The company that owns 22 for-profit nursing homes in California has been named in a class-action lawsuit that accuses them of "skimping on staff" to raise profits at the expense of patient care. The lawsuit was filed in 2006, and the plaintiffs rested their case earlier this month. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs accuse Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. of violating the California law that requires nursing homes provide at least 3.2 nursing hours per resident per day. The lack of adequate staff at the homes, the lawsuit contends, has a direct affect on the quality of care for the residents. The suit is seeking punitive and statutory damages for each day the nursing homes are found out of compliance. Barbara Anderson, The Fresno Bee 04/17/2010
A San Francisco police officer has been named in a lawsuit that accuses him and other officers of beating up a man who was taking pictures of them during an arrest. According to the lawsuit, Officer Noel Schwab saw Noah Booher taking pictures of the officers with his phone during a 2008 arrest. Schwab and the others allegedly beat Booher for taking the photos, claiming he was "resisting arrest." The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that a settlement is in the works. Schwab was also featured a popular YouTube video in which he threatens to break a kid's arm while arresting him. Brent Begin, San Francisco Chronicle 04/19/2010
The city of Concord, Calif., has agreed to a $32,500 settlement with a man who claims he was wrongfully arrest by Concord police officers in February 2009. In his lawsuit, Jose Rochin states that officers came to his home looking for someone else, and arrested Rochin, believing he was the man they were looking for despite Rochin's claims to the contrary. He claims that the police used unnecessary force in arresting him and left him in the back of a hot police car for hours without fresh air. Paul Thissen, San Jose Mercury News 04/16/2010
An Alabama woman was awarded $10 million Friday by a jury in a lawsuit she filed over the death of her husband. In her lawsuit, Erica Dupree claimed that her husband was working in unsafe conditions while painting a water tank in June 2008, and his fatal fall was due to those unsafe conditions. She named two Haleyville contractors, a Montgomery engineering firm and the Russell County Water Authority as defendants in the lawsuit. Staff Report, The Birmingham News 04/17/2010
A $9.5 million settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by an Illinois family against an Elgin hospital which accuses the hospital and a nurse midwife of causing the family's son to be born with cerebral palsy. In the lawsuit, Helen O'Came claimed that when she began experiencing complications during labor at the hospital, she requested a doctor. The nurse midwife helping her, however, failed to alert a doctor of O'Came's complication, the suit contended. Serena Maria Daniels, Chicago Tribune 04/16/2010
A former swimming coach in Kansas City has been targeted by a lawsuit that accuses him of sexually inappropriate contact with a teenage swimmer. The lawsuit claims that Robert Mirande, former coach of the Kansas City Dolphins, engaged in sexual contact with two female members of the Dolphins swim team on various occasions between 2006 and 2007. The lawsuit is one of many recently filed against various swim coaches and USA Swimming that has raised questions about the process USA Swimming uses to screen coaches. Mirande is currently coaching a team in West Virginia. Tom Rizzo, Kansas City Star 04/19/2010
Federal regulators announced this weekend that Toyota Motors has agreed to pay a $16.4 million fine for covering up the safety defects involved in a 2.3 million car recall. While Toyota officials have said that the company will not accept full legal responsibility for the cover up, federal officials have said that paying the fine would indicate that the company broke the law. Plaintiff attorneys across the country have said they will use this fine in their lawsuits against the car company. Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger, LA Times 04/19/2010
A Florida man has filed a class-action lawsuit against in-car security system OnStar and Honda Motors, claiming that when he purchased an Acura in 2003 and had OnStar installed, he was not told it would be useless a few years later. Armand Pepper claims to be one of more than two million people to have received a letter from OnStar saying his equipment would fail on Dec. 31, 2007 because of the switch to digital technology, and neither OnStar nor Honda would pay to fix it. He claims in his lawsuit that the car dealers knew of the impending changes and should have offer customers the chance to install more upgradeable equipment, but failed to do so. The Naples News is reporting that some customers have crashed and only then found out their OnStar wasn't working. The lawsuit is seeking more than $5 million. Aisling Swift, Naples News 04/14/2010
A lawsuit has been filed against Burger King by a Washington police officer who claims the restaurant chain is negligent in their hiring process after an employee spit on his food. Deputy Ed Bylsma claims in his lawsuit that in March 2009 he was served a burger with a giant glob of spit in it while he was on duty. Officers matched the spit to one of the employees at the Burger King, Gary Herb. The suit alleges Burger King was "negligent in their selection, training and supervision of its employees ... and failing to provide them with adequate standards." Laura McVicker, Seattle Times 04/14/2010
Former residents of a Los Angeles housing complex have filed a lawsuit against the county, the complex developers and the former property owners, Exxon-Mobil, for hiding the fact that the complex was built above a storage tank of toxic materials. The lawsuit claims that the materials leaked from the tank and caused cancer, leukemia, miscarriages, respiratory distress, chronic infections, asthma, anemia and cognitive and neurological issues. The suit claims at least 39 former residents died from the toxins. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Molly Hennessy-Fiske, LA Times 04/12/2010
