Date: 5/29/2009
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled this week the case brought by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation can move forward with discovery.
A federal law sets the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray.
Crabb says the nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics faces a heavy burden in proving the tradition violates the separation of church and state. But she says it should have an opportunity to do so.
The Obama administration and National Day of Prayer Task Force filed motions to dismiss the case, but Crabb rejected them as premature.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Former priest gets 25 years on sex charge with boy
Date: 2/11/2009
By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest convicted of taking a boy on religious retreats to have sex with him was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.
Donald McGuire, of Oak Lawn, displayed no emotion as U.S District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer imposed a 300-month sentence that likely means the 78-year-old former priest will die in prison.
Pallmeyer said McGuire used his stature, his international reputation that included being a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa and the trust parents had in him that he would care for “the finest gifts God ever gave them: their children.”
She said the boys’ confidence, faith, innocence and sexual desire were destroyed.
“You robbed them of all these things,” she said after a hearing that included statements from victims, including McGuire’s godson.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Ruder told the judge that it was “a horrific and monstrous crime.”
McGuire was convicted in October of charges of traveling outside the United States and across state lines to have sex with a teenager between 2000 and 2003. The Vatican ordered McGuire out of the priesthood last year.
In 2006, McGuire was convicted in Wisconsin of child molestation and sentenced to seven years in prison. He has appealed that conviction.
McGuire also has been indicted in Arizona on child molestation charges and faces lawsuits on new child molestation accusations.
Victims and their parents testified before the sentencing Wednesday that they felt guilty for not coming forward sooner with their allegations.
“I apologize to the other victims,” said one man who told the judge he was abused by McGuire for six years beginning in the late 1970s. “I apologize that I didn’t come forward.”
Many of those who testified also asked McGuire to apologize to them, which Pallmeyer noted the former priest didn’t do.
McGuire has maintained his innocence throughout the trial. At the hearing, he told the judge he would continue to pray for everyone connected to the trial and spoke of being near the end of his life.
“I see that horizon, it’s heaven, where every tear will be wiped away,” he said.
McGuire would have to serve most of his sentence before he is eligible for release.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest convicted of taking a boy on religious retreats to have sex with him was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.
Donald McGuire, of Oak Lawn, displayed no emotion as U.S District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer imposed a 300-month sentence that likely means the 78-year-old former priest will die in prison.
Pallmeyer said McGuire used his stature, his international reputation that included being a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa and the trust parents had in him that he would care for “the finest gifts God ever gave them: their children.”
She said the boys’ confidence, faith, innocence and sexual desire were destroyed.
“You robbed them of all these things,” she said after a hearing that included statements from victims, including McGuire’s godson.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Ruder told the judge that it was “a horrific and monstrous crime.”
McGuire was convicted in October of charges of traveling outside the United States and across state lines to have sex with a teenager between 2000 and 2003. The Vatican ordered McGuire out of the priesthood last year.
In 2006, McGuire was convicted in Wisconsin of child molestation and sentenced to seven years in prison. He has appealed that conviction.
McGuire also has been indicted in Arizona on child molestation charges and faces lawsuits on new child molestation accusations.
Victims and their parents testified before the sentencing Wednesday that they felt guilty for not coming forward sooner with their allegations.
“I apologize to the other victims,” said one man who told the judge he was abused by McGuire for six years beginning in the late 1970s. “I apologize that I didn’t come forward.”
Many of those who testified also asked McGuire to apologize to them, which Pallmeyer noted the former priest didn’t do.
McGuire has maintained his innocence throughout the trial. At the hearing, he told the judge he would continue to pray for everyone connected to the trial and spoke of being near the end of his life.
“I see that horizon, it’s heaven, where every tear will be wiped away,” he said.
McGuire would have to serve most of his sentence before he is eligible for release.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Wis. religious leader: No contest in corpse case
Date: 2/5/2009
MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — A religious leader pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he stashed a rotting corpse for two months in a follower’s bathroom.
Alan Bushey was charged last year with hiding a corpse, causing mental harm to a child and theft. Investigators said the body of a 90-year-old member of his religious group was concealed at another group member’s home in a scheme to collect the dead woman’s Social Security checks.
Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth agreed to drop the mental harm and theft counts in exchange for Bushey’s plea, according to online court records.
Bushey, 58, of Necedah, faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. His sentencing is set for May 5.
His attorney, Thomas Steinman, didn’t immediately return a telephone message left at his office Thursday. Southworth’s office declined to comment.
Prosecutors accused Bushey and follower Tammy Lewis of leaving 90-year-old Magdeline Middlesworth’s body on a toilet in Lewis’ home after she died there in March.
A criminal complaint said Bushey led the Order of the Divine Will sect and told Lewis that God would revive Middlesworth. The decaying body was found in May after Middlesworth’s family expressed concern.
Lewis pleaded no contest in November to obstructing a police officer and was fined $350.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — A religious leader pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he stashed a rotting corpse for two months in a follower’s bathroom.
Alan Bushey was charged last year with hiding a corpse, causing mental harm to a child and theft. Investigators said the body of a 90-year-old member of his religious group was concealed at another group member’s home in a scheme to collect the dead woman’s Social Security checks.
Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth agreed to drop the mental harm and theft counts in exchange for Bushey’s plea, according to online court records.
Bushey, 58, of Necedah, faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. His sentencing is set for May 5.
His attorney, Thomas Steinman, didn’t immediately return a telephone message left at his office Thursday. Southworth’s office declined to comment.
Prosecutors accused Bushey and follower Tammy Lewis of leaving 90-year-old Magdeline Middlesworth’s body on a toilet in Lewis’ home after she died there in March.
A criminal complaint said Bushey led the Order of the Divine Will sect and told Lewis that God would revive Middlesworth. The decaying body was found in May after Middlesworth’s family expressed concern.
Lewis pleaded no contest in November to obstructing a police officer and was fined $350.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Cheerleading is a contact sport, Wis. court rules
Date: 1/27/2009
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a case being closely watched in the cheerleading world.
The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.
The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.
At issue in the case was whether cheerleaders qualify for immunity under a Wisconsin law that prevents participants in contact sports from suing each other for unintentional injuries.
It does not spell out which sports are contact sports. The District 4 Court of Appeals ruled last year cheerleading doesn’t qualify because there’s no contact between opposing teams.
But all seven members of the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to overturn that decision. In the opinion, Justice Annette Ziegler said cheerleading involves “a significant amount of physical contact between the cheerleaders.” As an example, she cited stunts in which cheerleaders are tossed in the air.
The lawsuit was brought by Brittany Noffke, who was a varsity cheerleader at Holmen High School in western Wisconsin. Practicing a stunt in 2004, Noffke fell backward off the shoulders of another cheerleader and suffered a serious head injury.
She sued a 16-year-old male teammate who was supposed to be her spotter but failed to catch her; the school district; and the district’s insurer.
Ziegler rejected Noffke’s argument that “contact sports” should mean only aggressive sports such as football and hockey. She wrote they should include any sport that that includes “physical contact between persons.”
The decision means cheerleaders can be sued only for acting recklessly. The court said Noffke’s teammate only made a mistake or showed a lack of skill. As for the school district, Ziegler said it cannot be sued for the coach’s behavior under a Wisconsin law that shields government agencies from lawsuits for the actions of employees.
Many observers had warned that families of cheerleaders would be forced to take out big insurance policies if the lower court decision stood.
Because of the increasingly difficult stunts, injuries among high school cheerleaders are a problem. Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that two-thirds of the roughly 100 cases of “catastrophic” sports injuries among high school girls since 1982 have involved cheerleading.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a case being closely watched in the cheerleading world.
The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.
The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.
At issue in the case was whether cheerleaders qualify for immunity under a Wisconsin law that prevents participants in contact sports from suing each other for unintentional injuries.
It does not spell out which sports are contact sports. The District 4 Court of Appeals ruled last year cheerleading doesn’t qualify because there’s no contact between opposing teams.
But all seven members of the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to overturn that decision. In the opinion, Justice Annette Ziegler said cheerleading involves “a significant amount of physical contact between the cheerleaders.” As an example, she cited stunts in which cheerleaders are tossed in the air.
The lawsuit was brought by Brittany Noffke, who was a varsity cheerleader at Holmen High School in western Wisconsin. Practicing a stunt in 2004, Noffke fell backward off the shoulders of another cheerleader and suffered a serious head injury.
She sued a 16-year-old male teammate who was supposed to be her spotter but failed to catch her; the school district; and the district’s insurer.
Ziegler rejected Noffke’s argument that “contact sports” should mean only aggressive sports such as football and hockey. She wrote they should include any sport that that includes “physical contact between persons.”
The decision means cheerleaders can be sued only for acting recklessly. The court said Noffke’s teammate only made a mistake or showed a lack of skill. As for the school district, Ziegler said it cannot be sued for the coach’s behavior under a Wisconsin law that shields government agencies from lawsuits for the actions of employees.
Many observers had warned that families of cheerleaders would be forced to take out big insurance policies if the lower court decision stood.
Because of the increasingly difficult stunts, injuries among high school cheerleaders are a problem. Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that two-thirds of the roughly 100 cases of “catastrophic” sports injuries among high school girls since 1982 have involved cheerleading.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Wisconsin court says 1985 killer should be freed
Date: 11/13/2008
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A Wisconsin man who gunned down a Catholic priest and two others in 1985 should be released from a mental hospital, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The District 4 Court of Appeals directed state health authorities to prepare to release Bryan Stanley from the Mendota Mental Health Institute with conditions.
The court said state lawyers failed to prove that releasing Stanley, 53, would present a danger to himself or the public. The decision overturns a ruling by a La Crosse County judge who had denied Stanley’s request for release.
Stanley was suffering from psychosis when he walked into St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Onalaska and gunned down the parish priest, a lay minister and a custodian. Angry the priest was allowing girls to give Scripture readings during Mass, the 29-year-old Army washout claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse the church.
Stanley was found not guilty by reason of mental disease and was committed to Mendota, a state psychiatric hospital in Madison.
In recent years, Stanley has been given greater freedom as his schizophrenia has been managed with medication. He was moved to an unlocked, minimum security unit at Mendota in 2006 and has been allowed to work part-time in the community and take classes at a local technical college.
He also has spent years researching and writing a 280-page book, “The Becoming of Driftless Rivers National Park,” a cultural and natural history of southwestern Wisconsin.
Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state was considering whether to appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If it doesn’t, the state Department of Health Services will be required to present a plan to a judge for the conditions attached to Stanley’s release.
If approved, he would be released under conditions that would likely include an ankle bracelet so the state can track his whereabouts, staff supervision of his medicine intake and meetings with a case manager and probation agent. That protocol would protect the community, and Stanley would be taken back into custody if he posed a risk, state officials say.
Attorney Tom Hayes, who represented Stanley during his appeal, called on authorities to quickly approve that plan and release his client. Stanley is ready to follow any conditions imposed by the court, said Hayes, who wasn’t sure where Stanley would want to live.
“He’s exhibited an ability to be a pro-social member of any community over the last 15 years,” Hayes said.
Referring to Stanley’s writing, Hayes said, “He’s a very talented person. And now with the proper medication that stabilized his condition, he was able to develop that talent.”
Two doctors — one who treated Stanley at Mendota and another appointed by the court to examine him — both supported his petition for conditional release. They testified that he has a good chance of succeeding in the community as long as he continues taking his medicine.
La Crosse County Judge Ramona Gonzalez had denied Stanley’s petition for release last year, citing instances of him refusing or getting off his medications. She said that created a risk for dangerous behavior that “I am not willing to take … based upon what this crime was all about.”
But appeals court Judge Burnie Bridge, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Gonzalez was mistaken. Testimony showed Stanley had refused to take his medicine for one day in 1993 and that was because it created harsh side effects; since he switched medications 15 years ago, he has never refused.
The evidence was not “clear and convincing” that Stanley would present a danger as required under state law to keep him committed, she wrote.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A Wisconsin man who gunned down a Catholic priest and two others in 1985 should be released from a mental hospital, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The District 4 Court of Appeals directed state health authorities to prepare to release Bryan Stanley from the Mendota Mental Health Institute with conditions.
The court said state lawyers failed to prove that releasing Stanley, 53, would present a danger to himself or the public. The decision overturns a ruling by a La Crosse County judge who had denied Stanley’s request for release.
Stanley was suffering from psychosis when he walked into St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Onalaska and gunned down the parish priest, a lay minister and a custodian. Angry the priest was allowing girls to give Scripture readings during Mass, the 29-year-old Army washout claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse the church.
Stanley was found not guilty by reason of mental disease and was committed to Mendota, a state psychiatric hospital in Madison.
In recent years, Stanley has been given greater freedom as his schizophrenia has been managed with medication. He was moved to an unlocked, minimum security unit at Mendota in 2006 and has been allowed to work part-time in the community and take classes at a local technical college.
He also has spent years researching and writing a 280-page book, “The Becoming of Driftless Rivers National Park,” a cultural and natural history of southwestern Wisconsin.
Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state was considering whether to appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. If it doesn’t, the state Department of Health Services will be required to present a plan to a judge for the conditions attached to Stanley’s release.
If approved, he would be released under conditions that would likely include an ankle bracelet so the state can track his whereabouts, staff supervision of his medicine intake and meetings with a case manager and probation agent. That protocol would protect the community, and Stanley would be taken back into custody if he posed a risk, state officials say.
Attorney Tom Hayes, who represented Stanley during his appeal, called on authorities to quickly approve that plan and release his client. Stanley is ready to follow any conditions imposed by the court, said Hayes, who wasn’t sure where Stanley would want to live.
“He’s exhibited an ability to be a pro-social member of any community over the last 15 years,” Hayes said.
Referring to Stanley’s writing, Hayes said, “He’s a very talented person. And now with the proper medication that stabilized his condition, he was able to develop that talent.”
Two doctors — one who treated Stanley at Mendota and another appointed by the court to examine him — both supported his petition for conditional release. They testified that he has a good chance of succeeding in the community as long as he continues taking his medicine.
La Crosse County Judge Ramona Gonzalez had denied Stanley’s petition for release last year, citing instances of him refusing or getting off his medications. She said that created a risk for dangerous behavior that “I am not willing to take … based upon what this crime was all about.”
But appeals court Judge Burnie Bridge, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Gonzalez was mistaken. Testimony showed Stanley had refused to take his medicine for one day in 1993 and that was because it created harsh side effects; since he switched medications 15 years ago, he has never refused.
The evidence was not “clear and convincing” that Stanley would present a danger as required under state law to keep him committed, she wrote.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Wis. shooting victims sue law enforcement leaders
Date: 10/13/2008 7:36 PM
CRANDON, Wis. (AP) _ The parents of four young people killed by a sheriff’s deputy and the lone survivor of his shooting spree last year claim in a lawsuit that the gunman’s law-enforcement superiors were negligent in supervising him and giving him access to weapons.
The lawsuit filed in Forest County Circuit Court also claims authorities knew Deputy Tyler Peterson, 20, had a history of violence, yet gave him too much decision-making responsibility.
Peterson was also a part-time Crandon policeman, and the lawsuit names Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, Forest County Sheriff Keith Van Cleve and their insurance companies as defendants.
Peterson killed his one-time girlfriend Jordanne Murray and five other people during a party at her home in Crandon on Oct. 7, 2007. Authorities have said Peterson was angered by the idea that Murray was dating someone else.
After breaking down the door, Peterson fired at least 30 shots from an AR-15 assault rifle he was issued as a member of the Forest County Sheriff’s SWAT team. Peterson shot and killed himself hours later after police efforts to get him to surrender failed.
He killed Murray, 18; Bradley Schultz, 20; Lindsey Stahl, 14; Aaron Smith, 20; Lianna Thomas, 18; and Katrina McCorkle, 18. Charlie Neitzel, 21, was shot three times but survived by playing dead.
The parents of Schultz, Stahl, Thomas and McCorkle joined Neitzel in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Dennee and Van Cleve had been warned that Peterson was a “violent person and a danger,” and they knew that Peterson had abused Murray.
None of the complaints against Peterson were investigated, the lawsuit said, adding that the sheriff and police chief failed to protect the public from the dangers posed by Peterson.
Van Cleve and the city attorney for Crandon did not immediately return telephone messages Monday. The sheriff’s dispatcher who answered a call for the Crandon Police Department said Dennee was not in his office Monday afternoon.
The city of Crandon and Forest County earlier denied the families’ claims seeking more than $5 million in damages. Those decisions opened the door for the civil lawsuit.
The two insurance companies named as defendants in the lawsuit are the League of Wisconsin Municipality Mutual Insurance and Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corp.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
CRANDON, Wis. (AP) _ The parents of four young people killed by a sheriff’s deputy and the lone survivor of his shooting spree last year claim in a lawsuit that the gunman’s law-enforcement superiors were negligent in supervising him and giving him access to weapons.
The lawsuit filed in Forest County Circuit Court also claims authorities knew Deputy Tyler Peterson, 20, had a history of violence, yet gave him too much decision-making responsibility.
Peterson was also a part-time Crandon policeman, and the lawsuit names Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, Forest County Sheriff Keith Van Cleve and their insurance companies as defendants.
Peterson killed his one-time girlfriend Jordanne Murray and five other people during a party at her home in Crandon on Oct. 7, 2007. Authorities have said Peterson was angered by the idea that Murray was dating someone else.
After breaking down the door, Peterson fired at least 30 shots from an AR-15 assault rifle he was issued as a member of the Forest County Sheriff’s SWAT team. Peterson shot and killed himself hours later after police efforts to get him to surrender failed.
He killed Murray, 18; Bradley Schultz, 20; Lindsey Stahl, 14; Aaron Smith, 20; Lianna Thomas, 18; and Katrina McCorkle, 18. Charlie Neitzel, 21, was shot three times but survived by playing dead.
The parents of Schultz, Stahl, Thomas and McCorkle joined Neitzel in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Dennee and Van Cleve had been warned that Peterson was a “violent person and a danger,” and they knew that Peterson had abused Murray.
None of the complaints against Peterson were investigated, the lawsuit said, adding that the sheriff and police chief failed to protect the public from the dangers posed by Peterson.
Van Cleve and the city attorney for Crandon did not immediately return telephone messages Monday. The sheriff’s dispatcher who answered a call for the Crandon Police Department said Dennee was not in his office Monday afternoon.
The city of Crandon and Forest County earlier denied the families’ claims seeking more than $5 million in damages. Those decisions opened the door for the civil lawsuit.
The two insurance companies named as defendants in the lawsuit are the League of Wisconsin Municipality Mutual Insurance and Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corp.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Atheist group sues Bush over national prayer day
Date: 10/3/2008 9:26 PM
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics is suing President Bush, the governor of Wisconsin and other officials over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued Friday in U.S. district court, arguing that the president’s mandated proclamations calling on Americans to pray violates a constitutional ban on government officials endorsing religion.
The day of prayer, held each year on the first Thursday of May, creates a “hostile environment for nonbelievers, who are made to feel as if they are political outsiders,” the lawsuit said.
The national proclamation issued this year asked God’s blessings on our country and called for Americans to observe the day with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is named in the suit because he is one of 50 governors who issued proclamations calling for the prayer day. The foundation is based in Madison.
Shirley Dobson, chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and White House press secretary Dana Perino also are named.
The foundation has filed numerous lawsuits in recent years, including one rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court last year that attacked President Bush’s faith-based initiative.
The White House and Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner had no comment on the lawsuit. A message seeking comment from the task force was not returned Friday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics is suing President Bush, the governor of Wisconsin and other officials over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued Friday in U.S. district court, arguing that the president’s mandated proclamations calling on Americans to pray violates a constitutional ban on government officials endorsing religion.
The day of prayer, held each year on the first Thursday of May, creates a “hostile environment for nonbelievers, who are made to feel as if they are political outsiders,” the lawsuit said.
The national proclamation issued this year asked God’s blessings on our country and called for Americans to observe the day with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is named in the suit because he is one of 50 governors who issued proclamations calling for the prayer day. The foundation is based in Madison.
Shirley Dobson, chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and White House press secretary Dana Perino also are named.
The foundation has filed numerous lawsuits in recent years, including one rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court last year that attacked President Bush’s faith-based initiative.
The White House and Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner had no comment on the lawsuit. A message seeking comment from the task force was not returned Friday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Winfrey’s mom countersues store for its $156K bill
Date: 9/30/2008 10:56 PM
Winfrey’s mom countersues store for its $156K bill
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Oprah Winfrey’s mother says she shouldn’t have to pay a nearly $156,000 debt to a high-end fashion store because store officials shouldn’t have extended credit to her.
Valentina Inc. alleges that Vernita Lee of Milwaukee racked up $155,547 in purchases and interest as of July 1. The company sued, saying Lee fell behind in minimum monthly payments of $2,000.
Lee filed a counterclaim Friday contending that Valentina took advantage of her “lack of knowledge, ability, and-or capacity” when creating her credit account.
Court papers say Lee resolved a 2002 case with the company over a $175,000 bill. The resolution prohibited Valentina from extending further credit to her.
A message left for Valentina co-owner Tony Chirchirillo was not returned Tuesday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Winfrey’s mom countersues store for its $156K bill
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Oprah Winfrey’s mother says she shouldn’t have to pay a nearly $156,000 debt to a high-end fashion store because store officials shouldn’t have extended credit to her.
Valentina Inc. alleges that Vernita Lee of Milwaukee racked up $155,547 in purchases and interest as of July 1. The company sued, saying Lee fell behind in minimum monthly payments of $2,000.
Lee filed a counterclaim Friday contending that Valentina took advantage of her “lack of knowledge, ability, and-or capacity” when creating her credit account.
Court papers say Lee resolved a 2002 case with the company over a $175,000 bill. The resolution prohibited Valentina from extending further credit to her.
A message left for Valentina co-owner Tony Chirchirillo was not returned Tuesday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.