Trial, Full Steam Ahead

     HONOLULU - Cape Flattery Ltd. does not have to arbitrate claims against Titan Maritime, which caused more than $15 million in damage to coral reef off Barbers Point, Oahu, while removing the M/V Cape Flattery after it ran aground in 2005, the 9th Circuit ruled Tuesday.

NFL Poaching


     HOUSTON - Carl Carey Jr. and Champion Pro Consulting Group claim Impact Sports Football used the NFL lockout to tortiously interfere with Carey's representation of first-round draft pick Robert Quinn, and cheat Carey of his 3% fee of Quinn's expected $20 million contract.

T-Pain


     SAN JOSE - Rapper T-Pain (Faheem Rashad Najm) claims Antares Audio Technologies pushes its "Auto-Tune EFX Vocal Toolkit" software with a "T-Pain/Cher Style effect," in its ads and labels, in violation of his trademark.

Internet Crooks

     ORLANDO - The FTC says these defendants defraud online applicants for payday loans by enrolling them in "programs" even if they refuse the offer, and taking money from their bank accounts: Direct Benefits Group, Voice Net Global, Solid Core Solutions, WKMS Inc., and Kyle Wood and Mark Berry, both of Utah.

Employment

     AUSTIN - An immigrant worker claims Lee Anderson Co. dba K-Bob's Steakhouse's general manager Reyes Padron raped her repeatedly, as a condition of employment.

Environment

     MANHATTAN - Riverkeeper demands documents on the Office of Management and Budget's involvement in reviewing and altering an EPA final regulation limiting "the number of fish and other aquatic organisms that are slaughtered each year in the cooling water intake structures of power plants and major industrial facilities throughout the United States."

Movie Money

     SANTA MONICA - Ilia Zavialov claims Gabrielle Llewellyn and Monarch Media owe him $750,000 he loaned for an anticipated feature film.

Media

     NASHVILLE - American National Insurance Construction claims, pro se, that News Channel 5 Network defamed it by investigating allegations from three co-defendant disgruntled former employees who accused it of being a "predatory storm-chasing business." The complaint was filed before the reports aired.

Thanks a Lot

     CLEVELAND - A man visiting his wife at Parma Community General Hospital, with permission of her doctors, says he was assaulted by a security guard, who broke his hip and tore tendons in a knee and thumb.

Shareholder Class Action

     WILMINGTON, Del. - Shareholders say Temple-Inland is selling itself too cheaply through an unfair process to International Paper, for $30.60 a share, or $3.4 billion.