The ringleader of a group of Latin King Goonies who are accused of a horrific anti-gay attack last year is suing the city for injuries he suffered in a prison bus crash. Idelfonso Mendez, who is accused of sodomizing two gay men with a mini-baseball bat and plunger handle, claims that he broke his wrist and hurt his back in a Department of Correction bus crash last winter. A cousin of one of the victims told the News they are understandably upset: "He did horrible things, and now he wants to get rich over a little wrist injury. It's an insult to the people he hurt. He's just looking for a big payday." more ›

Two men who claim they were injured by police during the wild shootout in Harlem in early August have filed notices of claim to sue the city. Devon Riley says he suffered a fractured elbow, and Kirt Liburd says he suffered a laceration to his head, during the chaotic street-clearing shooting, in which 46 bullets were fired by police. more ›

A woman is suing Starbucks after sustaining second-degree burns from tea purchased at the 685 Third Avenue location in Manhattan. According to a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court, plaintiff Zeynep Inanli was served tea that was "unreasonably hot, in containers which were not safe." As a result of Starbucks' negligence, she suffered "great physical pain and mental anguish," including the burns, according to the complaint, obtained by Reuters. more ›

25-year-old Christopher Reinhold asked Colette DiPierro to marry him back in May 2009, and she said yes, accepting his $17,500 diamond engagement ring. But in September she broke off the engagement... and kept the ring. Now Reinhold is suing her for the return of the ring or its monetary value, plus $5,000 for fees and legal expenses. (This case is not to be confused with a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a man who allegedly cheated on his fiancée, who broke off the engagement and kept the $19K ring.) more ›

In court yesterday to defend themselves against a sexual harassment lawsuit, executives and staffers at NY1 went on the offensive against a former employee who claims that the news station is run like "a high school boys' locker room." Reporter Adele Sammarco says she was fired three weeks after she complained about being groped by former reporter Gary Anthony Ramsay. But according to a lawyer for Time Warner, which owns NY1, Sammarco was fired because she was a "chronic complainer about everything at work." NY1's Senior Vice President Steve Paulus was more blunt. more ›

A former cocktail waitress at exclusive nightclub 1OAK is filing a class-action suit against the establishment today, claiming she was screwed out of tips along with other workers. Tarale Wulff, 33, says 1OAK tacks a 20 percent "service charge" onto their $450-and-up bottle service, misleading patrons into thinking they were "gratuities paid to the service workers." Instead, "a percentage [is] distributed to nonservice employees, such as doormen," according to court papers obtained by the Post. Wulff, who was fired last month after a dispute involving a customer's expired credit card, is suing for unspecified damages. Two years ago 1OAK was sued by four former employees, all minorities, who claimed club owner Scott Sartiano only wanted "white girls he could f---" serving drinks. more ›

Some of us have simply accepted that much of the Internet is a toxic cesspool so crowded with virulent gossip-mongers that it makes Junior High look like a Rainbow Family gathering. But not Leo Kehoe—the Queens accountant is not about to turn the other cheek when some anonymous troll flames him on the World Wide Web; no, Leo's going to try to cash in. He's suing Craigslist because one critic, who claimed to be a dissatisfied customer, wrote the following on March 5th: more ›

Remember that hilaaairious scene in Couples Retreat when horndog Jon Favreau rubs one out while leering at a bikini model on the cover of a brochure? Probably not, because you most likely didn't see it, but anyway that tree did fall in the woods, and now we have one of our beloved tabloid lawsuit stories, because the model in the photo is suing NBC Universal for $10 million in damages for her "great humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, shame, mortification and injury to her reputation and career." more ›

At least twelve children had fingers cut off by Maclaren strollers before the company announced in November a "voluntary recall" of all their strollers sold since 1999. None of those 12 were in NYC, but earlier this month it was revealed that a Brooklyn child has joined their unhappy ranks. The parents of Shannon Windram, who was 2½ at the time of the accident in March 2004, have filed the first NYC lawsuit against Maclaren. And now the Sunset Park family has shared their traumatic experience with the media. more ›

It's been almost four long years, but a Borough Park man has finally gotten satisfaction from the city after getting violently arrested in a riot back in April 2006. In a settlement deal, the city will pay $75,000 to Chaim Appel, 41, who claims an NYPD cop tore off parts of his beard during his arrest. Appel says he was beaten, thrown against the hood of a car, then cuffed and taken away while his 9-year-old son looked on. "It makes it easy for me to sleep at night, knowing that other people finally know the truth of what happened over there," Appel, who had originally sought $11 million, tells the Post. So what did happen? more ›

In a shocking allegation, a former cocktail waitress at the Penthouse Executive Club claims the managers cultivated an unprofessional atmosphere of sordid sexual degradation. Lourdes Garcia, 34, filed a lawsuit against the club yesterday, accusing the owner of firing her after she repeatedly rebuffed the sexual of advances of both male and female managers. Club manager John Loukas "repeatedly" invited Garcia into his office, "implying that he wanted to have a sexual relationship," according to court papers. Loukas allegedly "told (Garcia) ‘if you want me to help you, you have to help me. There are no cameras up here." more ›

Yet another former employee of the NY Post has filed a lawsuit against the tabloid, making this the billionth staffer to add his or her brushstroke to a work-in-progress portrait of the Post as a racist, sexist, alpha male locker room. The latest salvo comes from former Post photographer Mary McLoughlin, who claims she was pushed out of her job because the fratastic editors only want sexy young ladies toddling around the office. One editor, David Boyle, even referred to his young female assistants as "David's Harem," and hired a make-up artist to do them up for the holiday parties, the suit alleges. Then they dirty danced the night away, with Boyle allegedly grabbing their pelvises and "bumping" and "grinding" in an obscene way that was "unprofessional and offensive to those who had to watch this spectacle." Still, we'd like to see some photos. (tips@gothamist.com!) more ›

What's to be done about the Gowanus Canal? Any ideas? If so, the Department of Environmental Protection wants to hear them. The DEP sent out a notice indicating it is seeking proposals for how best to remove storm water from the sewer system and how best to treat it before it is discharged back into the Gowanus Canal watershed and Flushing Bay. The agency plans to award grants totaling $2.9 million to the potential projects, equally divided between the two areas. You better hurry though, because a retired engineer, Bart Chezar from Park Slope, thinks he has a plan that "will not only prevent raw sewage from continuing to foul the already polluted waterway, but also modify the behavior of local residents so that they do their part to keep the waterway clean." more ›

A Delaware man is suing Larry Flynt's Hustler Club after he was charged more than $21,000 on two credit cards during just 90 minutes in the joint. Perhaps the worst part is that Gerard Wall, 39, doesn't even have any precious memories to cherish from the night—he claims that after downing two drinks he was approached by a dancer and offered a private lap dance for $300. After that, it's all a blur, but it seems Wall made it rain hard like the Dylan song. And by the time Wall left the club at 10 p.m. on December 12th, he was so inebriated a club employee had to drive him home. more ›

While the debate rages on over whether it was a moose or a caribou, another new twist has emerged in the case of the tumbling taxidermy that injured a woman at a Lower East Side restaurant in October. 32-year-old Raina Kumra made headlines yesterday when she filed a lawsuit against White Slab Palace, where a moose head crashed down on her during a party. To this day she suffers from chronic neck pain, anxiety, fatigue, dizziness and embarrassment. But now it seems the 150-pound moose head may have been tampered with before it fell! more ›

A Bronx man has filed a lawsuit against the NYPD after an accident with a cop car left him bruised. And scratched! Details are sketchy, but cyclist Michael Molina's lawyer tells the Daily News, "He's doing okay now." The lawsuit accuses officer Patrick McKenna of driving at an unreasonable speed and failing to brake properly before crashing into Molina near the Macombs Dam Bridge on April 25th. The city's law department says they have not yet received the legal papers, but we'll follow up if there's more info and hopefully please God some video of the incident. more ›

Lower East Side restaurant and bar White Slab Palace "had a duty to provide ... an environment free from falling objects," according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court. But the restaurant allegedly failed in the modest task that was its charge, and now 32-year-old Raina Kumra suffers from "chronic neck pain, anxiety, fatigue, dizziness and other serious and severe personal injuries," including "embarrassment." All this pain and humiliation could have been avoided had White Slab Palace just made sure that their giant 150-pound moose head was securely fastened to the wall. more ›

Following the NYPD shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006, the NYCLU filed a Freedom of Information request with the NYPD, asking for the NYPD’s annual statistical reports on police shootings from 1996 through 2006, as well as data about the race of civilians shot at by police. In response, the NYPD released some annual statistical reports, but it denied the NYCLU’s request for full racial data. A lawsuit ensued, and now a judge has ruled that the NYPD can't withhold the data, which will show the racial breakdown of people shot at but not struck by cops. more ›

Kerry Sullivan, a longtime Staten Island gadfly who's awaiting a liver transplant, claims that police arrested him outside his home in August as retaliation for his outspoken criticism of Borough President James P. Molinaro. Yesterday the NYCLU filed a federal lawsuit on Sullivan's behalf, naming the City of New York and the two police officers who arrested Sullivan as defendants, and claiming they violated Sullivan’s rights under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendments; the New York State Constitution; and New York common law. Those are a lot of violations! But what's really outrageous is what the cops allegedly told Sullivan during the arrest. more ›

Today's frivolous lawsuit that will probably flush away more of your tax dollars in an out of court settlement: A Queens teenager is suing the city because she broke her ankle in a base sliding drill during high school softball practice. Francis Lewis High School sophomore Alina Cerda had to have six screws and a metal plate implanted in her ankle after sliding on a muddy base path during a May practice. You'll never guess who's fault that was! more ›

Yet another employee is suing the New York Post, accusing the editors and reporters at the tabloid of racist and sexual harassment. You'll recall that former editor Sandra Guzman filed a discrimination lawsuit in November, describing the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house run by the crude, misogynistic editor in chief Col Allan. (Among other things, Guzman claims they fired her in retaliation after she complained about a controversial political cartoon.) Weeks later, a black reporter named Austin Fenner filed his own lawsuit expanding on Guzman's allegations, and now another black reporter, Ikimulisa Livingston, has joined his lawsuit. What's new here is that she is actually still employed at the Post, and famous reporter Steve Dunleavy has been targeted for some allegedly racist conduct. more ›

Four waitresses at the super douchey Nolita "hotspot" Cafe Habana are suing the owner for fostering a "sexually charged environment." Known for its celebrity clientele, attractive staff, and Mexican grilled corn, the tiny restaurant has been a favorite of "keeping it real" stars like Josh Hartnett, Serena Williams, Adrien Grenier, and Owen Wilson. In fact, the Marley & Me star is mentioned in the recent lawsuit because one of the waitresses claims she was punished after rejecting his date request. more ›

When the state's highest court ruled in October that the new owners of Stuyvesant Town should not have raised rents beyond certain set levels while also receiving tax breaks from the city for major renovations, other landlords started to sweat. Tishman Speyer, which bought the sprawling housing complex in 2006 but must now pay back millions of dollars in rent rebates, is not the only property owner in the city to raise rents on formerly rent-stabilized units, while also getting a J-51 tax break. Smelling fresh meat sensing injustice, the lawyers have sprung into action! more ›

Lawyers for a Manhattan strip club say the 22-year-old beauty pageant queen whose photo they appropriated to advertise the club is just suing them to get attention. You may recall that back in April, former Miss Oklahoma Laci Kay Scott filed a lawsuit against Ten's Gentlemen's Club after she discovered that the club had been distributing cards on the street with her image—and without her knowledge. Scott, who's been trying to get her modeling career off the ground with gigs posing in prom dress ads, says being mistakenly perceived as a stripper could disqualify her from the pagaent circuit and damage her career. But Ten's owners think this lawsuit has been just great for her. more ›

A legal secretary is suing a midtown law firm for allegedly cutting her loose just hours after she revealed that she had a cancerous tumor. In October 2007, Theodora Benedict sent an e-mail informing her employers at Tarnow & Juvelier that doctors had diagnosed her with a rare tumor behind her sinuses, and she would have to miss a week for surgery and a week for recovery. But instead of "get well soon" cards, Benedict, 61, says she got the boot—two hours after clicking send. more ›

Exhortations to "Close the deal you c---" and "Stop being a f---ing p----y" are allegedly commonplace at GDS International, which is being sued by a 26-year-old Egyptian-American female employee for an unspecified sum. Lobna Abdelrehim is alleging "discrimination" based on gender and religion, as well as "retaliation" for opposing discrimination in the workplace—her lawyer Jack Tuckner tells the Post that GDS's publishing sales culture is "an extreme sort of jock fraternity ethos that's really unfathomable in this day and age. The bosses are all aware of it, and they could care less. It's like a throwback into the 1950s." more ›

The hand and foot model who's suing her co-op for treating her like a pariah for marrying the doorman has a history of romancing the help. Before she fell for bareheaded former doorman Angel Rotger, Christina Ambers had previously cavorted with another doorman at the Upper East Side building, a married Romanian immigrant named John Bradatan. But is it so crazy for a woman whose hands are her livelihood to fall for men who professionally open doors? more ›

Hand and foot model Christina Ambers fell in love with the doorman at her Upper East Side co-op in 2007, but the superintendent forbade Angel Rotger to see her romantically. And yet the romance between doorman and foot lady could not be so easily snuffed out, and the two continued their affair in secret. When they were found out, Rotger was fired—but not before the super's wife allegedly swung her handbag into his groin so hard he suffered a contusion of the testicle. Naturally, their story is on the cover of the Daily News and the Post today. more ›

For well over two years now, Bronx gym teacher and coach Dan Smith has been sidelined in one of the Department of Education's infamous "rubber rooms," thanks to an allegation of sexual misconduct in March 2007. But while other teachers (over 600 hundred of them!) use their rubber room time to play Sudoku and nap, Smith has been hatching a plan to get out. more ›

George Adde, 66, claims he sustained a herniated disk in his lower back when other passengers fell on him during the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash, which killed 11 people and injured many others. Taxpayers have spent $66.9 million settling 161 of the 171 cases filed in the aftermath of the accident, including a $6.5 million payout to a man who lost part of his right leg. Adde was probably counting on a million or two to help him cope with his back pain, but there was just one teensy problem with his lawsuit. more ›