Coming To A Theater Near You: False Advertising?

January 28th, 2013. By AbiK

Beauty product class action lawsuits have been all over the news lately—three of the most recent are the Clinique Anti-Aging claims class action, the Avon ANEW product claim class action and the Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara class action lawsuit. All three lawsuits take aim at marketing claims that allegedly fail to deliver (aka, false advertising).

But beyond the consumer fraud—the price we all pay for promises not kept—is the price paid by women who are coaxed into believing that the advertising images are a) attainable and b) the only acceptable definition of ‘beauty’.

There’s a new movement afoot though that seeks to change that—in the form of an upcoming documentary aptly titled “False Advertising”. The beauty of it (no pun) is that is was the brainchild of three recent college graduates—all women—rather than some consumer watchdog group.

One of the women, Jennifer Bowker, was a sociology major and had written her senior thesis on the media and how it affects women’s body image and self-esteem. After graduation, Bowker joined forces with Avery Archie and Michelle Costales and together they produced “False Advertising”.

According to their Facebook page,

We made this documentary to help women start thinking critically about the media and how they define what is considered “beautiful.” It is detrimental to women, of all ages, when they internalize this ideal and strive to become it. After watching this, our hope is that women will view the media in a different light and see it for what it really is: False Advertising.

Kudos to these young women—just starting out in their careers—for taking a stance against dishonesty in beauty marketing. We applaud what they’re doing and wish them much success with the release of “False Advertising”.

 

Asbestos News Roundup: 1.24.13 – Asbestos in Schools

January 24th, 2013. By LucyC

This week’s asbestos news roundup includes all the recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Risk in Schools

Building materials and insulation such as drywall, floor/ceiling tile, applied fireproofing spray, and piping/boiler insulation used in the construction of schools prior to 1980, frequently contained asbestos.

While undisturbed asbestos materials generally do not pose a health risk to students and teachers, over time they can become hazardous due to deterioration or damage.

If asbestos containing materials are disturbed, (e.g. during the installation, maintenance, or removal process), asbestos fibers may become airborne and pose a health threat to students, teachers and other employees within the schools. Once asbestos fibers are inhaled or swallowed, the risk of getting an asbestos related disease, such as asbestosis or mesothelioma, also increases. Student exposure to asbestos in schools is particularly concerning because once the fibers accumulate in the lungs, the latency period between asbestos exposure and the onset of symptoms can take as long as 20 to 50 years.

The federal government has been regulating the use of asbestos in schools since the 1980’s. Schools now have regulatory requirements and management plans to reduce the risk of potential asbestos exposure for students and teachers. However, until the presence of asbestos in schools is eliminated entirely, many believe it will continue to pose a health risk.

Asbestos Lawsuit

Charleston, WV: 50 companies have been named as defendants in an asbestos lawsuit filed by Ray Earl Wamsley II who was diagnosed with asbestosis on April 11, 2012. In his lawsuit, Wamsley claims the defendants are responsible for his asbestosis disease.

Specifically, Wamsley alleges the defendants exposed him to asbestos during his employment as a head artist, decorator, pipefitter, painter and electrician’s helper from 1969 until 1993. Wamsley further claims the defendants failed to warn him of the dangers of asbestos.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit. (wvrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: John E. Huxley and his wife, Lucille A. Huxley, have named 134 companies as defendants in their asbestos lawsuit, filed this month. In their lawsuit, they claim the defendants are responsible for Mr.Huxley’s diagnosis of asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Huxley was diagnosed with asbestosis and mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos while employed at various job sites and locations throughout West Virginia and while his mother was employed at E.I. Du Point De Nemours & Company, according to the lawsuit.

The Huxleys claim the defendants failed to warn Mr. Huxley of the dangers of asbestos and failed to take reasonable precautions to warn him of the dangers. Further, the lawsuit states the defendants failed to place any warnings on the asbestos-containing products to warn handlers of the dangers of the products and failed to warn of the dangers of other ingredients in their products, including silica.

The Huxleys claim the defendants were negligent and caused John Huxley to suffer his lung injuries, shock and other nervous or emotional disorders. (wvrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: Norman T. Dial, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma on October 8, 2012 has filed an asbestos lawsuit, naming 70 companies as defendants responsible for his asbestos disease.

Dial and his wife, Marcia C. Dial, claim the defendants exposed him to asbestos during his employment as a store assistant, laborer, deck hand and operator from 1954 until 1999. The couple also alleges the defendants exposed Mr. Dial to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing fibers during his career and failed to warn him about the dangers.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.

The lawsuit contends that the defendants’ actions kept the Huxleys and others ignorant of the dangers of asbestos and other products and in this way, the conspirators aided efforts to sell products containing asbestos.(wvrecord.com)

Charleston, WV: Cletis William Adkins and his wife, Lola Lee Adkins are suing 62 companies they claim are responsible for Mr. Adkins diagnosis of asbestos-related lung cancer.

In the lawsuit, Adkins, diagnosed with lung cancer on September 10, 2012, claims the defendants exposed him to asbestos during his employment as a laborer, high lift operator and custodian from 1955 until 1994. Further, the Adkins allege the defendants exposed Cletis Adkins to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing fibers during his career and failed to warn him about the dangers.

The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit. (wvrecord.com)

Forget Oprah, We Had Lance Armstrong’s Number Years Ago!

January 19th, 2013. By AbiK

Gotta say…Lance, Lance, we knew you when, big guy…

When you still thought you had a prayer in you-know-what of beating this whole thing. But we knew you…didn’t.

See, our readers know that if you want to know if something, or someone, is a scam, you come here first.

Not that we take pleasure in having a few back slaps and high-fives by the water cooler at the expense of someone’s demise. Well, actually, in this case we do (though we don’t, actually, have a water cooler).

While many out there were still trying to cut Lance some slack, we knew his ride was pretty much over. And we knew he hadn’t been getting that ‘peak performance’ from a freakin’ bottle of FRS Energy Drink. C’mon Lance…could it have been the performance enhancing drugs? Oh right—Oprah already coaxed that one out of you.

As LawyersandSettlements.com’s senior legal correspondent Jane Mundy—who first reported on the FRS Energy Drink false advertising allegations in September 2010—said at the time:

“It’s hard to believe that Lance Armstrong, FRS poster boy, would be associated with any false advertising. Or is it?”

Uh, no Jane, apparently it’s not!

Jane went on to share with one of Lance’s hoodwinked supporters that not only was Lance lying through his teeth about any performance benefits coming from 19g of sugar, but he was also getting paid for it—hello disclosure—not only as an FRS spokesperson, but also as a member of the FRS board of directors! Make that check out to “Lance Armstrong” please…

Post-script, FRS dropped Lance. Regardless of whatever claims the makers of FRS may make, they’re no fools: bye-bye Lance.

Oh, and speaking of FRS, they’ve got another little post-script—an FRS false advertising class action lawsuit that’s recently been filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court (12/5/12). Only now, as Bevnet reports, it’s FRS Healthy Slim that’s in the cross-hairs. Guess someone wasn’t magically dropping those pounds.

Well, Lance may have been living strong and feeding us all some dope about his performance. But we never bought it.

Must See: Stephen Colbert Explains Vitamin Water Lawsuit!

January 18th, 2013. By AbiK

 

Remember the Coca-Cola Vitamin Water class action lawsuit? Well, it’s still out there—and there was even a copycat class action filed in Canada. But no one can quite shed light on the allegations involved in the Vitamin Water lawsuits quite the way Stephen Colbert can—so if you missed his show on Monday (1/14/13), check out the video above.

For an additional laugh, here’s what’s on Coke’s website—on their “Coca-Cola Journey” section—in response to the initial class action filing. Hard to believe this was written by someone old enough to have working papers. Read on—and no, it’s not a joke—this is really published on the Coke website:

The glacéau vitaminwater lawsuit is a ridiculous and ludicrous lawsuit. glacéau vitaminwater is a great tasting, hydrating beverage with essential vitamins and water, with labels showing calorie content.

Filing a lawsuit is an opportunistic PR stunt. This is not about protecting the public interest. This is about grandstanding at a time when CSPI is receiving very little attention. There is no surprise that one week before the inauguration of the U.S. President, with the flurry of activity in Washington, D.C., that CSPI has chosen today to try to bring attention to themselves.

We don’t need a “healthful” alternative to sodas. All our beverages, including sparkling and diets, can be part of healthful diet. Furthermore, consumers today are aware and are looking for more from their beverages than just hydration. Products like glacéau vitaminwater provide a great tasting choice for hydration that also helps contribute to daily needs for some essential nutrients.

Consumers can readily see the nutrition facts panels on every bottle of glacéau vitaminwater, which show what’s in our product and what’s not. The success of glacéau vitaminwater is due in large part to consumers looking for a product like this to help support their healthy, active and on-the-go lifestyle.

Put simply, glacéau vitaminwater is a great complement to our often less-than-perfect diet with each of the different glacéau vitaminwater varieties providing a convenient, great-tasting way to get more of some of the vitamins and hydration we all need each day.

No joke folks.

 

Asbestos News Roundup: 1.17.13 – Electrician Asbestos Risk

January 17th, 2013. By LucyC

This week’s asbestos news roundup includes all the recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Electricians, Boiler and Furnace Technicians Asbestos Disease Risk

Electricians and electrical cable installers may not know it, but they are at risk for being exposed to asbestos through repair, demolition or installation work. This lethal, fibrous material was used in felted asbestos insulation or asbestos tape to insulate wiring. So working on old power lines, old wiring or breaker boxes would put electricians at risk for asbestos exposure. Older arc chutes also contain asbestos. It was used in circuit breakers, for example, before the mid-1980′s, when they were made of asbestos-containing plastic molding compound.

Boiler technicians, sadly, are also at risk from materials in the workplace. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), insulation blankets (the outside covering or shell), door gaskets, duct insulation, and tape at duct connections of furnaces and boilers can all contain asbestos. Technicians who worked on repairing boilers and furnaces in the past would have been at risk for asbestos exposure.

Asbestos was used between 1930 and 1972 as high-temperature insulation for oil, coal, or wood furnaces, generally found in older homes. Steam and hot water pipes were insulated with asbestos-containing material, particularly at elbows, tees, and valves. Pipes may also be wrapped in an asbestos “blanket”, or asbestos paper (which looks very much like corrugated cardboard). Asbestos-containing insulation has also been used on and inside round and rectangular furnace ducts. Sometimes the duct itself may be made of asbestos-containing materials.

Asbestos Lawsuit

Charleston, WV: 124 companies have been named as defendants in an asbestos lawsuit filed by Clarence Robert Nelson and his wife Isabell S. Nelson. The Kentucky-based couple alleges the companies are responsible for Mr. Nelson’s lung injuries: Clarence Nelson has been diagnosed with asbestosis and mesothelioma, according to the lawsuit.

The defendants are also charged with failing to warn the Nelsons of the dangers of asbestos products and failing to exercise reasonable care to warn Clarence Nelson of the dangers of being exposed to asbestos-containing products. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims the defendants failed to test the asbestos-containing products in order to ascertain the dangers involved and failed to test the other ingredients of their products to ascertain the dangers involved.

As a result of the defendants’ negligence, Clarence Nelson has suffered damages from medical treatment, drugs and other unknown medical measures; great pain of body and mind; embarrassment and inconvenience; loss of earning capacity; loss of enjoyment of life; and shortening of his life expectancy, the asbestos lawsuit states.

The 124 defendants named in the suit are Air & Liquid Systems Corporation; Ajax Magnethermic Corporation; Allied Glove Corporation; American Biltrite, Inc.; Ametek, Inc.; Armstrong International, Inc.; Armstrong Pumps, Inc.; Aurora Pump Company; Baltimore Aircoil Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; Brand Insulations, Inc.; Cameron International Corporation; Carver Pump Company; Cashco, Inc.; Catalytic Construction Company; CBS Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Chevron U.S.A., Inc.; Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.; Columbia Paint Corp.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Cooper Industries, Inc.; Copes-Vulcan, Inc.; Crane Company, Inc.; Crown Cork & Seal USA, Inc.; CSR, Inc.; Dana Corporation; Dezurik, Inc.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Corporation; Eichleay Corporation; F.B. Wright Company of Pittsburgh; the Fairbanks Company; Fairmont Supply Company; Flowserve U.S., Inc. and its Byron Jackson Pump Division; Flowserve U.S., Inc., f/k/a Flowserve FSD Corporation; Flowserve U.S., Inc., f/k/a Flowserve FSD Corporation, as successor to Durco International and the Duriron Company; Flowserve U.S., Inc., f/k/a Flowserve FSD Corporation, as successor to Valtek International; Fluor Constructors International a/k/a Fluor Corporation; Fluor Constructors International, Inc.; Fluor Corporation; Fluor Enterprises, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foster Wheeler, LLC; the Gage Company; Gardner Denver, Inc.; General Electric Company; General Refractories Company; Gentex Corporation; Georgia-Pacific Corporation; the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Co.; Grinnell, LLC; Hinchliffe & Keener, Inc.; Honeywell International, Inc.; Howden North America, Inc.; IU North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Inductotherm Corp.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Industrial Rubber Products; Ingersoll-Rand Company; ITT Corporation; J.H. France Refractories Company; J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.; Joy Technologies, Inc.; Joy Technologies, Inc. a/k/a and as successor-in-interest to Joy Mining Machinery; Lennox Industries, Inc.; Lindberg; Louden Crane Corporation; M.S. Jacobs & Associates, Inc.; Magnetek, Inc.; McJunkin Redman Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Minnotte Contracting Corporation; Morgan Engineering Systems, Inc.; Mueller Steam Specialty; Nagle Pumps, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; P&H Mining Equipment, Inc.; Pecora Corporation; Pneumo Abex Corporation; Power Piping Company; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Reading Crane; Riley Power, Inc.; Robinson Fans, Inc.; Rockwell Automation, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International Corp.; Safety First Industries, Inc.; the Sager Corporation; Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; Seco/Warwick Corporation; Spirax Sarco, Inc.; SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc.; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Sullair Corporation; Sunbeam Products, Inc.; Sundyne Corporation; Surface Combustion; SVI Corporation; Swindell-Dressler International Company; Tasco Insulation, Inc.; Textron, Inc.; Trane U.S., Inc.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Union Carbide Corporation; Velan Valve Corporation; Viking Pump, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Warren Pumps, Inc.; Washington Group International; Weil McLain Company; Welco Manufacturing Company; West Virginia Electric Supply Company; the William Powell Company; Yarway Corporation; and Zurn Industries, LLC. (wvrecord.com)

Asbestos Law

Kankakee, IL: Mike Pinski, a developer from Kankakee, has been sentenced to serve six months in federal prison for his participation in illegal and unsafe removal of asbestos materials from a downtown Kankakee property in August 2009.

Pinski owned a five-story property at 197 S. West Ave. from which he arranged to have asbestos-containing material removed and dumped in a remote area of Pembroke Township—a violation of the Clean Air Act—by two men, Duane “Butch” O’Malley, and James A. Mikrut. Both O’Malley and Mikrut were previously sentenced for their roles in the offense. (dailyjournal.com)