complaint.

The unidentified drunk, who “mumbled” that he was from Connecticut, then allegedly began touching the minor again, “mumbling drunkenly and forcefully kicking the seats in front of them causing the rows of seats to shake.”

Suddenly, the family recounts, he put his head down “for about thirty seconds,” then shot back up and ran to the restroom, where he reportedly was heard puking.

The mother and daughter said they requested the man be moved to another seat and cut off from drinks, but flight attendants allegedly brushed off their complaints.

A Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100 aircraft on its final approach at JFK Airport Nov. 14, 2019, in New York. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

When the intoxicated man returned from the bathroom, he allegedly had a glass of red wine.

After repeated pleas from the women, the head flight attendant eventually told the man to “stop talking to them,” which provoked an explosion of screaming and profanity directed at the family.

The teen was “terrified” and began to have a panic attack. She put her head down in her mother’s lap — and that’s when the man allegedly slid his “clammy fingers” underneath her shirt and groped for the clasp on her bra strap. “Trembling, petrified and crying,” the teen leaped out of her seat and away from the man, the lawsuit states.

But the man proceeded to place his hand on the mother’s leg and allegedly “began moving his hand” up the inside of her thigh. She screamed too and jumped out of her seat.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/drunk-delta-airlines-passenger-downs-11-drinks-sexually-assaults-minor-mom-9-hour-flight-lawsuit

Gannett sues Google over its alleged ad tech monopoly

USA Today publisher Gannett is suing Google for allegedly illegally monopolizing the advertising technology market, adding to an already-extensive list of lawsuits against the company for alleged anti-competitive behavior.

“With control over the largest ad exchange and ad server — both of which Google acquired rather than developed — Google has carried out a sophisticated, anticompetitive, and deceptive scheme for well over a decade,” Gannett argued in a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. The publisher said Google’s broad control of the ad tech market has hurt news publishers, claiming online readership has grown while online ad spending has decreased for publishers.

“Google has monopolized market trading to their advantage and at the expense of publishers, readers and everyone else,” Gannett Chairman and CEO Michael Reed said in a statement. “Digital advertising is the lifeblood of the online economy. Without free and fair competition for digital ad space, publishers cannot invest in their newsrooms.”

The lawsuit echoes arguments made by the U.S. Department of Justice in its second lawsuit against Google, following an earlier one focused on how it distributes its search product. That lawsuit similarly alleged Google illegally maintained a monopoly through its control of multiple parts of the ad selling and buying market.

A group of attorneys general led by Texas also alleged anti-competitive practices over Google’s ad tech products in a 2020 lawsuit.

VP of Google Ads Dan Taylor called Gannett’s claims “simply wrong” in a statement following the lawsuit.

Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/20/gannett-sues-google-over-its-alleged-ad-tech-monopoly.html