Category Archives: litigation

Ruling against Chevron in $18 Billion Toxic Oil Waste Case

In February 2011, after an eight-year trial that produced 220,000 pages of evidence, an Ecuador court found Chevron liable for deliberately dumping more than 16 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways when it operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992 under the Texaco brand. The dumping severely hurt indigenous groups and caused an outbreak of cancer and other diseases, according to the evidence. Continue reading

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DENSO Exec Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing on Auto Parts

The plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, requires Imai serve one year and one day in a U.S. prison, to pay a $20,000 criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation. Imai is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which normally carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million or greater criminal fine for individuals. Continue reading

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Lockheed Martin Fined $15.85 Million for Taxpayer Rip-off

“It is troubling that a large defense contractor with long-established contractual ties with the United States failed to undertake appropriate measures to ensure the integrity and validity of the costs it submitted to the United States,” said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. It is more troubling that seven years of fraud when revealed took another seven years for the Federal government to resolve. Continue reading

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BizJet Pays $11.8 M Fine under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

BizJet International Sales and Support will pay an $11.8 million criminal penalty to resolve charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for bribing government officials. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based aircraft maintenance company with links to Lufthansa was under investigation by the Department of Justice for bribing government officials in Latin America to secure contracts to perform aircraft services for government agencies. Continue reading

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Kansas Refinery to pay $1 Million Fine for Pollution Violations

Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing (CRRM) will pay a civil penalty of more than $970,000 and invest more than $4.25 million on new pollution controls and $6.5 million in operating costs to end violations of air, superfund and community right-to-know laws at its Coffeyville, Kansas refinery. CRRM’s refinery has the capacity to refine more than 115,000 barrels of crude oil per day, producing gasoline, diesel fuels and propane. Continue reading

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Chairman of Taiwan Auto Light Maker Guilty of Price Fixing

Five individuals and four corporations have been charged by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Continue reading

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Cramming, the Latest Assault on Your Privacy and Pocketbook

The latest scam in our largely unregulated computerized world is ‘cramming,’ a criminal practice that imposes small charges on your phone bill for false services or products. The root cause is the lack of adequate security at phone companies, which allow thieves to corrupt the billing system and arrange for fraudulent charges. Continue reading

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$90 Million MOEX Settlement for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

As part of the settlement, MOEX will spend $20 million for land acquisition projects in several Gulf States that will preserve in perpetuity habitat and resources important to water quality. MOEX has also agreed to pay $70 million in civil penalties, of which, $45 million will go to the United States. This is the largest civil penalty ever recovered under the Clean Water Act. Continue reading

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Energy Conversion Devices Files Chapter 11, Sells Ovonic Battery. Common Stock to Be Worthless Under Reorganization

OBC was the inventor and worldwide licensor of nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable battery technology, but the cancellation of GM’s EV1, which used the batteries, and the building of a NiMH battery factory in Ohio, which was never used, severely hurt the company, which had a record of obtaining research grants and licensing patents, but was ultimately never able to profitably commercialize its advanced technologies. Continue reading

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BMW Follows Toyota by Paying $3 Million Fine for not Reporting Known Safety Defects within Five Days to NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has levied a $3 million fine on BMW of North America, after the German automaker failed to comply with requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act that BMW report safety defects and so called non-compliances to the federal government in a timely manner. Continue reading

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U.S. and Chinese Nationals Charged with Economic Espionage to Firms Controlled by Communist Chinese Government

To achieve that communist government goal, companies controlled by the PRC government, specifically the Pangang Group companies named in the indictment and employees of those companies allegedly conspired and attempted to illegally obtain TiO2 technology that had been developed over many years of research and development by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Continue reading

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Japanese Suppliers Yazaki, Denso Plead Guilty of Price Fixing

The two-year price fixing sentences would be the longest imprisonment imposed on a foreign national for a Sherman Act antitrust violation. The fine amounts and prison sentences are subject to court approval and the potential influence of the U.S. State Department, which based on previous actions, cares little – if at all – in my opinion about competitive aspects of the U.S. auto industry or its effects on workers and the U.S. economy. In fact it can be argued that since the end of World War Two, State has actively pursued policies that strengthen offshore competitors of U.S. firms at the expense of the U.S. middle class. Continue reading

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NRC Agrees Toyota Unintended Acceleration Mechanical – but NHTSA Didn’t Address Auto Electronics Safety Concerns

One simple step – the requirement of electronic data recorders that would show the actual driver or computer inputs immediately before and during an accident – doesn’t appear immanent. While this will end many false accusations used by product liability attorneys to garner huge fees from large lawsuits against automakers, there appears to be little appetite for the reform in lawyer- dominated Washington. Continue reading

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Chinese Maker to Pay EPA $680,000 Fine for Dirty ATVs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a $680,000 settlement with recreational vehicle manufacturers, Loncin (USA), Inc., Longting USA LLC, and Chongqing Longting Power Equipment Co., Ltd., to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) caused by the import of 7,115 uncertified recreational vehicles into the United States. It was the latest in a series of actions against the Chinese company and its agents. Continue reading

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Midas Sued in Europe for Breach of Contract

The unwelcome development for Midas shareholders comes as the Midas board of directors is exploring the possible sale of the company during an ongoing strategic review. Share prices have ranged from a 52-week high of $9.50 to a 52-week low of $5.08. Currently Midas is trading at $8.46. Midas during the first nine months of 2011 had net earnings of $4.4 million ($0.32 per diluted share), an increase from $2.3 million or $0.17 per diluted share in 2010. Midas pays no dividend. Continue reading

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