The distributors, Bondi said, "unconscionably violated" their duty to prevent opioids from being diverted to non-medical uses by "shipping hundreds of millions of opioids into Florida without sounding the alarm or stopping the shipments." These companies knew their customers were ordering an inordinately high number of opioids, the suit states, but "refused to report the suspicious" activity, turning "a blind eye to this activity in order to earn higher profits."
Prosecutor questions 2014 wire transfer to former state Sen. Jake Files
By John Lovett
A recent letter from the Sebastian County prosecutor to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas questions whether a 2014 wire transfer for $80,000 from a nursing home group partner to then-state Sen. Jake Files’ construction company was “made in violation of federal law.”
Arkansas Proposed Amendment Puts a Price Tag on Life
Issue One would put an arbitrary cap of $500,000 on non-economic and caps punitive damages. In real life this means that if a 40 year old successful business man is killed negligently then his life could be worth millions because you could calculate his current earnings and multiply them out for the future. If a stay at home mom, a child or infant, a retired veteran, an individual with Down Syndrome or other genetic disorder who isn’t employed or a nursing home resident who dies as a result of abuse or someone else’s error or negligence then those lives are all capped at a value never to exceed $500,000. The jury simply can’t award a family more, even if it wanted to do so. Think of your loved ones, would you ever put a price tag on their lives?
One state's novel idea to make Big Pharma pay for opioid epidemic
By Wayne Drash, CNN
Big Pharma should pay the billions it will take to fix the opioid crisis it created in Arkansas, a first-of-its-kind lawsuit says.
The suit, filed last week in Crittenden County Circuit Court, brings together 215 Arkansas cities and all 75 counties in the state and accuses opioid manufacturers of wreaking havoc by aggressively pushing the drugs from the early 2000s to the present, leading to hundreds of overdose deaths while straining law enforcement and public health resources.
Brawner: On lawsuit limits, Family Council, lawyers on same side
By Steve Brawner
Referred to voters by the Legislature last year, Issue 1 would limit punitive damages (which punish wrongdoing) to the greater of $500,000 or three times compensatory damages, though not if the defendant intentionally caused harm. It would limit non-economic damages (pain and suffering) to $500,000, or $500,000 for all beneficiaries when the victim dies. Economic damages based on the victim’s income would not be limited, so the more the victim makes, the higher the potential award. It also would limit lawyers’ contingency fees to one-third of the judgment and let the Legislature change the state Supreme Court’s own rules.
A lot of money is at stake, so a lot of money will be spent in the campaign by November.
Flight from Dallas to Little Rock Diverted by Saturday Night Storms
Pregnant Illinois mom killed in freak interstate crash
Tribune Media Wire
A pregnant mother of three was killed in a car crash after a truck’s wheel hub came loose and smashed into her car’s windshield...The driver of the truck, Antanas Sereiva, 59, was charged with a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act violation for “unsafe equipment,” officials said. A family statement said Cullen valued her time with loved ones and was always there for them... Cullen leaves behind a husband and three daughters.
Mother killed, child injured when hit by car in Wayne, New Jersey
ABC 7 NY WABC-TV
A mother was killed and her child seriously injured after being struck by a car in New Jersey Tuesday evening.
The accident happened just after 6:30 p.m. as they were walking across the street at Valley Road and Birchwood Terrace in Wayne.