| CJ: At Pleasant Hills, lush lawsuits are growing among the roses
A gazillionaire claims he got clipped but gooooood by a landscaper, who counters that the caretaker did it.All is not well at Pleasant Hills, the Wayzata estate of Edward H. (Ted) Hamm, who is suing John Vieau, owner of the Golden Valley gardening service Final Touch Inc. for a bill in excess of $7 million run up from 2001 to 2004.In lawsuits scheduled for trial in September, Hamm alleges that Vieau and his co-defendant, a former Final Touch G.M. named Karen Howells, "fraudulently schemed" to obtain "many millions of dollars" from him.The globe-trotting Hamm, of the Hamm's brewing family, arranged for his Florida bank to pay invoices submitted by Vieau. Hamm is a Florida resident who lives part time in Minnesota.Vieau does not like to be called a landscaper, and in his suit against Hamm is characterized even more humbly: "This is a case about the self-centered business practices of Hamm, who over the course of four years treated [Vieau & employees] as more or less his indentured servants as they fulfilled his gardening wishes and transformed his visual landscape ideas for the Trust's 21-acre Orono Estate."There were gardens devoted to cutting, raspberries, wildflowers, sunflowers, herbs, a statue, a yellow garden that included black-eyed Susans and parterre filled with rose bushes and rose topiaries.There were others.
Monaro, Snowy debate wind farms development
Debate on the possible expansion of the controversial wind farm industry in the Monaro and Snowy Mountains is under way again. Business group Cooma Unlimited says the community needs to make up its mind regarding wind farms and their effects on the landscape. The Snowy River Shire Council has already approved plans for a wind farm in the Snowy Plains area and other projects are on the drawing board. But Cooma Unlimited president Dugald Mitchell says debate on the issue so far has not addressed the issue of where the farms should be located. "The debate started last year regarding wind power - it wasn't completed because it is possible to place these things in certain areas on the Monaro where they wouldn't be seen," he said. "Some people say we want to see them, some people say, 'No, we don't want to see them, we want to reserve our heritage landscape'.
Anger over renovations on George Downing estate
OUTRAGED residents have accused a landlord of failing to honour promises to upgrade their estate. The Southern Housing Group housing association pledged a raft of improvements after taking over the George Downing estate in Cazenove Road, Stoke Newington. Six years later, tenants are living amid derelict buildings, vandalised playgrounds and ongoing building work. "We would expect delays with any construction project, but this is unacceptable," said mother-of-one Lorna Fray, who moved to the estate six years ago."We are outraged by the condition of the estate and the hypocrisy of the housing association."We haven't been able to use our garden since July and we were promised a play area on the estate several years ago, but all we have is two burnt swings."Southern Housing took over from Hackney Council as landlords of six estates in Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington in March, 2000.Housing chiefs pledged to spend £40 million cleaning up, landscaping estates and modernising homes.Leaseholders were even asked to contribute up to £10,000 to the cost of the building work.
Article by Linda S. Husar, Ann Kane Smith, Seth Neulight and ...
The California Supreme Court's recent opinion in Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. v. Superior Court (2007) 40 Cal.4th 360, although rendered in a consumer products liability case, is already resulting in rulings making it easier for plaintiffs in employment class actions to obtain access to prospective class members before a class is certified. .
|
