It Figures

$504,900

Fine levied by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration against an eastern Pennsylvania coal mine operator for a miner’s death. Robert Carey was killed on June 16, 2008, by falling debris inside Harmony Mine, near Mount Carmel. Safety officials said operator UAE Coalcorp Associates knew about dangerous conditions at the work site, but allowed work to continue.

$200,000

Amount awarded by a federal jury to a newspaper publisher after deciding the Buchanan County, Virginia School Board unconstitutionally banned him from school grounds. The jury ruled after a three-day trial on a lawsuit filed by Earl Cole of The Voice. U.S. District Judge James Jones issued an order overturning the board’s ban. Cole says critical articles he wrote angered the School Board, which voted in October 2006 to bar him from school property.

$5.25 Million

Malpractice award to a Connecticut woman whose left leg was amputated after back surgery at New Milford Hospital in 2005. Documents filed in Litchfield Superior Court say 63-year-old Eileen Kelleher of Harwinton agreed to the deal late last month. Her lawsuit said she suffered internal bleeding, abdominal wounds and other serious complications after the surgery that led to gangrene in her lower left leg, which had to be amputated above the knee. The lawsuit alleges her doctor and other hospital staff failed to properly diagnose and treat her.

$2.5 Million

Amount sought by a New York father in the hazing death of his college-aged son, Arman Partamian, who was found dead after drinking for three days to gain membership in an off-campus fraternity at the State University of New York in Geneseo. In a wrongful death lawsuit, Hagop Partamian, his father, seeks compensation from six young men and two co-owners of the fraternity property.

20%

Projected drop in construction spending in New York City this year, according to The New York Building Congress, which forecasts sharp declines in private sector building. Overall construction spending in the city is expected to fall to $25.8 billion this year from the all-time high of $32.4 billion in 2008.