KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Browns’ Haslam subpoenaed
Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was subpoenaed to appear in a videotaped deposition in a civil lawsuit against the Pilot Flying J truck-stop chain owned by the family of Haslam and his brother, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. According to a court notice filed Friday in Franklin County, Ohio, Jimmy Haslam was served with a notice to appear at the deposition in Knoxville on Dec. 13. The lawsuit was filed by companies that declined to participate in an $85 million settlement between Pilot and 5,500 trucking companies in connection with a scheme to cheat customers out of promised discounts and rebates. The company also paid a $92 million federal penalty.
AMITYVILLE, N.Y.
‘Amityville Horror’ house sold
The Long Island home that served as the inspiration for the book The Amityville Horror and the subsequent films of the same name is being bought. Newsday reports the 1927 Dutch Colonial on Amityville’s Ocean Avenue went into contract this week. The property’s listing agent declined to discuss the terms of the sale. The home came on the market in June for $850,000. The home sits on a quarter-acre lot along the Amityville River. Before gaining fame with the release of the movie in 1979, the house was where Ronald DeFeo Jr., 23, murdered his parents and four younger siblings in 1974.
TULSA, Okla.
Energy companies sued
Residents of a town hit by Oklahoma’s strongest earthquake filed a class-action lawsuit against dozens of energy companies, accusing them of triggering temblors by injecting wastewater from oil and natural gas production underground. Pawnee residents filed the suit Thursday in district court against 27 companies, saying they operate wastewater injection wells even though they know the method causes earthquakes. The suit seeks an unspecified amount for property damage and reduced value, plus emotional distress. A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck the town in September and the lawsuit claims 52 more have hit the area since.
NEW YORK
Men found guilty in drug case
Two nephews of Venezuela’s first lady who were charged with conspiring to send drugs to the United States were convicted on Friday by a jury that found evidence of the crime even though the government’s star witness came across to at least one juror as “slime.” The Manhattan federal court jury returned its verdict against Efrain Campo, 30, and his cousin Francisco Flores, 31, after less than a day of deliberations. The nephews of first lady Cilia Flores were charged with conspiring last year to import more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine into the U.S.
Compiled from wire reports