A federal judge has ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay $6.75 billion, including interest, to 32,000 fisherman and residents who brought the suit after the Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound in Alaska.
Exxon Mobil said it would appeal the decision by U.S. District Judge […]

U.S. Judge Audrey Collins ruled that a section of the USA Patriot Act barring “expert advice or assistance” to groups designated foreign terrorists organizations is unconstitutionally vague.
“The ruling marks the first court decision to declare a part of the post-September 11, 2001 anti-terrorism statute unconstitutional, said David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued […]

A $3.75 billion settlement fund created to compensate people who took the diet drug fen-phen has been flooded with thousands of bogus heart-damage claims, according to its lawyers.
When the Philadelphia-based AHP Settlement Trust was created, only about 8,300 claims were expected from dieters who used fen-phen and Redux in the 1990s. Today 71,000 claims have […]

Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, took one-time charges totaling $1.5 billion to forth-quarter earnings to cover resolution of two pending Warner-Lambert legal matters: Rezulin personal-injury claims and various governmental investigations of marketing practices related to Neurontin.
The first charge, for $955 million, is expected to be sufficient to cover all known personal-injury claims arising from […]

The Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against 532 individuals it says are illegally distributing copyright music on peer-to-peer networks.
The lawsuits filed in New York and Washington D.C., employ the “John Doe” process, which is used to sue defendants whose names aren’t known. Defendants are identified by their numerical computer address, known as an […]

Bayer AG said it has now settled 2,059 Baycol Lawsuits out of court for a total $782 million, up from 1,959 when it last reported on the issue in December 2003. The drug maker said it still faced 10,494 Baycol lawsuits over its recalled anti-cholesterol drug, which is linked with more than 100 deaths, in […]

Lester Brickman, a leading critic of asbestos litigation, says that 90 percent of all asbestos-related injury claims filed each year are bogus. He contends that more than half-million asbestos claims have been without merit, which resulted in payments to plaintiffs and their attorneys totaling more than $28.5 billion.
“Asbestos litigation has become a malignant enterprise which […]

A Missouri court has certified two class action lawsuits against Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, that accuse the tobacco giants of misrepresenting the amount of tar and nicotine certain brands of “lights” cigarettes contain.
Brands listed in the lawsuits are Marlboro Lights from Philip Morris Companies and Salem Lights, Winston Lights, Camel Lights or Camel Special […]

Farmed-raised salmon contain more cancer-causing chemicals called PCBs than do salmon caught in the wild, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
The study, which obtained 700 filets of salmon from wholesalers and supermarkets from around the world, found that farmed salmon from Europe had the most PCBs, followed by North America and […]

The Federal Communications Commission approved a $5.4 million fine against Fax.com for faxing unsolicited advertisements to consumers in violation of the do-not-fax rules. The company sends faxes on behalf of clients for a fee.
The FCC said the fine given to Fax.com was the “largest single fine ever imposed by the Commission” for violation of […]