MIAMI - Lawsuits are already filed in this month's disastrous Triumph cruise ship voyage, but the legal deck is stacked in parent company Carnival's favor, mainly because of the restrictive terms of vacationers' tickets, governing who can sue and where.

Source: Cruise lawsuits are in, but Carnival has advantage

A Florida maritime law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of passengers aboard the ill-fated Carnival Triumph.

The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida, says that Carnival Corp. was negligent for allowing Triumph to embark on the failed cruise when the company was aware the ship was prone to mechanical and or engine issues.

Last month, in Wyeth v. Weeks, the Alabama Supreme Court adopted an aggressive new theory of tort liability that threatens to return Alabama to a litigation era so hostile to business and industry that the state was dubbed "Tort Hell."

In Weeks, the Court held, over Justice Glenn Murdock's 46-page dissent, that "[u]nder Alabama law, a brand-name drug company may be held liable for fraud or misrepresentation...by a plaintiff claiming physical injury caused by a generic drug manufactured by a different company." Translation: In Alabama, a company can be held liable for injuries caused by the use of its competitors' products.

From: Activist Alabama Supreme Court Radically Expands Tort Liability

First, Lane discusses a 2008 case report in which Mirena device migration caused injuries to three women. In one of the three cases, the woman believed she had expelled the Mirena but it had in fact migrated and required surgery to be removed.

Next, Lane discusses a 2011 case report in which two Mirena users required laparoscopic retreival of the Mirena.  Laparoscopic surgery is less-invasive than traditional surgery.  Fortunately, the two women in this case report successfully recovered.

Finally, Lane discusses the 2002 case of a 39-year-old woman who suffered an ectopic pregnancy while using Mirena because the device had migrated into her abdomen.  Ectopic pregnancies and Mirena migration can both be life-threatening.

"I am currently reviewing potential Mirena cases on behalf of women who suffered injuries that may have been caused by Mirena.  I welcome the opportunity to speak to any women who believe their Mirena IUD migrated or otherwise injured them.  If a woman would prefer to discuss her case with another woman initially, I am fortunate enough to work with a talented attorney and several support personnel who would be happy to speak to anyone more comfortable with someone of their own gender," said Lane.

In an en banc decision issued on January 17, 2013, the Washington Supreme Court held that binding arbitration clauses in insurance contracts are unenforceable under a state statute, RCW 48.18.200(1)(b). The Court further held that the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1012, shields the relevant state statute from preemption by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), a law that liberally allows the arbitration of legal disputes. See State of Washington, Department of Transportation v. James River Insurance Company, Case No. 87644-44 (Wash. Jan. 17, 2013).

Source: Washington Supreme Court Holds That Binding Arbitration Clauses in Insurance Contracts Are Unenforceable | Troutman Sanders LLP

WASHINGTON –  A Georgia state lawmaker with an unconventional grasp of the First Amendment is backing a bill that would make lewd photoshopping a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine.

Source: Georgia pol wants to make lewd photoshopping a crime after being mocked in porn star pic | Fox News

How about we start requiring legislators to pass a basic civics exam before they take office?

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia criticized the annual State of the Union ritual Tuesday night, calling the presidential speech something worth skipping because it is a "rather silly affair."

. . . .

Scalia, the Supreme Court's senior member and a Ronald Reagan appointee, noted that it's not uncommon for justices to skip the event. William Rehnquist often did not attend toward the end of his tenure as chief justice, he said, and former associate justice John Paul Stevens never showed up. Scalia confirmed he has not attended since 1997.

Source: Scalia: State of the Union 'a childish spectacle'

Read the link to find out what kind of gun Scalia fondly remembers carrying on the New York Subway.

The nation’s red and blue states often are miles apart in social attitudes and, of course, political outlook.

It turns out that they also divide into distinct camps when it comes to a grimmer measure — fatal traffic accidents.

To an extent that mystifies safety experts and other observers, federal statistics show that people in red states are more likely to die in road crashes. The least deadly states – those with the fewest crash deaths per 100,000 people – overwhelmingly are blue.

Source: Traffic Deaths: A Surprising Dimension of the Red State-Blue State Divide | FairWarning

Silver Cross Hospital for a decade has exploited accident settlements to get higher fees from patients, a class-action lawsuit alleges.

By placing medical liens on personal-injury settlements, the New Lenox-based hospital seeks to force patients to pay higher, out-of-network fees even when Silver Cross has network agreements with the patients' health insurers, the complaint says. Settlement proceeds can’t be distributed until a lien is released by the hospital or declared invalid by a judge.

Silver Cross has placed a lien for $18,000 on an $85,000 settlement won by Brian Falls even though it accepted payment of under $6,000 at the discounted, in-network rate from a subsidiary of Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group, Mr. Falls alleges.

Source: Suit against Silver Cross alleges misuse of medical liens - Health Care News - Crain's Chicago Business

Mike Elmendorf, president of the state Association of General Contractors, says more than 150 people from across New York will be at the state Capitol Tuesday to advocate for reforming the 19th-century law that holds property owners, employers and contractors responsible for all damages in elevation-related injuries that occur at job sites, even if the worker is found to be at fault.

Source: WRGB-TV Channel 6 News :: News - Top Stories - Groups pushing for reform of NY's `Scaffold Law'