A Wisconsin jury has awarded $700,000 to two brothers, who were sexually abused by a priest at the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay in 1978. The victims had filed a sexual abuse lawsuit in 2008 accusing the diocese of misrepresentation and failing to disclose sexual abuse by priests. While criminal proceedings resulted in imprisonment of the accused Rev. John Fenney in 2004, the jury also found that the Green Bay Diocese covered up sexual abuse incidents by the concerned priest during the 1960s and 1970s.

Merryfields brothers, Todd and Troy, were molested by Fenney when they attended St. Nicholas Church in Freedom at the age of 12 and 14. A number of priests and church officials testified in the court about reported inappropriate behaviour by Feeney. The plaintiffs had accused that the diocese did not act at that time despite being aware of involvement of the priest in acts of child molestation and sexual assaults.

The accused priest touched girls inappropriately during a mental health counselling at a church retreat in 1974, testified Rev. Lawrence Canavera during the trial. A number of witnesses admitted of receiving complaints about Feeney having naked showers with boys after basketball games.

The court has awarded the compensation to the brothers for the pain and agony they have had. The diocese’s bill is set to be much higher as the court will assemble on Wednesday to decide on the punitive damage to be paid.

Justice is delayed, but not denied. The sexual abuse lawsuit has become an example for all those suffered due to assault and molestation during their childhood days. The historic judgment provides courage to the Catholic church sexual abuse victims to come out and seek exemplary punishment for individuals and organizations accountable for their pain, agony, emotional disturbance and devastation of childhood years.

With a mission to end sexual abuse in Australia, Lloyds and Barclay Lawyers offer legal assistance and representation to molestation victims for protection of their right to lead a dignified life, punish perpetrator, and seek exemplary punitive damages. Contact us if you are subject to any kind of sexual abuse, professional negligence, injury, accident, emotional distress, contractual fraud or financial distress due to the action of others. We offer legal services to personal injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement.

Two women from Queensland who were injured when a balcony of the Church Grammar School collapses have filed a lawsuit in Brisbane District Court against the school, which is one of the elite private schools in Brisbane.

The 47-year-old Anne Elizabeth Gillespie and 51-year-old Melinda Shirley Gaudion have filed civil lawsuits, claiming damages worth $600,000.

In November 2008, during the end-of-year lunch party held for mothers of Class 12^th students of Anglican Church Grammar School, the home veranda fell, with more than 20 women plunging three metres into the ground.  The incident left at least 16 of the women injured, with many of them suffering broken legs. There was one with a broken back and a shattered pelvis. Amid this, Annette Lee Spencer, who was a talented architect, succumbed to her injuries.

A number of legal actions followed immediately after the event, which triggered a coroner’s inquest.

In the two lawsuits, the two plaintiffs have complained of the injuries suffered that fateful day.  One of the plaintiffs claims she has suffered chronic adjustment disorder and seeks damages worth $346,189.

The other plaintiff seeks damages worth$270,097, claiming that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and chronic adjustment disorder in the incident.

The plaintiffs claim that each of them paid $40 to attend the function organized at the Upper Lancaster Rd property on the invitation extended to them by Churchie. The lawsuit claims that the host failed to exercise “reasonable care” in ensuring the guests stayed safe during the event.  The suit asserts no inspection was “undertaken by or at the direction of Churchie and/or the school”.

The two women are filing complaints against a carpenter Shaun Duignan, who worked on the house during 2001-2002. The lawsuit also names Australian Building Inspection Service Pty Ltd, responsible for the inspection of the dwelling.

Contact us if you are subject to any kind of professional negligence, injury, accident, emotional distress, contractual fraud or financial distress due to the action of other, we can assist you to know your legal rights and seek course correction and punitive damages. Lloyds and Barclay lawyers are ready to assist you to protect your legal rights and seek punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries. You have the right to seek punitive damages and financial reimbursement for job loss, medical treatment, loss of companionship and property and other future expenditures to be incurred due to the injury. We offer legal services to injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement. 

Rose Ashton-Weir has filed a lawsuit against Geelong Grammar School, one of the most prestigious private schools in Australia, claiming that she could not get admission into the law course as per her preference.

The plaintiff claims that the elite school, of which Britain’s Prince Charles was an alumnus in 1966, did not provide her with proper support. The plaintiff says her final high school score was “insufficiently high enough” to seek admission into the law department at University of Sydney.                   

The lawsuit claims that the school had failed her, which proved incredibly detrimental to the development of her academic skills, instead of helping her improve. 

The plaintiff’s mother, Elizabeth Weir, seeks AU$39,000 as compensation for rent that she had to pay to a new home in Sydney, where they had relocated when their daughter took admission in Geelong Grammar. She also claims that the relocation proved detrimental to her cookie business, which would have otherwise brought her an income of over AU$450,000 over a three-year period. 

The court will resume the hearing of the case in August.  

Contact us if you are subject to any kind of professional negligence, injury, accident, emotional distress, contractual fraud or financial distress due to the action of other, we can assist you to know your legal rights and seek course correction and punitive damages. Lloyds and Barclay lawyers are ready to assist you to protect your legal rights and seek punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries. You have the right to seek punitive damages and financial reimbursement for job loss, medical treatment, loss of companionship and property and other future expenditures to be incurred due to the injury. We offer legal services to injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement. 

Fifty women have filed a personal injury class action in the Supreme Court against a Melbourne clinic, alleging that they contracted hepatitis C virus after undergoing a surgical procedure at the clinic. The plaintiffs seek compensation for their pain and suffering, loss of wages, and medical expenses they had to incur following the procedure. 

The plaintiffs have named the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, director of the former Croydon Day Surgery Dr Mark Schulberg, and anaesthetist Dr James Latham Peters in the lawsuit. The complainants allege that Dr Peters failed to provide them adequate care when they underwent the Croydon Day Surgery during January 2008-December 2009. 

This is the first instance when a personal injury class action lawsuit has been filed against a medical practitioner regulator in Australia. The Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria, now a part of national Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, is the authorised body responsible for regulating the medical registration of Dr Peters. 

The professional negligence lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs have been devastated by what had happened to them following the surgical procedure. 

Contact us if you are subject to any kind of professional negligence, injury, accident, emotional distress, contractual fraud or financial distress due to the action of other, we can assist you to know your legal rights and seek course correction and punitive damages. Lloyds and Barclay lawyers are ready to assist you to protect your legal rights and seek punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries. You have the right to seek punitive damages and financial reimbursement for job loss, medical treatment, loss of companionship and property and other future expenditures to be incurred due to the injury. We offer legal services to injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement.

A former Tasmanian detective, who was sacked from job after having been found guilty of drunk-driving, has won back his job.  The sacked police officer has been demoted and will resume duty as soon as there is a suitable position for him.

The 31-year-old Reid was the first police officer to be sacked as per the guidelines issued by the state police previous year in October. The Police Review Board, which is an independent statutory body, has called for the reinstatement of Senior Constable Tim Reid on reduced pay for two years.

At the time of the car crash on the East Derwent Highway, the off-duty Reid recorded a much higher than the legal blood-alcohol reading. In fact, the reading was almost five times the permissible limit.

According to Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard, Reid would be able to resume duty as soon as there is a vacancy for him.

Contact us if you are subject to any kind of unfair punishment or action because of drunk driving. Lloyds and Barclay Lawyers assists people victim of job loss and harsher punishments because of acts of omission to protect their legal rights. We also help victims of car crashes and auto accidents file personal injury lawsuits and seek punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries. You have the right to seek punitive damages and financial reimbursement for job loss, medical treatment, loss of companionship and property and other future expenditures to be incurred due to the injury. We offer legal services to injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement. 

A lawsuit seeking $200 million has been filed in the New York federal court on behalf of four performers who used to entertain passengers aboard the doomed Costa Concordia.  The lawsuit has been filed against the luxury liner’s owners and operators, accusing them of showing gross negligence in the deadly Costa Concordia crash on January 13th.

The lawsuit, representing the Hungarian musicians and dancers that worked on the doomed ship, allege that the defendant did not properly train the crew on operating and evacuating the ship in case of emergency. The luxury liner capsized after ramming a reef in January.  The lawsuit claims that the incident has dealt a heavy blow to the plaintiffs, who are not able to work since the fatal crash due to physical and mental injuries sustained at that time.

The plaintiffs seek $50 million each and punitive damages for mental anguish, physical injuries, and lost wages.

The lawsuit said that a fifth member of the ensemble violinist Sandor Feher drowned that fatal day and died of blunt trauma to the head while apparently attempting to help children wear life jackets. At least 32 people died aboard the Costa Concordia when the luxury cruise liner capsized off the coast of Italy.

Another lawsuit has been filed in Miami against the ship owners on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs, seeking over $500 million in damages.

Contact us if you are subject to any kind of professional negligence, injury, accident, emotional distress, contractual fraud or financial distress due to the action of other, we can assist you to know your legal rights and seek course correction and punitive damages. Lloyds and Barclay lawyers are ready to assist you to protect your legal rights and seek punitive damages for physical and emotional injuries. You have the right to seek punitive damages and financial reimbursement for job loss, medical treatment, loss of companionship and property and other future expenditures to be incurred due to the injury. We offer legal services to injury victims on the basis of no win no fee arrangement.

The directors of Centro group have reportedly agreed for a settlement worth $200 million in the long-running class action, filed by thousands of investors and bankers against the failed property group. The case hearings began in March and were expected to run until June end.

The investors accuse Centro of misleading them and displaying deceptive conduct for concealing that it faced $3 billion interest-bearing debt.

Sources say that Centro has reached a global settlement, which takes in Centro along with its directors and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. According to undisclosed sources, discussions about the deal are under way; however, PwC might pay one-third of the settlement.

The settlement figure, believed to be at the lower end of the compensation claims demanded by shareholders, is being considered the largest settlement ever reached in such a class action.

Centro group collapsed in late 2007 as a result of the financial crisis. Its shares fell more than 90 per cent in one day after Centro’s then founder Andrew Scott revealed a failure to disclose the full extent of its debt. Investors, lawyers, and bankers have waged a long battle to apportion blame for Centro’s demise.

 If you have suffered economic losses or emotional distress because of violation of trust or contract caused by actions of any one, you have the right to seek punitive damages as well as monetary compensation. Contact us to know your legal rights against contractual violations and the process of filing lawsuits to recover your hard earned money.

A U.S. court has awarded Deckers Outdoor Corporation, which produces UGG brand shoes, $686 million in a piracy lawsuit filed over marketing of counterfeit goods by Chinese websites. The shoe manufacturer based in Goleta, which is the parent company of UGG Australia, won two lawsuits against 3,007 Chinese sites that have been allegedly selling fake versions of the popular sheepskin shoes.

Blaming the counterfeiters for selling fake products, Errin Cecil-Smith, Deckers Corp. director of public relations, says that his company is aggressively leading the fight against counterfeit products. He adds that counterfeiting does not do any good to anybody; rather, it has several health and safety issues and labour and economic issues.

The Northern District Court of Illinois also gave control of the counterfeiting websites to Deckers Outdoor, which would inform buyers about all the counterfeit UGG products sold on these fake web portals.

The company is looking to confiscate some part of the money from third-party online merchant sites, including PayPal.

Cecil-Smith adds that through the lawsuit, the company seeks to shut down the counterfeit websites, which are proliferating at a fast pace, and also remove them from search engines. These sites were using the Deckers images and offering products at competitive prices.

According to a company press release, in 2011 alone, Deckers Corp. seized over 834,000 counterfeit products.

A lawsuit has been filed against the archdiocese of Miami in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, alleging that the well-known priest sexually abused a boy for over 150 times at a Pompano church. The lawsuit, seeking over $5 million in compensation, claims that retired priest Father Ricardo Castellanos sexually abused the then 10-year-old victim John Dorman at a tender age at San Isidro Church. 

The victim, who has now turned 27 years, asserts that he has spent all his life hiding the abuse from others, but now has changed his mind and seeks punishment for the accused. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that Castellanos abused him regularly from 1994 to 1997. The plaintiff alleges that the former priest would sometimes force him to watch him sexually abusing a mentally disabled boy. The victim claims that he was also forced to perform sexual acts with the disabled boy. 

The lawsuit alleges Castellanos of constantly warning the boy to keep pressure on him to keep the abuse a secret. Castellanos warned him that if he would reveal the secret to somebody, the former would mislead people into believing that the latter wanted to engage in sexual activities. 

According to the victim’s mother, the betrayal by Castellanos has been a devastating experience for her entire family, which has left deeply hurt them. 

The lawsuit claims that the former priest faced sexual abuse accusations in the 1970s and 1980s as well; however, those claims were covered up by the Archdiocese. Castellanos is no longer a part of the ministry, from which he was removed in 2002. However, he continues to hold the title of priest. 

Lloyds and Barclay Lawyers are ready to help victims and their parents to file sexual abuse lawsuits seeking criminal and civil actions against culprits. Contact us to know your legal rights against sexual crimes and child abuse.

The Victorians that accuse the Christian Brothers of sexually abusing them have filed complaints for compensation under provisions of the Victorian Sentencing Act in the Victorian County Court. The victims demand compensation from the Catholic Church. The move, considered to be the largest legal action of its type in Victoria, would the Christian Brothers under intense pressure to compensate their victims for the alleged crimes committed against them.

The compensation sought in the 11 applications could amount to millions of dollars. Further, more victims are likely to join the legal battle against the accused, seeking compensation for their pain and suffering and disruption to their lives at the hands of Catholic priests or the Christian Brothers.

The Victorian Sentencing Act enables a victim to request the judge who sentenced the accused to see to it if the latter should pay them compensation, especially considering the ”pain and suffering, past and future medical and like expenses [and] past and future loss of earnings” borne by them.

Last August, while announcing sentence for Robert Charles Best to a 15-year jail term after his conviction in abusing the 11 men (who were children at the time of the crime), Judge Roy Punshon described the impact of the offender’s crime as ”very considerable,” saying that the crime had caused a “great deal of human damage and misery.”

The judge added that the victims’ statements were a “salutary and powerful reminder of the devastating and long-lasting effect that sexual offending against children can have.”

The Catholic Church has been in the midst of criticism over the manner it is trying to avoid legal liability in relation to the abuse allegedly carried out by its clergy. The church has long been arguing that the clergy do not fall under the category of its employees.

Sexual abuse lawsuits in the United States have also resulted in millions in compensation against different Archdioceses, including $700 million, the highest ever, by the Los Angeles Archdiocese in July 2007. A Miami jury awarded $100 million to church sexual abuse victims in a landmark judgement in November 2011.

Lloyds and Barclay Lawyers are ready to help victims and their parents to file sexual abuse lawsuits seeking criminal and civil actions against culprits. Contact us to know your legal rights against sexual crimes and child abuse.