Kmart vs. Kroger Flooding Case Set for Trial in Mississippi

January 4, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A federal judge has denied requests from the city of Corinth and the Kroger Co. to be dismissed as defendants in a lawsuit over 2010 flooding at the Kmart in Corinth.

Kmart Corp. is seeking compensation for flood damage at the Fulton Crossing location, the store’s closure for about 10 months, and flood prevention efforts in April 2011, when the store was also threatened by flood waters.

The Daily Corinthian reported that U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson agreed to a non-jury trial for the city of Corinth separate from the jury trial for Kroger and other defendants. Both trials will begin Feb. 24, 2014 in federal court in Aberdeen.

Kmart sued Corinth, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, The Kroger Co., E&A Southeast Limited Partnership, Fulton Improvements, LLC; and Kansas City Southern Railway Co. FEMA was dismissed as a defendant in June.

The suit alleges that Kroger, Kmart’s neighbor, sits in a floodway and, on May 2, 2010, altered the flow of water from standing water to a rushing, forceful flow of water at the Kmart store.

Kmart argues that the grocery store should have been leveled but in 2005 was allowed to remain in the floodway after a letter of map revision was issued by FEMA. The suit states the city, Kroger and the landlord at the time, E&A, were involved in securing the revision.

 

 

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Mississippi High Court to Hear Texaco Appeal Over Gas Tank Fumes

October 19, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle3 Comments

The Mississippi Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Dec. 3 in Texaco’s appeal of a $19 million verdict for five women who alleged the oil company was responsible for their children born with disabilities and illnesses.

A Hinds County jury ruled for the woman in 2010. Texaco appealed the verdict. Supreme Court records show briefs have been filed in the case.

The women had claimed they were pregnant when they worked in an old Jefferson County office building in Fayette, which previously was a gas station affiliated with Texaco Inc.

The women sued Texaco, now a unit of Chevron Corp., saying they were exposed to leaded gasoline fumes from tanks left in the ground when the former gas station was renovated.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality had the tanks and contaminated soil removed in 2000.

According to court records, the defense’s expert testified Simon was exposed to 46,000 times the safe level for exposure to leaded gasoline fumes.

A Texaco expert said no medical records substantiate the claims of the women being exposed to dangerous levels of leaded gas fumes.

Loraine Simon was the lead plaintiff in the case. She alleged her 20-year-old daughter, Rosalyn, is severely mentally disabled, and the children of the other women suffer from respiratory conditions and learning disabilities.

The trial was moved from Jefferson County to Hinds County.

Texaco claims it never owned, operated or controlled the service station or the underground storage tanks. The company said there is no evidence to link it to the claims made by plaintiffs.

Simon testified during the trial that she and her husband, Robert Simon, had taken their daughter to several physicians trying to determine the cause of her condition. They have two older children who do not have any mental defects. She did not work in the building when she was pregnant with the other two children.

The other plaintiffs didn’t have children with mental disabilities, but all suffer from asthma. Their attorneys argued that each of their children, who now range in age from 11 to 20, has some learning disability.

 

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Southeast NewsTopics: effect of gas fumes, environmental liability, gas tanks, Mississippi gas fumes lawsuit, pollution liability, Texaco, Texaco gas fumesHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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Court Invalidates Sex Harassment Award to Southern Mississippi Coaches

November 9, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled against three former University of Southern Mississippi soccer coaches who claimed sexual harassment and sexual discrimination.

The Hattiesburg American reported that the ruling reversed a 2008 Forrest County Circuit verdict that awarded a total of $1.2 million in damages to the coaches.

The Supreme Court found insufficient evidence to the jury’s verdicts in favor of former head coach John Vincent and assistant coaches John Mollaghan and Ged O’Connor, who claimed sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation at the hands of Southern Miss employees.

Vincent, Mollaghan and O’Connor filed suit in 2000, naming as defendants former Southern Miss athletic director Richard Giannini, senior women’s administrator Sonya Varnell, former Southern Miss President Horace Fleming and the university.

 

 

 

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Lawsuit Over NFL Concussions Filed in Mississippi

September 21, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A federal lawsuit filed in Mississippi on behalf of more than 50 former NFL players claims the league conspired to hide the dangers of concussions and brain trauma associated with professional football.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 28 in U.S. District Court in Jackson. Some of the players named in the lawsuit are from Mississippi, but others are not. More than 140 similar lawsuits have been filed around the country on behalf of 3,377 former players.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said  the “NFL has long made player safety a priority” and that any “allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit.”

Among other things, the lawsuit claims the NFL created “false scientific studies” and spread misinformation about the long-term consequences of concussions and other brain injuries.

 

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Mississippi Insurance Losses from Isaac Under $25 Million

September 21, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Private insurers expect to pay more than $24.3 million in claims in Mississippi as a result of Hurricane Isaac, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said.

Chaney said that as of Sept. 19, Mississippi’s 21 largest insurers had received 9,400 claims and paid $8.6 million.

That’s low compared Hurricane Katrina’s $41 billion in insured damage nationwide. Isaac is expected to cause up to $2 billion in losses in areas it passed through.

At least another 8,000 Isaac claims are expected to be filed, the Insurance Department said. The number doesn’t include claims in the federal flood insurance program or crop insurance.

Of private claims, about $16 million in expected from homeowners’ policies and about $3 million from automobile policies. Chaney said Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. and USAA are reporting the most claims.

 

 

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Judge: Mississippi Lawyer Owes Diet Drug Claimants $600K

May 10, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A judge has ruled that a Jackson attorney owes two former clients a combined $600,000 from more than $4.5 million in attorney fees he received in a diet drug settlement case dating to the early 2000s.

The Clarion-Ledger reported whether Herbert Lee Jr. owes former clients Deborah Dixon and Gloria Thompson additional money will be up to a Hinds County jury.

The women’s breach of contract lawsuit began this week.

The jury must determine whether Lee’s contingency contract specified a 40 percent fee instead of the 45 percent fee he received.

Lee’s attorney said all the contracts came up missing from Lee’s office.

Dixon and Thompson were among 13 individuals who hired Lee to represent them in the litigation against the manufacturer of the diet-drug Fen-Phen.

 

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