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Doctor gives risky drugs at high rate

November 11, 2009

Inside Chicago’s Maxwell Manor nursing home, Dr. Michael Reinstein’s patients suffered from side effects so severe that they trembled, hallucinated or lost control of their bladders.

Staffers told state investigators that so many patients were clamoring to complain to Reinstein about their medications that a security guard was assigned to accompany him on his visits. In addition, staffers said Reinstein had induced patients to take powerful antipsychotic drugs with the promise of passes to leave the home.

Though state officials shut that facility in 2000 for inadequate care and wretched conditions, Reinstein, the home’s lead psychiatrist, continued to practice. Today he is one of the most prolific providers of psychiatric care in Chicago-area nursing homes and mental health facilities, even as he is trailed by lawsuits and complaints like the ones at Maxwell Manor.

 

Read Article: Chicago Tribune

 

Fla. AG sues 2 companies in alleged mortgage scams

The state is suing two central Florida companies for allegedly scamming homeowners trying to rescue their properties from foreclosure.

 

Attorney General Bill McCollum’s office said Monday that National Payment Modification Company and The Bostonian Group allegedly charged homeowners up to $2,500 before doing any work. A phone number for The Bostonian Group has been disconnected.

 

Officials say the owner of both companies, William Rodriguez, also owns another business being sued by the attorney general’s office. In March, authorities obtained an emergency injunction barring that company from charging any upfront fees for foreclosure rescue services. That case is pending in Orange County Circuit Court.

 

Read Article: Miami Herald

 

$50 Million Settlement Reached in MetLife Suit

MetLife agreed last week to pay $50 million to settle a class action claim that it had defrauded 8.6 million policy holders when it converted from a mutual company in 2000 to one that is publicly traded.

 

The settlement, which was reached after an Eastern District jury had been selected, was only a fraction of the $8 billion sought by the class (See Notice of Class Action Settlement).

 

Sources familiar with the case said the settlement was reached after Eastern District Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled that MetLife could introduce a 103-page decision of the New York State Superintendent of Insurance approving both the conversion itself and the disclosure documents that MetLife had mailed to its policyholders. They also said that during court sessions, Weinstein expressed skepticism about the strength of the plaintiffs’ case.

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Lawsuit says windstorm insurer rigged process

The state windstorm insurer may have unfairly stacked the deck against homeowners with Hurricane Ike claims, according to a lawsuit filed Friday, and that has one lawmaker calling for an investigation.

 

 The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association used prices lower than market rates to estimate materials and repair costs, unfairly limited costs on roof repairs and discouraged reopening closed claims, a League City home-owner alleges in a lawsuit that includes internal TWIA e-mails and documents.

 

 “The game is rigged from the beginning,” said Steve Mostyn, the homeowner’s attorney who obtained hundreds of documents through the discovery process. “All the parts are designed for one purpose, which was to save money and underpay these claims every way they can, not by accident nor incompetence but a systematic effort.”

 

Read Article: Houston Chronicle

 

Family sues over boy’s gun show death

The family of an 8-year-old boy who fatally shot himself at a gun show in western Massachusetts say the Uzi submachine gun jammed twice before he lost control of the weapon and fired into his head.

 

The family of Christopher Bizilj (bah-SEEL’) of Ashford, Conn., says in a civil lawsuit filed Friday that a 15-year-old instructor who cleared the gun and handed it back to the victim failed to provide proper guidance.

 

The lawsuit names the owners of a gun club where the fair was held, promoters of the event and those who supplied the weapon and ammunition. None of those named in the lawsuit could be reached for comment after business hours Monday.

 

Read Article: Boston Globe

 

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