That makes sixteen so far this year.
Archive for February, 2009
Two more failed banks
February 28, 2009Cardboard maker sued for “eggy” smelling corks
February 28, 2009
Nomacorc sells corks for wine bottles. One day in 2008, Nomacorc employees detected a “spicy” smell, an odour like cabbage emanating from a package of unfinished corcs. Eventually they traced the culprit to the container manufacturer, Packaging Containers of America and got a PCA representative to admit to an “eggy” smell. Normacorc has now filed suit against Packaging Containers of America in North Carolina Federal Court.
Depressing but important article on AIG
February 28, 2009Of all the financial debacles of September 2008, the most infuriating has to be AIG. One, because as an insurance company it was suppose to be in the business of providing stability for the risk-laden world of financial wheeling and dealing but instead it destroyed that stability and two because its the the debt that keeps on giving. Taxpayers have spent $150 billion already on this monster and there is talk that we will spend another $100 billion more before the company stabilizes.
Worse, as Joe Nocera explains in his great column about AIG, the government is propping up the insurer’s bad lending practice because if it doesn’t, it risks destroying the fragile modicum of stability in the financial markets.
More credit card customer lawsuits
February 28, 2009This one is filed against HSBC USA in Illinois state court and the plaintiffs are claiming that the bank charged them an annual $50 fee which according to the terms of the agreement they could avoid paying by cancelling their account within thirty days. So they cancelled their account within the specified time period but, according to the suit, the bank refuses to acknowledge this and return the fifty dollars to the plaintiffs.
Supervisor’s close ties to Scientology lawyer
February 28, 2009Its turns out that Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone who is pushing a restrictive ordinance favoring the Church of Scientology, has a long history with the church’s lawyer, Samuel Alhadeff. Mr. Alhadeff’s law firm has represented Mr. Stone is several matters and has also donated money to his campaign. When questioned about this, Mr. Stone said,
“I have paid Mr. Alhadeff’s firm tens of thousands of dollars on many different issues that I have been involved in long before I was on the board of supervisors. He happens to be a very prominent attorney in southwest Riverside County.”
Supervisor Stone could easily eliminate any question of impropriety by recusing himself from voting on matters related to the Church of Scientology. So far, he hasn’t done that.
Layoffs update: 02/27
February 28, 2009Nevada takes on Countrywide: too little too late?
February 27, 2009The state of Nevada has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide in Clark County court alleging that the company deceived consumers through deceptive lending practices.
Bank of America recently announced it was rebranding Countrywide and the practices that company engaged in are no longer possible in a tight credit market. So beyond political grandstanding, a lawsuit by Nevada asking Countrywide to stop its bad lending practices seems pointless.
Bizarre food poisoning lawsuit
February 27, 2009
There is nothing unusual about experiencing food poisoning from eating fish at a restaurant. But Donna Schroeder’s symptoms went beyond the typical diarrhea, vomiting and fatigue. Her sense of hot and cold were reversed.
“Whatever I touched, if it was hot, it would feel cold. If it was cold, it felt hot,” Schroeder recalled. “I couldn’t walk on the tile floor. It felt like it was burning me.”
This condition called, ciguatera fish poisoning, is nearly unknown in the U.S. Donna’s doctors hadn’t a clue what was going on but it affects anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people annually worldwide. Donna is suing both the restaurant that served the fish and the fish market that supplied.
This article contains a sidebar listing the fish most likely to be subject to this poisoning.
Reading Tea Leaves by Randy Wilson 