Must Read: CPSC Warns of Fireworks Injuries [Infographic]

July 3rd, 2012. By AbiK

The US Consumer Protection Safety Commission has issued this fireworks safety infographic along with some fireworks safety tips to help avoid accident or injury. Be sure to read the tips, and visit the CPSC website for more information on how to be safe on the 4th of July.

Gas & Electric Bills Paid by President Obama? (Scam Alert)

June 30th, 2012. By AbiK

Heard there’s a new federal program that’ll pay your utility bills? Well, hundreds of utility customers in New York City and undoubtedly thousands more across the nation have been receiving phone calls and fliers—some even text messages—claiming that President Obama will pick up the tab on their utility bills. Apparently he’ll do this by giving customers credits or by actually paying the utility bill.

Talk about spirit of generosity coming off of that Obamacare win! (“win” being relative to which side of the political fence you’re on…)

Unfortunately, it’s not true.

No, President Obama is not offering to pay your utility bills. Nor are the legislative or judicial branches of our government. It’s a utilities scam and you, dear citizen, will have to retain the glorious honor of paying your bill.

Here’s how the ‘Obama Pays Your Utility Bill” scam works:

Utilities customers are contacted by the scammer. They’re told that President Obama is offering to pay their utility bills as part of a new federal program.

To participate, customers are told all they have to do is provide their social security and band routing numbers. The scammer then provides a fake bank routing number that will purportedly be used to pay their utility bills.

Needless to say, there is no bank account with any money that will pay the utility bill.

And guess who’s credit is affected when the utility bills are late or unpaid? The customer.

Meanwhile, the scammer has the information he needs to drain your real bank account and then some.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) provides the following tips to avoid falling for the utility bill payment scam:

Top 10 Lawyer Interviews of the Month (May 2012)

June 29th, 2012. By AbiK

LawyersandSettlements.com publishes hundreds of lawyer interviews each year on the latest legal issues—lawsuits, mass torts, class actions, settlements—that our readers are most interested in. The attorneys—and expert witnesses—our journalists’ interviews provide a birds-eye view into the cases we report on.

Here are the top 10 attorney interviews that readers clicked during the month of May, 2012 (in reverse order):

10. Attorney Tim McCarthy, from McCarthy Law Group, on the consumer fraud class action lawsuit over Starbuck’s quitting its Tassimo coffee maker deal with Kraft Foods for one with Keurig.

9. Attorney Barry Kramer, on patients who have either paid, or have been billed, excessive emergency room charges.

8. Attorney Andy Hollis of Hollis, Wright, and Couch, P.C., on the case against ADHD drug Adderall.

7. Attorney Mark Thierman, on filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of Las Vegas limousine drivers against Bell Trans, Nevada’s largest limousine company, alleging failure to pay minimum wage and overtime.

6. Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik, on Bayer being in the process of settling certain Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella blood clot lawsuits.

5. Medical consultant and analyst Lana Keeton, on the dangers of synthetic transvaginal mesh and transvaginal sling for Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) and/or Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI).

4. Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik, on the Yaz and Yasmin bellwether trials. (See more info on bellwether trials)

3. Attorney Leonard Emma of The Law Office of Randall Crane, on California labor—what “independent contractor” means and employee misclassifications.

2. California Labor Attorney Randall Crane answers the question: “Can I be Fired if I’m Disabled?“

1. California Employee Attorney Donna M. Ballman, P.A., on bullying and harassment on the job.

Asbestos News Roundup: 6.28.12 – DIY Home Renovation Asbestos Risk

June 28th, 2012. By LucyC

A roundup of 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.

Do-It-Yourself Home Renovators and Asbestos Risk

Many people decide to renovate their homes, not knowing fully, the dangers that may lurk within the walls, ceilings or floors of their homes. Those dangers can include asbestos in older homes. For example, asbestos siding was commonly used in construction years ago, making older homes a danger zone for asbestos mesothelioma. Like flooring, siding material was covered by asbestos to make it more durable and fire retardant. When these materials are disturbed—ripped off or torn out for example, they release asbestos fibers into the air, which people in immediate proximity then breathe in.

An asbestos lawsuit brought by an 85-year old construction contractor who developed asbestos mesothelioma as a result of exposure to the carcinogen during his work and renovating his own investment properties, recently resulted in a $48 million settlement. His story is below.

Asbestos Lawsuits

New Orleans, LA: Jereiana H. Relf has filed an asbestos exposure suit naming multiple defendants for allegedly contributing to her secondhand exposure to asbestos.

The lawsuit was filed against Asbestos Corporation Limited et al in the New Orleans Civil District Court alleging at least 13 miners, manufacturers, sellers or handlers of asbestos products should be held responsible for Relf’s exposure to injurious levels of asbestos.

The lawsuit claims that asbestos fibers were introduced to Relf’s household from her uncles, father and husband who all worked with asbestos materials. In addition, Relf claims that her neighborhood as a whole was exposed to asbestos materials via asbestos-containing scrap material in close proximity.

The defendants are accused of knowingly exposing her to carcinogenic materials that resulted in her diagnosis of mesothelioma in March 2012.

An unspecified amount in damages is sought for medical costs, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of quality of life and disability.

Asbestos Settlements

Los Angeles, CA: Bobbie Izell, who worked in construction in the 1960s and 1970s, and his wife have been awarded $48 million by a California court in settlement of their asbestos lawsuit. The lawsuit named Union Carbide and a number of other defendants including Riverside Cement and California Portland Cement Company as defendants.

Izell developed mesothelioma during his 30 year career as a cement contractor in the construction industry. He built thousands of homes, commercial buildings, and churches, many of which contained asbestos. Izell also bought and renovated properties and many of the products he used for the renovation contained asbestos. Consequently, between 1947 and 1980, Izell suffered consistent exposure to the carcinogen.

The asbestos lawsuit was filed by Izell and his wife shortly after Izell was diagnosed with asbestos mesothelioma. According to media reports, during the trial Union Carbide argued that Calidria, which is the type of asbestos the manufacture, does or did not cause cancer. However, evidence was produced in the form of corporate memos which revealed that Union Carbide staff and physicians were aware the material was making works ill. However, this information was not made public. (Pol.com)

Origami Yourigami? Origami Lawsuit Targets Copycat Artist

June 26th, 2012. By AbiK

Been to Michael’s craft store lately? Origami is big. Forget paper airplanes—now kids come home from school with origami floral bouquets for mom and origami heteroptera (look it up). But for one artist—origami artist Robert Lang—origami isn’t some grab-some-copier-paper-and-get-folding thing; it’s serious art. And, he’s darn good at it. So good that folks know his work—and that can make any work that looks like his, even if it uses a different medium—look like copycat work. And that’s the crux of what’s becoming known as the origami lawsuit.

Origami artist Robert Lang has filed a lawsuit against abstract painter Sarah Morris alleging that she used his work—more specifically his crease patterns—in creating her own work. Without his permission.

For those you who are only novice origamists (is that even a word?), if that, a crease pattern is a computer-generated and quite complex pattern that an origami artist uses as a map of sorts to show where all the paper folds will need to go. Child’s play it is not.

According to a report at KPCC, Morris’ work veers more in the direction of graphic design, which is mathematical in nature; so Lang’s work, his crease patterns, caught her eye and intrigued her. And she “took a bunch of crease patterns, changed some lines, added colors to the shapes and turned them into very large paintings.”

Morris’ large paintings became a series that was shown entitled “Origami” in 2007. You can see some of that work at Live Auctioneers.

Needless to say, some of Lang’s admirers saw Morris’ work. And they felt a tinge of familiarity. And they let him know it.

You get where this is going: infringement lawsuit.

However, at the heart of this lawsuit will be the extent to which Morris’ work is considered transformative. As the report at KPCC notes, when it comes to art, an artist can use a copyrighted image if it satisfies the transformation ‘rule’—the work has to transform the copyrighted image into something new.

And “something new” is a bit of a vague notion—it’s fairly wide-open to interpretation. So we’ll see what happens.