LawyersandSettlements.com on Best of the Web

December 2nd, 2011. By AbiK

As we enter the holiday season and anticipate celebrations with family and friends, we also—sadly—are reminded every day of things like shopping scams, defective products, toys with lead in them—the list goes on—that attempt to tarnish everyone’s holiday spirit.

That’s why we’re dedicated to ensuring our readers have the latest legal news—emerging issues, recalls, lawsuits filed, settlement announcements—in order to make informed decisions about whatever issues they may be facing that may require legal help.

We’re proud of our 10+ years of reporting on the legal issues that can, and do, affect each of us every day—and we continue to be proud of our A+ BBB rating.

It’s in that spirit that we’re also proud to announce our inclusion in the Best of the Web directory. We’re in some pretty good company as part of the Best of the Web directory, and we’re honored to be listed among such revered sites.

Thanks to all our readers—you’re the reason we continue to strive to deliver the “best legal news you can use”.

Asbestos News Roundup: 12.1.11

December 1st, 2011. 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.

Asbestos News

Montreal, PQ: Asbestos mining has stopped in Canada, for the first time in 130 years, with mining suspended at both sites in the country that produce the toxic substance. Management at the Jeffrey underground asbestos mine is currently waiting for a $58-million loan guarantee from the Quebec government. Plans to resume production at the end of 2010 have been delayed considerably. Lac d’amiante du Canada ceased mining near Thetford Mines earlier this month.

According to a report in the journal, Canadian Mining News, “Canada supplied 85% of the world’s asbestos needs in the early 1900s, and production peaked in the early 1970s. Concerns about the safety of using the fibres has led to a sharp drop in demand in the last 20 years.” Despite pleas from many countries and organizations around the world to close the Jeffrey mine permanently, investors hope to resume production at the mine next spring. (Canadian Mining New.com)

Libby, MT: Asbestos is still being found in the water originating from creeks in and around Libby, the home of the now defunct W.R. Grace & Co mine site.

As a result, federal officials are now in talks with the mining company about ways to clean up the toxic substance which is washing into the Kootenai River. According to media reports, officials don’t know how far downstream the asbestos contamination goes.

The WR Grace Vermiculite mine closed 20 years ago, but high amounts of asbestos are still very much present in the region. The vermiculite ore mined at the site was used for domestic insulation products. The mine generated asbestos dust for miles, and as a consequence, some 400 people have died from diseases related to the dust; nearly 2,000 others have become sick. (kfbb.com)

Asbestos Law

Madison, WI: J.B. Van Hollen, the attorney general for Wisconsin, has issued an order to pay $50,000 in forfeitures and costs to Rolling Meadows Development LLC, an Oshkosh-based development company and contractor Brian Fuchs for alleged violations of state laws regarding the proper handling of asbestos.

According to the complaint, Rolling Meadows Development LLC and Brian Fuchs allegedly committed a series of asbestos violations during the renovation of a former residence care facility into a hotel and conference center located at 1155 South Military Road in Fond du Lac. The property was owned by Rolling Meadows and the company hired Fuchs to renovate the site.

The complaint alleged that during the renovation, which took place between November 18, 2009, and April 9, 2010, Fuchs and his employees, demolished interior walls and disturbed asbestos-containing material on site, and that they did not have certified asbestos workers on hand, among other charges. Legally certified asbestos workers are required by Wisconsin law in these types of situations.

The complaint also claimed that the required notification of asbestos disturbing activity was not forthcoming at the site prior to the work beginning. (Legal Newsline.com)

Are you Gay Enough to Play Ball? Prove it

November 29th, 2011. By AbiK

Sexual preference has long been a hot-button discrimination topic in the courts. Only typically, it tends to be a straight v. gay/bi/lesbian/transgender type of situation. Not a intra-LGBT thing. They’re supposed to all be on the same team, right? Which is why this latest lawsuit settlement makes you take pause.

Seems there was a lawsuit filed by three gay softballers after they were disqualified from a softball competition—the 2008 Gay Softball World Series (sidenote: the New York Times ran a priceless headline on the story: “Three Straights and You’re Out in Gay Softball League“)

Why? Because the men were thought to be too—don’t utter the word!—heterosexual. And, as the name of the Gay Softball World Series denotes, one must be gay—and gay enough—to play ball. Not hetero. Not even bi.

So the men—who claim to be varying degrees of gay—filed a discrimination lawsuit against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and sought not only to have their team’s second place standing in the Series restored, but also each sought $75,000 in damages for emotional distress.

The whole thing raises some interesting questions. For one, it puts the honor system of labelling oneself as “gay” in question. Well, is he or isn’t he? How can we be sure? In other amateur sports it’s common to self-declare your skill level—and you may indeed be challenged on that if, say, you declare yourself to be a much less-skilled player merely to boost your W-L ratio. But self-declaration in such instances is about the obvious—it’s about skill; and skill as such is fairly conspicuous.

But your level of gayness? That’s a behind-closed-doors type of thing—at least as far as proof is concerned.

It also presents a pretty ugly side of discrimination—”it’s not ok to treat me differently because I’m gay, but since you’re only half-gay (aka, “bi”), well, that’s different”. Uh-huh.

At the time of the 2008 Gay Softball World Series, there had been a “straight cap” that limited the number of heterosexual players a team could have to two—otherwise you had to be gay, as in 100% gay. (A bit odd that hetero’s were allowed at all, no?) However, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance has since changed how it defines “gay”. Gay now includes bisexual and transgender people. How nice to be included.

The lawsuit, filed by San Francisco team members Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ, has settled according to an NYT update, with the three men receiving an undisclosed sum—and their team will recoup their second place finish.

Asbestos News Roundup: 11.24.11

November 25th, 2011. 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.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: A man from Columbus, Ohio, is suing 51 companies in an asbestos lawsuit. Ray Berdell Karns alleges that the defendants exposed him to asbestos and caused his lung cancer diagnosis.

Mr. Karns was diagnosed with lung cancer on November 6, 2009, according to his lawsuit. While employed as a laborer, mechanic, truck driver, drywall worker and machinery operator from the 1950s until 1974, Karns claims he was exposed to asbestos and/or asbestos containing fibers.

The defendants are being sued based upon 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 lawsuit.

The 51 defendants named in the suit are: 3M Company; A.O. Smith Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Borg-Warner Corporation; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Crane Company; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Flowserve US, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Ford Motor Company; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company, Inc.; Genuine Parts Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Grinnell, LLC; Hercules, Inc.; Honeywell International; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation d/b/a Bell & Gossett Pumps and d/b/a Kennedy Valves; ITT Corporation d/b/a Hammel Dahl Valves; Kelsey-Hayes Company; Maremont Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Pneumo Abex Corp.; Premiere Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Rust Constructors, Inc.; Rust Engineering & Construction, Inc.; Rust International, Inc.; Schneider Electric USA, Inc.; Sterling Fluid Systems (USA), LLC; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors and Washington Group International; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Weil-McLain Company; and Zurn Industries, Inc.

Asbestos Settlements

St. Joseph, MO: An asbestos lawsuit reached settlement recently, between an engineering firm accused of mishandling asbestos in the Jackson County Courthouse and Nancy Lopez, who worked for 27 years in the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City, and subsequently died from asbestos related illness stemming from asbestos exposure.

According to a report in NewsPressNow “U.S. Engineering didn’t follow the proper rules and procedures. And there are still significant amounts of asbestos in the courthouse.”

Nancy Lopez’s mother, Ruth Lopez, testified at trial, that her daughter died in October 2010 from asbestos mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. After discussion with her sons, Mrs. Lopez agreed to a $10 million settlement from U.S. Engineering Co. “This is the largest asbestos settlement in Missouri but no amount of money will replace the life lost,” the Lopez’s attorney said.

Under terms of the settlement, the law firm will receive just over $4 million and Mrs. Lopez will receive $5.9 million.

For a large number of employees at the Courthouse, a class action lawsuit seeking expenses for medical monitoring and evaluation remains underway. (newspressnow.com)

Erectile Pump Scam Makes a Winner a Loser

November 21st, 2011. By AbiK

What would you call someone—within reason, of course—who runs a scam that allows him to buy cheap sex devices aimed at enhancing certain private parts, and then resells them to unwitting customers who’ve been diagnosed with bladder control or urinary flow issues, arthritis or diabetes—and then charges the hell out of Medicare for it?

Now, I know there are a few of you out there who are thinking—not out loud—”Ha! That’s genius!”

Most of us, however, would be thinking: low-life, good-for-nothing…LOSER.

Ironically, the idiot who masterminded this one is named Winner—Gary Winner. Can’t make this stuff up.

Winner it appears found some penis enlargers on an “adult” website and that must’ve been when his light-bulb moment occurred. No comment on just why Winner was scanning the, a-hem, self-help sections on sex toy websites—though my thoughts are rife with conjecture.

Regardless, according to a cbsnews.com report, Winner found a beauty of a device for $26 and he bought a whole bunch of them. He renamed them—after all, don’t want Medicare batting an eye with this one—”erectile pumps” and went as far as to repackage them (I have visions of him shrink-wrapping penis enlargers with a blow dryer—but perhaps I’m letting my imagination go too far here).

So Winner touted the would-be erectile pumps as being able to increase blood flow to the urinary tract and prostate with regular use. Uh-huh. I’m surprised he didn’t claim they cured Propecia E.D. as well…

But how’d he manage to bilk Medicare?

Obviously, in order to make the sales, Winner had to target Medicare beneficiaries and, lucky for him, he just happened to have access to such information via his medical device company, Planned Eldercare. Once he cajoled patients into providing their Medicare info by offering free medical equipment (swag for the ill!), he then turned around and billed Medicare $284 for each “pump”.

As Medicare coverage includes reimbursement for products treating organic impotence and erectile dysfunction (who knew?), all Winner had to do was claim the erectile pumps treated erectile dysfunction. Medicare also requires a prescription from a physician, and that may be where Winner ultimately forced a red flag or two. Read on…

$284 may not sound all too huge, but it apparently added up to some $370,305. Not too shabby. Unless you get caught. Which he did.

So Winner, who’s also answering charges of having bilked Medicare out of another $1.8 million for some “arthritic packages” (cbsnews.com) he claims Medicare beneficiaries and their doctors had ordered, is now up a creek without a paddle—or a pump of any sort.

Winner’s agreed to give up $2.2 million and he’s facing up to 33 years in prison along with $760,000 in fines. His sentencing will be on February 10, 2012.