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Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Tue, Apr 16, 2024

Alex Lifeson versus the Ritz-Carlton: One Little Victory

Wed, Apr 23, 2008@9:50PM | comments removed/disabled

[Rush guitarist's son wins round in lawsuit]

UPDATE - 4/24@10:40PM: Here's a link to a pdf of the court document (thanks Paul K).

Most Rush fans are already aware that Alex Lifeson and his son Justin were arrested in Naples, FL on New Year's eve 2004 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida. After a lengthy court battle, the multiple felonies the two were charged with were eventually reduced to misdemeanors and Alex and his son filed a counter suit which proved to be unsuccessful. But there's been a recent positive development for Lifeson in the case. From the Associated Press:

... A federal appeals court says a lower court judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss a negligence claim by Alex Lifeson's son against the hotel and the security manager on duty at the time of the Dec. 31, 2003 altercation.

However, an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the dismissal of the rest of the claims by Lifeson and his son - including the contention that the Collier County deputies violated their civil rights by using excessive force. ...

... The appeals court said in an opinion filed Wednesday that Alex Zivojinovich "unreasonably escalated an already volatile situation" in trying to come to the aid of his son and was not entitled to pursue the negligence claim.

The panel said a jury should be allowed to hear the portion of the lawsuit involving Justin Zivojinovich because Barner had falsely led the deputies to expect trouble, making it more likely that the hotel guests could be hurt. ...

So finally some good news for Lerxst. If you want all the details of the case, there is a great running history over at the Power Windows site. Thanks to robertkincaid96 for the heads up.