Author Archive
Week Adjourned: 2.27.10
February 27th, 2010. By LucyC
Top Class Actions
Lacking Phone Smarts at Verizon. For those of us who do not have ’smart phones’ but are getting dinged for data service, you may be interested to know that Verizon got hit with a class action this week over this very issue.
According to the press release on the lawsuit, Verizon charged $1.99 at a time for data service people were not using—or should that be could not use. So the lawsuit is seeking to reimburse folks who got dinged. There’s no doubt about it, at the rate we use our cell phones, $1.99 could certainly add up. But this suit also begs the larger question—do you know if your phone is smart? (mine certainly isn’t!)
Top Settlements
Lawsuit Stops Bouncing Around. A 30-year old man from Chicago who was chronically injured on a mini-trampoline when he was in the eighth grade, has finally received justice in the form of a $14.7 million settlement.
Ryan Murray, who is quadriplegic as a result of the accident, sued the Chicago Board of Education. After several years of wrangling—you can sue a government entity—no you can’t—yes you can if the action that led to the injury was intentional… a decision was finally reached: Yes—he could sue and he would have his day in court.
Fortunately, however, Mr. Murray will actually be able to get on with his life as the whole thing has been settled—out of court. Talk about stalling tactics.
Nothing Like Paying a Premium. Boy, does it pay to have insurance. Remember Moneygram? No? MoneyGram International was the subject of a securities class action in May of last year, over allegations that it committed securities fraud stemming from $1.6 billion in losses it suffered on subprime and other risky asset-backed securities in 2007 and 2008.
I can see how this would have gotten lost in the noise of all the other similar lawsuits last year…Anyway, I digress.
The lawsuit was settled this week for a cool $80 million—$60 million of which will be paid by its insurance company to the shareholders who took the losses. While this is nowhere near the value of the assets lost, the deal certainly puts the importance of insurance in a entirely new light…
Reports in the media state that the three directors of Moneygram who were on the board when everything went sideways, remain in their seats but will not seek re-election. That’s big of them.
I wonder how many of these types of settlements insurance companies can afford to pay out on…
That’s it for this week—see you at the Bar!
Asbestos News Roundup: 2.25.10
February 25th, 2010. By LucyC
A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of.
Asbestos Lawsuits
Madison County, IL: A total of 18 new asbestos lawsuits were filed between February 8 and 12. They include a lawsuit filed by Geraldine R. and Forrest Blazer of Ohio. The couple allege that Geraldine developed asbestos mesothelioma as a result of secondary or “take home” exposure to asbestos fibers through her father’s work as a shipbuilder for Bethlehem Steel from 1940 until 1943 and through her husband’s work as an asphalt worker for Brewer and Brewer in 1959, and from 1960 until 1977, and as a construction worker for V.N. Holderman from 1959 until 1960. (madisonrecord.com)
James Charles and Pamela B. Smith of Pennsylvania have also filed one of the 18 asbestos lawsuits. They allege that James developed asbestos mesothelioma as a result of his work, which included being in the U.S. Navy from 1966 until 1969, working as a machinist mate on the USS Soley until his discharge in 1969; working as a salesman and store manager for RCP Electronics from 1969 until 1981; working as a salesman for Homelite Power Equipment from 1981 until 1993; and working as an outside sales representative for Cooper Industries from 1994 until 2009. (madisonrecord.com)
Asbestos Removal
Tampa, FL: Four men were arrested and charged on February 18th, with violating environmental laws governing asbestos removal. They were responsible for the conversion of the Indian Pass Apartments to Barefoot Beach Resort, located on Gulf Blvd.
While the conversion of the apartments actually took place in 2004, the project manager, James Roger Edwards, pled guilty to charges of violating environmental laws on February 14, 2010, and this led to the arrest and conviction of several other individuals.
The scenario in which the violations occurred involved using drywall to cover up spray-textured ceilings that contained asbestos, rather than spending $300,000 on remediation. Not only did this disturb the asbestos coating, but the men contracted to do the work were not provided with proper protective equipment or disposable clothing, both of which are required by law. (mesotheliomaweb.org)
The Clean Air Act and Asbestos Removal
Asbestos is classified as a hazardous air pollutant under the United States Clean Air Act (first passed in 1963 and last amended in 1990). Clean Air Act provisions regarding asbestos, specifically its nature, definitions of removal techniques, and removal standards, are all itemized under the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations. (mesotheliomaweb.org)
Totally Tortelicious: 3 Years of Going Bananas…and then some
February 24th, 2010. By LucyC
Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal stories making news. Goodness knows there’s no shortage of them. 
Neighbors goin’ Bananas… Brighton, UK: Amanda Millard was recently convicted, by UK magistrates, of breaching a noise abatement notice, for playing the theme from the cartoon series the Banana Splits so loudly it could be heard a block away. And, she did this for three—yes three—years. Ohmygod. Pass the sedatives. Have you heard the theme from the Banana Splits? Here’s your chance…
The neighbors had complained to the appropriate authorities, which I feel, showed remarkable restraint on their part. (The more appealing options are all illegal). And Millard was subsequently warned by letter to keep it down. She gave into silence for a little while, but soon returned to her bad habits. This time, however, she varied the repertoire slightly by adding The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” and Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier”—all played at full volume of course.
In her defense, she reportedly argued that her stereo wasn’t of good enough quality to generate
Big Brother Goes to School
February 22nd, 2010. By LucyC
As webcams become an increasingly common tool used for public safety and crime prevention, the irony appears to be that those doing the watching are the ones that need to be watched most, as a class action lawsuit filed last week so clearly illustrates.
The federal lawsuit was filed by the parents of a fifteen-year old boy who was told by an assistant principal at the school he attends that he “was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in minor plaintiff’s personal laptop issued by the school district,” Courthouse news reported last week. How on earth did this assistant principal know that? And who is he to decide what is improper behavior in the youth’s home?
What happened? The answer is pretty creepy. The Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania issued laptops with webcams to 1800 high school students as part of an initiative to “enhance opportunities for ongoing collaboration, and ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school based resources and the ability to seamlessly work on projects and research at school and at home.” What’s that expression—never look a gift horse in the mouth? Read on.
As it turns out, it wasn’t just the students that had 24/7 access to the laptops and ‘interconnectivity’. The webcams could be remotely activated by the school authorities at any time they chose, enabling them to “view and capture whatever images were in front of the webcam, all without the knowledge, permission or authorization of any persons then and there using the laptop computer,” the lawsuit reportedly states.
Wait—there’s more. “Additionally, by virtue of the fact that the webcam can be remotely activated at any time
Week Adjourned: 2.19.10
February 19th, 2010. By LucyC
Top Class Actions 
The Internet’s A-Buzz. Over Google Buzz—specifically a class action lawsuit filed by a Harvard Law student, Eva Hibnick, who is alleging that her contacts and contact information were made public by Google when it introduced Buzz, without her authorization.
Here, here I say. I also logged onto my email the morning Google Buzz was launched to find a list of my contacts displayed by the new social networking program. What? Who asked you to do that—was my first thought. It was completely inappropriate—not to mention unnecessary.
As Ms. Hibnick so appropriately put it—she was “shocked to learn that my email contacts may have been shared with others without my knowledge or consent. I signed up for a private email service, not a social networking site.”
The lawsuit seeks to enjoin Google from continuing to operate Buzz without appropriate internet privacy safeguards and it seeks damages, including statutory damages of $100 per day per user.
Enjoin, by the way—in legal terms—means to direct, require, command, or admonish. Personally, I favor command.
Top Settlements
Apropos for Black History Month… History was made on Thursday—when a settlement over a long-
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