Entries from July 2008 ↓

A lawsuit brought against three men in the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity at the University of Texas for the wrongful death of 18-year old freshman Jack Phoummarath has been settled with the Phoummarath family for a sum of $4.2 million dollars. Phoummarath died in the fall of 2005 from acute alcohol poisoning after a binge drinking hazing while pledging with the fraternity. He had a blood alcohol content level of .50 at the time of death.

As part of the plea deal with the defendants, who were indicted for hazing, they took part in an educational video that warns of the dangers that come with fraternity and sorority hazing. Phoummarath’s family is also working with the University of Texas to set up an annual $8,000 - $10,000 scholarship in Jack’s name that will be granted to a student in exchange for promoting an educational program warning against hazing and binge drinking. The Phoummarath family have emphasized that these programs are not anti-Greek, but merely tools to educate students.

U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger has approved a $2.3 million settlement to be paid by Fresno to more than 200 homeless residents. The class action lawsuit, which was brought on behalf of the residents by Bay Area attorney Paul Alexander along with American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, was brought on for violations of their clients’ fourth amendment rights and their rights to due process. The lawyers claim the fourth amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, was violated when the city’s clean-up sweeps destroyed the property of the homeless residents who were not present at the time of the clean up.

Alexander, who was pleased with the settlement results and has said that his firm will not be taking any legal fees, was praised by Wanger for “exemplary and outstanding service to the public.” One of the plaintiffs, Jeannine Nelson, noted that she hoped this settlement would change the attitude of the city toward the homeless.

Of the $2.3 million total, $1.485 million will go to the homeless with the rest going toward legal fees for the ACLU. Alexander has said that 268 homeless residents have put in claims, and that the deadline to do so has been extended to August 22nd.

After a two-week trial in Niagara County NY, a jury awarded $9 million dollars in damages to the survivors of Suzanne E. Crane in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The suit claims that Dr. Nancy J. Stubbe did not diagnose Crane’s breast cancer, who died in 2004 at the age of 33 after cancer had spread to 15 of her 16 lymph nodes, when Crane began seeing the doctor in 2002. It was not until 2003 when she visited another doctor that she was diagnosed with cancer. Attorney John B. Licata, who represented the Crane family, noted that Stubbe never performed a biopsy, even after a lump was found in Crane’s breast.

The State Supreme Court jury found on June 30^th that Stubbe, who has been a doctor for more than 40 years and awarded accolades for her services, was negligent in her treating Crane and that her negligence was a substantial factor in her death. The $9 million dollar award, which includes $6 million based on future monetary losses, is noted as being one of the largest civil lawsuit payouts in Niagara County history.

However, there is some controversy surrounding the verdict due to the jury, which was made up of six women included two nurses. Professor Charles P. Ewing of the University at Buffalo Law School commented its “amazing that both sides would allow two nurses on a jury in a case like that” while even Licata mentioned “I don’t know if a jury of six men would have paid as close attention as this jury did.”

The verdict may be appealed, but calls to Stubbe’s attorney John T. Loss by the Buffalo City News looking for comment, were not returned.

After an investigation headed by Associate Attorney General Kevin O’Connor, four international airlines have agreed to a plea deal for charges of price-fixing cargo costs and fleecing companies of millions, which in turn have cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in increased prices. The plea deal settlement, which contained a total of $504 million in fines, named Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Martinair Holland and SAS Cargo Group as the airline conspirators according to the Department of Justice.

O’Connor stated in a June 26 conference that “this investigation focuses on a conspiracy involving a number of the world’s largest airlines to manipulate air cargo transportation costs through a multi-year price fixing scheme,” and went on to not that “the conspiracy, conservatively, has affected billions of dollars in shipments.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said that under the plea deal the airlines were not obligated to notify which shippers had been cheated. She added that any produce companies, which were a prime target in this price-fixing conspiracy, who hoped to recoup money should take part in one of several class action lawsuits that have already been filed.

Shippers will not be able to file claims against the $504 million, which is set to be added to a crime victims’ fund that supports almost 2,500 victim assistance programs.

When Massachusetts consumer attorney Matthew P. McCue filed a class action lawsuit against New Jersey based estate auction company Metropolitan Antiques in 2002 over unsolicited junk faxes, he had no idea that his efforts to have the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) enforced would transform into a legal battle that would last over six years.

From 2001-2003 Metropolitan Antiques is said to have sent out over 360,000 faxes advertising themselves. The TCPA prohibits unsolicited telemarketing via fax, and can have penalties of up to $500 to $1500 per violation. But with Metropolitan Antiques being nearly bankrupt, the responsibility to pay such fees fell on their insurance company. The insurance company claimed they were not required to pay these fines, but when the case came before the Supreme Judicial Court, the found that the insurance coverage was triggered.

With that ruling, a heated ten-hour mediation session hammered out a settlement between the plaintiffs and defendants, with a final negotiated amount of $1.8 million to be paid by Metropolitan Antiques and their insurers. McCue and his lawyer are seeking a third of the money for contingency fees, with the remaining amount to be divided among potential class members. A website, www.metrojunkfaxsettlement.com, has been set up for these class members can instantly find out if they are entitled to part of the settlement.