Two Jasper County Jail inmates allege the facility is a hotbed of racism.
In yet another prisoner lawsuit, this one filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, inmates Sean Harris and James Bailey are asking for half a million dollars in damages from Sheriff Archie Dunn "because the racial racism is known to the supervisors and correctional staff, also administration." As you may have guessed from the wording of that last sentence, the prisoners are representing themselves.
It's never quite clear which prisoner had done what to him. The complaint reads, "Feb. 12, 2005, I've been attacked by three racist white men, names unknown, knots on head, black eyes, cheek swollen, face bruised, body beat up. Every night I suffered racially motivated slurs, nigger, coon, darkie for example. Racism has not been forgotten and should be abolished."
Harris, who wrote the complaint for the two, then added, "I look forward to the federal courts to look into this facility because these Caucasian men are saying any nigger come in here they are going to try and kill. I'm not the first black men this has happened to. This violates my constitutional rights for equal protection of the law. The facility placed us, Mr. James Bailey, Jr. James Clark lives in dangerous conditions by placing them in a racist pod D, which is deliberate indifference and cruel and unusual punishment violating fifth and eighth amendments."
Harris said, "I want the court to grant me relief by declaring actual and punitive damages. Also, find this facility guilty for allowing the racism to go as far as it is going."
Harris indicated he wrote the complaint because Clark has a "reading and writing disability."
Jasper County court records indicate Harris is awaiting trial on third degree assault and forgery charges, while James awaits trial on a second degree arson charge.
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Morale in the Jarden Corporation is high, CEO Martin Franklin said in a news release issued today. Jarden recently completed a buyout of American Household, the company which owns the former Sunbeam plant in Neosho.
"With the closing of the American Household transaction in January 2005," Franklin said, "we are excited by the tremendous opportunities the addition of such brands as Coleman, First Alert, Mr. Coffee, Oster and Sunbeam will bring to Jarden. Morale in the company is high as both management and employees recognize the cross-selling and cost saving opportunities that exist in our expanded group. We are focused on executing our strategic plan and are optimistic about our prospects for 2005 and beyond."
Jarden had record sales and operating earnings for the year, according to the news release, with net sales increasing 42.7 percent, to $838.6 million, compared with $587.7 million in 2003. During the fourth quarter, net sales increased 23.6 percent to $236.7 million, compared to $191.5 million for the same quarter last year.
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Though there is little doubt the Missouri General Assembly also needs to be looking at the insurance industry as one of the causes of state problems and not just trial lawyers, some of the provisions in HB 392, which passed the House this week by a 106-52 margin, have some merit.
The bill prohibits shopping for counties or judges that might be favorable to lawsuits. Instead, the cases must be filed in the county where an injury allegedly occurred. This, Rep. Steve Hunter, R-Carl Junction, said in his newsletter this week, will "help curb the filing of unnecessary lawsuits. This change in law will cut down on lawsuits and help keep doctors in Missouri.
Another part of the bill eliminates joint and several liability, a process which allows lawyers to sue different people and if the one who has money is only one percent at fault that person can end up footing the whole bill if other defendants cannot pay. "Current law allows someone that was only one percent at fault in a $500,000 lawsuit to be forced to foot the entire bill, even if someone else that was 99 percent at fault is able to pay but isn't willing to do so," Hunter wrote. "HB 393 helps to stop this unfair practice by making people personally responsible for the consequences of their own actions, rather than the actions of someone else."
The joint and several liability was one reason behind the lawsuit filed by the Phipps family of Lamar several years back against drunk driver Neley Milner, who killed eight-year-old Julie Phipps and permanently damaged Jerry Phipps and his daughter Abby when he rammed his vehicle into the back of their car while driving at a speed of more than 100 miles an hour in 1995. The Phipps family sued Milner, who obviously was the person most responsible for the death and injuries and the Ford Motor Company for alleged faulty design of their car. A jury cleared the company of any wrongdoing, but the Phipps family had no hope of ever getting any money from Milner. It was a sad situation, but there was no reason why Ford should have been at risk of paying a multi-million dollar settlement in this case.