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The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a $145 billion punitive damage award against tobacco companies for injuring smokers, saying it turned out excessive. It was the biggest award ever by a us jury.The justices also approved an appellate court ruling it had been a mistake to certify a class-action lawsuit representing an estimated 300,000 to 700,000 ill Floridians that triggered the jury award in 2000.A majority of the state's high court, however, reinstated a $2.85 million damage award to Mary Farnan and a $4.023 million award to Angie Della Vecchia, who started smoking as a possible 11-year-old and died in 1999."This is a huge win for big tobacco and a real defeat for the public interest along with the public health," UC-San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz told CBS Radio News.A $5.8 million award to Frank Amodeo â?? who, like Farnan and Della Vecchia, was cancer-stricken and blamed that on his smoking habit â?? was not restored in Thursday's ruling because it fell outside the time limit."We unanimously conclude that this punitive damages award is excessive really should be law," the judge wrote in its 79-page opinion.Meanwhile, tobacco stocks jumped together with the news, turning sharply higher on Wall Street, CBS Radio News correspondent Dan Raviv reports. Shares of Altria Group Inc., parent of Philip Morris USA, the most important U.S. cigarette maker, rose nearly 6 % to $77.51 in morning trading about the New York Stock Exchange.The suit, led by pediatrician Dr. Howard Engle, was filed in Miami by the husband-and-wife legal team of Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt. They accused the industry of misleading people in regards to the dangers of smoking.The Rosenblatts declined immediate comment Thursday, saying they wanted to digest the ruling. Amodeo's wife, Margaret, told The Associated Press that her husband we hadn't spoken with an attorney about the ruling and therefore was lacking any immediate reaction.In 2000, the jury that decided the punitive damages said tobacco maker Philip Morris should pay nearly $74 billion in punitive damages, R.J.R. Reynolds tobacco over $36 billion, Brown and Williamson tobacco a lot more than $17.5 billion, Lorillard tobacco $16.25 billion, as well as the Liggett Group $790 million.Originally filed in 1994 on the part of all addicted smokers in america, the 3rd District Court of Appeal permitted a trial only after reducing the class to Florida smokers.Following your trial, however, exactly the same appellate court threw out your verdict, saying true failed to meet law for a class action.The appellate court also disallowed punitive damages because the state already had obtained a settlement for Medicaid expenses from the tobacco industry. That agreement pumps about $360 million annually into state coffers but gives not even attempt to individual smokers.Tobacco industry lawyers argued that each smoker is affected differently and should have to file an outside lawsuit.The Rosenblatts, during oral arguments before the Supreme Court in November 2004, said those differences could possibly be resolved without disturbing the class-action verdict. They said short proceedings to discover medical costs as well as other compensatory damages ought to be held instead of retrying common issues, including punitive damages, thousands of times.Only six of the seven justices heard the case. Justice Raoul Cantero did not participate. ugg boots knitted
Half of middle- and lower-income Americans have serious problems paying their medical bills, and more than three-fourths say the strategy is in need of a major overhaul, based on a new survey.The final results show Americans are growing increasingly concerned about the affordability of medical and want better coordination and improved entry to information and care."Rather than thinking more care is much better care, patients are quite perceptive about wasteful care," says researcher Cathy Schoen, senior v . p . of The Commonwealth Fund, in a news release. The phone survey was conducted in June by Harris Interactive for that Commonwealth Fund's Commission with a High Performance Health System. The survey had a national sample of just one,023 adults.One in four adults said their physician had recommended unnecessary care or treatment, the other in six reported their doctor repeated tests already done.Overall, the survey showed 42 percent of american citizens reported an instance of receiving inefficient, poorly coordinated, or unsafe healthcare in the past two years.Problems included using a test ordered that was done already, having unnecessary care or treatment recommended, devoid of important medical information shared with another doctor or nurse, or experiencing a medical, surgical, medication, or lab error.Nearly two of five adults reported serious problems paying for their own or their family's medical, and a similar number reported problems purchasing insurance. About one in five said these affordability problems were "very serious."Affordability Concerns The final results also show medical care affordability concerns are going up the income ladder. Half of middle-income ($35,000 to less than $50,000 per year) and lower-income (less than $35,000 per year) adults report somewhat serious or grave problems paying for doctor bills and health insurance. A third of adults with higher annual incomes, between $50,000 and $75,000, report serious problems spending money on health care. One-fifth of those with incomes of extra $75,000 per year report serious medical bill problems in the last 2 yrs.Support For Better Health Care Coordination More than three-quarters of these surveyed said the U.S. healthcare system is in need of fundamental change or complete rebuilding.There is also strong support for efforts to improve the coordination and efficiency of healthcare and medical information, with over nine in 10 believing it is important to have one place or doctor responsible for providing and coordinating each of their medical care.The results also showed: More than nine in 10 Americans think computerized medical records can be an effective way to improve medical quality. Four of 5 adults believe the grade of health care would improve if doctors practiced in a group rather than alone. Nearly nine of 10 say wider usage of reminders for preventive care would improve the quality of health care. About two of five adults said that they experienced serious problems getting timely appointments to determine their doctors. SOURCES: Schoen, C. "Public Views on Shaping the Future of the U.S. Healthcare System," Aug. 17, 2006. News release, The Commonwealth Fund. By Jennifer WarnerReviewed by Louise Chang, M.D. ? 2006, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved mulberry wiki
This column was written by Mona Charen. Spread about the desk before me are news accounts of atrocities committed by the Iranian regime. Here's one from 2004: Amnesty International protested the death penalty performed on 16-year-old Ateqeh Rajabi, in the northern province of Mazandaran, for "acts incompatible with chastity." Reports are sketchy, nonetheless it seems the mentally impaired Ateqeh had sex using a boy. The boy was punished by 100 lashes and released. Ateqeh was hanged in the primary square after the Iranian Supreme court upheld her sentence.The Guardian newspaper reports that numerous Tehran bus drivers who tried to strike were beaten and arrested in July of 2007. Their families were targeted by plainclothes police, who burst within their homes and beat women and children.Iran Focus recounts that the 13-year-old girl was raped by her brother. She became pregnant and delivered a child. The result? An Iranian court sentenced her to death by stoning. Her brother received 150 lashes. Two boys accused of homosexual acts were hanged within the public square of the town of Gorgan in 2005. These were 24 and Twenty five years old. Countless other men suspected of homosexuality are already held without trial and tortured to acquire confessions.There is actually quite a catalogue of Iranian abominations in Columbia University President Lee Bollinger's "introduction" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He cited the imprisonment of two Iranian/American scholars, the executions of 30 dissidents within the last three months, widespread persecutions of the of the Bahai faith as well as other religious minorities, support for international terrorism, aid to militias currently killing American soldiers in Iraq, explicit and genocidal threats against Israel, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejad's Holocaust-denying conference, and much more. The problem was the setting. Bollinger explained that the university's invitation grew beyond its commitment to the optimal of free speech as well as the "almost single-minded commitment to pursue reality." But do you advance the search for truth by giving a platform to liars and criminals? Bollinger gave away the absurdity of their own position by verbally doubting, while he dressed down the "cruel dictator," that Ahmadinejad would answer the questions posed. Well, once you learn that your guest will not answer your questions, nor take part in the academy's favorite activity - "dialogue" - then a rationale for the invitation falls apart. The greater case against issuing a party invitation to such a malevolent figure is naturally moral. The invitation implies respect - that is exactly what Columbia University and all sorts of people of good will must be most eager to withhold from Ahmadinejad. Besides, this is not merely a matter of noxious opinions. He has blood on his hands and appears forward, cheerfully, to much, much more. This is about behavior leading to real flesh and blood suffering.When compared with some members of the Columbia faculty, however, the maladroit Bollinger looks positively Churchillian. There is Dean John Coatsworth, who, facing the indefensibility of Columbia's position, went all out and announce that, yes, Columbia would have invited Hitler to speak with its students due to the opportunity. Actually, lots of people did talk to Hitler. Many found him charming. Chamberlain thought he has been trusted. That worked out well.Eric Foner, a professor which has a long leftist pedigree, objected to Bollinger's mention of Iranian aid to Iraqi terrorists. "He accepts as true claims that are being made about Iran's role in Iraq, which can be being put forward by people whose credibility on weapons in the center East has not been 100 percent reliable," was Foner's snide take on the entire episode. Professor Richard Bulliet, an Iran expert who had a hand in bringing Ahmadinejad to campus, had told colleagues prior to the lecture that the Iranian leader would have been a "very reasonable speaker, a very effective debater." In the aftermath of the event, several professors denounced Bollinger's remarks as the ones from a "schoolyard bully" while remaining silent on Ahmadinejad's nauseating rant.And then there was the applause. The newest York Times reporter present estimated that Thirty percent of the audience was pro-Ahmadinejad. Thirty percent. More than anything, that sends a chill around the spine.By Mona Charen Reprinted with permission from National Review Online ugg boots leeds
A $1 million offer for the call girl connected to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was rescinded because she'd already shot footage for "Girls Gone Wild." Now it may be the video maker who will lose out.A lawyer for Ashley Alexandra Dupre, now 22, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Dupre was 17 once the footage was filmed. After listening to her attorney, Don Buchwald, the business said the video's Internet release will likely be delayed."Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis originally reached to Dupre, offering $1 million on her behalf to appear in a non-nude spread for his company's new magazine along with a chance to join the "Girls Gone Wild" tour bus.But on Tuesday "Girls Gone Wild" employees found archived footage of Dupre filmed in 2003, and Francis retracted the sale."We are getting pressure from her lawyer," Francis told E! News Wednesday. "He is just mad because her price has dropped. Regardless of whether she was 17, we will still release it. There wasn't any sexual contact. There's only nudity."Francis said he's allowed to publish the video providing there is no sexual contact. He cited a 2002 case of Lane v. MRA Holdings that they claims ruled that underage individuals might be filmed as long as it had not been pornographic or showing sexual contact. "She didn't do anything more than show her breasts and kiss a number of girls," he added. "But there's full nudity."Francis said he bought Dupre a Greyhound bus ticket home to North Carolina in 2003. Dupre returned home after she spent a week on the "Girls Gone Wild" bus in Miami and filmed seven full-length tapes, including nudity, after signing legal papers, the company said."It was because she was underage that they sent her home on a Greyhound bus back to Vermont. It would be outrageous anyway to play the video of the underage female on the Internet," Buchwald said within an e-mail to one of Francis' publicists forwarded by the attorney to the AP .Francis said that his company has a "corporate policy" not to use individuals under 18 in their videos. Given this policy, the company delayed the release of Dupre's footage on the net. The company was "investigating the matter" and "will make our decision shortly," Francis said.Ed Griffith, spokesman for your Miami-Dade County state attorney's office, declined to touch upon the subject, adding that "we will be foolish to make a broad general statement."Lewd or lascivious acts committed upon or perhaps the presence of those under 16 is unlawful in Florida, said Miami-based defense attorney Roy Kahn. "Just taking nude video or photographs alone within a public place would not be illegal if the body's 17. It doesn't violate lewd and lascivious conduct which has a minor," Kahn said.Francis returned to California last week after being sentenced to time served and fines in Florida within a case involving the filming of underage girls. He still faces trial on federal tax evasion charges that carry a penalty of up to Decade in prison.By late Wednesday, Dupre had been depicted on the "Girls Gone Wild" Web site, with a free sampling about the front page of her dancing in a bikini and the rest obtainable with a $29.95 monthly subscription."It's similar to finding a winning lottery ticket inside the cushions of your couch," Francis told the AP - before he saw the e-mail from Dupre's attorney.Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told the AP last Friday that they e-mailed Dupre offering her $1 million to show up nude in his magazine, but didn't sound optimistic which she would settle for that amount.Dupre's public profile has skyrocketed since Spitzer resigned yesterday amid the prostitution scandal. He was accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes, together with a February tryst with a call girl named "Kristen," since identified as Dupre.Dupre's MySpace page was hit over 5 million times in the days immediately after the scandal broke. Her musical efforts were paid attention to hundreds of thousands of times online and played on national airwaves. purple mulberry bag
Eight Marines were charged Thursday inside the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians a year ago in a bloody, door-to-door sweep in the town of Haditha that came after among their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb.It is the biggest criminal case in the Iraq War, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. A sergeant who faces 13 counts of murder and a lieutenant colonel who is accused of dereliction of duty are probably the eight Marines charged. In all of the, four of the Marines were arrested for unpremeditated murder. The other four were officers who were not there but were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths.One of the most serious charges were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader charged with murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. He was accused of telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later," in accordance with court papers released by his attorney.The highest-ranking defendant was Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 42. He was accused of failing to obey an investment or regulation, encompassing dereliction of duty.At the news conference to announce the fees, military officials wouldn't normally say what they believe prompted the killings. But investigators have risen the possibility that the men went on a rampage in a fury over the roadside bombing that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas, and wounded two other Marines.Defense attorneys have disputed that, saying their customers were doing what they had been trained to do: addressing a perceived threat with legitimate force.Terrazas' father denounced the costs, saying his son was murdered by insurgents. "What they certainly to our troops ... it is just wrong," Martin Terrazas said in Texas. "I sense of their families. They are in my prayers."Wuterich and two comrades arrested for murder could get life imprisonment. The military just isn't seeking the death penalty. One other men face shorter prison sentences.The Marine Corps initially reported that 15 Iraqis died within a roadside bomb blast which Marines killed eight insurgents in a ensuing firefight. That account was widely discredited, and later on reports put the quantity of dead Iraqis at 24.A criminal probe was released after Time magazine reported in March, citing survivor accounts and human rights groups, that innocent individuals were killed.Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general of the Marine Corps Central Command, said Thursday how the Corps' initial news release, which stated the civilians in Haditha was killed by an improvised blast, was incorrect."We now know with certainty that the press release was incorrect, understanding that none of the civilians died by the IED explosion," Mattis said.As word spread that charges were imminent, some Iraqis said Thursday that American troops should face justice in Iraq."They committed an awful crime against innocents," Naji al-Ani, a 36-year-old laborer, said by telephone from Haditha.Other residents of Haditha agreed."Are they terrorists or is it fighting terrorism?" said Jamal al-Obaidi, a 40-year-old teacher. "The trial is just not fair because it is taking place in America. Executing them will be the minimum penalty."Besides Wuterich, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, 24, was charged with the unpremeditated murders of 5 people and setting up a false statement. Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 22, was faced with the unpremeditated murder of three Iraqis. Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25, was charged with the unpremeditated murders of two Iraqis, negligent homicide of four years old Iraqis and assault.The other officers charged were 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, 25, Capt. Lucas McConnell, 31, and Capt. Randy Stone, 34, a military attorney.The men are not being locked up for the present time because they are unlikely to flee and are not a danger to themselves or others, said Col. Stewart Navarre, a Corps spokesman.In Meriden, Conn., Wuterich's father, Dave, said his son was out Christmas shopping. The daddy said family members believe his son's form of events."He says they followed the principles of engagement," Dave Wuterich said. "They had to have small arms fire. They did what you had to do." ebay mulberry bags
Dotty Lynch is CBSNews.com's Political Points columnist. E-mail the questions you have and comments to Political Points Last October, when President Bush had been fighting for Harriet Miers for that Supreme Court and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was still being front-page news, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich offered the some tips. "What the White House must do is simply focus calmly on where can they want to be in 60 or Three months. What is the state of the union likely to look like?" Gingrich said on CBS News' Face the united states. "My prediction is that by the condition of the Union, obama will be back in his, inside the form that he governed for five years, and my hope is always that by the State of the Union, you'll see a very reform and change-oriented Republican Party offering some very bold proposals."By most accounts the president was forward-looking in his Condition of the Union speech although not particularly bold or reform-minded. In reality, it was a speech with a very conciliatory tone which has a number of mom-and-apple-pie lines about supporting troops, fixing entitlements and doing more for science and math education that forced the Democrats to rise and applaud a great deal more often than they had intended. The boldest moment probably came in the form of the sound bite that Americans are "addicted to oil." The line stood a bit of shock value from the Texas oilman whose administration has been quite close to oil company executives and whose family members have been close to many foreign oil producers. Bush went on with a laundry set of new proposals (and several not so new retreads from his 2005 address) for developing alternative energy sources including ethanol, solar and nuclear power. The Democrats saw that particular coming and launched another panic attack charging the Bush administration with finding myself bed with Big Oil. "Unlike President Bush's implication, you'll find nothing wrong with Americans, there is something wrong with America's leaders that are addicted to oil money. The Republican addiction is see-through from the $14 billion in oil as well as energy giveaways Republicans passed while cutting nearly $14 billion in student aid, whilst those corporations are generating astronomical record profits," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, head from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.We will know soon if it energy debate has "legs," as reporters say, but the major benefit a president has from the State of the Union speech is he controls the microphone. The CBS News poll of people which watched the speech, an audience which skewed Republican, found that 77 percent liked it along with a majority felt his proposals would make their lives better. While President Bush handled some of his controversial policies, mainly the war in Iraq, the plight of New Orleans and the charges of corruption all around the Republicans in Congress were minor moments in the 52-minute address. Controlling the pictures along with the microphone is the second presidential advantage. Now it is ritual that the first lady will likely be surrounded by symbolic guests. On Tuesday night those included a little daughter female leader in the parliament of Afghanistan wearing a headscarf as well as an injured soldier with your ex bomb-sniffing dog. But Iraq War protester Cindy Sheehan, a guest of Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey, was declared from bounds and put under arrest for wearing an anti-war T-shirt. Obama is off Wednesday two states, Tennessee and Minnesota, who have very competitive Senate races, and that he will try to keep attention centered on his agenda. The Democrats get this amazing protest planned in Opryland about health care and the president's Health Savings Accounts and definately will try to get their voices heard seeing that the big moment has gone by. The 2006 campaign has begun and the outcome may be determined by who controls the microphone throughout the year. ugg jimmy choo