Mississippi: Palace Casino not liable from marina damage
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — The owners of a Biloxi marina damaged by a casino-owned barge during Hurricane Katrina are considering an appeal of a Mississippi court ruling that the gaming house was not liable for the destruction.
Last week, the state Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling Palace Casino wasn’t liable for the damage to Bay Point High and Dry Marina in 2005.
A Harrison County judge ruled in favor of the casino in 2009.
Marina owner Doug Cruthirds and his attorney, William Guice III, told The Sun Herald that they may appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
“Basically they ruined me,” Cruthirds said.
Cruthirds said he lost the marina and his home to Katrina and now operates his yacht brokerage business out of the house he moved into after the storm.
The 20,000-square-foot warehouse he leased had more than 100 boats inside when Katrina hit.
The marina was northwest of where New Palace Casino LLC had two barges moored on the Biloxi Bay. The casino barge held in the storm surge but the barge that housed the SportsZone — a 15,000 square foot sports bar with slot machines — broke loose and, according to court records, floated across the bay and allegedly struck Bay Point Marina.
Keith Crosby, general manager of the Palace Casino, had no comment on the case.
Palace attorneys had argued Katrina was an “Act of God.” It was the duty of the Palace management to take steps to prevent injury that is “reasonably foreseeable,” the ruling said, but reasonable precautions could not have prevented damage from the storm.
The mooring was required to withstand a Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds and a 15-foot tidal surge and designed by a licensed engineer to withstand an 18-foot surge. Katrina’s storm surge was 23 feet in that area, court records said.
“New Palace took reasonable steps in mooring its barge in light of the applicable regulations and foreseeable weather conditions of Biloxi Bay,” wrote Appeals Judge Larry E. Roberts in the decision.
Cruthirds had sued the Palace for negligence.
“All I wanted was a couple hundred thousands so we could rebuild it,” he told the Sun Herald.
Cruthirds said he had to pay half the insurance check he received for damages to the owner of the building, who Cruthirds said canceled the remaining 20 years on his 30-year lease and now has the property zoned for a casino. Cruthirds spent the $90,000 he received in insurance on attorney fees.
Oklahoma: Man to appeal death penalty in child killing
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man convicted in the grisly killing of a 10-year-old girl is appealing his death sentence.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals will hear oral arguments Tuesday in the case of 31-year-old Kevin Underwood, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 slaying of Jamie Rose Bolin.
Underwood admitted to investigators that he lured the girl to his apartment, suffocated her, sexually assaulted her, then tried to cut off her head with a decorative dagger. Bolin’s body was found in a plastic tub in Underwood’s closet.
Underwood’s attorneys never disputed that he killed the girl, but argued that his life should be spared because he suffered from mental illness.
Ohio: Doctor appeals conviction in wife’s poisoning
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio doctor convicted of killing his wife with cyanide claims errors at his trial turned jurors against him.
In an appeal, the lawyer for Yazeed Essa (EE’-suh) contends the judge should not have allowed testimony about Essa’s extramarital affairs and his behavior after his wife died.
The Plain Dealer newspaper reports Tuesday that attorney Stephen Miles filed a brief with a state appeals court last month. Miles argues the judge should have declared a mistrial over testimony the lawyer says questioned Essa’s character but had nothing to do with the 2005 death of Rosemarie Essa.
Prosecutors are preparing a response.
Essa was convicted in March of poisoning his wife’s calcium supplement. Prosecutors said the Cleveland-area doctor wanted to be with his mistress.
California: 9 months in jail for woman in horse abuse case
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman accused of mistreating dozens of horses has pleaded guilty to a single count of felony animal cruelty and will be sentenced to nine months in jail.
Four of the malnourished horses found on Elizabeth June Hart-Lawson’s Lucerne Valley property last year had to be euthanized.
As part of a plea deal reached Friday in Victorville Superior Court, the 51-year-old woman will also be placed on three years’ probation and will be ordered to not own or care for animals during the probation period. She will be sentenced Dec. 9.
The Victorville Daily Press says San Bernardino County Animal Control officers discovered 26 malnourished and neglected horses on Hart-Lawson?s property in February 2009.
Prosecutor Lisa Crane says the horses were seized when she failed to correct the problem.
Iowa: Judge orders damages to Bush protesters
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An attorney says two Cedar Rapids women who were strip-searched after being arrested for protesting at a rally for President George Bush in 2004 have accepted a $440,000 award.
The Gazette on Tuesday says U.S. District Judge Linda Reade filed an order recalculating the damages that followed a federal appeals court decision. Reade reduced a jury’s award of $750,000 to $75,000 in 2008, saying it was excessive.
A federal appeals court in June said the amount was miscalculated and ordered the case back to district court to increase the damages or for another trial.
Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson were arrested during a Bush rally in Cedar Rapids. They were taken to the Linn County jail and strip-searched. They sued the female jailer.
The women’s attorney, David O’Brien, says they accepted the award.
