| | The TTLA 2008 Mid-Year Conference w/ Advanced Personal Injury Course & Board Meeting is scheduled for April 30th - May 2nd at the Driskill Hotel (800-252-9367) in Austin, TX. You can register online at www.ttla.com/register or for more information contact rhonda@ttla.com. |
| | A $7 billion fund to compensate victims of Sept. 11 should be reopened to cover thousands of workers injured by World Trade Center dust, a former manager of that fund said Tuesday. Kenneth Feinberg told congressional lawmaker that reopening the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund was a preferential option to years of protracted litigation. More than 10,000 people have joined lawsuits against New York City that claim they were injured by toxic dust released during the World Trade Center collapse. AP, Newsday 04/01/2008 | |
| | As many as 2,500 female employees at Citigroup Inc. unit Smith Barney could split $33 million under a settlement agreement filed Wednesday. According to the plaintiffs, the brokerage firm continued to discriminate against women in violation of a 1997 sexual harassment settlement. The settlement covers current and former female brokers employed by the company since 2003. Karen Gullo and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg 04/03/2008 | |
| | Investigators can begin looking into Countrywide Financial Corp.'s mortgage processing systems for evidence that the lender abused borrowers in billing and bankruptcy procedures. Judge Thomas Agresti of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh dismissed the company's argument that such a probe would trigger the unabated investigation of other major lenders. Countrywide has acknowledged some errors in its handling of mortgage payments but maintains that the alleged abuses are not representative of company procedures. Times Wire Services, LA Times 04/03/2008 | |
| | A House committee on Wednesday cleared the way for a floor vote on legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration unparalleled authority over the tobacco industry. Under the proposed bill, the agency would be able to regulate the sale and marketing of products such as flavored cigarettes and so-called light and low tar products. Critics of the bill have said that FDA authority over cigarette makers would overburden the already resource-strained agency. Stephanie Saul, The New York Times 04/03/2008 | |
| | Officials from Maryland and the American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that they had reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit that claimed state troopers used race in determining which drivers to pull over. Under the settlement, the state will pay about $300,000 to six plaintiffs and about $100,000 for programs designed to curb racial profiling. The original lawsuit was brought 10 years ago by 18 African-American drivers who alleged they were stopped and detained on Interstate 95 as a result of racial profiling. Michael Dresser, Baltimore Sun 04/03/2008 | |
| | Financial and insurance regulation departments in Florida allowed insurance companies to underpay property owners for hurricane-related claims, a lawsuit filed Wednesday says. In the lawsuit, a South Florida homeowner claims that the Office of Insurance Regulation and the Department of Financial Services failed to stop insurers from hiding mediated settlement options from policyholders. The lawsuit argues that the failure to disclose such options saved the insurance industry about $400 million. Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel 04/03/2008 | |
| | A lawsuit filed Wednesday claims that the company that owns the Crandall Canyon mine ignored safety risks that could have prevented a collapse that killed nine miners. According to the lawsuit, Murray Energy and others should have known that the mine was unreasonably treacherous but chose to continue operations in order to boost profits. Presently, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of families and survivors of the August 2007 collapse. Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune 04/03/2008 | |
| | A federal judge has rejected former Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti's attempt to transfer a massive antitrust lawsuit against insurance companies to state court. District Court Judge Jay Zainey ruled Wednesday that the case would be best heard as a class action in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that Allstate, State Farm and other insurers conspired to fix prices and damages estimates following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Michael Kunzelman, Forbes 04/02/2008 | |
| | The nation's largest insurance company has advised patients taking the cholesterol drug Vytorin to continue treatment despite a recent finding that the drug was no more effective than a generic alternative. According to a representative for the UnitedHealth Group, the company will continue to recommend Vytorin because the drug has not been the subject of safety concerns. Additionally, the company does not plan to charge higher co-payments for the pills compared to other brand-name cholesterol drugs. Bloomberg News, The New York Times 04/03/2008 | |
| | The New England Journal of Medicine acknowledged in corrections and an editorial that a 2006 study regarding lung cancer was financed by a tobacco company. Last month the New York Times reported that Vector Group, parent of Liggett Tobacco provided most of the funding for the Foundation for Lung Cancer-backed study. The study claimed that 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through the widespread use of CT scans. Beth Jinks, Bloomberg 04/03/2008 | |
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