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AIG targeted by shareholder lawsuit

April 6, 2009

Even as American International Group Inc. was sliding into insolvency in recent years and negotiating a massive federal bailout last year, it was constructing a compensation package for top executives that would provide as much as $1 billion in bonuses, according to a shareholder lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles.

AIG, which has been heavily criticized for the bonuses, has contended that it was legally obligated to pay because its compensation program was put in place before the company was given access to $70 billion in direct federal bailout money and much more in loans.

But the lawsuit, which relies on previously undisclosed information and public filings, government documents and news reports, builds a portrait of a company that constructed its executive compensation program to guarantee the payouts — even when it knew its business was deteriorating because of a variety of fraudulent activities.

 

Read Article: Los Angeles Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Northrop Grumman-TRW whistle-blower case settled

In one of the nation’s largest settlements in a whistle-blower case, Northrop Grumman Corp. has agreed to pay the federal government $325 million to resolve claims that TRW, which it acquired in 2002, provided defective parts for a spy satellite program in the 1990s.But in an unusual twist, the federal government also announced Thursday that it had settled a separate, long-running dispute with Northrop and agreed to pay the aerospace company $325 million — essentially meaning that no money will change hands.

 

 

In an e-mail, a Justice Department official said that because the two settlements with Northrop were of equal amounts, “no money is exchanged.”

 

Read Article: Los Angeles Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

House Passes Tobacco Bill, but Senate Battle Looms

The House of Representatives passed legislation by a wide margin on Thursday to give the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new powers over tobacco products, which kill an estimated 400,000 Americans each year.

 

Despite the 298-to-112 House vote, though, a closer battle is likely in the Senate between public health advocates and some tobacco industry supporters. Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, the nation’s leading tobacco producing state, has threatened a filibuster.

 

And while the cigarette leader Philip Morris supports the legislation, other big tobacco companies oppose it.

 

Read Article: New York Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

In wake of high court’s ‘Wyeth’ ruling, legal groups throw support behind Medical Device Safety Act

Several legal groups, including the American Bar Association, are voicing their support for passage of the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009, which was introduced on March 5 in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249.

Last year, the Supreme Court found that products liability claims against medical device manufacturer Medtronic were pre-empted by the Medical Device Amendments to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Riegel v. Medtronic, 128 S. Ct. 999 (2008). But on March 4, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law governing warnings on prescription drug labels does not pre-empt state claims asserting that pharmaceutical companies failed to warn of risks associated with the medication.

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Zoll Issues Defibrillator Alert After Two Deaths

Zoll Medical Corp. said some of its AED Plus external defibrillators, used in public settings such as airports, have defective batteries and software, leading to failures to deliver a shock and two patient deaths.

 

Zoll began on Feb. 12 asking customers to download new software for 180,000 units that will help detect a potential defective battery, the company said. About 80,000 units that have been installed for at least three years are at the highest risk, said the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company.

 

The two patient deaths were among four reported cases Zoll reviewed in which a shock was not delivered to a patient and “the battery may have experienced the identified problem,” the company said in its statement. Company officials said they couldn’t give any further details on the deceased.

 

Read Article: Bloomberg

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

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