Monthly Archives: March 2016

The Cost Of A Settlement

Peephole problem solved

Erin Andrews, famous sportscaster for Fox, was awarded $55 million in her lawsuit against Michael David Barrett and the owner of the Marriott Hotel in Nashville Tennessee. Andrews had been seeking compensation for the emotional distress she suffered following the 2008 incident where Michael Barrett recorded her naked in the privacy of her hotel room though a peephole from the neighboring room.

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Wheelchair Fraud In Washington

Wheelchair

The Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that Michael Mann, owner of Seattle-based Wheelchairs Plus Inc., will pay $2.7 million for Medicaid fraud allegations. The  Attorney General’s Office claims that Mann billed the Medicaid program for 119 new wheelchairs when he was actually delivering used wheelchairs to the poor and disabled statewide.

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Home Depot To Compensate Consumers

Shopper reimbursement

Home Depot has agreed to pay $19.5 million to compensate the consumers affected by the 2014 data breach which affected more than 50 million cardholders who utilized self-checkout terminals in U.S. and Canadian stores between April and September 2014. The home improvement retailer is in the process of setting up a $13 million fund to reimburse all of the shoppers for out-of-pocket losses and, in effort to improve their data security they will be hiring a chief information security officer to oversee all progress. There were at least 57 proposed class action lawsuits which were filed in U.S. and Canadian courts over the data breach.

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Wells Fargo to Pay 1.2 Billion

Mortgage mistake

Settling claims that stem from an intense period of mortgage fraud, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay 1.2 Billion dollars in the wake of a major US Lawsuit. The Lawsuit, filed in Federal court details misconduct riddled throughout the counties largest mortgage lender and the subsequent practices they implemented during a period of time between 2001 and 2005. The “reckless” underwriting policies include a failure to report over 6,000 loans from 2002 to 2010 that simply did not meet regulatory standards. Failure to review these deals led to a slew of early payment defaults. Brought to court by Preet Bharara of Manhattan, this is just one of the many similar suits following the fallout from mortgages insured through the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA.

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Where to Point the Finger

Hand injury

According to The Washington Post, on July 4th, 2015, Jason Pierre Paul, The New York Giants star edge rusher, was involved in a fireworks accident that severely damaged his right hand.  In fact, the injury was so severe, that it led to the amputation of 1 digit, and multiple surgeries and grafts.  While in the hospital, there were many questions swirling the event, including the actual severity of the incident.

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