FDA Bans Ephedra: The FDA has banned the weight-loss drug ephedra, which is blamed in the death of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.



Major League Baseball banned the drug from the minor leagues in February, following Bechler's death.



Consumers Union has a website that describes why the drug should be banned.



You can read more from the Amarillo Globe News and the Boston Globe.



ESPN has articles here and here.

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Denver Issues Report in Coors Field Elevator Mishap: Denver's chief elevator inspector has found that mechanical failure, combined with a missing safety switch, was the cause of the elevator accident at Coors Field in July, which injured 30 people.



As is the nature of things today, you can probably expect a lawsuit to be filed against the elevator company, the city, the ballpark and the Rockies. The elevator company, Kone Inc., issued a statement disagreeing with the report, and the Rockies were quick to point out that the missing safety switch was "manufactured, installed and maintained by Kone."

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Chargers Suit Moved to San Diego: Five weeks after angering San Diego officials by filing a lawsuit against the city in Los Angeles, the Chargers have agreed to move the suit back to San Diego for adjudication. The team is suing to get released from their contract at Qualcomm Stadium.



You can read the San Diego Union-Tribune article here.

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Settlement in NHL Fan Death Still Sealed: Via How Appealing, the Dayton Daily News had a story yesterday on the attempt to keep sealed the settlement amount paid to the family of Brittanie N. Cecil, the 13-year old girl who was killed by a hockey puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game in March of 2002. Neither the Cecil family, nor the NHL, Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena, who reached the agreement, want the terms disclosed. The challenge is coming from a Columbus television station, which is claiming the agreement is a public record protected by the 1st Amendment.



Whereas the previous attorney for the probate judge who approved the settlement argued that "the family's privacy interest . . . outweighed the public's limited right of access to the court's records," the judge's new counsel has argued that the settlement was never a matter of public record, and thus cannot be released. The judge sealed the record in June to prevent further media frenzy, but the attorneys for the media groups have argued that the family has gone to the media when it has proven beneficial for their own cause.

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Should this be Sexual Harassment?: Continuing on the theme from the last post, ESPN's Suzy Kolber has accepted an apology from former Jet quarterback Joe Namath, who said twice in an on-camera interview that he wished "to kiss" her. While I am sure that a good lawyer could craft a sexual harassment claim out of this incident, it is nice to see that one adult can apologize to another for an inappropriate mistake without going to court.

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Manning Defamation Suit Settled: Peyton Manning has settled a defamation suit brought against him by Jamie Ann Naughright, a former trainer at the University of Tennessee. Naughright first sued the University for sexual harassment after Manning, then a Volunteer quarterback, mooned the female trainer. In his book, Manning did not reference Naughright by name, but did refer to a trainer with a "vulgar mouth."



I really hope that there is more to this incident than just a quick mooning. Naughright reportedly received a $300,000 settlement from the University over what could just be seen as a teenage male prank. If there is more to the incident, I would be very interested in hearing about it. If not, this is an indication of the ridiculous lengths to which sexual harassment litigation has gone, which is unfortunate, because frivolous suits often paint the more deserving and meritorious suits in a bad light.

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I hope everyone had a good holiday break-- there is not much legal news to report from the last week, but I will catch up during the next few days.

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