California Truck Accident Lawyer

5/1/2006
More eye fungus cases connected to ReNu contact lens solution.

Health officials report that the number of confirmed or suspected cases of an eye fungus that can cause scarring of the cornea and blindness has grown to 176.

The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists cases of Fusarium keratitis in 28 states. As recently as April 9, health officials said they suspected 109 cases in 17 states.

The Food and Drug Administration recommended soft contact lens wearers stop using ReNu with MoistureLoc and throw away any remaining bottles of the solution. Manufacturer Bausch and Lomb stopped shipping the contact lens solution in early April month and asked stores to remove it from sale.

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5/1/2006
Jury awards tech company more than $300 million in patent case.

More than $300 million in damages was awarded to a Los Altos-based technology company after finding that one of the largest computer memory chip manufacturers in the world infringed on its patents.

A San Jose federal jury found that Hynix Corp. of South Korea infringed on the patents that the founders of Rambus, Mike Farmwald and Stanford University Professor Mark Horowitz, filed in the 1990s and that Hynix should pay almost $307 million in damages.

Hynix plans to argue that the patents should not be honored because of improper conduct by Rambus before the organization that sets the global standards for computer memory chips.

Rambus has similar litigation pending against other chip manufacturers, including global leader Samsung.

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5/1/2006
In California, Electronic Arts settles overtime class-action for $14.9M.

To settle an overtime class-action suit filed by current and former computer programmers, Redwood City-based Electronic Arts Inc. will pay $14.9 million, which includes attorney fees and all other costs.

The settlement, which is pending in the Superior Court of San Mateo County, must be approved by the court before it becomes effective. Eligible class members will receive notice and a claim form from the settlement administrator. Any portion of the settlement fund that is unclaimed by class members will be go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities and to establish scholarships at Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, Stanford University, and Morehouse/Spelman College.

EA said it does not expect the settlement to have a significant impact on its fiscal fourth quarter 2006 financial results.

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5/1/2006
Freddie Mac settles securities lawsuit for $410 million.

Mortgage financer Freddie Mac has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a national class-action lawsuit led by two Ohio public-employee retirement systems. The tentative deal means money for the State Teachers Retirement System and the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System. The systems together lost about $25 million in stock value because Freddie Mac misrepresented its finances between 1999 and 2003, according to the Ohio Attorney General.

Although an internal investigation by the company found that accounting rules were breached and internal accounts were manipulated to meet Wall Street expectations, Freddie Mac has denied the claims. The settlement is considered one of the 20 largest of all time in class action securities settlements.

Shareholder losses were estimated to be as high as $2 billion. The $410 million settlement represents a 20 percent recovery, on the high end of settlements for such suits.

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5/1/2006
$7M verdict against smoke alarm maker over New York fire.

The survivors of a 2001 fire in Rotterdam will be paid more than $7 million in damages by the makers of the First Alert brand smoke detector. Damages include $500,000 in punitive damages.

John Hackert, and his mother Sheila Hackert were awarded $7,031,702 by the jury following a three-week trial in Utica. Willaim Hackert, the father, and Christine Hackert, the fourth member of the family, died in the fire, which started when an extension cord overheated.

The family had two First Alert detectors installed their home. The surviving Hackerts sued First Alert and BRK Brands Inc., because the smoke detectors failed to go off and alert the family.

The detectors at issue were ionization type smoke detectors that sense high temperature, fast moving fires, as opposed to detectors employing photoelectric cells which are better at detecting smoldering fires. A photoelectric smoke detector would detect the smoke from a fire 15 minutes earlier than the ionization type.

Witnesses testified that the company was aware of the shortcomings of the ionization only detector but continued to market the product instead of selling only dual detectors. The dual detectors cost from $20 to $25 while the ionization only types sell for $10 to $15. There were more than 750 consumer complaints about the ionization type detectors.

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