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Arrogant, Abusive and Disruptive — and a Doctor

December 2, 2008

It was the middle of the night, and Laura Silverthorn, a nurse at a hospital in Washington, knew her patient was in danger.

 

The boy had a shunt in his brain to drain fluid, but he was vomiting and had an extreme headache, two signs that the shunt was blocked and fluid was building up. When she paged the on-call resident, who was asleep in the hospital, he told her not to worry.

After a second page, Ms. Silverthorn said, “he became arrogant and said, ‘You don’t know what to look for — you’re not a doctor.’ ”

 

He ignored her third page, and after another harrowing hour she called the attending physician at home. The child was rushed into surgery.

 

“He could have died or had serious brain injury,” Ms. Silverthorn said, “but I was treated like a pest for calling in the middle of the night.”

 

Read Article: New York Times

 

Chevron cleared of charges in Nigeria clash lawsuit

Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was cleared by a jury in U.S. federal court of liability charges arising from a violent clash on one of its oil platforms off the coast of Nigeria 10 years ago, a company spokesman said on Monday.

 

The charges stemmed from May 1998, when about 100 people occupied Chevron’s Parabe platform off the coast of West Africa for three days. The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco was brought against Chevron by Larry Bowoto, one of the occupiers of the platform, under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreigners to sue over human rights abuses committed in their countries by or on behalf of U.S. organizations.

 

Read Article: Reuters

 

Jury awards $23.5 million for injuries from collision of semis

In one of the biggest traffic-accident verdicts in Kansas, a jury awarded $23.5 million last week in a lawsuit stemming from injuries in a semitrailer accident in New Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot reduced the actual award to nearly $15.3 million for Terry and Donna Frederick of Overland Park, because the jury decided the driver of the other truck was only 65 percent at fault.

 

Robyn Getchel tested positive for methamphetamine while driving a truck for Swift Transportation. Getchel claimed she was rear-ended. But subsequent tests by the Fredericks’ lawyers showed Getchel was backing up from a rest stop onto the highway when she hit the truck Terry Frederick was riding in for Yellow Freight. The driver of the Yellow Freight truck, Dennis Bottorff, was killed.

 

Read Article: Wichita Eagle

 

Fund Investors Sue Countrywide Over Loan Modifications

As policy makers push banks to help struggling homeowners, some angry investors are pushing back. On Monday, a hedge fund sued the Countrywide Financial Corporation, the giant mortgage lender, demanding that Countrywide compensate holders of some securities backed by mortgages if the lender changes the terms of the loans.

 

The fund, Greenwich Financial Services, said it and other investors stood to lose money if Countrywide, now part of Bank of America, modified loans under a settlement that it reached with 11 state attorneys general in October. In recent months, some investors who own mortgage securities have begun voicing concern about how loans are modified, but few have filed suit.

 

The Greenwich Financial case, filed in state court in New York, highlights the complexity associated with modifying loans that have been bundled into securities. It also signals that more aggressive government and private efforts to help borrowers could face stiff resistance from investors.

 

Read Article: New York Times

 

Black food workers at Comcast Center claim bias

Black cafeteria workers at the city’s newest skyscraper claim in a $200 million lawsuit that they have endured racist remarks, job discrimination and retaliatory firings.

 

Eleven plaintiffs filed the federal suit Monday against the Compass Group, a company that handles food services at the new Comcast (nasdaq: CMCSA – news – people ) Center, and two Compass employees. They charge that they were called racist names by supervisors and given lower-tier jobs compared to similarly qualified white workers.

Seven of the 11 plaintiffs were fired as part of a purge of black food-service employees, their lawyers said.

 

“There’s been a shift from a predominantly African-American base of employees to now, a predominantly white base, which we believe is a result of discrimination,” lawyer Douglas Wigdor said.

 

Read Article: Forbes

 

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