Declarations

Remaining Confident

“We remain confident that there will be a day when medical marijuana patients are not discriminated against in the workplace.”

—Safe Access attorney Joe Elford, reacting to a decision by the California Supreme Court that allows employers to fire workers found to have used medical marijuana even if it was legally prescribed. Twelve states, including California, have adopted medical-marijuana laws. States with a law similar to California’s are: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Elford said his group will focus on urging the state legislature to pass a law protecting workers who use medical marijuana.

A Major Step Backward

“This legislation is a major step backward and could hurt the majority of consumers in Colorado. … Every credible study demonstrates the strong connection between credit information and risk of loss.”

—Kelly Campbell, regional manager and counsel for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, which opposed a Colorado bill — HB 1143 — that would have prohibited insurers’ use of credit information. PCI said nearly half of the states, including Colorado, have enacted laws based on a model developed by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators that allows insurers to use credit information and establishes consumer safeguards on the application of the information. Colorado lawmakers passed its law in 2004. HB 1143 passed out of committee but subsequently was defeated on the House floor.

A Duty to Investigate

“Countrywide’s underwriters had a duty to investigate whether Countrywide was acting honestly. … Investors lost millions, and New Yorkers lost their homes. We can’t sit idly by.”

—New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, commenting on a lawsuit filed by New York authorities against 26 banks and two accounting firms that did business with Countrywide Financial Corp. The lawsuit alleges that the companies failed to ensure the beleaguered mortgage company was being honest with investors. The banks and accounting firms were added as defendants in a class action lawsuit already pending against Countrywide in California.

Years of Hard Time

“I have been under investigation for seven or eight years and it has been seven or eight years of hard time. … That’s all I can say.”

—Seymour Lazar, an 80-year-old retired attorney who pleaded guilty in a lucrative kickback scheme involving class-action lawsuits against some of America’s largest corporations. Lazar was sentenced in Los Angeles to six months home detention and two years probation. Federal prosecutors said he was paid about $2.6 million to be a professional plaintiff for the law firm now known as Milberg Weiss. It is estimated the firm made around $250 million over two decades by filing such legal actions. Seven people, including three of the firm’s former partners, have pleaded guilty in the case. Lazar, the first to be sentenced, also was fined $600,000.