Lowering the Bar

Benny the Bull In Trouble Again

An Illinois dentist has sued the Chicago Bulls after allegedly being injured by the team's mascot, Benny the Bull, in what is a rare example of a lawsuit predicated on a negligent high-five.

Don Kalant alleges he was watching a game on February 12 when he raised his arm to get a high-five from Bull.  Kalant thus admits he initiated the contact, but alleges that the high-five he solicited was delivered negligently.  According to the lawsuit, rather than merely high-fiving, Bull grabbed Kalant's arm and fell forward, hyperextending Kalant's arm and rupturing his bicep.  Kalant's attorney declared that this was not an accident, but rather "part of the shtick."

"Benny's flying down the aisle, giving everybody high-fives," Kalant's attorney, Shawn Kasserman, said Monday in a telephone interview. "When he gets to Dr. Kalant, he either inadvertently trips or, as part of the shtick, trips. . . . He grabbed Kalant's arm and fell forward."

Kalant later had surgery and allegedly will miss as much as four months of work.  (He was, however, was able to make it through the rest of the Bulls game.)  He is suing the team on the theory that it is vicariously liable for its mascot's behavior.

Benny was last in trouble (to my knowledge) in July of 2006, when he was arrested after allegedly punching an off-duty police officer who was trying to get him to stop riding his tiny motorcycle through a festival crowd.

Link: Chicago Tribune

Charges Dropped in "Weekend at Bernie's" Case

New York prosecutors dropped charges today against two men who had been charged with a number of offenses resulting from an attempt to cash a Social Security check in January.  The problem, as you may recall, was the body they brought along with them.

As the New York Times reported on January 9, James O'Hare and David Dalaia showed up at a check-cashing business with a check that belonged to Virgilio Cintron.  Apparently recognizing they might have some explaining to do, they took Mr. Cintron along with them, although to do so they had to put him in an office chair and wheel him down the street, since Mr. Cintron had recently died.  But the clerk, who knew Cintron from the neighborhood, asked where he was.  "He's outside," O'Hare said, pointing.

Which, of course, he was, along with a small crowd that had gathered after seeing the odd procession.  A detective who happened to be eating lunch nearby noticed the crowd, which led to the arrest.  Ultimately, O'Hare and Daloia were charged with forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument, attempted petit larceny, and improper disposal of a body.  Of those, I think only larceny makes any sense, unless a body can be a "forged instrument."

At the time, the medical examiner found no signs of foul play in Mr. Cintron's death, and that conclusion was restated today by prosecutors, who also said the examiner could establish only that Cintron had died of natural causes sometime during the 24 hours prior to the check-cashing attempt.  Therefore, they could not disprove the defendants' story, which, if I am reading this report correctly, was that Cintron was alive when they left home and must have died as he was being wheeled down the street.

Link: AP via FindLaw.com

Hair Salon's Reign of Terror Finally Ended

The Baolou International Beauty Salon in the city of Zhengzhou, China, has finally been closed by authorities.  The salon had apparently been terrorizing local residents, who cited a number of incidents in which unsuspecting hair-growers had been vastly overcharged for haircuts and were then held hostage until they agreed to pay the exorbitant fee.  This seems to have gone on for at least six months.

The last straw for Baolou International, which despite its name probably does not attract that many international clients, was an incident in which two college students had expected to pay the advertised rate, 38 yuan apiece.  That would have equalled a reasonable $10.84 for both haircuts.  Instead, they were eventually presented with a slightly larger bill, for 12,000 yuan ($1,700).  Although, to be fair, this did include a wash and blow-dry.

When the students couldn't pay, they were not allowed to leave, and were reduced to trying to borrow money from strangers and classmates in order to appease the evil stylists.  "After borrowing from 16 people," the Beijing News reported, "the two were only able to come up with 9,800 yuan, and it wasn't until after 10 pm that they were allowed to leave the hair salon."

It was not clear why no one called police to report the hostage crisis, or for that matter how the salon got away with this for at least several months.  One report said that the salon charged one customer 4,776 yuan for a haircut last September, and charged another one 5,670 yuan last December.  That customer, though, had opted for the 68-yuan cut to begin with, so he or she clearly had yuan to burn.

According to one report, nearly 100 citizens showed up to witness the closing of the salon, applauding the end of its reign of terror.  The Xinhua News Agency later reported that officials had fined the salon the maximum 500,000 yuan ($71,225), which comes out to 13,157 haircuts (at the advertised rate).

Link: Reuters
Link: Xinhua News Agency via China.org.cn