04/20/24
June 16, 2009
Lawyer Sues for Men Excluded from Oakland A's Mother's Day Giveaway: An opportunistic lawyer in San Diego, Alfred G. Rava, has won a $510,000 class-action settlement against the Oakland A's for excluding men from a 2004 Mother's Day promotion, ESPN columnist Rick Reilly explains. On May 8, 2004, the A's had a fight-breast-cancer 5K run before the game, offered free mammograms and gave the first 7,500 women through the gate floppy plaid sun hats from Macy's. "Personally, I find Mr. Rava as odorous as a bag of dyspeptic hamsters," Reilly writes. "He's a greasy manipulator who has found a small leak in American law and stuck an open wallet under it."
Wonder if he'll sponsor a woman-led suit for all the upcoming Father's Day promotions.
posted by holden at 12:12 PM on June 16, 2009
And we wonder why the country is the way it is. People like this need to be shot. The Judge should be next in line for his ruling. Pathetic.
posted by dbt302 at 12:25 PM on June 16, 2009
I have this image of several dozen pink-clad women stapling a "fishing hat" to his head, shoving some fishing poles up his ass, and throwing him overboard several miles off the California coast during a Mother's Day fishing tour. I like this image. It soothes me. It needs sharks, though.
posted by joaquim at 12:25 PM on June 16, 2009
Fuck, what is wrong with some people? 250k to lawyers so he can get his hands on a $25 hat and $50 in damages. Meanwhile, anyone who knows/can identify the guy will tar and feather him for being such a wanker.
I need a drink.
posted by dfleming at 12:37 PM on June 16, 2009
Jeez, you're a guy in the Bay Area, you want to get into the game, you go over to the other side of the water and head to any one of a number of specialty shops, of which there are likely a multitude unmatched anywhere in the US.
There, they will gladly help you dress and look nicer than any woman in the ballpark. Including full hair, makeup, and accessorization. Group rates available.
Get back on the BART, endure the stares and comments from the guys who have no idea, and attend the game. Get the free hat, save the taxpayers half a million bucks.
And if you're really adventurous, you can go to the medical tent and see if they need any help with the mammograms.
There you have it: the plot synopsis for the next Adam Sandler movie.
posted by beaverboard at 01:02 PM on June 16, 2009
As pathetic as this sounds, there is a very simple way to avoid this.
All they have to do is publish a guideline to the staff before the event that says that any person who asks for an item, who is not in the group that normally gets the item, will be given the item. Then 99% of the guys who don't want the hat don't ask for a hat and don't get a hat. The few buttheads and lawyers (some are buttheads too) who make a stink get their hats.
The ballpark avoids all of these issues. If some butthead lawyer comes back and says he didn't get a hat, the ballpark pulls out the policy letter, asks him if he asked for a hat (which he may not have done, I don't know) and then the judge gives the lawyer a nasty look and sends him out the door.
For the record, I think the guy should get most of the things done to him listed here and in the article. Or maybe he should just get that free mamogram he would have gotten from the ballpark and have one of those fully abledbodied nurses (who plays pro football on the side) "assist" him while he's getting it performed.
posted by jjohn24680 at 01:08 PM on June 16, 2009
What a freaking jackass! A quick Google turns up his CA Bar member page: http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=188318, for those of you interested in learning more about this pernicious little toad.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:39 PM on June 16, 2009
I'm guessing Rava has the entire McDonalds Happy Meal toy collection as well, including the toys meant for kids under 3. What a douche.
posted by BoKnows at 01:54 PM on June 16, 2009
From billsaythis link:
What do I do if I have a complaint about a lawyer?
The State Bar investigates complaints of attorney misconduct. Members of the public can contact the Complaint Hotline at 1-800-843-9053. In addition, a complaint form and explanation of the attorney discipline system is on t
Most of the forms here are meant for an individual to file a complaint against a lawyer that they have hired, but I'd assume this can be used to file a general complaint.
The money, if awarded, should be distributed as described in the article:
"The entire settlement should be donated to the Breast Care Center at UCSF," says A's fan Ben Huber.
posted by BoKnows at 02:01 PM on June 16, 2009
See, it's the 99.125% fucked up, asshole sue-happy lawyers that ruin it for the rest of them.
Oh, and what dbt302 said.
posted by smithnyiu at 02:04 PM on June 16, 2009
Before the lawyer bashing gets into full gear, remember a few things. 1. There might be a few on sportsfilter 2. This prick is not indicative of the majority (99.125%) of the members of the legal profession. Most are dedicated professionals who genuinely want to make this country a better place. 3. You just don't read about the lawyer who represented a family in a probate dispute, keeping their home in the family, or who made sure an insurance company paid the medical bills for an injured accident victim. It's the outrageous cases that end up being high-profile. Examples of attorneys going about their business efficiently are hardly good reading. 4. Did I mention that this prick is the exception, not the rule? 5. The guy who puts the kiddie raper, the wife beater, and the crackhead who beats up old ladies for drug money in jail for a long time is a lawyer.
Very well, then. Carry on.
posted by tahoemoj at 03:11 PM on June 16, 2009
This is the man we're talking about here:
He also sued a Glendale club for offering free admission to women while charging men an entrance fee.
He's making a living off of commercializing the laws which were put in place to protect minorities and the disadvantaged. What a fucking scumbag.
posted by dfleming at 03:12 PM on June 16, 2009
Reilly practices law?
posted by mjkredliner at 03:24 PM on June 16, 2009
The idea of trying to reduce discrimination against men is not entirely a bad one. Think of the incidents where a female teacher has had sex with an underage student and has been punished with a slap on the wrist (probation, termination from her job - in at least one case with the court forbidding any mention of the incident on her employment records, and no monetary damages awarded). Contrast this with the fate of a male teacher who does the same thing with a female student. We're talking serious jail time here, not to mention lifetime branding as a sex offender. My point is that there is indeed discrimination against males in this country.
Now for Mr. Rava. Perhaps our society ought to practice the same sort of occupational discrimination that is practiced in some other societies. For example in Japan, those whose jobs involve the slaughter of animals and the tanning of leather are usually members of a class called "burakumin", who are regularly ghettoized, shunned, and otherwise treated badly. If I'm not mistaken, low caste Hindus in India are so treated because of occupation. Thus, I propose identifying all such members of the legal profession who make their living by such methods of legal extortion. They could be forced to sit in a separate section at bar association meetings. Their pictures could be placed on billboards, along with a list of the ridiculous suits they have brought. Mothers could point them out to their children as people to be feared and loathed. As for the judge who allowed this suit to continue, he and his ilk deserve a similar treatment.
Back in the early history of the US, I'm sure someone was successful in pressing a perverted interpretation of the law. At that time, those whose lives are guided by common sense should have banded together and beaten the lawyer, plaintiff, and judge to a pulp. The next step should have been to mandate a "common sense" test to each and every lawsuit. If you are asking a reasonable man to go against what seems right just to honor an obscure point of law, you should be denied access to the court.
Every facet of our daily lives has been altered, not for the good, by court actions such as Mr. Rava's. I really don't give a sweet crap for the Rava's (and the ACLUs) that seem to think that they know what is good for us. Let's just make some sense!
The above was written while sitting with my recently puchused crossbow on my lap and growling at small children who came too close to my lawn.
posted by Howard_T at 04:05 PM on June 16, 2009
So, he's a lawyer that can't get laid. How much of a dipshit do you have to be? Makes the hate against women understandable. Even ugly rich guys can get lucky.
Maybe he should switch teams.
posted by THX-1138 at 04:31 PM on June 16, 2009
leave it to snake to find the cracks in the legal masonary. he was also one of the alleged attorneys who exploited a nearly invisible crack in a california state law concerning disabled access. he sent notices to every small business in town that he was filing a lawsuit to get them to comply.
all of these small family businesses had to install wheelchair ramps and handholds for disabled employees (that few if any of them actually had on the payroll) which cost them thousands of dollars, then more thousands of dollars to respond to the court summons.
oh, and they had to pay his legal fees as part of the court settlement too.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:34 PM on June 16, 2009
Most are dedicated professionals who genuinely want to make this country a better place.
Point taken tahoemoj and I fully agree. But when I'm at a pub and have had a few Jeiger shots, and someone puts a woman on a scale with a duck and they balance, I'm the first asshole that wants to burn her. There, I said it.
posted by smithnyiu at 04:36 PM on June 16, 2009
My cynical view of stories like this...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:28 PM on June 16, 2009
Let's say this was just "lady's day" with the Oakland A's. All right, Rava would still be a douche, but this wouldn't bother me quite as much.
Ok, let's say this was just a Mother's Day promotion with the Oakaland A's. I could even swallow that and just grumble some mild anti-lawsuit crazy lawyer comment.
But this was a day specifically designed to focus attention on breast cancer research, prevention and detection. To launch a lawsuit over an event that was attempting to do some good for the community is bullshit of the highest order.
In light of this, I am proud to declare Mr. Rava the winner of my semi-annual "Most Full Scumbag" of the year award. This is a purely honorary distinction. It comes with no award of any kind, but he is welcome to include it on his resume and website.
posted by Joey Michaels at 07:33 PM on June 16, 2009
Smithnyiu, I hope you didn't think that I was offended by your post; I just wanted people to be aware of the fact that most in the legal world think guys like this are beneath contempt. Kind of nip the bad feeling in the bud, y'know? And I did dress her up a bit. The nose. And the hat.
posted by tahoemoj at 07:51 PM on June 16, 2009
Maybe you should actually try to build a bridge out of her.
Oh, wait a tic. That wouldn't do. Rava would just sue you for not trying to make a bridge out of some deserving man.
posted by THX-1138 at 08:01 PM on June 16, 2009
The irony, of course, will be if Rava gets breast cancer. (I hope I don't need to educate you lot that yes, men can get breast cancer too.)
posted by Drood at 01:11 AM on June 17, 2009
Shaft had breast cancer.
posted by bperk at 07:41 AM on June 17, 2009
Hey, dfleming, isn't that a picture of the author of the story and not the lawyer?
posted by graymatters at 03:24 PM on June 17, 2009
Shit, sorry, a google search of his name brought that photo up. I will learn to look a little harder last time.
Either that, or he's gaming all of us...
posted by dfleming at 12:58 AM on June 18, 2009
Class action lawsuits are mainly about the money for the plaintiff's lawyers. They get the vast majority of the money, and a tiny little bit might make its way to the plaintiffs. Rava is probably going to get the vast majority of that settlement, and this is clearly the way he makes his living. What a jerk!