It Figures

$52.5 Million

Amount of settlement reached between Babcock & Wilcox Co. and a group of residents who live near a former nuclear fuel plant in western Pennsylvania. The settlement ends the final claim brought by 365 people who live in the Apollo area, about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The same group last year got $27.5 million to settle claims against Atlantic Richfield Co. that plant emissions and groundwater pollution caused an unusually high cancer rate, other illnesses and property damage. The case concerns the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. plant, which B&W bought in 1971. It’s been cleaning up the site since it shut down in the 1980s.

$3.2 Million

Amount awarded to a Virginia woman whose pelvis was crushed when more than 350 pounds of countertops suddenly fell on her at Ikea. A stack of four countertops and a door collapsed on the woman as she stopped near a section of bargain items at the Potomac Mills store in July 2006. Her lawyer says the countertops were stacked incorrectly and poorly restrained.

$750,000

Amount that must be paid by a truck driver who waved a car into traffic just before it collided with a motorcycle in New Jersey, a jury has ruled. The verdict centered on a June 2006 crash, which occurred after the truck driver waved a car into a doughnut store lot. The car collided with a motorcycle, severely injuring the rider. The verdict reflects a provision in state law that holds drivers liable if they negligently wave others into traffic.

300

Minimum acreage destroyed by a forest fire in southern New Jersey’s Pinelands National Reserve, which runs along the border of Galloway Township and Egg Harbor City. No injuries or damaged homes were reported.

160

Number of arrests made by The Insurance Frauds Bureau of New York State through the first three months of 2009, according to the New York Insurance Department. The total number of arrests was down from the 230 that the bureau made in the same quarter last year, but up slightly more than the 154 arrests the department posted in the first three months of 2007. The 101 convictions obtained in the first three months of the year were a big jump from the 51 convictions in the same period in 2008.