Brianna Smith is a freelance writer and editor in Southwest Michigan. A graduate of Grand Valley State University, Brianna has a passion for politics, social issues, education, science, and more. When she’s not writing, she enjoys the simple life with her husband, daughter, and son.
A settlement has been reached in yet another age discrimination lawsuit. Kean University has agreed to a $375,000 settlement with Wiliam DeGarcia, a former administrator who “sued the college alleging he was denied a promotion due to age discrimination.” Of that $375,000, $260,000 will go directly to DeGracia.
Two people got the shock of their lives when they opened a bag of “Organic Marketside Spring Mix” salad from a Florida Walmart, only to find a dead bat inside. They contacted authorities, which prompted an investigation by “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see if the animal had rabies.” Additionally, the CDC is also working with the “Florida department of heath and the federal Food and Drug Administration” to find out how a dead bat ended up inside a sealed package of salad.
In light of all of the lawsuits against him, it’s not hard to believe that Bill Cosby owes a lot in legal fees. Fortunately for him, his insurance company has agreed to “foot the bill in 3 of his sexual assault cases.”
A controversial safety rule on silica exposure is being delayed by the Department of Labor, despite the fact that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “lowered the permissible exposure limit to silica dust for construction workers” last year. The new rule, scheduled to go into effect on June 23, is now being delayed for three more months because OSHA has determined that “additional guidance is necessary due to the unique nature of the requirements in the construction standard.”
A child’s death is always tragic, but even more so when it is caused by a family member. In the case of Zion McKeown, this is exactly what happened to him. While in his father’s custody, Zion was “allegedly stomped to death.” Now the boy’s grandmother, Maryann Rooney, is awaiting a final approval of a settlement in a lawsuit she filed on behalf of “Zion’s estate and Zion’s sister.” While she originally sought $4 million, the “state legislature is preparing to approve an $875,000 settlement.”
On Thursday, Robbin Smith of Castle Rock, Colorado was awarded “the second-largest medical negligence verdict in Colorado history,” according to an attorney. Just how much did a jury award her, and why? Well, she received “$14.9 million from The Surgery Center at Lone Tree after an injection caused her to be paralyzed from the waist down because of a spinal cord infarction.”
An important new safety alert has been issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for parents who use baby hammocks with their babies. The scrutiny over the hammocks arose after “two newborns died in their sleep,” prompting regulators to propose new safety standards for not only baby hammocks but other products “where newborns sleep in an inclined position.”
It’s always a good idea for patients to get a second opinion for any kind of ailment they’re diagnosed with, especially since new Mayo Clinic research shows that more than “20 percent of patients who sought a second opinion at one of the nation’s premier medical institutions had been misdiagnosed by their primary care providers.”
Mylan isn’t doing so well lately. Not only is it currently grappling with numerous lawsuits over their suspicious EpiPen pricing, but now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a huge recall of the company’s EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. over concerns that the emergency injectors could fail to activate because of a defective part.
As a result of a terrible accident involving a “drunk goggles” intoxication demonstration, the Davis School District has agreed to pay $100,000 to a teenage girl and her family to settle a personal injury lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the student, Kylie Nielsen, of Kaysville, was injured in class the morning of May 9, 2014, at Centennial Junior High School. She was 13 at the time, and the accident, which resulted in a crippling leg injury, occurred “during an alcohol impairment simulation exercise in a health class.”