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Leading the News
Allen says BP capturing oil, but efforts to cap will to extend to fall.Media coverage of the Gulf oil spill focused on Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen's less-than-optimistic statement that the recovery effort could be grappling with leaking oil until fall. Allen's statement came even as BP announced over the weekend that its attempt to cap the blowout preventer has achieved a measure of success. NBC Nightly News (6/6, story 2, 2:40, Thompson) reported, "Despite the black plumes still shooting out from the wellhead on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, the containment cap is capturing oil. BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, told the BBC it is bringing more than 10,000 a barrels a day to the surface." Some scientists "say Hayward is being overly optimistic, that there could be far more oil still gushing into the gulf. What there is agreement on is that this crisis will not end anytime soon." The AP (6/7) reports Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, "the government's point man on the Gulf oil spill says there is some progress in containing the leaking well," but he "doesn't think anyone should be pleased as long as there is oil in the water." The Washington Post (6/7, Layton) reports BP executives "said that their efforts to capture the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico have begun to work and that a containment cap placed over the damaged well Thursday night sucked up about 10,500 barrels of oil -- 441,000 gallons -- on Saturday, up from around 6,000 barrels, or 250,000 gallons, on Friday. That oil was diverted to a waiting ship." The cap "continued to draw oil on Sunday but the amount collected was not immediately available, according to the Coast Guard." Over half of federal judges in Gulf districts have oil, gas industry ties. The AP (6/7, Anderson) reports more than "half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows." Thirty-seven "of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean - and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year." Lack of coordination on rig predated explosion. The New York Times (6/6, A1, Urbina) reports that the "lack of coordination" between managers on the Deepwater Horizon rig "was not limited to the day of the explosion. New government and BP documents, interviews with experts and testimony by witnesses provide the clearest indication to date that a hodgepodge of oversight agencies granted exceptions to rules, allowed risks to accumulate and made a disaster more likely on the rig, particularly with a mix of different companies operating on the Deepwater whose interests were not always in sync." And now, arguments "about who is in charge of the cleanup -- often a signal that no one is in charge - have led to delays, distractions and disagreements." Clean Water Act could allow stiff civil fines for spilled oil. McClatchy (6/4, Blumenthal) writes that if the Obama Administration "is serious about holding BP and others responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it can start with the federal Clean Water Act, which could allow the federal government to collect as much as $4.7 billion in civil fines just for the oil that's spilled so far." But even if the fines were imposed, "there are no guarantees that the money would go to the cleanup and economic recovery of the Gulf Coast." In another item, McClatchy (6/6, Hiassen) reports Attorney General Holder "promises an aggressive criminal investigation of BP and its contractors," but "if the companies responsible for the Gulf spill are prosecuted and convicted of wrongdoing, they can expect millions of dollars in criminal fines - on top of any civil penalties - or even banishment from government contracts, experts say" – but probably not jail time. Democrats push to raise liability limits. The Wall Street Journal (6/5, Hitt, Power) reports on competing Democratic and Republican legislative proposals in response to the spill, noting Democratic efforts to raise liability limits. Oil company lawyers profiled. The Washington Post (6/7, Becker) provides "a look at some of the key players on" the oil companies' legal teams. BP discovery costs could exceed $100M. Corporate Counsel (6/7, Miller) reports, "The legal strategies for BP and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster have yet to be revealed. But one thing is certain. Their in-house legal departments are in the midst of an expensive and Herculean task -- discovery." The cost of discovery "could top $100 million," according to Craig Carpenter, "general counsel of Recommind, an e-discovery software provider." Hayward won't step down, pledges to return Gulf Coast to previous state. The CBS Evening News (6/6, story 3, 2:00, Couric) reported, "BP chief executive Tony Hayward said today he will not step down over the oil spill and promised his company would return the Gulf Coast to, quote, the position it was in before the spill." Oil begins to wash up on Florida beaches. The CBS Evening News (6/6, lead story, 2:40, Cobiella) reported, "It was Groundhog Day here along the Gulf Coast today with more of BP's mess washing ashore and people here are worried that Louisiana's nightmare could one day be their own. Those streaks on the water less than half a mile from the white sand of Pensacola Beach are oil sheen. We spotted this a mile from the Florida-Alabama coast -- more shine dotted with clumps of red tar riding the waves to shore." Damage from oil spill extends under ocean's surface. ABC World News (6/6, story 2, 2:30, de Nies) reported, "These are the kinds of heart wrenching pictures you expect to see after a major oil spill. Birds covered with oil, floating on the surface. But now, we're also seeing dead fish and dolphins. Scientists say that points to a much larger catastrophe hidden under the water, one that we haven't seen before." Rick Steiner, marine conservationist: "For every dead animal that's recovered, approximately ten times that number are killed and drift away, you know, sink in the ocean. You never recover them." Dispersant could cause more damage to Gulf than oil. Sharon Begley, writing for Newsweek (6/6), notes that several weeks ago "independent scientists...first detected the vast underwater plumes of crude oil spreading...in the Gulf of Mexico," but BP "immediately dismissed the reports." According to Begley, "federal officials called the scientists' claim 'misleading, premature and, in some cases, inaccurate,'" while BP CEO Tony Hayward "flatly declared 'there aren't any plumes,' stopping just short of accusing the scientists of misconduct." NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco, described as "a respected oceanographer," still "insists there are no plumes, only 'anomalies' -- though last week she acknowledged the possibility of oil beneath the surface." Nevertheless, Begley says it is "increasingly clear that the initial reports of undersea oil were right," and that because of the dispersants, "what might have been just another oil spill -- albeit a bad one -- has been transformed into something unprecedented." Time (6/14, Walsh) also reports that "many scientists believe that the greatest threat could be below the surface, where independent researchers say they've found evidence of miles-long plumes of oil potentially poisoning sea life and disrupting the marine food chain." BP "use[d]...nearly 1 million gal. of chemical dispersants, sprayed onto the surface and injected directly into the wellhead to break up the crude and speed the evaporation process. ... On May 27, scientists from the University of South Florida (USF) returned from a six-day voyage into the Gulf with evidence that huge plumes of oil...were moving thousands of feet beneath the surface in a great toxic cloud." Obama vows to stand with Gulf Coast residents "until they are made whole." The AP (6/6) reports President Obama "said Saturday that he will stand with Gulf Coast residents 'until they are made whole' from the oil spill catastrophe.' Obama recorded his weekly radio and Internet address from this barrier island town he visited Friday on his third trip to the Gulf since an April 20 drilling rig explosion unleashed a gusher of crude into the waters there." BP apology ads draw criticism. The AP (6/6, Kay) reports, "An apologetic advertising campaign by BP for causing the biggest oil spill in US history has earned the company more criticism than sympathy as the pollution spreads across the Gulf Coast from Louisiana into Alabama and Florida." The ads feature CEO Tony Hayward "pledging to fix the damage." But President Obama said the money spent on the ads "should be spent on cleanup efforts and on compensating fishermen and small business owners who've lost their jobs because of the spill, and to help residents and visitors of the Gulf Coast, where some beaches have been blackened by the oil and others remain threatened." Spill threatens Pointe-Au-Chien tribe. The Washington Post (6/5, Fahrenthold) reports that the oil spill is challenging the French-speaking Pointe-au-Chien American Indian nation, whose members "worry that the oil will kill the marsh" where they live.
Civil Justice SystemPlaystation class action against Sony, Square Enix seeks over $5M.Courthouse News (6/4, Dinzeo) reported, "Sony and Square Enix refuse to reimburse PlayStation 3 owners when their game consoles permanently freeze from playing defective copies of 'Final Fantasy XIII,' according to a class action in Federal Court." The class "demands more than $5 million in damages and restitution for breach of warranty, unfair competition and product liability." New York court rules man may sue wife's psychiatrist over herpes infection.The New York Law Journal (6/7, Walder) reports, "A man who says he contracted a sexually transmitted disease after his wife had an affair with her allegedly infected psychiatrist can bring a negligence action against the doctor, a state judge has ruled. The man, Carl Levine, claimed that Dr. Robert Werboff had a duty to warn him that he had herpes simplex before having unprotected sex with Levine's wife. Looking to 'common concepts of morality, logic, and ... the social consequences of imposing the duty,' Westchester County Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella agreed that Werboff owed a reasonable duty of care to Mr. Levine." CongressNYTimes urges Obama, Congress to take steps to improve mining safety.In an editorial, the New York Times (6/7) notes Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-WV) recent calls for new protections for mine workers who blow the whistle on their companies, and for better communication between mine workers and safety inspectors. "Senator Rockefeller also appealed to the president to hold mining executives more directly accountable for safety violations, and he called for White House action to reduce the huge backlog of cases tying up the enforcement process." The Times urges the President and Congress to reform the appeals process that allows companies to avoid "a just reckoning," and argues "Congress should also mandate that mining companies disclose their history of safety violations to shareholders, as a further market prod. Instead of waiting for the next tragedy, the White House and Congress should be working right now to make mining safer," the Times concludes. Drug SafetyJ&J facing problems after recall.The National Law Journal (6/7, Levine) reports that Johnson & Johnson has faced problems since recalling "more than 136 million bottles of pediatric Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec due to manufacturing problems." Two class actions "have been filed against the McNeil division - one in the Northern District of Illinois and the other in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania - trying to force it to broaden the recall and offer cash refunds instead of coupons for new products." Donald Haviland Jr, who represents Pennsylvania plaintiffs, "said he expects the class actions to be combined." Employment/Workplace SafetyArbitration clause means Citibank teller can't sue over discrimination.ABC News (6/4, Gomstyn) on its website reported, "A beautiful woman, Debrahlee Lorenzana, is claiming that one of the country's biggest banks, Citigroup, fired her for being too attractive." Buried "beneath the attention-grabbing allegations, meanwhile, is a legal detail that means a lot for many workers, not just the attractive ones: Thanks to something known as a mandatory arbitration clause, Lorenzana likely will not have her day in court." Lorenzana's lawyer, Jack Tuckner, said that he was unaware of the clause "until after they filed a lawsuit against Citi," and both he "and others believe that a jury would award more cash for damages than an arbitrator." Attorney says Michigan Hooters discrimination lawsuit is "about civil rights."The AP (6/6) reported, "An attorney for two former" Michigan waitresses "who said Hooters fired them because of their weight told a newspaper the case is about civil rights. 'This really is the cornerstone of civil rights: You can't discriminate based on appearance,' said attorney Richard Bernstein, who represents Cassie Smith and Leanne Convery in lawsuits that claim they were fired as waitresses because they weren't slim enough." Michigan "is the only state with a law that prohibits discrimination based on weight, the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday." NYTimes urges enactment of workplace protections for domestic workers.The New York Times (6/7) editorializes, "New York State has the chance to lead the nation in extending basic workplace protections to domestic workers." The state Senate "has just passed a domestic workers' bill of rights, with an array of guarantees that most workers take for granted, like paid holidays, sick days, vacation days and the right to overtime pay and collective bargaining. The Assembly passed its version last year. The Legislature should swiftly reconcile the bills and send a measure to Gov. David Paterson for his signature." Medical Errors/HealthcareSt. Jude Medical to pay $3.7 million in kickback settlement.The AP (6/5) reported that on Friday, while admitting no wrongdoing, "medical device maker St. Jude Medical, Inc. said...it will pay $3.7 million as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice over allegations the company paid illegal kickbacks to hospitals in Ohio." According to St. Jude, "the allegations centered 'on small, isolated product rebates' that it paid more than five years ago." The Wall Street Journal (6/5, Becker) reported that the Department of Justice alleged that St. Jude had paid kickbacks to Kentucky's Norton Healthcare and Ohio's Parma Community General Hospital in order to secure for itself heart device business opportunities. Since false claims were submitted to federal healthcare programs, these actions were considered a violation of the False Claims Act. Drug companies seem undeterred by fines for off-label marketing practices.The Newark Star-Ledger (6/6, Todd) reported on the use of off-label marketing by drugmakers, noting that despite large fines against Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson recently, companies still use the practice "to hedge their bet by squeezing more money from their top products." And, while "off-label marketing isn't usually dangerous to patients, the practice has made drug makers more vulnerable to patient lawsuits over safety problems, and has sullied once-pristine reputations of companies such as Johnson & Johnson." But "industry observers remain unconvinced that drugmakers will be deterred by the heavy fines," and one legal expert "said there remain lots of ways for the companies to 'skirt the law.'" Drugmakers release documents on sampling practices to congress.The Wall Street Journal (6/5, Favole) reported that drugmakers recently submitted documents to Congress citing their use of drug samples, as required by the health reform law, and Pfizer led all pharmaceutical companies by giving out 101 million drug samples worth $2.7 billion in 2007. Merck & Co., Eli Lilly & Co. and Abbott Laboratories also disclosed that they provided millions of drug samples to physicians and hospitals. But, some hospital systems, including the Mayo Clinic and University of Wisconsin Health System, limit their use of the samples because of conflicts of interest and safety issues. Researchers to track health of Libby, MT, high school graduates.The AP (6/4) reported, "Researchers have embarked on an ambitious study to track the health of thousands of high school graduates over a half century in" Libby, MT, a town "where a toxic mine has killed hundreds of people and made it the deadliest Superfund site in the nation. People who attended Libby High between 1950 and 1999 and then moved away are being asked to submit to tests to help determine the extent of contamination caused by asbestos mining and processing in the northwestern Montana town." Desai indicted in Nevada hepatitis outbreak.The AP (6/4) reported, "A former physician-owner and two former employees at a Las Vegas-area colonoscopy clinic were indicted Friday on 28 felony charges, including racketeering, negligence and insurance fraud stemming from a 2008 hepatitis C outbreak. A judge in Las Vegas issued arrest warrants for physician Dipak Desai and former Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada anesthetists Ronald Ernest Lakeman and Keith Mathahs on charges resulting from allegations they misused syringes and clinic instruments to transmit the incurable liver disease to seven patients." Product SafetyBanner agreed to say nothing on smell, health risks of Knauf drywall.The AP (6/4) reported, "A South Florida construction supplier that purchased faulty Chinese drywall made an agreement with the manufacturer not to make any statements regarding the plasterboard's possible smell or health risks, according to court documents released in a class action suit Friday." In the agreement, "signed in December 2006," Knauf Tianjin "agreed to provide Banner Supply with thousands of pieces of US-produced plasterboard and to pay them $7,300 per month to store the Chinese product. Banner agreed to keep the terms of the agreement confidential and not make any statements 'regarding any perceived or actual smell or health risks' relating to the Knauf boards to the press or any person or corporation." Attorney Victor Diaz, who is representing over 150 homeowners in the suit, said, ""My clients who bought their homes in 2008 would have loved to have known what Banner knew in 2006," adding, "Clearly this agreement was meant to buy the silence of Banner." The South Florida Business Journal (6/4, Brinkmann) reported that according to Banner attorney Michael Peterson, Banner was unaware of any health implications, and agreed to the provision "thinking the only problems were odor." Knauf urged Banner to sell drywall "overseas." ProPublica (6/5, Sapien) reported that Knauf urged Banner "to sell thousands of sheets of foul-smelling drywall 'overseas' after Banner complained about the tainted product, according to documents and depositions unsealed Friday by a Florida circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County. A Banner executive said the offer was refused." Miami Herald urges "extra scrutiny" for Chinese imports. The Miami Herald (6/7) editorializes, "The Chinese drywall problem for US homeowners has been a stealth crisis that's only now getting wider attention through court cases." The Herald comments, "Tainted dog food. Putrefying bacteria on seafood. Toxic drywall. By now it should be clear to the CPSC and other import regulators that products from China need extra scrutiny, period." McDonalds drinking glasses recall raises safety questions.The AP (6/4) reported, "A recall of 12 million cadmium-tainted 'Shrek' drinking glasses sold by McDonald's raises questions about the safety of millions of similar cheap promotional products that have been sitting in Americans' kitchen cabinets for years." Ron Biagi of Arc International, which made the glasses, said, "It could have been any glass company," adding, "We all do the same thing using materials from the same suppliers." Arc "said that it has been making glasses for McDonald's for 15 years and that levels of cadmium used in the enamel baked into the glass were within current federal safety guidelines." USA Today: provision requiring supplement makers to register with FDA could better protect consumers.USA Today (6/5) noted that a GAO report "recently found traces of potentially hazardous contaminants in almost all of the 40 supplement products." None of the "heavy metal residues appeared to exceed legal limits," but "18 of the products...were found to contain residues of at least one pesticide." Investigators also uncovered "online retailers claiming their products could treat, prevent or cure diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other conditions." Thus, there appears to be "an absence of quality control." But the "Senate is expected to take up a landmark food safety bill this month," which may include a "provision mandating that supplement makers register annually with the Food and Drug Administration." The "test for lawmakers will be whether they are more concerned with protecting the health of" those who take such products, "or the profits of the politically potent supplement industry." Also in the NewsWSJournal opposes McConnell nomination to Rhode Island bench.The Wall Street Journal (6/7) editorializes against President Obama's nomination of Jack McConnell to the federal district court in Rhode Island, arguing that McConnell, a trial lawyer, is antibusiness. | ||||
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AAJ News Brief is a digest of the most important news selected from thousands of sources by the editors of Custom Briefings. The presence of advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by the American Association for Justice. This complimentary copy of AAJ News Brief was sent to haytham@puckettfaraj.com as part of your American Association for Justice membership. View Custom Briefings' privacy policy. Neither Custom Briefings nor the American Association for Justice is liable for the use of or reliance on any information contained in this briefing. For information about other member benefits, please contact American Association for Justice Member Service Center at (800) 424-2727. American Association for Justice | 777 6th Street, NW | Washington, DC 20001 Copyright © 2010 by Custom Briefings | 11190 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 130 | Reston, VA 20191 |