All Topics

• Judge Approves $64 Million Settlement Over Drug Paxil

  Mike Simon | June 06, 2007 3:28 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  A judge in Madison County, Illinois granted final approval in late May for a settlement in a class action deal, in which parents, who purchased GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Paxil or Paxil CR for their children may seek reimbursement for their purchase of the antidepressant.The suit alleged that GlaxoSmithKline misled consumers by failing to disclose information about negative side effects, such as...

• Allstate Hit with $2.8 Million Verdict

  Mike Simon | May 11, 2007 3:49 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  On April 16, a federal jury in New Orleans awarded a verdict of $2.8 million in an insurance dispute to a man who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina. The jury found that Allstate did not pay enough money to cover wind damage caused to the home by the hurricane. In what has become a standard position of insurers confronted with Katrina claims, Allstate claimed that most of the damage was caused...

• Huron County Jury Awards $600,000 to Estate of Slain Foster Child

  Mike Simon | April 05, 2007 10:44 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  On March 23, a Huron County, Ohio, jury ruled that the county and its child welfare agency were responsible for the 2004 wrongful death of a child placed into foster care and killed by the foster father with whom she was placed. The child was stabbed five times by her foster father and allowed to bleed to death in a barn on his property.According to witnesses in the trial, the agency was aware...

• Boone County Woman Dies in Car Accident

  Mike Simon | March 23, 2007 12:19 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  A Boone County woman was killed in a motor vehicle accident on March 17 when she struck a truck head-on while traveling east in the westbound lanes on Interstate 64. According to police, there were no skidmarks or signs of braking at the scene of the accident. The investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear why or how the woman ended up traveling the wrong way on the Interstate.

• Update on $405 Million Roane County Verdict

  Mike Simon | March 20, 2007 9:25 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  The Roane County judge who presided over the class action trial that awarded a $405 million verdict to class members says that he is likely to reduce the award pursuant to the defendant's post-trial motions.In a hearing on March 5, Judge Tom Evans indicated that he agreed with an argument made by counsel for Chesapeake Energy Corp. and NiSource Inc. that the jury inflated damages by 30%. If the...

• Peanut Butter Recall Expanded Again

  Mike Simon | March 15, 2007 6:41 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  ConAgra Foods has extended the peanut butter recall for its Peter Pan and Great Value brands to October 2004 due to possible salmonella contamination. The recall includes all peanut butter, as well as a number of topping products incorporating the peanut butter used in restaurants throughout the US.Numerous people have been sickened by the outbreak of salmonella caused by the peanut butter. ...

• Samsung Agrees to Settle Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Case

  Mike Simon | February 28, 2007 11:15 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd. have agreed to a $90 million settlement of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of indirect purchasers of DRAM computer chips.Lawsuits were originally filed in numerous states on behalf of consumers who indirectly purchased DRAM or products containing DRAM from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2002. The suits alleged that...

• Growing Peanut Butter Recall

  Mike Simon | February 27, 2007 5:44 PM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  The peanut butter recall affecting the Peter Pan and Great Value brands manufactured by ConAgra Foods, and contaminated by salmonella continues to grow. Initially, the recall affected only those jars of peanut butter with a product code that begins 2111, which included all jars manufactured by ConAgra since May, 2006. However, it appears even more products are at issue.Today, the FDA has...

• $405 Million Jury Verdict

  Mike Simon | February 19, 2007 11:09 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  A Roane County, West Virginia jury has awarded an 8,000-member class of owners of natural gas rights a jury verdict of nearly $405 million. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all West Virginia gas-royalty owners who leased land to Columbia Natural Resources, LLC.The company had lease agreements with the plaintiffs allowing it to drill for gas on land they owned, but according to...

• Antibiotics Linked to Tendon Rupture

  Staff Writer | September 06, 2006 11:02 AM | 0 CommentsWest Virginia, WV

  In late August the consumer watchdog group petitioned the FDA to place stronger warnings about the possibility of tendon rupture on the labels of the Fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics. The drug makers say that they do in fact warn of tendon rupture, but Public Citizen argues the warnings a buried in a list of adverse events and calls for a "black box" warning - the FDA's strongest warning for...