Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub has dismissed a lawsuit filed by 1-800-GET-THIN marketing company president Robert Silverman against The Times columnist Michael Hiltzik alleging the reporter illegally recorded their telephone conversations without Silverman’s knowledge, the LA Times reported.

“The plaintiff has not satisfied his burden of demonstrating that there is a probability he will prevail on his claims,” the judge said in her ruling. More 1-800-GET THIN LA Times Lawsuit Dismissed

Mateo Gudiel Pinto and an unknown number of other Guatemalan plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia before U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, alleging that U.S. Public Health officials deliberately infected hundreds of Guatemalan prisoners, soldiers, and psychiatric patients with venereal diseases. The suit says that victims were not informed of the infections, nor were most treated.

The lawsuit claims that the injured plaintiffs were infected during experiments which ran from 1946 to 1948, and even until 1953, the Washington Times reported. Defendants, including the federal government and Pan-American Health Organization as well as Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and seven other public health officials have until January 9, 2012 to respond. More Guatemalans File Class Action Lawsuit against US Government over VD Exposure and Testing

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has expanded a probe into whether at least nine life insurance companies have sufficiently taken steps to make sure beneficiaries received proceeds of unclaimed death benefits.

Three areas of investigation are

• whether the companies have sufficiently worked to identify deceased policy holders and their beneficiaries, and made owed payouts
• whether companies have been negligent in turning over abandoned property like unclaimed life insurance proceeds to state officials who have programs to find rightful owners
• whether retaining assets alters the earnings profile of an insurance company, which would affect the value of its securities.

Among the companies recently sent subpoenas include units of AXA SA, Genworth Financial Inc., Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, Manulife Financial Corp., Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., New York Life Insurance Co., Prudential Financial Inc., and TIAA-CREF.

Regulators in California and Florida as well as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are all involved in similar investigations.

The investigations were sparked with the expose that a number of insurers have failed to properly identify and pay beneficiaries after the policyholder dies. One Florida regulator has been reported as saying  ”life insurers may be keeping $1 billion in unclaimed benefits owed to policy holders, beneficiaries or states.”

A Circuit Court Judged has denied a lawsuit filed by Northeast Natural Energy in Monongalia County Circuit Court requesting a temporary injunction be placed to prevent an ordinance passed last week in Morgantown to prevent deep, horizontal gas drilling, otherwise known as fracking.  Enrout Properties LLC has joined Northeast in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Morgantown ‘overreached’ its authority and is illegally depriving the companies and private landowners their rights. According to Business Week, Morgantown Mayor Bill Byrne said the city is trying to protect its water supply and its residents, and that state legislators have failed to adopt regulations specific to fracking. He also said that state law gives authority to municipalities areas up to one mile outside city limits. More Northeast Natural Energy Sues Morgantown WV Over Drilling Ban

A class action lawsuit has been filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court Arkansas, against BHP Billiton Petroleum, Chesapeake Operating Inc., and Clarita Operating, LLC., alleging injection wells used in hydraulic fracturing are causing earthquakes.

In March of this year, Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating had agreed to cease injection operations per a request by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission after studies showed the potential of a connection between injection activities and the number and strength of earthquakes in the area.  Though Chesapeake Energy has stated they don’t feel there is a connection between activities at the injection wells and seismic activity, and researchers feel it is still too early to say for sure, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey says that “It’s definitely worth noting,” that “We have definitely noticed a reduction in the number of earthquakes, especially the larger ones,” once the two injection wells ceased operations. More Lawsuit Filed Against Natural Gas Drillers Over Earthquakes

Lawyers for BP have said in a filing with the New Orleans Federal Court that under the US Oil Pollution Act, liability is “limited to damages directly caused by a covered oil spill and that indirect or derivative losses are not compensable”.

BP is refuting oil spill claims that businesses hurt by the ban on deepwater drilling should be compensated by the company, and that it is not responsible for damage to boats used in the containment effort after the Deepwater Horizon drill rig explosion and subsequent oil spill. More BP Rejects Liability For Some Gulf Losses

Two separate class action lawsuits have been filed in federal court against Chesapeake Energy by nearly 300 residents of New York’s Southern Tier.

One lawsuit, filed against Chesapeake Energy and Norway-based Statoilhydro by 160 landowners regarding the leases of over 12,000 acres in Broome and Tioga counties, claims Chesapeake “engaged in misleading and deceptive practices directed at hundreds, if not thousands, of persons owning real property in New York state”.  The other lawsuit involves 146 landowners regarding leases in Broome, Tioga, Cortland and Chemung counties who have similar claims. More Chesapeake Energy Faces Two New Lawsuits In New York

U.S. District Judge James Selna rejected Toyota Motor Corp’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by buyers who were affected by the acceleration problems that caused Toyota to recall more than 19 million vehicles since 2009 because of sticky pedals and dangerous floor mats.

Judge Selna found that most of the Toyota lawsuits where specific enough to proceed with the lawsuit. More Judge Rejects Toyota Lawsuit Dismissal

A class action lawsuit, started by Kristopher John of Alabama, has been filed against Sony Playstation Networks for failing to warn customers in a timely manner about a security breach that left millions of records compromised.

The lawsuit also claims that Sony did not take reasonable care in protecting and securing the breached records that contained sensitive user data, including passwords and credit card information as well as user names and residential addresses. More The First Class Action Lawsuit in Sony PlayStation Data Breach Has Been Filed

Par Pharmaceutical reached a $154 million settlement based on claims that Par and numerous other pharmaceutical manufacturers reported prices that caused government entities to pay inflated reimbursements under Medicaid and other programs. Par reached the settlement even though the company denied the allegations.

Claims against Par and other pharmaceutical manufacturers were brought by Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, for the United States, Texas, and Florida, as well as by the Attorneys General of Alaska, South Carolina and Kentucky. More .Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker Owned By Lucky@Hacker
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