It Figures

$3 Million

Officials in North Dakota’s Cavalier County estimate nearly $3 million worth of damage in their county from last spring’s flooding. Cavalier County Highway Supervisor Terry Johnston says the damage is spread countywide. He said most of it involves washed out culverts and roads. Johnston flood recovery work is expected to continue next year.

65%

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) has lowered the discount available to employers who participate in a group-rating system. Beginning July 1, 2010, the maximum available discount for businesses in a group will be 65 percent, down from the current from 77 percent rate. Additionally, the minimum qualification for experience adjustments has been reduced. The move was part of ongoing rate changes as the agency seeks to bring more parity between businesses that are part of a group and those that are not, the Associated Press reported. The BWC noted that changes in the maximum discount are not enough to make the group rating program actuarially sound.

$1.26 Billion

A Wisconsin judge ordered PepsiCo Inc. to pay $1.26 billion to two men who said the company stole their idea to sell purified water after a secretary mislaid a document alerting the company the lawsuit existed, according to Reuters. The judgment amount is equal to more than 20 percent of PepsiCo’s reported annual profits in recent years, regulatory filings show. According to filings with the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Charles Joyce and James Voigt filed the complaint on April 28, but PepsiCo said the legal department at its Purchase, N.Y., headquarters was not alerted to the case until around Sept. 18, when secretary Kathy Henry received a letter for her supervisor Tom Tamoney. Henry, however, put the letter aside and did not tell anyone about it or enter it into her log “because she was so busy preparing for a board meeting,” according to PepsiCo’s Oct. 13 motion asking the court not to enforce the judgment. The company said that, when Henry on Oct. 5 received a copy of the plaintiff’s motion for the default judgment, she recalled the earlier letter and forwarded it, prompting the legal department to finally act. PepsiCo called Henry’s earlier failure to forward the letter “excusable neglect,” and said the lawsuit was without merit.