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January 23, 2012

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Builders Want to Keep Settlements With 6 Slain Workers’ Kin Secret in 2008 NYC Crane Collapse

Lawsuit to Come over Cruise Ship Wreck

Rape Lawsuit Against Ben Roethlisberger Settled

Casper Priest Accused of Sexual Inappropriateness

Florida Jury Awards $168 Million in Malpractice Suit

Hazard Insurance With Its Own Perils

PAUL SULLIVAN: Coping With High-Priced Insurance That Lenders Make You Buy

Michael Hiltzik: Inaction by Regulators as Weight Loss Surgery Allegations Mount

 

 

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Announcements

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IRS Issues Regulations on Damages Received from Physical Injury or Sickness

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The IRS has released final regulations relating to the exclusion from gross income for amounts received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness. The final regulations in TD 9573 reflect amendments under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 and affect taxpayers who have received damages on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness and taxpayers paying these damages. The regulations take effect on Jan. 23, 2012. They delete an earlier requirement that to qualify for exclusion from gross income, damages received from a legal suit, action, or settlement agreement must be based upon “tort or tort type rights.” The regulations provide, instead, that the Section 104(a)(2) exclusion may apply to damages recovered for a personal physical injury or physical sickness under a statute that does not provide for a broad range of remedies, and that the injury need not be defined as a tort. Source: Accounting Today. Click on headline to learn more.  

 

Laws/Cases

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Builders Want to Keep Settlements With 6 Slain Workers’ Kin Secret in 2008 NYC Crane Collapse

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A developer and a builder are fighting to keep the public from seeing the details of their settlements with the families of six construction workers killed in a 2008 crane collapse, though a judge has ordered the data released. Days before a judge’s order unsealing the settlements was set to take effect this week, the developer of the midtown Manhattan skyscraper where the crane was working appealed the ruling, and the appeals court ordered the pacts kept private while the appeal plays out. A construction company involved in the project has filed papers saying it also plans to appeal the unsealing.  Associated Press, The New York Times  01/23/2012

Read Article: The New York Times    

 

Lawsuit to Come over Cruise Ship Wreck

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Survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise liner wreck have said they will seek a class-action lawsuit against Costa Cruises, asking for $160,000 a passenger, more than $510 million total. Officials for the cruise line say Capt. Francesco Schettino guided the ship far too close to the Tuscan coast, but he claims his bosses instructed him to do so as an advertising ploy. The crash occurred on Jan. 13 and has resulted in the death of at least 30 people.  Helen Kennedy , New York Daily News  01/22/2012

Read Article: New York Daily News    

 

Rape Lawsuit Against Ben Roethlisberger Settled

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A settlement has been reached between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and a Lake Tahoe woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2008. The plaintiff filed suit against Roethlisberger in 2009, claiming she was "lured" into his penthouse suite and forced to have sex with him. Lawyers for Roethlisberger said the woman had a history of "using sex and lies to get what she wanted." The terms of the settlement were undisclosed.  Martha Bellisle, USA Today  01/23/2012

Read Article: USA Today    

 

Casper Priest Accused of Sexual Inappropriateness

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A lawsuit has been filed against a Casper, Wy., priest who allegedly "imposed a sexual relationship" on a Colorado woman during their counseling sessions. The suit claims the relationship went on for years, and that the priest sexually assaulted the woman in 2009. The lawsuit, which also names St. Anthony’s Catholic Church and the Diocese of Cheyenne as defendants, is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.  William Browning , Casper Star Tribune  01/21/2012

Read Article: Casper Star Tribune    

 

Florida Jury Awards $168 Million in Malpractice Suit

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A Florida jury has awarded $168 million to a Clay County deputy who filed a lawsuit against Memorial Hospital Jacksonville over a botched gastric bypass surgery in 2007. According to the suit, complications arose during the surgery that were not treated in a timely fashion, causing the plaintiff to suffer severe brain injuries due to "cardiac arrest and septic shock." The plaintiff still suffers lingering effects from the surgery, including inability to "walk, feed, clean and bathe himself."  Charles Broward , Florida Times Union  01/23/2012

Read Article: Florida Times Union    

 

Insurance

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Hazard Insurance With Its Own Perils

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One of the richest and most secretive sources of profit in the mortgage business is coming under scrutiny. Investigators are training their sights on a type of hazard insurance policy known as force-placed insurance, a type of policy that has driven up costs for homeowners and pushed some into foreclosure. People who buy certain mortgage securities may be getting hurt, too.  GRETCHEN MORGENSON, The New York Times  01/23/2012

Read Article: The New York Times    

 

Editorials/Columns/Letters

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PAUL SULLIVAN: Coping With High-Priced Insurance That Lenders Make You Buy

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FORCE-PLACED insurance. Most homeowners never hear about it until their mortgage lender sends them a letter saying that they must have flood or some other kind of insurance and that if they don’t act quickly, the lender will buy it for them — at a price, it turns out, that is almost always much higher than the market rate. One of the practices that has gotten regulators’ attention has been the mortgage lenders’ use of insurance subsidiaries to buy the force-placed coverage. But even when the lenders’ subsidiaries are not used, the way this insurance is applied has still irritated homeowners. The mortgage industry argues that the insurance is more costly because it is being bought by the insurance companies that underwrite these policies, and that those companies have no knowledge of the homeowner’s credit score, which affects the cost. The lenders also say the practice is necessary to protect their shareholders’ interests.  PAUL SULLIVAN, The New York Times  01/23/2012

Read Article: The New York Times    

 

Michael Hiltzik: Inaction by Regulators as Weight Loss Surgery Allegations Mount

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Several current or former workers for the people behind those 1-800-GET-THIN ads have made allegations about this weight-loss enterprise that government regulators should have gotten to the bottom of long ago. Taken together, the allegations are that its patients are subjected to life-threatening conditions. The regulators can't ignore this situation anymore. The workers filed a whistle-blower lawsuit last week alleging their employers retaliated against them for reporting unsafe and unsanitary conditions at outpatient clinics affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN.  Michael Hiltzik, LA Times  01/23/2012

Read Article: LA Times    


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