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Leading the NewsCalifornia Highway Patrol Officer reports flashing brake lights on runaway Prius.The AP (3/18) reports that according to a new report from the California Highway Patrol, "an officer saw brake lights flashing after arriving to help slow a speeding Toyota Prius on a Southern California freeway. The lights were on 'for a period of time and would turn off, indicating the driver was possibly pumping the brakes,' CHP Officer Todd Neibert wrote in his seven-page incident report." However, the report "did nothing to clarify the wildly divergent versions of events from Sikes and Toyota Motor Corp." A separate AP (3/18) article about the report notes that Neibert "arrived to find a Border Patrol agent near the driver with lights flashing. The Border Patrol presence raises the prospect that there were other witnesses, but the report offers few new details." Reports of post-recall sudden acceleration jump. The AP (3/18) reports that it's analysis of NHTSA data indicates a nearly two-fold surge in "complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyotas repaired under recalls" in the past two weeks. "The complaints from 105 drivers raise questions about whether Toyota's repairs will prevent the cars from speeding up on their own or if there is another reason for the problem." NHTSA "said it was contacting owners who have complained about their repaired vehicles. David Strickland, NHTSA's administrator, said in a statement Wednesday the agency has found 'several instances in which a dealer made mistakes in applying one of the recall remedies.' He said NHTSA has discussed the issue with Toyota, which is trying to improve instructions to dealers." Toyota facing RICO charges. Meanwhile, Reuters (3/18) reports that attorneys in class-action litigation against Toyota over lost resale value are now including racketeering allegations, which could triple Toyota's potential liability. NHTSA, Toyota continue investigating Prius that crashed in New York. The AP (3/18, Fitzgerald, Strumpf) reports that NHTSA and Toyota "inspected a crashed 2005 Prius in a suburb of New York City on Wednesday to see if its event data recorder or wreckage could point to problems with the brakes or accelerator. ... On Wednesday, six Toyota inspectors, two from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other experts huddled around laptop computers and examined the gray Prius under a tent outside the Harrison police headquarters." The AP (3/18) reports that after Toyota and NHTSA investigators inspected the vehicle, a Toyota spokesman said that the "black box, known as an event data recorder, yielded information on engine speed and pedal position. ... Investigators were still downloading additional data, he said." California woman hospitalized, claims brakes in Toyota minivan failed. The Fresno Bee (3/16, Guy) reports that a California woman "is in a Fresno hospital recovering from injuries she says she suffered when her Toyota's brakes failed and the minivan slammed into a truck. ... The 2008 Sienna is not among the cars listed in the Toyota recall." Toyota, NHTSA investigating Corolla engine stalls. USA Today (3/18, Healey) reports that NHTSA is "probing a flaw that could cause popular Toyota Corolla compacts to stall, a problem that Toyota says is likely to affect only a tiny number of cars. Although some owners have said cars stalled in intersections or on highways, Toyota says the issue shouldn't be considered a safety problem." NHTSA records indicate that the problem originates with the vehicles' engine control modules, and that Toyota has been aware of the issue "for at least 2 years." Bloomberg News (3/18, Ohnsman) reports that Toyota "is reviewing complaints linked to electronic control units in Corolla and Matrix small cars sold in the US that may cause the engine to shut down." The faulty ECMs are "in 1.19 million model 2005 through 2007 vehicles, Toyota told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a March 2 letter the company provided to the media today. Toyota doesn't believe there's an immediate safety issue related to the problem and hasn't determined whether a recall will occur, said Brian Lyons, a company spokesman."
Civil Justice SystemAlliance Defense Fund opposes Iqbal, Twombly decisions.The Legal Intelligencer (3/18, Ingram) reports, "The conservative Alliance Defense Fund is lining up in opposition to" Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, "a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that changed the standard for filing most civil lawsuits - a move that aligns the Christian litigation group with some unlikely allies." In a letter to lawmakers, "Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb writes that his group represents both plaintiffs and defendants, so its objection is not that bringing a lawsuit has become more or less difficult. 'Rather,' he writes, 'our concern is that vague, malleable rules are bad news when it comes to orderly, reasoned processes.'"
Mississippi plaintiffs lawyers defrauded railroad in asbestos litigation, jury finds.Corporate Counsel (3/18, Hechler) reports, "When a federal jury returned a verdict against two Mississippi plaintiffs lawyers on March 8, finding that they had committed fraud against Illinois Central Railroad, it was the culmination of the railroad's seven-year battle to fight back against abusive asbestos claims." The jury "found that attorneys William Guy and Thomas Brock of McComb, Miss., lied when they denied knowing that their clients had previously settled asbestos claims that should have barred them from filing against the railroad." The railroad's message "has apparently been received. After plaintiffs realized cases were going to be reviewed and investigated and put to the test, hundreds were dismissed without payment." WSJournal approves of result. The Wall Street Journal (3/18) editorializes that this may be the first time lawyers have been penalized for fraudulently filing an asbestos suit. The Journal urges sanctions for Guy and Brock. Ruling dismisses $100M in punitive damages against BP.The Wall Street Journal (3/17, Casselman) reports, ruling on a case related to a 2007 accident at a Texas oil refinery, a federal judge on Tuesday dismissed $100 million in punitive damages against BP PLC. But US District Judge Kenneth Hoyt concluded that BP could be held responsible for actual damages sustained by injured employees. The judge set aside the punitive part of the damages, arguing that the plaintiffs could not prove that the British oil giant was guilty of "gross negligence." Facebook privacy settlement approved.Bloomberg News (3/17, Gullo) reported, "A federal judge approved Facebook Inc.'s settlement of a lawsuit that provides $9.5 million for a privacy foundation created by the company and lawyer fees, with no money for users who sued. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg in San Jose, California, said the foundation is a better use of the settlement money than splitting it among the 3.7 million consumers represented in the" class action. Mark Chavez, "an attorney for one of four members of the plaintiffs' group to file an objection to the settlement, said he was considering whether to appeal the judge's ruling." Wheelchair company sued after quadriplegic's death.The AP (3/17) reported, "A wheelchair company and its technicians are to blame for the death of a disability advocate who died after his wheelchair malfunctioned during routine repairs, pinning his legs under a tabletop and causing him to suffer seizures, according to a lawsuit brought by the man's family. The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court [MA] by the parents of quadriplegic Jeffrey Thompson, seeks $10 million in damages against National Seating & Mobility Inc." The suit "alleges that the repair technicians were improperly trained and should have removed Thompson from the wheelchair and disconnected its battery before starting repairs." Following lawsuit, top officials replaced at Idaho prison.The AP (3/17) reported, "The Corrections Corporation of America is replacing the top two officials at Idaho's only private prison after the American Civil Liberties Union sued over claims of brutal inmate-on-inmate violence, state corrections officials said Wednesday." The announcement "comes just days after the ACLU filed a lawsuit asking for class-action status and $155 million in damages, alleging the [Idaho Correctional Center] is extremely violent and that guards deliberately expose inmates to beatings from other prisoners as a management tool." Illinois to move psychiatric patients out of institutions as part of class-action settlement.The Courthouse News (3/17, Harris) reported, "Illinois will help thousands of people move out of large mental institutions as part of a class action settlement. The state has 5 years to help people move into apartments or small homes in a process overseen by a court-appointed monitor." The settlement "resolves claims by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that said Illinois violated the civil rights of 4,500 mentally ill people by forcing them into institutions where they are forced to live with dozens, sometimes hundreds of others with mental illness." Congress
Obama defends health reform drive in Fox News interview.Media reports are universally describing the President's interview on Fox Special Report (3/17, Baier) last night as a combative affair. As Obama defended his healthcare reform plan -- and the legislative process behind it -- the AP (3/18) reports that his arguments were "punctuated with interruptions and chiding." NBC Nightly News (3/17, lead story, 3:45, O'Donnell) also reported that in his "contentious interview with Fox News," the President "said the vote process is not what's important." Obama was shown saying, "Here is the thing, Bret. The reason I think this conversation ends up being a little frustrating is because the focus entirely is on [the] Washington process, and yes, I have said that is an ugly process. It was ugly when Republicans were in charge. It was ugly when Democrats were in charge." Federal Reserve officials push to alter Dodd bill.The New York Times (3/18, Chan) reports, "Officials at the Federal Reserve are trying to alter a Senate proposal that would focus the Fed's regulatory attention on the nation's biggest banks and strip away its powers over small and medium-size banks." The plan, proposed by Senate Banking Committee chairman, Chris Dodd "would make the Fed even more centered on New York and Washington and disrupt an institutional balance in place since the central bank opened its doors in 1914, officials said." Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, "It makes us essentially the 'too big to fail' regulator. We don't want that responsibility. We want to have a connection to Main Street as well as to Wall Street." He said, "We need to have insights into what's happening in the entire banking system to understand how regulation affects banks, to understand the status of the assets and the credit problems of banks at all levels, at all sizes." InsuranceInsurance company reportedly sought to drop all HIV-positive customers.Paul Thornton And Jon Healey wrote on the "Opinion LA" blog at the Los Angeles Times (3/17) that health insurers' "abusive cherry-picking practices keep giving lawmakers incentives to vote for the healthcare reform bill." As evidence, they point to the Reuters report below of "the case of Jerome Mitchell, a young South Carolinian who signed up for an insurance policy at age 17 but was later diagnosed with HIV. His insurer, Fortis -- now known as Assurant -- summarily canceled his policy after the HIV diagnosis." As the result of a lawsuit, it was disclosed that "Fortis had a company policy of targeting policyholders with HIV. A computer program and algorithm targeted every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation." Reuters (3/18, Waas) reports that as a result of Mitchell's suit, a jury ordered the company to pay him $14 million, a decision that was mostly upheld by the South Carolina Supreme Court which limited the payment to $10 million. The suit reportedly revealed a company policy of investigating every policyholder with HIV for fraud in an effort to remove them from the roles. Reuters reports that the practice of rescission of policies is frequently done simply to save the company money and often has no valid support though it also says that no other insurance companies are known to have targeted HIV-positive policyholders. Employment/Workplace SafetyHooters sued over work, pay violations.The AP (3/17) reported, "Three dozen current and former Hooters workers are suing over work and wage violations, saying they were forced to buy their own uniforms and work without pay. Attorneys representing the former and current employees filed two lawsuits seeking class-action status Tuesday in Sacramento and Los Angeles." The plaintiffs "say the Atlanta-based franchise required them to buy their own uniforms, work off the clock and failed to provide lunch breaks as required by law." Medical Errors/Healthcare
Veteran's Affairs hospital fined $227,500 for prostate cancer dosage mistakes.The AP (3/18, Loviglio) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs was fined $227,500 after incorrect radiation doses were given to 97 veterans with prostate cancer at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, a federal agency announced Wednesday." The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) levied the fine against VA, which "was cited for lacking procedures to ensure and verify the treatments were done correctly, failing to properly train staff and neglecting to immediately report mistakes." The AP notes, however, that Richard Citron, director of the medical center, said "issues" with the prostate cancer treatment "do not reflect the high level of healthcare offered in Philadelphia or throughout the VA system." The Washington Post (3/18) publishes a shorter version of this AP story, making it the lead "Nation Digest" item. Facility hit with second-largest fine ever issued by NRC. The Los Angeles Times (3/18) notes the NRC "said the fine announced Wednesday is one of the largest it has levied for medical errors," a point also made by the New York Times (3/18, A20, Bogdanich), which reports that the NRC "announced its second-largest fine ever against a medical institution...after finding that the veterans hospital in Philadelphia had caused an 'unprecedented number' of radiation errors in treating prostate cancer patients." NRC "officials said the size of the fine was justified by the magnitude of the failure at the hospital," but Citron points out that VA staff "discovered these potential dosing issues almost two years ago" and "self-reported" to the NRC. Advocate calls for tort reform.In an op-ed in the Washington Times (3/18), Robert Rubin of Docs for Patient Care writes, "The suggestion by President Obama to provide a paltry $50 million to institute a medical liability pilot program is just another example of how insincere, deceptive and ignorant he remains on the substantive issues affecting our health care system. To infer that giving each state $1 million to study the medical malpractice liability issues it faces is laughable. I would propose he look no further than Mississippi, Texas and California as models of reasonable tort reform that protects the rights of patients while being fair to trial attorneys and physicians." Sullivan: Conservatives should seek to include tort reform in healthcare bill. In the "Daily Dish" blog at The Atlantic (3/17), Andrew Sullivan wrote, "Market-oriented conservatives should, in my view, propose to amend the law in future to expand those things they favor - tort reform - and include new measures, like more price signals for consumers in healthcare. There's a lot in this bill that conservatives could work on; instead they have sought to kill it and then repeal it. At some point, they'll grow up, and realize politics is not a game to be 'won' but a process to be engaged." Product SafetyKnauf experts say removal of wiring unnecessary in Chinese drywall homes.The Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune (3/18, Kessler) reports, "A producer of tainted Chinese drywall continued its attack Wednesday on homeowners' contention that much of the wiring and appliances must be torn out of the houses in addition to the wallboard. Lawyers for one Louisiana homeowner rested their case late Tuesday, and attorneys for Chinese drywall manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. for the first time fleshed out its alternate plan for making the homes safe." KPT's experts "testified that the corrosion on wiring in affected homes was not enough to interfere with their safe operation and there was no reason to remove it." Hillsborough County, FL, urges Gov. to appeal FEMA rejection of Chinese drywall aid request.The Tampa Tribune (3/17, Wade) reported that on Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Commission "passed a resolution urging Gov. Charlie Crist to appeal the Federal Emergency Management Agency's rejection of Florida's request for help in assessing damage caused by corrosive Chinese drywall. The resolution, offered by Commissioner Al Higginbotham and approved unanimously by the board, calls on Crist to 'activate all state and local emergency relief resources and mechanisms for the benefit of homeowners impacted by defective or reactive drywall.' The board also approved a resolution declaring a local state of emergency, which will allow homeowners to put a trailer, RV or temporary living facility on their property while they are undergoing renovations to [replace] the tainted drywall inside their houses." Paper calls for answers on drywall. The Fort Myers News-Press (3/18) editorializes, "By failing to determine what the drywall problem is and how to fix it, the federal executive and legislative branches have blown it the way they have on so many difficult issues recently." FEMA "refused even to help Florida assess damage or consider that this is a disaster of a different kind." The News-Press argues, "Demand that our leaders in Washington find the answers on drywall that will allow homeowners, builders and insurers to remedy this problem." J&J unit outlines steps to prevent mishandling of quality control issues.The New York Times (3/18, B3, Singer) reports, "The Johnson & Johnson unit that drew criticism and a federal warning letter in January on the grounds of mishandling quality control problems with Tylenol says it has taken steps to prevent similar incidents in the future, according to documents newly posted on the website of the Food and Drug Administration." The McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit of Johnson & Johnson "has changed the way it reviews consumer complaints so it can identify problems faster and take action more effectively, the letter said. McNeil also plans to conduct a comprehensive assessment of its quality management system." The changes come after the "FDA sent a warning letter to McNeil in which officials said the company had failed to thoroughly investigate consumer complaints of a moldy odor from some bottles of Tylenol Arthritis Relief Caplets." Dow Jones Newswire (3/17, Favole) also covered the story. Honda recalls thousands of US vehicles over brake problem.Bloomberg News (3/17, Ohnsman, Ramsey) reported Honda has "recalled 412,000 US vehicles including the Odyssey, the country's best-selling minivan last year, to fix a brake-system flaw that spurred driver complaints of pedals feeling 'soft.'" Honda yesterday said a "vehicle stability assist modulator should be modified on 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Element wagons from the 2007-2008 model years." Bloomberg notes that according to the NHTSA, Honda "recalled 454,003 vehicles in the U.S. in 2009." Whole Foods recalls connected to pepper contaminated with salmonella.Bloomberg News (3/18, Peterson) reports, "Ten spice-based products from Whole Foods Market Inc. were voluntarily recalled by the natural-foods chain's supplier because they may contain pepper contaminated with salmonella, the US Food and Drug Administration said." Bloomberg notes that "curbing outbreaks of food-borne illness has been a focus for FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in her first year." The present case is linked to "Mincing Overseas Spice Co., of Dayton, New Jersey, which supplied some of the tainted pepper used in salami linked to the illnesses, the FDA said." Meanwhile, "Daniele International Inc....has recalled almost 1.3 billion pounds of Italian meats." Bloomberg concludes by stating that "McCormick & Co., the world's biggest spice seller, has used steam sterilization for decades to ensure its spices aren't contaminated." DeLauro says new food safety law should be passed this year. Reuters (3/18, Doering, Rampton) reports, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), speaking at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit, said that she expects Congress to approve a new food safety law sometime this year. DeLauro also said that trade agreements need to be examined for implications for food safety. DeLauro also called for a review of USDA meat inspection practices. She criticized the existing system with its overlapping jurisdiction, saying, "You've got the salami scare, and it may be the peppers in the salami (that are contaminated), but USDA does the salami and FDA does the peppers. ... It is madness to think this is the way we ought to do business." NYTimes praises FDA commissioner's crackdown on dishonest nutritional claims.The New York Times (3/18) in an editorial says that FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg's "new crackdown on dishonest nutritional claims by food manufacturers is a welcome sign that she means business." The Times says it is also "a refreshing departure from the laissez-faire approach under former President George W. Bush." The paper cites a letter Dr. Hamburg addressed "to the entire food industry" in which she "emphasized the importance of providing nutrition information that consumers can rely on." The Times writes, "We urge the FDA to follow up with permanent regulations solidifying her approach."
SecuritiesKerkorian's Tracinda Corp settles DaimlerChrysler shareholder suit for $8.1M.Bloomberg News (3/18) reports, "Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. will pay $8.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by former DaimlerChrysler shareholders who claimed the billionaire investor sold shares in 1999 based on inside information." Shareholders "alleged that James Aljian, who helped manage Tracinda's investments and served on DaimlerChrysler's shareholder committee board, passed confidential information about the company's declining cash flow to Kerkorian in 1999." Also in the NewsMinnesota SC Chief Justice says judiciary at "budgetary breaking point."The AP (3/17) reported, "As he gets ready to leave Minnesota's highest court, Chief Justice Eric Magnuson is describing the state's judiciary as being at a budgetary breaking point. Magnuson told reporters Tuesday that another round of significant budget cuts would cause more backlogs and delays, more drug court closings and public-counter closings." Gov. Tim Pawlenty "has proposed a $15 million cut to the judiciary." | ||||||||||||||
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