Names and faces
Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader is the first to say his new museum is not quite like any other. The American Museum of Tort Law has been developed by Nader, 81, as a kind of ode to the power of the law to achieve triumphs over corporate America. The museum, located inside a former bank building in Nader’s western Connecticut hometown of Winsted, tells the story of landmark cases through exhibits and graphic-novel type illustrations. There’s a Chevrolet Corvair — the car featured in Nader’s 1965 book on the auto industry’s safety record, Unsafe at Any Speed — and even a room for children, dedicated to all manner of dangerous toys. Nader hopes high school students will re-enact famous legal cases, and the museum, which so far has raised $2 million, is pursuing more to support other programs including touring exhibitions around the country. Nader said that while the museum fulfills his longtime vision, its exhibits appeal to a wide audience. “It’s an amazing commentary isn’t it? There’s supposed to be rule of law? I don’t know where the lawyers have been or the judges, but this is a first,” he said. “But more important, it relates to almost everybody’s daily experience. Who hasn’t been in a motor vehicle and watched a crash or been in a crash? Who hasn’t taken drugs, medicines? Who hasn’t been treated by a doctor or a hospital? Who hasn’t had their property damaged wrongfully?”
Former Scandal actor Columbus Short is avoiding jail time after pleading no contest Thursday to punching a man at a Los Angeles bar last year. Short entered the plea to a felony count of assault likely to cause great bodily injury, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Short was sentenced to three years’ probation and two months of community labor, and he must take 26 anger-management classes. Short also will be ordered to pay restitution to the man he punched. The amount will be determined at an Oct. 21 hearing. A witness testified at a December hearing that Short delivered a running punch during a fight in March 2014, causing Fenton Hyche III to lose consciousness and fall to the ground at a family gathering. Hyche suffered a concussion and a fractured eye socket. Short’s attorney, Michael Levin, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment about his client’s plea late Thursday. Levin has previously said Short was acting in self-defense because Hyche was prepared to fight Short. But Hyche’s cousin testified in December that Hyche’s father had intervened and was holding his son’s forearms when the actor delivered the punch. Short, who turned 33 last week, left Scandal after being charged in the assault case and a separate domestic-violence case involving his estranged wife.