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Metrolink worker sued Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying his alcoholism returned after the fatal 2002 Placentia collision.

A metrolink conductor who said his drinking problems resumed after the Placentia train crash in 2002 will receive $8.5 million to settle his lawsuit against one of the nations largest railroads.
Patrick Phillips of Riverside agreed Tuesday to settle his suit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. The case was set to go to trial next week in Orange County Superior Court.
Phillips, now 52, suffered minor head injuries the morning of April 23, 2002 when a Burlington Northern Freight train crashed into a Metrolink commuter train in Placentia. Three people died and more than 260 were injured in the early morning crash.
Though his injuries were slight, the conductor alleged that the trauma was serious enough to trigger a resurgence of his severe alcoholism, which he said he had controlled since rehabilitation in the early 1990′s.
“I have never seen a case like this in 30 years, yet it is indeed what happened here,” said Jerome L. Ringler, Phillips’ attorney.
“We had extensive medical evaluations by a variety of neurological specialists. All were in accord that his injury, although minor, changed his behavior.”
After the train crash, Phillips was hospitalized for evaluation but released about two hours later, Ringler said. In the months after the crash, however, Phillips allegedly resumed his alcohol abuse, resulting in at least two other hospitalizations.
Ringler said his client was finally diagnosed with alcohol-related dementia, a sever mental deficiency.
Phillips, who is now disabled after working 12 years for Metrolink, was unavailable for comment. He is living with a sister in Riverside.
Under terms of the settlement, Phillips will receive $8.5 million, including interest, paid out over 20 years. The amount is worth about $4.5 million in today’s dollars.
Officials for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the nations four largest railroads, confirmed the settlement but declined to discuss the case.
Phillips’ lawsuit is one of more than 100 Civil cases stemming from the Placentia crash, which federal investigators said was caused by an inattentive Burlington Norther crew that missed a warning signal.
The lawsuits allege the collision could have been prevented by an automatic braking system, long sought by the federal National Transportation Safety Board.
They also contend that the freight train crew was fatigued by overwork and that the Burlington Northern conductor had a history of losing track of signals.
In December, an Orange County jury awarded Pamela Macek, 53, also of Riverside, about $9 million in damages for psychological and physical injuries suffered in the crash. Her case was the first to go to trial.

  The Federal Circuit overturned a $78.9 million verdict against DirecTV in a patent dispute with California-based Finisar Corp. over broadcasting technology.

    Finisar’s patent covers a system for broadcasting video and audio programs through high-speed satellite or cable links.

    A jury in 2006 concluded that DirecTV had willfully infringed on seven patent claims and awarded Finisar $78.9 million as “reasonable royalty damages.”

    In vacating the award, the federal appeals court said the district court had misinterpreted “vital terms” in each of the patent claims.

    The appellate judges vacated and remanded with instructions for the lower court to re-evaluate infringement and validity for six of the claims

http://www.legalnewspost.com/entry/Court-Reverses-789M-Verdict-Against-DirecTV

JONATHAN Clayton, The Times’s Africa correspondent, has arrived safely in Johannesburg after being imprisoned, tortured and interrogated by the Zimbabwean security services.

Clayton was arrested last Wednesday on a minor immigration charge when he flew into Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city.

He was quickly handed over by the police to security services, who blindfolded and handcuffed him, deprived him of sleep and water, and interrogated him for hours in a prison cell in Bulawayo.

After his initial ordeal, at just after midnight on Wednesday, the veteran Africa correspondent was driven in the back of a car to a second interrogation centre. When his blindfold was taken off, Clayton saw 14 men and one woman waiting to question him.

“They made me sit on the floor with my legs crossed,” he said yesterday from Johannesburg. “And they began interrogating me. It did not go very well from their point of view.

“They asked me everything. They wanted to know everything about me. Where I had gone to school, from Day 1. They threatened me and they beat me. The chief interrogator kicked the soles of my feet and then hit me across the face. He tried to make me stand on my head and stand on one leg. I did very badly and got angry.”

Clayton, 54, was held in a cell until Monday, when he appeared before a local magistrate. During the trial he was remanded to Bulawayo prison with more than 20 other prisoners and no food or water.

“Some people from the local church brought me food,” he said. “Without that I would not have got through this.”

The Times correspondent was acquitted on Wednesday of falsifying his immigration form but found guilty of making a false declaration to immigration officers. He was fined 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars (about £200) and deported. His lawyer is appealing.

In Harare a judge also freed Barry Bearak, a New York Times correspondent, and Stephen Bevan, a British journalist working for The Sunday Telegraph. They had both been accused of covering the election illegally. A freelance cameraman was also arrested on Tuesday while filming in Harare.

Unlike Bearak and Bevan, Clayton had not been working as a journalist when he was arrested.

Richard Beeston, the foreign editor of The Times, said: “We are all extremely relieved that Jonathan is free. In spite of his ordeal, we are determined to continue to report what is going on in the country.”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23559238-13480,00.html

The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency – a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.

Using authority granted by Congress, the government also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not. The DNA would be collected through a cheek swab, Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Wednesday. That would be a departure from current practice, which limits DNA collection to convicted felons.

Expanding the DNA database, known as CODIS, raises civil liberties questions about the potential for misuse of such personal information, such as family ties and genetic conditions.

Ablin said the DNA collection would be subject to the same privacy laws applied to current DNA sampling. That means none of it would be used for identifying genetic traits, diseases or disorders.

Congress gave the Justice Department the authority to expand DNA collection in two different laws passed in 2005 and 2006.

There are dozens of federal law enforcement agencies, ranging from the FBI to the Library of Congress Police. The federal government estimates it makes about 140,000 arrests each year.

Those who support the expanded collection believe that DNA sampling could get violent criminals off the streets and prevent them from committing more crimes.

A Chicago study in 2005 found that 53 murders and rapes could have been prevented if a DNA sample had been collected upon arrest.

“Many innocent lives could have been saved had the government began this kind of DNA sampling in the 1990s when the technology to do so first became available,” Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said. Kyl sponsored the 2005 law that gave the Justice Department this authority.

Thirteen states have passed similar laws.

But the new regulation would mean that the federal government could store DNA samples of people who are not guilty of any crime, said Jesselyn McCurdy, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Now innocent people’s DNA will be put into this huge CODIS database, and it will be very difficult for them to get it out if they are not charged or convicted of a crime,” McCurdy said.

If a person is arrested but not convicted, he or she can ask the Justice Department to destroy the sample.

The Homeland Security Department – the federal agency charged with policing immigration – supports the new rule.

http://www.legalnewspost.com/entry/Feds-to-collect-DNA-from-every-person-they-arrest

In a shareholder’s class action that neatly summarizes complaints about Schering-Plough Corp.’s sales of its cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System claims: “Sixteen months after completion of a study showing that its two most profitable drugs had no greater health benefit than far cheaper generic competitors – and may even be harmful – Schering sold over $4 billion of its own securities to the investing without disclosing the results of the study. This lack of disclosure violated the securities laws.”
The complaint continues: “It took the Company another five months to disclose some of the study results and when it did, Schering’s stock dropped precipitously and investors were harmed. Ten weeks after that initial disclosure, Schering disclosed the study results in their entirety, which caused the stock to drop even further.

“Defendant Schering manufactures and markets two anti-cholesterol drugs called Zetia and Vytorin. Vytorin is a combination of Zetia and Zocor – in generic form, simvastatin – and is jointly manufactured and marketed with Merck & Co., Inc. Total sales of Zetia and Vytorin were $3.9 billion in 2006 and $5.2 billion in 2007. These drugs are Schering’s most profitable, accounting for 70 percent of its profits, by one estimate.”

This is not the first such class action against Schering-Plough. Courthouse News reports it because its first six pages contain a clear and concise summary of the allegations, and the history of the medical trials that Schering allegedly failed to disclose.
Plaintiffs are represented by James Cecchi with Carella, Byrne, Bain, Gilfillan, Cecchi, Stewart & Olstein of Roseland, N.J.

http://dailybarnews.com/entry/Class-Action-Cites-Zetia-Vytorin

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Washington state constitution does not provide a right for prison inmates to starve themselves to death. Convicted arsonist Charles R. McNabb sued the Washington State Department of Corrections to stop his force-feeding. McNabb pursued his case under the Article I, Section 7 guarantee of privacy enshrined in the Washington constitution, but DOC officials argued that they had a “legal and constitutional obligation” to prevent him from starving to death. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the DOC, noting that McNabb was not on a hunger strike but was rather attempting to commit suicide via starvation:

An individual retains a modicum of constitutional protection while incarcerated. However, “many rights and privileges are subject to limitation in penal institutions because of paramount institutional goals and policies.” Therefore, in accord with holdings from other jurisdictions, we conclude that McNabb retains a limited right of privacy, including the limited right to refuse artificial means of nutrition and hydration subject to the goals and policies of the prison system…

We conclude that the State’s interests in applying DOC’s force-feeding policy to McNabb outweigh his right to refuse artificial means of nutrition and hydration.

First, the State has a compelling interest in maintaining security and orderly administration in its prison system…

Second, the State has a strong interest in the preservation of life where medical treatment will in fact save the patient’s life…

Third, the State has a compelling interest in protecting innocent third parties…

Typically, the court considers the interests of the patient’s dependents and family members…

Fourth, the State has a compelling interest in the prevention of suicide…

Fifth, the State has a compelling interest in the maintenance of the ethical integrity of the medical profession.

Only one justice dissented, writing that “force-feeding will not rehabilitate McNabb or contribute to his welfare; by contrast, force-feeding is degrading and cruel.”

McNabb pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and arson after he set fire to the house of his estranged wife, and received a sentence of 14 years. He first stopped eating while detained before trial, apparently in an attempt to starve himself to death out of remorse. Prison officials began to force-feed McNabb after attempting to convince him to eat on his own.

http://legalnewspost.com/entry/Court-rules-inmate-has-no-right-to-starve-himself

Court documents say the 16-year-old girl whose call triggered the police raid on a polygamist sect’s Texas compound said that her husband beat her.The San Angelo Standard-Times newspaper is citing the court documents as also saying the girl was the seventh wife of a sect member who is named in an arrest warrant on possible abuse charges.

The newspaper says the girl told authorities at a family violence shelter that her husband hit her in the chest and choked her while another woman held her infant child at the sect’s Yearn for Zion Ranch.

Court documents on file Tuesday were the basis for Child Protective Services’ request that a judge grant it custody of all 401 children removed from the ranch.

http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/entry/Girl-in-Polygamist-Sect-Says-Was-Beaten