THE HARTFORD settles class-action for $72 MILLION

NATIONAL - Recently The Hartford Financial Services Group agreed to a $72.5 million class-action settlement.  This settlement will end a dispute over structured settlements in personal injury and workers compensation cases. This settlement will cover 21,600 people nationwide.

The lawsuit alleged that The Hartford's property and casualty companies purchased annuities from its life insurance subsidiary and then deducted as much as fifteen (15) percent in undisclosed costs from the promised value of the annuity.

TOYOTA | Sudden Acceleration cases | U S District Judge orders Toyota to turn over documents

Last week a federal judge ordered Toyota Motor Corp. to turn over thousands of pages of records to lawyers who have sued the Japanese automaker because of alleged sudden-acceleration problems. US District Judge gave Toyota thirty days to turn over documents that it had previously supplied Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The release of these documents would help lawyers prepare a consolidated class-action lawsuit that would seek compensation for Toyota owners.

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Florida contamination suit against Raytheon certified as class action - Azaela Neighborhood - PROPERTY VALUES - Ground water contamination

ST. PETERSBURG - According to the St. Petersburg Times, on Wednesday September 30, 2009, US District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington certified as a class-action a suit filed by four (4) St. Petersburg, Florida, homeowners "against RAYTHEON over chemical contamination spreading beneath their homes."

That means "Raytheon now could face claims for damages from more than 1,000 property owners in the Azalea neighborhood where its factory stood."

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CLASS ACTION SUIT against 5 drug companies • Patients diagnosed with NSF after being injected with contrast-agent • MRI • Never warned • side-effects

NATIONAL - 517 plaintiffs are suing "pharmaceutical companies that make certain dyes used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)." They were "diagnosed with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF)...after being injected with a contrast-agent made with gadolinium." While "patients with healthy kidneys simply flush the gadolinium out," those "with NSF...describe their skin turning wood-like, eventually cracking."

The FDA "issued a warning in 2006 and 2007 not to administer the drug to those with kidney problems," but "gadolinium is still used in routine MRIs." The class-action suit "against five pharmaceutical companies that make gadolinium-based contrasting agents is getting larger as more and more are diagnosed with NSF."

Some claim that they were "never warned about the possible side-effect because the medical community was in the dark at the time."

DRY WALL PROBLEMS CONTINUE TO MOUNT across FLORIDA – Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota, Polk, Hernando, Citrus Counties – Class-action

TAMPA - The Florida Department of Health has received more than 450 complaints from homeowners. Several federal agencies, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, are investigating. The drywall was used in as many as 100,000 homes across the nation during the housing boom and emits a corrosive gas that damages appliances, gives off a rotten-egg stench and may cause health problems.

Meanwhile, class-action lawsuits against builders are mounting. Experts are studying how the corrosive gas could affect peoples' health. Homeowners have complained of sore throats, dry eyes, nosebleeds and dizziness, and some say their doctors advised them to move out of their homes.

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ON CALL EMPLOYEES - OVERTIME NOT BEING PAID - LABOR LAW - Litigation - Class actions

Litigation seen as growing over on-call employees who claim restriction of freedom. - The National Law Journal reports, "On-call employees are turning into a growing liability risk for employers, as some are claiming that companies are restricting their freedom too much, and not paying them for it."

Now, "employment lawyers say that such claims are popping up in larger wage-and-hour class actions, with on-call employees suing for unpaid overtime, alleging that their freedom has gotten so limited that they may as well be hourly employees." Julie A. Dunne, a labor attorney said, "It's definitely triggering litigation." She added, "the key for employers is to make sure they're not overly restricting on-call employees' freedom."