InjuryBoard Phoenix

A company providing check authorization services became the most recent target of data theft. An apparently "rogue and dishonest employee" recently stole personal and confidential information about approximately 2.3 million customers and then sold this data to various direct marketing companies leaving behind millions of possible identity theft victims. Although, other than for marketing...

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Michael Moore released a new movie about the system of healthcare in the United States. In the movie, he portrays our healthcare system as one in crisis. Do you believe our healthcare system in this country provides the best quality of care to patients at a reasonable cost? Have you seen the movie Sicko? Do you think the movie accurately portrays problems with our healthcare system in...

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In early May, I wrote about an example of a likely frivolous lawsuit. If you recall, the drycleaning business in that case lost a pair of pants and the Plaintiff originally demanded compensation totalling $65,000,000 even after the business compensated him for the lost pants. In my earlier posting, I suggested that our system of justice has legitimate safeguards to prevent frivolous litigation...

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In an unfortunate series of events, recently two law firms and an insurance company client involved in coverage litigation concerning the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy have been sanctioned a total sum of $1.25 million dollars. The judge sanctioned these parties for failing to disclose various key documents concerning applicability of insurance coverage and other discovery abuses which...

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I received a few responses to my recent posting about the California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) which present different perspectives on an emotionally charged tort reform debate. Thank you to those who commented. Although we do not necessarily share the same opinions, I appreciate your willingness to post your thoughts and believe that we can respectfully disagree on some...

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This past week, the Arizona legislature passed a bill criminalizing mortgage fraud. Specifically, the bill criminalizes so-called cash-back financing in which a prospective buyer pays an artificially inflated price for a home, receives a loan for the high sales price, and pockets the difference between the loan amount and the actual residential home value. According to the Arizona Republic,...

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In 1975, the California State Legislature passed the California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) which placed a cap on damages for medical malpractice claims. According to this Act, an injured plaintiff cannot recover non-economic losses in excess of $250,000. This tort reform statute has been in effect in California for thirty-two years. Because this California law has been in...

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Blue Cross of California recently entered a settlement agreement to resolve a class action lawsuit against the health insurer concerning the nature of its individual health insurance business practices. Blue Cross had been accused of using innocent mistakes on poorly worded insurance applications to rescind policies after insureds submitted costly claims. After concluding that it would lose...

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GlaxoSmithKline operates as the world's second largest pharmaceutical company behind Pfizer. It markets a vast assortment of medication to treat patients with health problems and, according to its annual report for 2006, the diabetes medication Avandia is one of the top six pharmaceutical products it markets throughout the world, At 30th September 2006, GSK held second position in the world...

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In May, I wrote about problems with health insurance companies in California. Specifically, an insured with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California sued the company alleging bad faith arising out of the company's decision to rescind a health insurance policy based on high claims expenses. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the carrier accused the insureds of misrepresenting responses...

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