Federal Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers

The U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a Federal Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers.  This should help cut down on the number of potential truck accidents.

U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced federal guidance to expressly prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. The prohibition is effective immediately and is the latest in a series of actions taken by the Department to combat distracted driving since the Secretary convened a national summit on the issue last September. Read more

SEC Blocks Early-Stage Ponzi Scheme Involving Purported Investments in Personal Injury Settlements

Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today halted a Ponzi scheme involving a New York firm that solicited investments involving personal injury lawsuit settlements but instead shipped the money overseas. The SEC obtained a court order freezing the assets of the firm, its president, and several companies holding money from the scam that began several months ago.

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New Chinese Drywall findings from CPSC studies

The CPSC has released findings from studies done on the Chinese Drywall problems.

The Studies

The 51 home study contracted by CPSC was done by Environmental Health &
Engineering (EH&E), an internationally known environmental testing firm based in
Massachusetts.

In addition, today two preliminary reports on corrosion safety issues are being released.
The Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Materials and Engineering Center is studying
the long-term electrical safety hazards of conductor metal components. The National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is studying the corrosion effects on fire
safety components taken from complaint homes.

Findings

EH&E compared 41 “complaint” homes in five states selected from CPSC’s consumer
incident report database, with 10 noncomplaint homes built around the same time in the
same area as the complaint homes. Homes were sampled between July and September
2009.

The EH&E findings are that hydrogen sulfide gas is the essential component that causes
copper and silver sulfide corrosion found in the complaint homes. Other factors,
including air exchange rates, formaldehyde and other air contaminants contribute to the
reported problems.

In ways still to be determined, hydrogen sulfide gas is being created in homes built with
Chinese drywall. Earlier studies found large amounts of elemental sulfur in the Chinese
drywall. CPSC is investigating drywall from other sources that may mimic the problems
found with Chinese drywall. CPSC is meeting with drywall manufacturers and others
who are studying this issue to take their findings into consideration.

EH&E exposed copper and silver test strips, known as coupons, in homes for a period of
about two weeks. The coupons showed significantly higher rates of corrosion in
complaint homes than in the control homes. The dominant species of corrosion on the
coupons was copper sulfide and silver sulfide, as determined by additional laboratory
tests. Visual inspection and evaluation of ground wire corrosion also revealed
statistically significant greater ground wire corrosion in complaint homes compared to
non-complaint homes.

The EH&E study also found that by using hand-held x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) instruments, they were able to detect markers that
could identify Chinese-made dry wall at a sheet-by-sheet level.

While drywall-related corrosion is clearly evident, long term safety effects are still under
investigation. Like the EH&E study, initial reports available today from SNL and NIST
show copper and silver sulfide corrosion on samples of metal taken from homes with
problem drywall. These ongoing investigations will help the CPSC identify the nexus of
problem drywall and long term safety issues.

In addition, the EH&E study found elevated formaldehyde readings in both the control
and complaint homes. This is typical for new, more air-tight homes due to items such as
cabinets and carpets which emit formaldehyde. Both formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide
are known irritants at sufficiently high levels. The concentrations measured in this study
were below those levels. Investigators believe that the additive or synergistic effects of
these and other compounds in the subject homes could cause irritant effects evident in the
homes.

In addition, the chinese drywall lawsuits are scheduled to begin in New Orleans on January 25, 2010.

Alleged Asbestos Fraud Scheme

An asbestos lawyer and a doctor have been accused of creating false asbestos exposure diagnoses for the employees of a specific company.

From the Southeast Texas Record:

A Pittsburgh-based law firm and a West Virginia physician were part of an intricate web of deceit that reached as far as Texas and led to big money for all, say their accusers in a civil fraud lawsuit.

The Robert Peirce and Associates firm and Bridgeport, W.Va., radiologist Dr. Ray Harron face allegations in federal court leveled by CSX Transportation that the two conspired to create false asbestos exposure diagnoses for CSX employees.

With a trial set to begin Aug. 11 at U.S. District Court in Wheeling, W. Va., CSX seeks to recover the cost of defending and settling allegedly fraudulent asbestos claims.

Read the full post:  Alleged asbestos fraud scheme started years ago

Naturally-occurring asbestos found in Sumas River

(Seattle, Wash. - July 20, 2009) Naturally-occurring asbestos has been carried downstream of Swift Creek and along the banks of the Sumas River, according to samples recently collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The asbestos comes from a landslide on Sumas Mountain that deposits asbestos-laden sediment into Swift Creek, the focus of previous health and environmental studies.

The EPA’s sampling revealed asbestos and several metals in water, bank sediments, and recent flood deposits in Whatcom County, north of Swift Creek and approaching the Canadian Border. EPA has shared the study results with local property owners, the local and state health departments, the Washington Department of Ecology, and officials in Canada where the Sumas River continues northward. Read more

Asbestos Settlement Reached for Vermont Mine

A legal settlement allowing for the cleanup and monitoring on the nation’s largest former chrysotile asbestos mine and mill helps raise awareness of the prevalence of asbestos in society, says a New York personal injury attorney who concentrates in asbestos litigation.

“The cleanup of the Vermont asbestos group mine site is long overdue,” said Joseph W. Belluck, a partner at the New York law firm of Belluck & Fox, LLP, which handles asbestos-related injury cases. “Public access to the site should be controlled immediately, and runoff from the site stopped to protect the public from exposure.” Read more

A Trademark with 8 Legs?

Trademarks are used to protect a name, word, or symbol that is used for the purpose of identifying the source of goods or services.  Many economists have shown the direct relationship between the increasing importance of branding and the value of securing your IP - a lesson that the “Octomom” has clearly not missed!

• Read the post A Trademark with Eight Legs?

State of Illinois files Immigration Lawsuit

The state of Illinois has filed a lawsuit alleging a Chicago-based Immigration services provider bilked customers out of nearly $140,000.

The Illinois attorney general’s office says its lawsuit names Juanita Mendez, who it says also used the last names Cruz and Sanchez. It also names her associate, Melesio Reyes.

• read the full story from the Chicago Tribune:  “Lawsuit filed against immigration services firm“

Score a win for Consumers in California

California voters and consumers just scored a major win despite substantial efforts from corporations and big business to change the laws regarding bringing lawsuits against corporations for false advertising.  These companies, tobacco, insurance and other large corporations spent five times the normal amount to get Proposition 64 passed so that they could claim exemptions from their false advertising.  It’s a wonder that Proposition 64 even passed in the first place, but score a major win for the consumers in this one and hopefully they as well as other consumers in other states will learn from this fiasco and understand the singular motive behind the corporations, money.  The San Francisco Chronicle has a great write-up on this entire story. “Consumers win with court’s Prop. 64 decision“. Read more

Lawyers preparing to file Denture Cream Lawsuits

Several denture cream lawsuits are in the works according to the ABA Journal: ‘Plaintiffs Lawyers prepare to file dozens of denture cream lawsuits‘

From the ABA Journal:

“Scott William Weinstein of the Fort Myers, Fla., law firm Morgan & Morgan told the publication that his firm is ready to file about 40 cases and is screening around 3,000 others. He said he is also working with two New York law firms that are ready to file another 74 cases.

He has filed a motion to consolidate the cases pending in federal courts.

Another plaintiffs lawyer, James Sokolove, has set up a consumer hotline to screen possible cases and has posted a YouTube video about the dangers of dental cream, the story says.”

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