Bank of America may be sued in state courts over paycheck-cashing fees, a federal judge ruled last week, sending the lawsuit back to a Los Angeles County court.
U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero “rejected claims by Bank of America that federal law should exempt it from being sued under state laws,” The Associated Press […]

New Jersey drug maker Wyeth on Tuesday said that a Pennsylvania jury ruled in its favor in one Fen Phen case and awarded the second plaintiff $48,000 in compensatory damages.
Both plaintiffs had claimed they suffered heart valve injury from using the diet drug Fen Phen (Pondimin).
The company said in a statement that the jury’s […]

Pennsylvania’s attorney general Jerry Pappert today filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest manufacturer of bulletproof vest for police for failing to disclose potentially life-threatening flaws in its products.
The lawsuit, filed in a Commonwealth Court, accuses Second Chance Body Armor Inc. of violating Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
“It’s our position that Second […]

More U.S companies are revising their employee handbooks to include language that bans workers from using mobile phones while driving.
The policy changes come after numerous cities and states across the United States have passed laws that prohibit drivers from using their hand-held mobile phones while driving.
“We felt cell phone use while driving was a fairly […]

Brian Reid, a former operations manager at Google Inc., last week filed a lawsuit against the search engine giant, alleging the company’s culture discriminates against older workers.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara Superior court, alleges Google fired Reid in February 2004 because he didn’t fit in a culture emphasizing “youth and energy,” The Associated Press […]

Asbestos deaths among U.S. residents have increased from fewer than 100 in 1968 to nearly 1,500 annually in 2000, with no apparent leveling off of this trend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Between 1990 and 1999, there were more than 10,000 asbestos-related deaths and the annual asbestos death counts increased by one-third, […]

Patients on antidepressant drugs like Prozac and Paxil are prone to suicidal tendencies when they are first put on antidepressants, according to a study published in Wednesday’s issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study, by Drs. Herschel and Susan Jick and James Kaye at Boston University, looked at Prozac, Paxil, amitriptyline and dothiepin […]

Judge Judith Fitzgerald on Friday approved Halliburton’s $4.2 billion asbestos settlement plan and signed the Chapter 11 restructuring plans for its business units KBR and DII Industries.
KBR and DII Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in December after about 400,000 individuals filed claims against Halliburton over asbestos and silica exposure.
The majority of claims stem from Halliburton’s […]

Some patients on the popular painkiller Vioxx may be taking up to twice the recommended level, according to a new study published in the June issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
Researchers found that doctors often prescribe their patients the highest dose of Vioxx (50 mg) for daily pain relief. However, the 50 mg dose is […]

After 40 years, Medicare has reversed its long-standing position that obesity is not illness.
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson last week announced a new Medicare coverage policy that would remove barriers to covering anti-obesity interventions if scientific and medical evidence demonstrate their effectiveness in improving Medicare beneficiaries’ health outcomes.
“Obesity is a critical public health problem in […]