Recent Updates
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BofA Near $8.5B Deal to Settle Big Investors' Claims
Business Law 06/29/2011Bank of America Corp. is close to finalizing a deal to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims by a group of investors that the bank sold them poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market tanked, according to a person fami...
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Citigroup ex-VP arrested in NYC on fraud charges
Business Law 06/27/2011A former Citigroup vice president embezzled $19.2 million from the bank in a one-man "inside job" involving a series of secret money transfers, federal prosecutors said Monday. Gary Foster, 35, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., surrendered Sunday at John F....
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Prescription drug data mining law struck down
Business Law 06/23/2011The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states cannot limit drug manufacturers' use of information about which prescription drugs doctors like to prescribe.The court voted 6-3 to strike down a Vermont data-mining law aimed at boosting the use of generi...
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Banks lose battle to delay cap on invisible fee
Business Law 06/09/2011Merchants trumped bankers in a battle for billions Wednesday as the Senate voted to let the Federal Reserve slash fees that stores pay financial institutions when customers pay with debit cards. Whether consumers will see any of that money remains to...
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Court says university, company co-owners of patent
Business Law 06/06/2011Ownership of a patent for technology to detect HIV levels in patients' blood was correctly split between Stanford University and the pharmaceutical giant Roche, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.By a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a lower court's decis...
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W.Va. court rejects bid to halt Massey Energy sale
Business Law 05/31/2011The West Virginia Supreme Court has declined to issue an order barring Massey Energy shareholders from voting on a proposed $7.1 billion sale to rival coal producer Alpha Natural Resources.The court says in a ruling issued Tuesday it lacks jurisdicti...
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Hartford Courant wants plagiarism suit dismissed
Business Law 05/24/2011Lawyers for The Hartford Courant say in recently filed court documents that a $7.5 million plagiarism lawsuit filed by a competing newspaper should be dismissed because no copyright laws were broken.The motion to dismiss filed on May 4 in Hartford fe...
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AIG, Treasury offering 300M shares worth $9B
Business Law 05/13/2011Bailed-out global insurance company American International Group Inc. and the federal government are offering to sell a total of 300 million AIG shares to the public. The stock sale would be a big step by the government toward disentangling itself fr...
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LA lawsuit claims Deutsche Bank is 'slumlord'
Business Law 05/05/2011The city attorney sued Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, claiming the giant international lender illegally evicted tenants from foreclosed properties and left dozens of homes and apartments to rot, many in low-income neighborhoods. The suit, filed in Los A...
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Lawsuit over fish pedicures heads to Arizona court
Business Law 04/26/2011The Arizona Court of Appeals plans to hear arguments Wednesday on a civil lawsuit involving a Gilbert spa owner whose clients paid to have fish eat dead skin off their feet.The case was filed by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of spa owner Cindy Vo...
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Community Health makes all-cash bid for Tenet
Business Law 04/19/2011Hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc. on Monday revised its $3 billion offer for rival Tenet Healthcare Corp. to an all-cash bid. Community Health is now offering $6 per share in cash. In December, it had gone public with a bid of $5 per sh...
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S&P cuts long-term outlook for US debt to negative
Business Law 04/17/2011Standard & Poor's Ratings Service cut its outlook Monday on the United States' sovereign debt, saying there is a one in three chance it will downgrade the rating on the debt in the next two years. The agency lowered the long-term outlook to "Nega...