People who live near a former nuclear fuel plant will get $52.5 million to settle their 14-year-old lawsuit against Babcock & Wilcox Co. The settlement, which was approved by a federal judge in Pittsburgh, ends the final claim brought by 365 people who live in the Apollo area, about 35…
A Manhattan jury awarded $27.5 M to a woman who lost her left leg after a New York City Transit bus ran over her while it was turning a corner two blocks from her apartment in 2005. The woman, Gloria Aguilar, 45, who had to have her leg amputated and…
The state of Minnesota closed a chapter on the Interstate 35W bridge collapse by reaching final settlements with all 179 eligible victims of the disaster in downtown Minneapolis two years ago. The settlements ranged from $4,500 to each of five survivors to more than $2.2 million for a woman who…
Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims on behalf of five patients alleging that the HMO mishandled its kidney transplant program, endangering lives and causing deaths. The arbitration claims were filed in 2006, found that Kaiser’s Northern California kidney transplant program jeopardized hundreds of patients by…
King County has agreed to pay $3.5 million to a Seattle man and his wife after the man suffered a permanent brain injury when he was thrown from his bicycle. Lawyers for Jeffrey Totten and his wife Danielle Leavell said the county was at fault because it promoted Novelty Hill…
Latino workers in California and Texas allegedly punished for speaking Spanish in their workplaces will be granted up to $450,000, free English classes and other relief under a consent decree approved this week in a class-action lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Los Angeles. The lawsuit…
A bill that was the subject of a 5½-hour hearing would sharply curtail the powers of the Texas Medical Board if it becomes law. Backers argued that it would bring much-needed transparency and provide greater fairness to doctors whom, some say, the board is persecuting. They especially raised concerns about…
Reglan side effects have been associated with the development of tardive dyskinesia, a syndrome that causes involuntary movements in the body extremities, particularly the lower face. In February 2009, the FDA required that a “black box” warning about the tardive dyskinesia problems be added to Reglan and other gastrointestinal drugs…
The Minneapolis City Council voted overwhelmingly to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by five black police officers against the city, the police department and Chief Tim Dolan. The council voted 12-1 to pay the officers a total of $740,000 to settle the suit. The city admitted no guilt and will…
After a 19-year-old Orange County, Calif., man killed two neighbors in 2005, the victim’s survivors sued the murderer’s psychiatrist, accusing him of causing the rampage by giving his client an unstable mix of antidepressants. But California’s 4th District Court of Appeal ordered summary judgment for the doctor, saying that the…