| | Amended Sex Suit Filed Against Tenn. Bishop | |  | | A former church member of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Tennessee has filed an amended lawsuit against Bishop Joseph Walker, accusing him of sexual misconduct. In the suit, the woman claims that Walker used his authority to coerce her into sexual acts beginning in 1998. The woman said she was recently divorced and a single parent when she went to the defendant for help and he took advantage of her.
Bob Smietana, Tennessean 12/04/2012    | | Read Article: Tennessean | | Denver to Pay $190,000 in Police Shooting Suit | | | | The city of Denver has agreed to pay $190,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the widow of a man shot and killed by Denver police in 2007. The suit claims that man was unjustly shot six times in the back during a traffic stop and foot chase; police said he was carrying a weapon, when in actuality all he had was a cigarette lighter. The Denver District Attorney has declared the shooting justified, the Denver Post reports.
Jeremy P. Meyer, Denver Post 12/03/2012 | | Read Article: Denver Post | | BP Argues for Access to Transocean Spill Insurance | | | | BP should have access to $750 million in Transocean’s insurance to pay costs from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a lawyer for the British company told an appeals court. The oil company Monday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reverse a decision by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier barring it from using the policies. Barbier ruled last year that the drilling contract between the companies for the doomed Macondo well precluded BP from seeking coverage under the Transocean policies for pollution-related liabilities.
Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle 12/04/2012 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | NY Federal Appeals Court: $1M Not Excessive High School Racial Harassment | | | | One of the biggest awards ever issued for racial harassment in high school — $1 million — was upheld Monday by a federal appeals panel that said it was fair for a jury to conclude a school district should have done more to stop demeaning, threatening and violent conduct directed at a student. The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan left in place the award for Anthony Zeno, a former student at Stissing Mountain High School in Dutchess County. The award had been reduced from the $1.25 million a jury originally awarded the now 23-year-old haircutter during a 2010 trial. The appeals court said the award wasn't unreasonable given that payouts for harassment in similar cases have ranged from the low six figures to $1 million in one other instance.
LARRY NEUMEISTER , Associated Press , Star Tribune-South Metro 12/04/2012 | | Read Article: Star Tribune-South Metro | | Hospital Helicopters: Worth the cost? | | | | For people outside the health care industry, the sound of medical helicopters are an ominous sign of trouble. The medical helicopter, according to public perception, is a tool that quickly retrieves trauma victims and ferries them to hospitals. But the reality behind most of those flights is more mundane. While helicopters see extensive use, little of which involves swooping in on accident scenes to retrieve trauma victims.Those trips are thousands of dollars more than ground ambulances. To some in the industry, helicopters have become overused in situations where they are not medically necessary. In such cases, helicopters, which add thousands of dollars to a medical bill, represent another example of America’s out-of-control spending on health costs.
Jonathan Ellis, The Argus 12/04/2012 | | Read Article: The Argus | | Some Hail Claims Now Turn to Courts | | | | Graciela Avila waits in a home with no insulation, half the sheet rock torn out and a broken air-conditioning system. Months after the March 29 hailstorm pelted her house on Avocet Avenue, the McAllen women is still waiting for extensive damages to be fixed. Avila, 53, who was at home when the lights went out and hail began to penetrate her roof, spent the weeks after the storm in a hotel room covered by her home insurer, but her policy’s allowance for hotel expenses soon ran out. And when it did, with Avila embroiled in a dispute with her insurer over her claim, she moved back into a house that’s still in disrepair. Avila recently hired an attorney who has since filed suit on her behalf. Other McAllen-area homeowners hit by the hailstorms in March and April have also turned to legal representation after their claims were denied, delayed or underpaid.
Jared Janes, The Monitor 12/04/2012 | | Read Article: The Monitor | | Teens Dying From Sunbed Tanning Curb $5 Billion Industry | | | | Teenage girls trading the risk of deadly melanoma for a year-round tan have helped spur a global backlash against the sunbed industry. Health officials from Brasilia to Sydney are banning tanning salons amid evidence that they cause malignant lesions. Use of tanning beds causes all three types of skin cancer, especially for people younger than 25 years, a study published in October from the University of California, San Francisco said.
Jason Gale, Bloomberg 12/04/2012 | | Read Article: Bloomberg | | Suit: Doctor Drugged, Assaulted Estranged Wife | | | | A North Dakota pediatrician has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against her estranged husband seeking more than $50,000 for economic damages and pain and suffering. The woman claims her surgeon husband "sexually assaulted her after injecting her with Propofol" and had failed to obtain consent from her to administer the drug before doing so. The lawsuit comes after the defendant was cleared of criminal charges that he drugged and assaulted the plaintiff.
Wire Report, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/28/2012 | | Read Article: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | | |
