As I said in my op-ed Secretary Veneman: you have not put me out of business yet, as a trial lawyer I spend much of my time looking for fault. But, from my mother, I learned to compliment and thank someone for doing the right thing, whatever their motives. So, thank you Agricultural Secretary
December 2003
What to do about the “Mad Cow”
Does America really have the safest food supply in the world? The Center for Disease Control estimates that each year over 76 million of us become ill, 300,000 are hospitalized and over 5,000 die, just from eating food contaminated with a food borne pathogen.
As I said in a recent op-ed What to do about…
Hepatitis plaintiffs want judge to OK lawsuits against Chi-Chi’s
Yesterday, Joe Mandak of the Associated Press reported in his story Hepatitis plaintiffs want judge to OK lawsuits against Chi-Chi’s, that we have asked the bankruptcy judge to lift the automatic stay to sue the restaurant chain. Lifting the stay will be our first step in accessing the $51 million in liability insurance held…
A rare commencement speaker points to failure
Idaho state government earned notoriety two years ago when it cut its higher education budget by 10 percent. As draconian as that was, however, Idaho’s college and university system has not seen the reductions that Washington’s has. In the Evergreen State, the cuts have been more gradual, but more relentless.
Too many Washingtonians are unaware of the depth of the wounds left by the budget ax. Too bad they weren’t all in attendance at Washington State University’s mid-year commencement ceremony Saturday.
There, onetime WSU student activist and current Regent Bill Marler leveled with graduates about what state government and voters alike have done to the school and its sister institutions. In Marler’s words, they have “more than turned their back on supporting higher education.”
As they have done that, programs have been curtailed, faculty salaries have slipped in comparison with other schools and student tuition has risen to the point that a higher education is, in Marler’s words, for “only the wealthy, only the privileged few.”
“This is not world class, face to face,” Marler said, in mockery of the slogan WSU adopted a few years back.
It sure isn’t. And the reasons for that are as varied as they are inescapable.Continue Reading A rare commencement speaker points to failure
50 CLAIM LOSSES DUE TO HEPATITIS
About 50 people have submitted paperwork so far to recover medical costs and lost wages related to the hepatitis A outbreak at the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi’s. Many of them have already been issued checks, generally for less than $3,000 each. Any claim higher than $3,000 requires review from either insurance companies or the bankruptcy…
Castellini named in hepatitis suit; Tainted onions may have passed through Ky. firm
As James McNair of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in his article Castellini named in hepatitis suit, my firm has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Richard and Linda in Pittsburg against Castellini Co., because the green onions connected with the recent Chi Chi’s hepatitis A outbreak may have passed through the company’s warehouse.
The…