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Leading the NewsToyota emails show executive had urged company to "come clean."The CBS Evening News (4/7, story 7, 0:25, Rodriguez) reported that according to internal Toyota emails, "company executives wrestled with how to deal with sticking accelerator pedals. In January, five days before announcing a massive recall, an American vice president wrote 'we are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet,' and 'the time has come to not hide on this one.' Toyota had no comment today." NBC Nightly News (4/7, story 4, 0:40, Williams) reported on one such email, "written by a company executive here in the US just five days before Toyota announced a massive recall. In the e-mail, the company executive acknowledges the company has accelerator pedal problems. Goes on to say, 'we are not protecting our consumers by keeping this quiet. The time to hide on this one is over. We need to come clean.'" Bloomberg News (4/8, Keane, Ohnsman) reports that despite calls from within the company for "a more cautious approach," the email from Toyota US VP Irv Miller urged the company "to 'come clean'...about mechanical failures in accelerator pedals for some vehicles." Miller "told other officials in an e-mail on Jan. 16 that 'the time to hide on this one is over.'" Noting that Secretary LaHood said this week that Toyota waited some four months to relate its findings about unintended acceleration to the public, Bloomberg adds that "Miller, who retired from Toyota later in January, declined to comment." Nor would Toyota comment directly on Miller's email. The Los Angeles Times (4/8, Vartabedian, Bensinger) reports that Miller's email came in response to an executives' suggestion that his "colleagues to keep quiet about defective accelerator pedals. ... The exchange -- which occurred just days before a massive recall of Toyota vehicles to repair accelerator pedals -- is the clearest indication so far that Toyota was debating internally when to disclose to its customers and federal safety regulators mechanical problems that were being linked to motorist complaints about sudden acceleration." Identifying the author of the email urging reticence as Katsuhiko Konagei, a Toyota communications coordinator, the New York Times (4/8, Maynard) reports that the exchange, made some three days before Toyota execs met with NHTSA officials about a potential recall, "was among 70,000 pages of documents requested from the company by the Transportation Department and Congressional committees, which are investigating Toyota's recalls." The Times notes that on Monday, LaHood "said he would seek the maximum $16.4 million fine permitted against Toyota over the sticking pedal recalls." Toyota told European distributors about sticky gas pedals weeks before informing NHTSA. The AP (4/8, Thomas, Margasak) reports that the documents reveal that "long before Toyota told US regulators about sticking accelerator pedals, [it] warned its distributors throughout Europe about similar problems." US complaints "were rising at the end of 2009. The documents show that weeks earlier, on Sept. 29, its European division issued technical information 'identifying a production improvement and repair procedure to address complaints by customers in those countries of sticking accelerator pedals, sudden rpm increase and/or sudden vehicle acceleration.'" The AP notes that "LaHood cited the warnings to the other countries" in announcing the decision to levy the record $16.4 million fine against Toyota.
Civil Justice SystemLead plaintiff in Indian trust suit doubts Congress will approve settlement by deadline.The National Law Journal (4/8, Scarcella) reports, "As the latest deadline for congressional authorization of a $1.41 billion settlement in a long-running Indian trust suit approaches next week," lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell said in an open letter that "she's 'increasingly skeptical' that Congress will approve the deal." The authorization deadline for the suit, which "seeks a historical accounting of billions of dollars in natural resource royalties controlled by the US Department of the Interior," is April 16. Lawyers "for the opposing sides are meeting Thursday in the chambers of US District Judge James Robertson," where "one issue that might be on the agenda is a request from the Interior Department for court permission to speak directly to class members about the settlement." Many 9/11 rescue workers experience large drops in lung function.The New York Times (4/8, A23, Grady) reports that "rescue workers exposed to thick clouds of dust after the attack on the World Trade Center had large drops in lung function lasting at least seven years," according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Investigators looked at data on "91.6 percent of the nearly 14,000 firefighters and Emergency Medical Service staff members who worked at ground zero in the first two weeks after the attack." Bloomberg News (4/8, Ostrow) reports that "in the first year after the 2001 attack, the lung exhale volume for firefighters who had never smoked declined 439 milliliters and dropped 267 milliliters for emergency medical workers who never smoked, the study said." Altogether, approximately "13 percent of firefighters and 22 percent of emergency medical workers had chronic bronchitis, asthma, and lung ailments in 2008 that were caused by the dust and debris they inhaled while working at Ground Zero." According to the AP (4/8, Caruso), the research "dims hopes that workers who developed respiratory problems after being exposed to the trade center's powdery and smoking remnants would gradually return to normal."
Seventh Circuit reduces damage award, but upholds finding that Illinois police framed father for murder.The Chicago Tribune (4/7, Schmadeke) reported, "An appeals court Wednesday agreed with a federal jury's 2007 finding that Will County [IL] police framed Kevin Fox for the rape and murder of his 3-year-old daughter Riley, but reduced the damages awarded to Fox and his wife from $12.2 million to $8 million. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals chastised the investigators on the case, implying that their decision to quickly rule out Riley's 2004 death as the work of a sexual predator was 'absurd.'" DNA testing "by a private lab later ruled out Fox as a suspect, and he was released in 2005 after eight months behind bars." Class-action suits against homebuilders dismissed.The AP (4/7) reported, "Homebuilder PulteGroup Inc. said Wednesday that a class-action suit that accused it of contributing to the subprime mortgage meltdown has been dismissed. The US District Court for the Central District of California also dismissed the class-action suits that the plaintiffs' law firm, McCuneWright LLP, had filed against seven other homebuilders, PulteGroup added." The suits had alleged that "the home builders sold houses using high-risk loans by "pressuring and enticing buyers" to use their own mortgage companies and appraisers." Tyson Foods to appeal chicken farmers' $7.3M award.The AP (4/7) reported, "Tyson Foods will appeal a $7.3 million verdict in a lawsuit filed by the company's contract growers who claim the company defrauded them. Tyson called the jury decision a 'runaway verdict,' and said the company abided by the terms of its contracts with farmers. A group of McCurtain County farmers sued Tyson, claiming the company coerced them into investing money into their poultry houses and taking low payments for their chickens." Insurance
Two Massachusetts insurers to resume making new policies available using last year's rates.In a front-page story, the Boston Globe (4/8, A1, Weisman) reports, "Seeking to tone down their dispute with state regulators, two Massachusetts health insurers yesterday said they will, as ordered, resume making new policies available for individuals and small businesses -- using last year's base rates, not the requested double-digit increases rejected by the state last week." However, "the insurance companies," Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Health Plan, "said they could not guarantee that the new prices, which usually take weeks to calculate, will be ready tomorrow, as the state demanded." BGlobe says judge should let insurance-rate rejections stand. The Boston Globe (4/8) editorializes, "After health-insurance companies covering individuals and small businesses demanded rate hikes of up to 32 percent earlier this year, the state stepped in and rejected the great majority of them." Now, several "big insurers are going to court to block the state action." The Globe argues that "the judge should let the rejections stand -- and the state's action could finally compel all involved in the unsustainable inflation of health costs to slow it down."
Drug SafetyEli Lilly settles Zyprexa suit with Louisiana.The AP (4/8, Sayre) reports, "Louisiana will receive $20 million in a settlement with pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly and Co. over its marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa [olanzapine], the state attorney general said Wednesday." Notably, "Louisiana was one of 13 states that filed individual suits in state courts over allegations that Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly pushed the drug for uses that had not been approved by federal regulators." To date, "Louisiana is the 11th state to settle." The AP points out that "Eli Lilly paid a $1.4 billion settlement to the federal government in January 2009 after admitting it had promoted Zyprexa for treatment of dementia in the elderly." FDA warns Biogen over Tysabri promotional materials.Dow Jones Newswire (4/8, Corbett Dooren) reports that the FDA on Wednesday said a promotional webcast on the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab) is "false or misleading" because it minimizes the risk of a serious brain infection. In a letter, the FDA also cited Biogen Idec Corp. for failing to submit the webcast for review 30 days before using it. Reuters (4/8, Heavey) also notes that the FDA warned Gilead Sciences for a direct-to-consumer print advertisement for its HIV drug Truvada (emtiricitabine and tenofovir). The Wall Street Journal (4/7, White) "Health Blog" also covered the story. Employment/Workplace SafetyNFL players' decisions to accept settlements in California workers' comp cases examined.The New York Times (4/8, B13, Schwarz) reports that former NFL players and current workers' compensation lawyers Ron Mix and Mel Owens "have leveraged their connections to represent about 1,000 retired players in the workers' compensation system of California." The California workers' compensation system "emerged from the shadows on Monday when Eleanor Perfetto, the wife of Ralph Wenzel, a 67-year-old former player with early-onset dementia, filed a claim that is a test case in considering National Football League teams' liability for the cognitive decline experienced by retired players." Many retired players "consider Owens and Mix heroes among their own for essentially finding cash under a mattress; others see an assembly-line process in which players do not fully understand the implications of the settlements." The article questions the wisdom of foregoing "the award of lifetime medical care for legitimate injuries" in favor of a settlement. Eleventh Circuit hears former NFL players' suit over Ponzi scheme.The Fulton County Daily Report (4/8, Smith) reports, "Federal appeals court judges on Tuesday grilled a lawyer trying to revive a suit brought by retired professional football players against the National Football League and the NFL Players Association. The ex-players asked a panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse last year's ruling by Judge Julie E. Carnes dismissing their suit claiming that the league and the union should be liable for a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by a union-approved broker. Representing the ex-players, Fidelma L. Fitzpatrick of South Carolina-based Motley Rice argued that Carnes' ruling deprived her clients of a legal remedy." New Jersey lawyer found liable as employer in discrimination suit.The New Jersey Law Journal (4/8, Gottlieb) reports, "A New Jersey debt-collection agency and its in-house lawyer have been hit with a $695,000 race-bias verdict in favor of an employee the lawyer didn't even know. A federal court jury in Trenton found that Laurence Hecker of Toms River and APM Financial Services, the debt-collection servicing company he represented, were dual employers and therefore jointly liable for discriminating against a black employee, Steven Bess." Although "there was no evidence Hecker had a role in any workplace bias," the plaintiff "presented evidence that Hecker bore responsibility as an employer because he was deeply entwined in the operation of the agency, which presented itself to the public as 'The Law Office of Laurence Hecker.'" OSHA fines NJ Transit $569K for retaliation against railroad whistleblower.The New Jersey Law Journal (4/8, Toutant) reports, "The federal government on Tuesday imposed a $569,000 penalty on NJ Transit for its retaliation against an employee who reported a work-related injury, finding a 'reckless disregard for the law and complete indifference for complainant's rights.' The penalty is the largest the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has assessed under the three-year-old Federal Rail Safety Act, which bars discrimination against railroad whistleblowers. The OSHA ruling is also novel in that it compensates conductor-flagman Anthony Araujo for financial problems - namely, loss of his house and car and reduction in his credit score - caused by his suspension from work." Medical Errors/HealthcareFDA issues warnings about fat-melting injections used in spas across the US.The AP (4/8, Perrone) reports that "the Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on what are billed as fat-melting injections used in spas across the US, saying the drugs" have not "been cleared by federal scientists, as required by law." The agency asked a Brazilian company and six medical spas in the US to provide a written response within 15 days with their action plan to correct the situation, the Wall Street Journal (4/8, Stynes) reports. The Philadelphia Inquirer (4/8, Burling) explains, "In a procedure known variously as lipodissolve, mesotherapy, lipozap, lipotherapy, or injection lipolysis, patients receive a series of injections meant to 'dissolve and permanently remove small pockets of fat from various parts of the body,' the FDA said. The primary ingredients are phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate, although vitamins and herbs may also be added." The agency "has not evaluated the drugs and says it knows of no 'credible scientific evidence' that shows they eliminate fat." Nevertheless, CNN (4/7, Willingham) "Paging Dr. Gupta" blog reported that "the companies have been cited for a variety of regulatory violations, including making unsupported claims that the products have an outstanding safety record and are superior to other fat loss procedures, including liposuction." Complete Immunity PreemptionBlogger opposes Federal preemption of state finance regulations.At the Huffington Post (4/7), Stacy Mitchell of the New Rules Project's Community Banking Initiative wrote, "At stake in the financial reform debate is an issue that has received far less attention than the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but is at least as important: whether Congress will restore the authority of states to oversee national banks." In the Senate, "big bank allies are hoping to cut a deal in which they'd support other aspects of" Sen. Chris Dodd's financial reform bill, "perhaps even the CFPA, in exchange for broad federal preemption of state banking laws. We'd be fools to accept that deal." Administration says it will oppose weakening of Dodd bill. The Washington Post (4/8, Dennis, Cho, 684K) reports, "Obama administration officials said Wednesday that they would fight efforts to weaken far-reaching Senate legislation that would overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system." Meanwhile, lawmakers "continue to negotiate a host of potential compromises" and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said that the administration was "trying to combat an 'enormous army of lobbyists' eager to reshape elements of the legislation, particularly a provision that would establish a new consumer protection agency." Among the matters being negotiated are the location of the consumer protection agency and regulations for derivatives. Product SafetyRemediation company contends bacteria is causing Chinese drywall problems.In a column in Florida's Treasure Coast Palm (4/7), Anthony Westbury wrote that last week, Sabre Environmental Services, "an international company doing Chinese drywall remediation work in Vero Beach, reported it had found 'pervasive bacterial contamination' in the wallboard that has been causing so much misery to so many Floridians." The company recommended "a fumigation process it claims will rid drywall of the bugs and the sulfur gases they emit for as little as $15 to $20 a square foot." But a CPSC report issued two days later found no "bacteria in drywall samples," and "concluded that affected homeowners should rip out all tainted drywall along with electrical wiring, gas service piping and smoke and carbon monoxide detection systems." Westbury comments that Sabre's method "sounds at least plausible, and would be far cheaper than the government's 'we're-not-sure-what's-causing-it-but-we're-playing-it-safe-anyway' method." Attorneys say time running out to file Chinese drywall lawsuits. The Biloxi (MS) Sun Herald (4/7, Newsom) reported, "About 3,000 US homeowners, including about 300 Mississippians, have joined class-action lawsuits against Chinese-drywall manufacturers and await word about what relief they may receive, as well as what steps they'll ultimately have to take to mitigate the effects of the drywall. Attorneys also said time may be running out for those who haven't joined class-action lawsuits." James R. Reeves Jr., "a Biloxi attorney with Lumpkin & Reeves, is on a team of lawyers from New York, Louisiana, Florida and North Carolina firms handling bellwether drywall cases in the New Orleans trial." Said Reeves, "The most dangerous thing you can do is ignore this thing or wait," adding, "If a case settlement comes down tomorrow, it will probably be for those people who file those claims or have claims in the process." IG report identifies "significant weaknesses" in FDA's inspections of domestic food facilities.In The Hill (4/7) "Congress Blog," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) pointed out that "the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General released a new report on the Food and Drug Administration's inspections of domestic food facilities." The "report identifies significant weaknesses...including the fact that FDA inspects less than a quarter of food facilities each year, and that more than half of all food facilities have gone five or more years without an FDA inspection," facts the senator calls "unacceptable." Those inadequacies are being attributed to declining staff numbers, according to Reuters (4/8, Melvin). Nevertheless, the IG report says that sporadic inspections increase the likelihood of foodborne illness outbreaks. Late last year, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed a food safety bill that could receive approval once lawmakers return to Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, the FDA is addressing the problems by revising its guidance on official action indicated classifications. Also in the NewsDonations, lobbying give mining industry "major political clout."The Washington Post (4/8, A19, Eggen) reports the mining industry, which came "under renewed scrutiny this week after dozens of fatalities" at a Massey coal mine, "wields major political clout in Washington thanks to hefty campaign contributions to GOP lawmakers and expensive lobbying efforts aimed at blunting the impact of environment- and safety-related legislation." An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) found that "mining companies and related trade groups have sharply increased their lobbying efforts in recent years, tripling their spending from $10.2 million in 2004 to nearly $31 million in 2008." In addition, "mining firms and their employees have also donated more than $13 million to federal lawmakers since 2005; 74 percent of that money went to GOP candidates and about half came from industry political action committees." MSHA official: Mine explosions preventable. The Washington Post (4/8, O'Keefe) interviews Mike Davis, deputy assistant secretary of operations for the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. Asked if MSHA "did everything it could to avoid this explosion" at the Upper Big Branch coal mine, Davis said, "As far as what recently happened, I really can't comment to that, but MSHA's mission is to . . . do its part to ensure what happened doesn't happen. Explosions are preventable. It is an obligation for that mine operator to ensure that he provides a healthy and a safe workplace for his employees. MSHA has oversight, but we don't have 24-7 onsite time." Partisan battle over Liu nomination "intensifying."The Washington Post (4/8, Pershing, 684K) reports, "A battle is intensifying in the Senate over the appeals court nomination of Goodwin Liu, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley whom some Democrats consider a potential nominee one day to the Supreme Court." The Post adds that "activists on both the left and right view Liu's nomination as a practice run for the next Supreme Court vacancy, which could come as soon as this year if Justice John Paul Stevens retires." | ||||||||||
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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 |