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• TTLA Home • Search Litigation Bank • About	September 17, 2007
-  Lawsuit Accuses Company of Tenant Abuse -  Family Awarded Damages in Denny’s Bias Case -  Reservist Wins Case Against Former Employer -  State Submits Plans for Lead Cleanup in Landmark Case -  Newspaper's Identification of Jurors Ignites Controversy -  Transparency in Drug Trials Remains a Contentious Issue -  Industry Asking for Increased Regulation -  Contact Info Stolen After Security Breach at Brokerage -  Doctors: 9/11 Illnesses May Rise     This Service Sponsored Exclusively by The James Street Group A Member Service of Texas Trial Lawyers Association
Announcements     Laws/Cases   Lawsuit Accuses Company of Tenant Abuse A group of Harlem residents have filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against Pinnacle Group alleging that the company has engaged in corporate slum lording in the management of its rental properties. The residents filed a petition Friday to certify the lawsuit as a class action, potentially adding thousands of plaintiffs to the case. In the original lawsuit, the residents claim the company issued more than 5,000 eviction notices in a two year period and violated rent stabilization laws.  Samuel Goldsmith, New York Post  09/16/2007 Read Article: New York Post       Family Awarded Damages in Denny’s Bias Case An African-American family, who claimed a waiter at a Denny’s restaurant intentionally ignored them and used racial slurs, won their case against the chain Friday. According to the lawsuit, the waiter served Caucasian customers, forcing the family to get their own drinks, napkins and utensils. A jury awarded the family a combined $600,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.  AP, Kansas City Star  09/15/2007 Read Article: Kansas City Star       Reservist Wins Case Against Former Employer A Washington man, who alleged his employer wrongly fired him after he returned from Air Force Reserve service in Iraq, was awarded $542,000 by jury on Wednesday. In the lawsuit, Jerry Delay claimed that ACE Heating reduced his hours, denied promotions and refused him use of a company van following his return from service. Federal law requires reservists to receive the same job they had upon their return and to retain seniority.  Brad Wong, Seattle Post-Intelligencer  09/14/2007 Read Article: Seattle Post-Intelligencer       State Submits Plans for Lead Cleanup in Landmark Case A Rhode Island proposal, released Friday, would require three former lead paint manufacturers to pay an estimated $2.4 billion to clean hundreds of thousands of homes contaminated with lead. The states plan follows a landmark lawsuit that accused the industry of creating a public nuisance and poisoning thousands of children since the 1990s. The companies, Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries, Inc. and Millennium Holdings have appealed the jury verdict.  AP, USA Today  09/15/2007 Read Article: USA Today       Newspaper's Identification of Jurors Ignites Controversy The Connecticut Post is defending an illustration that appeared in its pages depicting the personal information of jurors in court case involving the death penalty. While the law does not prohibit the publication of jurors’ names, journalism professors say the newspapers could have exercised better judgment. Two jurors were excused by the judge after voicing concerns about their personal safety, a request for a mistrial by the defense was denied.  Desiree Hanford, The New York Times  09/17/2007 Read Article: The New York Times       Products   Transparency in Drug Trials Remains a Contentious Issue Lawmakers, scientists and advocacy groups are pushing for increased transparency during drug trials in hope of identifying potentially problematic drugs sooner. Clinical trials, considered the gold standard for testing safety and efficacy, are often difficult to understand and study, creating a roadblock for outside research. Bills currently before the House and Senate call for the creation of an easy to use database that would make the results of all clinical trials available to the larger scientific community and the public. Disagreement remains, however, on how such a database would work.  Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, LA Times  09/17/2007 Read Article: LA Times       Industry Asking for Increased Regulation Abandoning years of efforts to fend off regulations, many industries are now asking for increased government control. Calls for increased federal regulation are motivated by, among other things, the desire of manufacturers to defer liability and preempt more stringent local standards. Consumer groups and regulatory experts hope that potential regulations will bolster safety standards rather than simply serve corporate interest.  Eric Lipton and Gardiner Harris, The New York Times  09/16/2007 Read Article: The New York Times       Technology   Contact Info Stolen After Security Breach at Brokerage TD Ameritrade announced Friday that computer hackers stole contact information for 6.3 million of the online brokerage’s customers. According to a spokeswoman for the company, the hackers were able to access information that included the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of customers. Sensitive identifying information such as Social Security numbers, account numbers and birthdates were not accessed, the spokeswoman said.  Jonathan Stempel, Reuters  09/14/2007 Read Article: Reuters       Study   Doctors: 9/11 Illnesses May Rise Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, doctors warned lawmakers that there is no way to estimate how many more ground zero workers will become ill with life threatening illnesses. During testimony, the physicians cited a Mount Sinai School of Medicine study that found 70 percent of workers suffer from new or advancing respiratory problems as a result of exposure to debris following the terrorist attacks. Officials from the school are advocating that programs be kept in place to track how many workers might develop long-term diseases.  Devlin Barrett, The New York Times  09/17/2007 Read Article: The New York Times
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