Watercooler Stories

Couple sue over sprinklers at wedding

NEW YORK, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A New York couple is suing a hotel after their wedding ceremony on the building's lawn was interrupted by the sprinkler system.

Svetlana Orishchenko, 27, and her husband, Yuriy Orishchenko, 26, filed a $300,000 lawsuit last week against the Hilton Garden Inn, alleging the sprinkler system went off during their Aug. 9 wedding -- which they said cost about $20,000 -- and drenched their guests, the New York Daily News reported.

"I can't say it ruined my wedding. Nothing could have ruined my day," Svetlana Orishchenko said. "I felt the worst for my guests. I had people who were soaked from head to toe."

Hotel owner Richard Nicotra confirmed the sprinkler incident but said he offered $5,000 compensation to the couple, who continued their wedding after the sprinklers shut off.

"Ten employees went out there with towels ... we offered to take dresses to the cleaners, anything," Nicotra said. "This is blackmail. They just want a free wedding. They want to take us to the cleaners."

Water shut off over $2.36 bill

ATLANTA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Atlanta water department officials acknowledge it was a mistake to cut off service to a former Georgia lawmaker over a $2.36 balance due on his water bill.

Bob Irvin, the former Republican leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, said the water at the home he shares with his wife, Lynn, was shut off at about noon Wednesday after the couple received a notice in the mail last week informing them of the outstanding $2.36 due on their account, WGCL-TV, Atlanta, reported.

Lynn Irvin said she checked with her bank to be sure her recent checks for $714.77 and $234.66 went through. She said she tried to phone Water Department Commissioner Rob Hunter but was unable to get through Wednesday.

However, WGCL-TV said it was able reach Hunter and the Irvins' water was turned back on within 30 minutes. A water department spokeswoman said the department erred in shutting off the water, as disconnections are not usually done until a delinquent bill has reached $50.

$3 for plaintiffs in religious suit

BATAVIA, Ohio, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An Ohio county library system has settled a lawsuit brought by a couple denied use of a meeting room for a financial planning seminar with religious overtones.

The Clermont County Public Library agreed to pay $2 to George and Cathy Vandergriff of Pierce and $1 to the Institute for Principled Policy, a religious think tank that joined them in the lawsuit, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The plaintiffs' lawyers are to receive $10,000.

"We were never in it for the money," George Vandergriff said Wednesday. "We are Christians, we believe in the Bible -- that it's God's inerrant word -- and we believe that everyone could profit from studying it."

After the Vandergriffs sued, the library voted to stop allowing outside groups from using its meeting rooms. Under its previous policy, groups could hold meetings in the library as long as they were not political or religious.

"It's kind of a chicken way to do things," Vandergriff said of the policy change.

Man demands $1.5M, or kidney, in divorce

NEW YORK, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A New York state man whose wife filed for divorce is demanding $1.5 million or the return of one very special gift -- his kidney.

Dominic Barbara, an attorney for Dr. Richard Batista of Ronkonkoma, said the demand was added Wednesday to his client's countersuit, which was filed in 2005 after his wife, Dawnell Batista, 44, filed for divorce, Newsday reported.

Barbara said Batista does not actually expect his wife to return the kidney he donated to her in 2001. Instead, the demand is aimed at calling attention to Dawnell Batista blocking his previously agreed-upon visitation with their three children, ages 14, 11 and 8.

"Does he really want the kidney back? Of course not," Barbara said.

Medical ethicists said the kidney demand is unlikely to yield Batista an organ or the $1.5 million.

"It's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value," said Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics. "When you give something, you can't get it back."