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Leading the NewsObama touts healthcare law in upbeat address before friendly Maine crowd.President Obama traveled to the left-leaning city of Portland, Maine, where he received 77 percent of the vote in 2008, to deliver a speech promoting his healthcare reform law and urging Americans to hold off on judging the measure. Many reports note the President's joking criticism of the media for expecting immediate results. Reports also speculate on the selection of Maine -- a state with no senatorial election this year, where Obama took 58 percent of the vote two years ago -- for the event, with the general consensus being that the President is hoping to win support from the state's moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, on his agenda going forward. Some stories also comment on the President's energetic and upbeat tone, with the Boston Globe saying Obama "displayed a public energy and sureness rarely seen" since his election. The AP (4/2, Pace) reports the President, "facing a public still wary" of the healthcare law, "urged Americans not to judge the nearly $1 trillion legislation he signed into law last week until the reforms take hold." During the "enthusiastic, campaign-style appearance in Maine's largest city, Obama mocked the pundits and pollsters who say he isn't getting a boost from his yearlong campaign to pass the sweeping reform." The President said, "Every single day since I signed the reform law, there's been another poll or headline that said, 'Nation still divided on healthcare reform. Polls haven't changed yet.' Well, yes. It just happened last week. Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds, and they came out the next day and they looked and -- 'Nothing's happened. There's no crop. We're going to starve. Oh, no! It's a disaster!' It's been a week, folks." Democratic lawmakers face criticism at home over healthcare law. The Hill (4/2, Miller) reports, "Some politically vulnerable Democrats are getting an earful from constituents about their yes votes on healthcare reform. The criticism from constituents is not as fervent as the feedback members of Congress received at last summer's town halls," although "some voters have let legislators know they were not pleased with the passage of healthcare reform." Meanwhile, "concerned about the highly publicized threats and the optics of a repeat of the media coverage of the 2009 town hall gatherings, some lawmakers are being more selective in their public appearances back home." The lawmakers include Reps. Paul Kanjorski, Harry Mitchell, and Mark Schauer. Democratic AGs facing increased pressure to challenge health reform law. The Politico (4/2, Catanese) reports, "Until recently, the Democratic attorneys general have largely sat on the sidelines as more than a dozen of their GOP counterparts banded together to pursue a lawsuit against [health reform], the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's domestic policy agenda. Like many in their party, they dismissed the suit as a naked political play without any legal grounding -- an opinion based on the fact that many of the Republicans advancing the cause are seeking higher office." Now, however, "some of the Democratic AGs have become reluctant combatants, dragged into the fray by GOP governors and legislators who insist that their reluctance to join the case is a clear attempt to protect their national party's interests." Notably, the Democratic AGs "facing the most pressure tend to hail from Republican-leaning states."
Civil Justice SystemNew Jersey SC ruling expands "invited error" doctrine.The New Jersey Law Journal (3/31, Booth) reports, "A trial lawyer's failure to object to admission of evidence adverse to his client in a child-abuse case bars review on appeal, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in an opinion that expands the 'invited error' doctrine. Reversing the Appellate Division, which found admitting the evidence was prejudicial enough to amount to plain error, the justices found the lawyer's actions deprived the state of the opportunity to overcome any objections to the evidence and made it unnecessary for the trial court to rule on admissibility. The decision, in Division of Youth and Family Services v. M.C. III, A-96/97-08, is significant because the Court usually has applied the invited-error doctrine when the appealing party actively induced the result later claimed to be error." Justice Department opposes woman's attempt to recover $27M judgment from Cuban air charter companies.The AP (4/1) reported, "Declaring U.S.-to-Cuba charter flights a vital national interest, the Justice Department is opposing a Cuban-American woman's attempt to make air charter companies pay a $27 million judgment she won against Cuba's communist government. The woman, Ana Margarita Martinez, was awarded the money in 2001 after claiming in a lawsuit that she was tricked into marrying a Cuban spy so he could infiltrate Miami's large exile community. In an attempt to satisfy the judgment, her lawyers sought earlier this year to collect fees that eight air charter companies pay to Cuban tour companies for permission to land there."
Boy Scouts exec says parents at fault in abuses.The AP (4/1) reported, "The president of the Boy Scouts council for the Portland metro area has testified he believes the parents of some Scouts were negligent and even criminal for allowing sleepovers that led to sex abuse. Eugene Grant told a jury in a $29 million sex abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and its Cascade Pacific Council that parents should not have allowed boys to stay overnight with a single man at his apartment. The man, Timur Dykes, has admitted molesting the victim who filed the lawsuit and has been convicted of other sex abuse dating back to the early 1980s, when Dykes was an assistant Scoutmaster." Black farmers still awaiting settlement funds.USA Today (4/1, Welch) reported, "Nearly two months since the administration announced a $1.2 billion agreement to settle decades-old racial discrimination claims against the Department of Agriculture, the nation's black farmers are still looking for the money." A March 31 deadline "in the federal court agreement passed without Congress providing the money that is to be paid to thousands of farmers," entitling the farmers "to reopen the class action lawsuit." John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, "said farmers were trying to be patient but many face spring planting costs and are looking for government payments in the case to help keep their operations afloat. Boyd said black farmers were keeping open the "option of walking away from the settlement at any time during the next 60 days" if there is no progress in Congress." Reuters (4/1) also covered the story. Whistleblower lawsuit filed against Illinois water agency.The Chicago Tribune (4/1, Smith) reported that Anthony Sacco, the former supervisor of the he Broadview-Westchester Joint Water Agency in Illinois, "has filed a lawsuit, claiming he was unjustly fired after alerting environmental authorities that the agency had fabricated water testing reports for years." Sacco "said he found the agency's log books had been altered to show testing had been done although it had not, and several testing sites the agency claimed to have used did not exist, according to the complaint." Sacco "is asking for more than $2 million in damages and attorneys fees from the agency." Drug Safety
Pfizer agrees to pay approximately $400,000 to settle Neurontin lawsuit.Bloomberg News (4/2, Feeley) reports that "Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay about $400,000 to settle a lawsuit mid-trial that blamed its Neurontin [gabapentin] epilepsy medicine for helping cause a Massachusetts man's suicide, two people familiar with the accord said." The man's "family contends his doctor wasn't aware of Neurontin's suicide risk when he suggested the drug." This "settlement comes a week after another Boston jury ordered Pfizer to pay more than $140 million in damages to an insurer over the drug." FDA says Stalevo may be linked to increased prostate cancer risk.Bloomberg News (4/1, Doherty) reported, "Novartis AG and Orion Oyj's Stalevo treatment for Parkinson's disease may be linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, US health regulators said." In a statement on its website, the FDA said its "review of Stalevo is ongoing, and no new conclusions or recommendations about the use of this drug have been made." The agency "is reviewing a clinical trial that showed that prostate cancer was more common among patients taking Stalevo than in those taking only a combination of carbidopa and levodopa."
Employment/Workplace SafetyOSHA issues "willful" citations to California bakery.In the "L.A. Now" blog at the Los Angeles Times (4/1), Jessica Garrison wrote, "The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health on Thursday fined Bimbo Bakeries $230,000, including more than $120,000 in rarely issued 'willful' citations given to companies that intentionally disregard safety regulations. The action comes after a Times investigation last fall highlighted cases at Bimbo Bakeries in which five employees lost fingers or parts of fingers, and one lost an arm, in separate bakery accidents." The action "comes as Cal/OSHA and the appeals board that reviews the citations it issues are under pressure from lawmakers and federal officials," on issue being that the board "has repeatedly reduced fines or dismissed cases over the objections of Cal/OSHA investigators." Product SafetyFlorida retirement community to pay for Chinese drywall remediation.The Lakeland (FL) Ledger (4/1, Kennedy) reported, "Lake Ashton is cleaning up its Chinese drywall problem. Homeowners in the East Polk retirement community say they met with management and were told their homes will be completely stripped of the tainted material and fixed within months. Lake Ashton officials will not charge for the remediation and will provide funds for temporary housing and other costs during the repairs, according to three homeowners interviewed by The Ledger." Families of Mississippi girls killed in ATV accident sue Yamaha.The AP (4/1) reported, "The families of two north Mississippi girls killed in a 2008 accident have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of an all-terrain vehicle. Melissa and Richard Lee Bates of Southaven and Aundria and Thomas Dilworth of Olive Branch filed the suit Wednesday in Gwinnett County, Ga., against Yamaha Motor Corp. and Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corp. of America." The lawsuit, which "does not seek a specific dollar amount," claims "multiple design and engineering flaws contributed to the deaths of the two 11-year-old girls." Legislation seeks to expand California's pesticide safety program.The AP (4/2, Hindery) reports that "California's 700,000 farmworkers may soon receive greater protection under a proposed expansion of the state's nationally renowned pesticide safety program." Legislation "moving through the state Assembly would require laboratories that test for pesticide poisoning to report their data to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Currently, labs only report test results to patients' physicians, not to any state agency." The legislation "would allow health officials in the nation's largest agricultural state to more accurately track pesticide exposure and implement safety precautions, said Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) who wrote the bill." SecuritiesARS lawsuit against Merrill Lynch dismissed.Bloomberg News (4/2, Weidlich) reports, "Merrill Lynch won dismissal of an investors' class-action lawsuit over auction-rate securities, at least the seventh such victory since the market collapsed in February 2008. U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska in New York found that Merrill Lynch, a unit of Bank of America Corp., couldn't have manipulated the market by propping up the auctions with its own bids, because it disclosed that it participated in the bidding." Preska wrote, "The fact that Merrill Lynch could prevent failed auctions through the placement of support bids was disclosed in numerous publicly available documents." Also in the NewsDaimler units plead guilty to FCPA charges.Bloomberg News (4/2, Salant, Harris) reports, "Two Daimler AG units pleaded guilty to violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as part of an agreement with prosecutors to resolve allegations the German carmaker paid bribes to foreign officials." Attorneys for the units, "DaimlerChrysler Automotive Russia SAO and Daimler Export and Trade Finance GmbH entered the pleas Thursday "before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington. Both subsidiaries, based in Russia and Germany respectively, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the FCPA, and to violating its anti-bribery provisions." The National Law Journal (4/2, Scarcella) reports, "Justice Department prosecutors said in an information, filed last month, that Daimler 'engaged in a long-standing practice' of paying bribes to foreign officials through corporate ledger accounts, offshore bank accounts and deceptive pricing arrangements, among other mechanisms, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors, led by Deputy Chief Mark Mendelsohn of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Assistant Chief John Darden, said Daimler made hundreds of improper payments worth tens of millions of dollars in at least 22 countries -- including China, Iraq, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam." CNN (4/2, Frieden) reports that Judge Leon "ordered Daimler to pay $93.6 million in criminal fines, and $91.4 million in civil penalties. The civil fines represent the restitution of profits made in the illegal deals. The deferred prosecution agreement resolves all charges stemming from Daimler's worldwide sales practices, the Justice Department said Thursday." The Detroit News (4/2, Tierney) reports, "The investigations against Daimler were triggered in 2004 by an auditor at its Chrysler division, which the German automaker acquired in 1998 and sold in 2007. The auditor, David Bazzetta, tipped off the U.S. Labor Department that paying bribes was a common practice at the company, which lacked internal controls." Websites appearing to be affiliated with Veterans Affairs hospitals actually operated by plaintiffs' law firms.In a column in Fortune (4/1), Roger Parloff wrote, "Until about noon on Wednesday, dozens of websites were identifying themselves with a Red Cross-ish logo and names like "VA Medical Center Palo Alto," or "VA Hospital San Francisco," or "VA Medical Center Gainesville" though they had no affiliation with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. They were actually operated by plaintiffs' law firms that were searching for clients with asbestos-related diseases." Competitor "asbestos plaintiffs lawyers, those disdaining to stoop to such methods...are hurt most directly." Liu submits additional information to Senate Judiciary Committee.The National Law Journal (4/2, Ingram) reports, "Goodwin Liu has sent the Senate Judiciary Committee additional background materials, including past writings and public remarks, amid criticism from conservatives that the appellate court nominee was not complete in his initial answers to the committee." Liu's nomination to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "nomination is shaping up as an ideological battle, in large part because of Liu's membership in liberal legal organizations and his academic writing." Conservative bloggers, "including National Review's Ed Whelan, have questioned how Liu could have missed the materials, especially given that, according to one answer on the questionnaire, he was preparing at least as far back as February 2009 for a possible nomination." Government, Rothstein firm trustee battle over assets.The Daily Business Review (4/2, Mishory) reports, "The bankruptcy trustee for defunct law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler contends the government has once again overstepped its bounds by trying to control additional assets that belonged to convicted fraudster Scott Rothstein. On Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a motion seeking a protective order be entered to preserve new assets, including four Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler bank accounts at TD Bank containing almost $120,000 and 'all property, other than "funds"' voluntarily turned over to the government since news broke in late October that Rothstein was running a settlement scheme out of his law firm. But trustee Herbert Stettin argued that the government could not lay claim to assets that don't belong to Rothstein and were not included for forfeiture in the original information, calling the motion 'particularly egregious.'" | ||||||||||
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