Former clerk sues Hackensack council, former city manager

Today's post is shared from northjersey.com

The former Hackensack clerk is suing the city, the former interim manager and all five City Council members for “in excess of” $2 million over claims they illegally retaliated against her and drove her out of her job because of her personal relationship with a political foe of the administration.

Debra Heck, who left the job in December, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark. Heck said in the complaint that she resigned because of “hostile” and “intolerable” working conditions and intimidation by her superiors.

The alleged hostility began when council members learned that she was in a romantic relationship with Richard Salkin, a former city attorney who is aligned with the council’s political opponents, according to the lawsuit.

“The city had no problem with her job performance until it became publicly known she was engaged in a relationship with Rick Salkin,” said Heck’s lawyer, Jason Nunnermacker. “They continued to discriminate against her because of her perceived political affiliations and her relationship with him. They made her miserable.”

City attorney Thomas Scrivo did not return calls...

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Verbal Assault: Threats Entitle Employee to Workers' Compensation

Verbal assault gives rise to a compensable event. Today's post is shared from courthousenews.com

A New York man whose co-worker's angry husband threatened to kill him is entitled to workers' compensation benefits, a New York state appeals court ruled.      Arthur Mosley worked as an assistant store manager for Hannaford Brothers Co. supermarket in 2007. He called a co-worker at her home to discuss a work-related issue, according to the Memorandum and Order from the Appellate Division Third Department.      "Following that telephone call, the coworker's husband became convinced that claimant and the coworker were engaged in a romantic relationship, prompting the coworker's husband to undertake a course of threatening and harassing conduct against claimant, culminating in an unsuccessful murder-for-hire plot against him," according to the July 3 Memorandum and Order.      It continues: "Additionally, the coworker's husband contacted claimant's supervisor regarding the alleged affair, which triggered an internal investigation by the employer and ultimately resulted in claimant requesting a transfer to another store. As a result, claimant's preexisting posttraumatic stress disorder was exacerbated to the point that he was unable to continue to work. Claimant thereafter filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits."      The New York Daily News reported that Mosley...

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Merck to pay $100 million in NuvaRing contraceptive settlement

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.reuters.com

Merck & Co said on Friday it will pay $100 million to resolve all U.S. product liability lawsuits alleging it downplayed serious health risks involving its NuvaRing intrauterine contraceptive device. The product, which contains the hormones estrogen and progestin commonly found in birth control bills, is associated with an increased risk of developing blood clots that can cause heart attacks, strokes or sudden deaths. Available to women in the United States since 2001, NuvaRing is one of several contraceptive products linked to this higher risk. Merck, the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker, denied any fault under the agreement, which must be accepted by 95 percent of about 3,800 eligible patients involved in lawsuits pending in federal and state courts. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Roger Denton of Schlichter, Bogard and Denton, said the settlement, reached after nearly a year of negotiations, is "an outstanding result and in the best interests of all the women who have suffered an injury associated with the use of Nuvaring." Under the settlement, Merck would pay a fraction of what at least one company has paid in a similar settlement. German drugmaker Bayer AG said last year it had paid nearly $1.6 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits involving accusations that its Yaz and Yazmin birth control pills caused blood clots that led to strokes and heart attacks. Merck shares were up 1 percent at $54.32 on the New York Stock Exchange, in line with a 1.2-percent...

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With N.F.L. Concussion Deal, Two Tiers of Payouts

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com

Court settlements are by nature compromises, and compromises are often messy. The proposed settlement of the lawsuits brought by more than 4,500 former N.F.L. players who contended that the league hid from them the dangers of concussions is no exception. The N.F.L. agreed last summer to pay $765 million for medical monitoring and potential payments to those with significant illnesses, but it wanted all 18,000 or so retired players, not just those who sued, to be included in the deal. By expanding the number of players who could benefit, the N.F.L. would help more former players. But anyone who agrees to the settlement will give up the right to sue the league, so the N.F.L. would also largely inoculate itself from further costly and embarrassing suits. Yet one of the consequences of this structure is that it creates two tiers of retired players: those who sued the league and must pay their lawyers a percentage of any cash awards, and those who never sued the league but are eligible to receive money without paying legal fees. In effect, the players who took the initiative to sue and helped push the league to settle will be penalized. That structure irks some retired players, like Frank Sutton, who played one season as a Giants tackle. “I believe in equity, and I believe in being involved in something and being held to...

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O Canada! Ecuadorians Win Right to Pursue Chevron North of the Border

Plaintiffs have sought to enforce an $9.2 Billion environmental contamination verdict obtained in  Ecuador against Chevron Corp in Canada.  Today's post is shared from http://blogs.wsj.com/law,

Here’s an interesting quirk of big litigation that may hit a multinational company: A plaintiff can try to enforce a favorable judgment in just about any country in which the defendant has significant assets.
That can create a few headaches for defendants, who might have to chase a plaintiff from Cambodia to Chad to China to keep its assets from being seized.
Chevron Corp. on Tuesday got a tough reminder of this lesson, when an appellate court in Canada ruled that winners of a $9.5 billion judgment against the oil giant in Ecuador could try to recover the assets in the Great White North.
Writes the WSJ’s Dan Gilbert:
The plaintiffs, residents of Ecuador’s jungles, are seeking to enforce a 2011 judgment against Chevron by confiscating its properties in other countries where it operates. In May, a lower court in Ontario held that the Ecuadorean judgment didn’t apply to Chevron subsidiaries like the one that owns its assets in Canada, halting the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the company there.
The Court of Appeal in Ontario reversed the lower court’s ruling.
At points in its opinion, the panel seemed put out by Chevron’s litigation tactics.
“For 20 years, Chevron has contested the legal proceedings of every court involved in this litigation – in...
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Merck agrees to proposed $27.7 mln settlement over Fosamax lawsuits

Many injured workers have been prescribed Fosamax for treatment of their conditions. Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.reuters.com

By Nate Raymond and Jessica Dye NEW YORK Dec 9 (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc said on Monday that it was prepared to pay $27.7 million to settle lawsuits by hundreds of people who sued the company over allegations that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax caused bones in the jaw to deteriorate. Lawyers for Merck and plaintiffs disclosed the proposed settlement at a court hearing in New York to resolve 1,140 lawsuits pending in federal and state courts. Any settlement would need to be approved by a judge. Merck, which confirmed the agreement later on Monday, said the accord requires a 100 percent participation rate and evidence that the claimants satisfy eligibility requirements. The deal covers about 1,200 people, the company said. "We hope to bring this to a successful conclusion," Paul Strain, a lawyer for Merck, said at the hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Judge John Keenan, who has presided over federal litigation by plaintiffs claiming that they developed osteonecrosis of the jaw from taking Fosamax. The condition is a disease that causes bones in the jaw to deteriorate or die. The settlement would resolve a large portion of the 5,255 product liability cases facing Merck over Fosamax, a one-time blockbuster drug with $3 billion in sales in 2007. Sales have declined since Fosamax lost patent protection in 2008. Through September, Merck had reported $421 million in Fosamax sales in 2013. Of the lawsuits over Fosamax, about 860 of the cases were before...

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Five Former N.F.L. Players Sue the Chiefs Over Head Injuries

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com

Five former Kansas City Chiefs sued the team Tuesday for not warning them of the long-term dangers of concussions they say they received during their playing days. The suit, filed in circuit court in Jackson County, Mo., is one of the first concussion-related cases against a specific N.F.L. team, and may lead to other suits. The case against the Chiefs echoes the suits brought by thousands of N.F.L. retirees, who accused the league of negligence and fraud and sought actual and punitive damages. In August, the N.F.L. agreed to pay $765 million to settle those cases and avoid what was sure to be a lengthy, costly and embarrassing trial. The league did not admit that it hid information on the long-term effects of head trauma from its players, as was claimed in the original complaint. In settling the case before going to trial, the league left the door open for retirees to make other legal challenges. The case by the five former Chiefs seeks to exploit a critical question unanswered in the suits against the N.F.L.: whether concussion-related cases should be heard by an arbitrator under the auspices of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Alexander Cooper, Leonard Griffin, Christopher Martin, Joseph Phillips and Kevin Porter, the plaintiffs, played all or parts of their careers from August 1987 to March 1993, when there was no collective bargaining agreement. They also sued the Chiefs, and not the league, because under Missouri law, employees can sue...

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Hip Replacement Lawsuit: ASR Settlement ($2.5 Billion) Benefits Announced

The settlement terms of the ASR HIp Implant lawsuit have been announced:

The ASR Settlement provides for three basic areas of compensation. 

The first is a Base Payment to all ASR Claimants (XL and resurfacing) who have undergone a revision surgery, removing the 
acetabular cup, prior to August 31, 2013. 

The second is for Claimants who have undergone a revision surgery in both their left and right hips (Bilateral Claimants). 

The third addresses patients who have suffered a variety of medical complications following a revision surgery (Extraordinary Injury Fund).

 In addition, the Settlement provides for the resolution of healthcare insurance liens for 
medical costs that are directly associated with the revision surgery, at no additional cost to the 
claimant. 

Click here to read the complete press release issued by the Settlement Oversight Committee

Click here to read about the lawsuit.

….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

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The Next Wave: N.H.L. Players Sue League Over Head Injuries

Occupational illness claims have been a traditional battleground in workers' compensation for larger and more significant lawsuits and dynamic changes in the safety of the workplace induced by economics.

From the lack of the incorporation of occupational claims in the 1911 model workers' compensation acts, in the 1950's, employers and their insurance companies sought refuge under the "exclusivity bar" of the. workers' compensation act to shield themselves from negligence actions for silicosis and asbestosis claims.

The creativity of claimant's lawyers, and the blatant intentional tort acts of unscrupulous asbestos companies, brought forth a sweeping change in the economic balance as claimants used the civil justice system to establish an avenue for adequate compensation for asbestos victims (lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma claims).

Asbestos litigation, "longest running tort, continues today and is the perfect example of the societal benefits of a working civil justice system.  In fact, the same dynamic existed in: tobacco litigation, lead paint litigation, latex litigation and has been repeated many times over.

The civil justice system, not the workers' compensation system, established an economic incentive establishing a safer workplace for workers and their families.

It is more than obvious that contact sports are seeing the next wave of litigation as the employers and their insurance companies accelerate the cycle, by barring professional athletic players from even seeking workers' compensation benefits, ie. California.

Since it appears that no safe helmet can be manufactured to protect the mayhem of some contact sports, the business of sports will be the next "industry" to experience economic incentives to make the workplace safer. The higher education system will just have to find another economic engine to fund colleges and university and stop luring students to play dangerous sports in hope of winning the professional sports lottery.

First football, now hockey, are emerging targets of the civil justice system as the economics of safety takes hold and the need for safety takes hold. Today's post is shared from the nytimes.com.

Ten former N.H.L. players sued the league Monday for negligence and fraud, saying the sport’s officials should have done more to address head injuries but instead celebrated a culture of speed and violence.

The players, who were in the league in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, filed their suit in federal court in Washington. One of the lead lawyers is Mel Owens, a former N.F.L. player who has represented scores of other retired players in workers’ compensation cases.

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

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