Miscellaneous

• Former Employee Steals Personal Data on 2.3 Million

  Staff Writer | July 10, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Michael Moore's Movie "Sicko" and Its Portrayal of US Healthcare

  Staff Writer | July 04, 2007 9:00 AM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Frivolous Lawsuit Against Dryclear Dismissed

  Staff Writer | June 27, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Insurer and Its Attorneys Sanctioned in 9/11 Litigation

  Staff Writer | June 25, 2007 10:41 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• The Tort Reform Debate

  Staff Writer | June 20, 2007 12:00 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Have You Been Victimized by Mortgage Fraud?

  Staff Writer | June 18, 2007 1:18 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  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,...

• Blue Cross of California Agrees to Settle Rescission Class Action Lawsuit

  Staff Writer | June 11, 2007 11:00 AM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Health Insurance Coverage in Times of Need

  Staff Writer | June 05, 2007 12:00 PM | 1 CommentPhoenix, AZ

  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...

• Senator Kyl Holding Up Modification to Freedom of Information Act

  Staff Writer | June 01, 2007 2:00 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Ironically, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl recently invoked a tool to secretly object and withhold from consideration in the United States Senate a bill modifying the Freedom of Information Act. In contrast to Senator Kyl's initially secret actions, the legislation known as the Open Government Act had been drafted to make government activity less secret and more open to public scrutiny. Senator Kyl...

• Maricopa County Recorders Office Redacting Personal Information from Public Records

  Staff Writer | May 29, 2007 5:55 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A few months ago, I shared a concern that, despite warnings about unnecessary risks of exposing social security numbers and other personal information to identity theft, the Maricopa County Recorder's Office continued to allow unfettered access to private confidential information on its web site. Thankfully, it appears that the County has been working toward a resolution of this problem. ...