Lead Stories
People Different From Us
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In April a Ralphs Supermarket in Livermore, California, promised a free ham to anyone buying $50 worth of groceries, but 33-year-old Rachael Cheroti raised such a fuss when her total came to only $48 that the manager gave her one too. According to police reports, Cheroti then demanded even more hams, arguing that she spent a great deal of money at Ralphs every month. After the manager declined, Cheroti allegedly pinned him against the wall with a shopping cart, wrestled with him on the floor, and struggled with a police officer before being arrested. The officer suffered a hand injury and was placed on medical leave.
In March the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of Carolyn Humphries, who had been fired by Modesto Memorial Hospital in Modesto, California. Invoking the Americans With Disabilities Act, Humphries argued that her obsessive-compulsive disorder prevents her from working a set schedule: the hospital told her she could create her own shift, but she sometimes spends hours grooming herself for work and on occasion isn’t ready to leave home until her shift has ended.
In February a jury in Sydney, Australia, awarded Dr. Paul Hogan about $1.25 million (U.S.) for injuries he said he suffered in 1984 while studying at Saint John’s College. Hogan says he was hit with a strap eight times as punishment, and some of the blows landed on his hand, which he says still hurts (though no abnormality is present in X rays). His award breaks down to about $156,000 for each blow.
In the Last Month
