It Figures
$21 Million
A federal appeals court rejected a $21 million settlement of Hurricane Katrina damage claims that some insureds complained was unfair, and that one group said would have entitled homeowners and businesses to as little as $40 each. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. in New Orleans had approved last year’s settlement of class-action lawsuits against three Louisiana levee boards and their insurer, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the settlement isn’t fair because its backers failed to show plaintiffs would benefit in any way in exchange for surrendering their claims. The 5th Circuit said Duval erred by approving the settlement without any assurances that attorneys’ costs and administrative costs wouldn’t “cannibalize” the entire $21 million. AP
$65 Million
Mylan Laboratories Inc. will pay $65 million to state and federal authorities as a result of an agreement with Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott over charges that the firm inaccurately reported drug prices to the Texas Medicaid program. Texas’ share of the recovery is $23 million. According to the AG’s office, an investigation revealed that Mylan and two other drug manufacturers sold hundreds of Medicaid-covered drugs at steeply discounted prices to large pharmacies but concealed this same pricing information from the Texas Medicaid program. In 2007, Texas initiated legal action. The first of three cases settled last summer when Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. paid $169 million to resolve claims brought by Texas, several other states and the federal government.
$101,832.35
The Oklahoma Bar Association said its Clients’ Security Fund will pay $101,832.35 in claims to 23 clients of 10 former attorneys whose
acts led to the losses. Among the reimbursements are funds from workers’ compensation settlements for which clients never received
the money. Claims result when an attorney is disbarred, misappropriates client funds or dies before work is performed. All active Oklahoma lawyers contribute to the fund through a portion of their annual bar dues. Nearly $1.9 million in reimbursements has been
paid to clients since the fund was created in 1965.