ThePopTort

Lethal Drinking

I had a great idea for a follow-up to Carrie Fisher’s funny stage show and memoir, Wishful Drinking, called Lethal Drinking. But alas, Carrie’s gone. And my stories aren’t very funny. And they don’t involve Trumpworld, which has sucked all the oxygen out of the room for awhile. So a PopTort will have to do.

Yesterday, the mayor of Flint Michigan said the city will sue the state now that Gov. Rick Snyder has decided “to stop the state's funding of bottled water to residents of Flint,” saying the city needs to "get over it." Said Mayor Karen Weaver,

"It's an issue of public health, it's an ethical and moral issue. We don't have all of the lead lines replaced. They gave us their word that they would see us through this lead and galvanized service replacements and that we would have the PODS open until then. He's done a disservice to this community by backing off from their word."…

Weaver said the state needs to remember "they're the ones that did this to the community, we didn't do this to ourselves. They had the heavy hand. To not want to have this conversation is a total disrespect to the people of Flint."

Just to remind PopTort readers of what this crisis is all about, 

In April 2014, in an effort to save money, Flint Michigan’s unelected emergency manager (appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder) switched the city’s water source to the polluted Flint River. The drinking water immediately started sickening its largely poor- African American residents, including poisoning 27,000 children with lead, which causes permanent brain damage. And to make matters even worse, many now believe the contaminated water source is also responsible for the recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which has sickened at least 87 people and killed nine. State officials, with full knowledge of what was happening, refused to do anything as the community got sicker and sicker.

The state is now saying that “Flint’s water is testing the same as or better than similar cities across the state.” That's some standard. Next thing we know, the state’s tourism slogan will switch to “Come to Michigan where our brain-damaging drinking water is better than yours.” (That means you Chicagoans!)

Meanwhile, if all this is making you wanna drink something a little stronger – don’t. Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer wrote last week about a "huge study spearheaded by the UK’s University of Cambridge published in The Lancet," which "included dozens of researchers from around the world and nearly 600,000 drinkers in 19 countries" and found "that the people who consume more than one drink a day face greater risks of dying from any cause than those who drink less."

And please check out her other piece published in the magazine’s May/June issue, called “Did Drinking Give me Breast Cancer?” Bet you didn’t know that:

…way back in 1988, the World Health Organization declared alcohol a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning that it’s been proved to cause cancer. There is no known safe dosage in humans, according to the WHO. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, but it kills more women from breast cancer than from any other. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that for every drink consumed daily, the risk of breast cancer goes up 7 percent.

The research linking alcohol to breast cancer is deadly solid. There’s no controversy here. Alcohol, regardless of whether it’s in Everclear or a vintage Bordeaux, is carcinogenic. More than 100 studies over several decades have reaffirmed the link with consistent results. The National Cancer Institute says alcohol raises breast cancer risk even at low levels.

Mencimer’s article says, “The science on the link is clear, but the alcohol industry has worked hard to downplay it.” Gee what a shock.

Schools that Cover-Up Some Hideously Non-Athletic Behavior

For those of us who watched the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal from afar, the new HBO movie Paterno brings back some horrible memories. But I cannot imagine how brutal it all must be for the survivors of his abuse. Yet to make matters worse, these brave individuals also have had to endure unrelenting news reports of schools that still cover-up sexual assault by athletes, coaches and other authorities.

Coming on the heels of the scandal involving serial sexual abuser, Dr. Larry Nassar, on Monday a young woman filed a 14-page complaint in a Michigan federal court about allegedly being gang-raped by members of the Michigan State University basketball team. Writes the Daily Beast:

The [MSU] staffers “made it clear to [Doe] that if she chose to notify the police, she faced an uphill battle that would create anxiety and unwanted media attention and publicity, as had happened with many other female students who were sexually assaulted by well-known athletes,” according to the lawsuit.

She was allegedly told that they had seen a lot of these cases with “guys with big names” and that the best thing to do is to “just get yourself better.”

“If you pursue this, you are going to be swimming with some really big fish,” they allegedly said.…

Afterward, Doe “was so discouraged” by the interaction that “she became frightened” and decided not to report the assault to law enforcement. After several sightings of her attackers and months of panic and flashbacks, she “had become so traumatized, depressed, and withdrawn to the point that she was admitted to the Sparrow Hospital outpatient psychiatric day-program for intensive psychiatric treatment,” according to the complaint.

She withdrew from school for a semester and, upon returning, changed her major. She no longer wanted to be a sports journalist.

Speaking of Nassar, it’s now being reported that that scandal may be a “costlier problem” for MSU than Sandusky was for Penn State, according to a new report from Wells Fargo Securities.

And now comes word of another lawsuit just filed by a former wrestler at Bergen Catholic High School and his parents who say:

Bergen Catholic High School officials conspired to cover up sexual and verbal abuse in its nationally recognized wrestling program that included the sharing of pornographic images, coaches watching wrestlers strip naked and inappropriate text messages sent to athletes [and that] Newark Archdiocese officials worked to shield the wrestling coaches from "criminal detection" in a "conspiracy to endanger children."…

The civil complaint was filed on March 26 … [and] mentions up to 100 other victims, whose identifies are not known, in anticipation of more plaintiffs joining the case.

Oh but not to fear, there’s some great news out of Pennsylvania! On Monday, "Mercyhurst University in Erie said … it is taking down the late William Garvey's presidential photograph from the library, removing plaques in his honor and eliminating the name 'Garvey Park.'" Garvey was a 25-year president (1980 until 2005), teacher and youth coach.  Seems like on Friday, his name showed up “on an Erie Diocese list of 51 clergy and lay people who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children or other misconduct.”

I hate to be cynical here, but chances are that Mercyhurst University, who had nothing but praise for Garvey’s “visionary leadership” when he passed away last year, knew or should have known about this abuse before Friday. Trying to erase his legacy by taking down his picture and plaques doesn’t do a whole lot, especially for Garvey’s victims. I'm just sorry they even have to read about it.

Congress Today: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

This is one busy congressional hump day! Actually, some stuff happened yesterday but aside from that minor technicality… Let’s start with the good:

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) have sent a letter to President Obama urging a much broader recall of Takata airbags. They are asking POTUS “to recall every vehicle with airbags using ammonium nitrate as their propellant, and to use ‘every tool at his disposal’ to accelerate the repair of all vehicles with potentially-lethal Takata airbags.” This follows yet another airbag death in December.

Now this is kinda bad. The U.S. House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing on the Flint water crisis today, but Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) won’t be testifying, “an omission that some are calling inexcusable” because the whole thing was his fault. The Ranking Member of the key subcommittee, Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), put out a statement saying,

Gov. Rick Snyder was at the top of my list of witnesses due to the central role that he has played in this manmade crisis; from the decision to shift from Flint’s original water source for cost-savings to the appalling delay in response to months of complaints by lead-poisoned residents and their children… I am deeply disappointed at the Majority’s lack of commitment to a thorough and meaningful hearing. A sincere search for truth and justice requires a full review by the entire Committee of the decisions and policies of all those involved."

Now the ugly. The House Judiciary Committee is marking up a bill today that deals with a real “in the weeds” concept called diversity jurisdiction. But it would have a truly disturbing impact.  According to over 20 national and state organizations, this bill would “upend long established law in the area of federal court jurisdiction, place unreasonable burdens on the federal judiciary, and make it more difficult for Americans to enforce their rights in state courts. 

And more ugly. Over on the Senate side, the Judiciary Committee is trying to justify a terrible asbestos bill that, as we’ve noted, would allow any defendant in any asbestos lawsuit the right to demand any information about any asbestos victim from any asbestos trust at any time for any reason whether or not this information is relevant in a lawsuit. And it would do so while invading the privacy of people dying from asbestos disease, forcing information about them and their families on a public website making them vulnerable to crooks and identity thieves.

Why this hearing? Well, maybe proponents are trying to jump start an bill that arrived at the Senate pretty much DOA, following a relatively disappointing (for them not us) House vote, a statement from Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promising he would “try to block the bill” calling it an “offensive invasion of the privacy” and a veto threat from the White House.

Just your typical congressional hump day.

Flint, Porter Ranch, and Legal Accountability for Communal Poison

In April 2014, in an effort to save money, Flint Michigan’s unelected emergency manager (appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder) switched the city’s water source to the polluted Flint River. The drinking water immediately started sickening its largely poor- African American residents, including poisoning 27,000 children with lead, which causes permanent brain damage.  And to make matters even worse, many now believe the contaminated water source is also responsible for the recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which has sickened at least 87 people and killed nine. State officials, with full knowledge of what was happening, refused to do anything as the community got sicker and sicker. In a recent editorial called “Depraved Indifference Toward Flint,” the New York Times wrote:

… 274 pages of emails released under pressure on Wednesday by Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan show a cynical and callous indifference to the plight of the mostly black, poverty-stricken residents of Flint, who have gone for more than a year with poisoned tap water that is unsafe to drink or bathe in. …

On October 23, 2015, a gigantic, man-made volcano of methane began spewing from a Southern California Gas Company underground natural gas storage facility in Porter Ranch, California, home to 30,000. The leak has been sickening them ever since. Thousands of families have been forced to relocate (although many more are seeking relocation) entire schools have been closed, well- established businesses are shuttering, and the FAA even created a no-fly zone over the area due to fears the leak could be ignited from the air- and there is not clear end in sight. As to its cause, “experts are pointing to an old and leaky safety valve,” which “Sempra (SoCalGas’ parent company)— whose annual revenues exceed $12 billion — opted not to replace the valve because it was not deemed a ‘critical well.’” 

“SoCalGas’ response to this disaster is almost as alarming as the impact on the community.” The company’s plans for stopping the leak have failed more than half a dozen times and a new strategy for plugging up the well is likely to take months. 

In recent days, there have been a number of articles and blogs comparing these two catastrophes. (See here, here.) The New York Times wrote this week:

Health officials have tested the [Porter Ranch] air and deemed it safe. Yes, the awful smell from a huge natural gas leak near the Porter Ranch neighborhood may cause vomiting, nosebleeds and other short-term symptoms, they say, but they have assured residents that it does not pose long-term health risks.

Many people here, however, simply do not buy it. And now they look warily toward Flint, Mich., where the switch to a new water supply, which state officials insisted for months was safe, has left children with high levels of lead in their blood.

With Flint as a potent warning, confidence in public agencies has collapsed here after the gas leak. Unconvinced by health department reassurances, residents have turned for guidance to lawyers who are spearheading lawsuits.

But that’s where the legal comparisons may end.

In California, writes the Los Angeles Times, Erin Brockovich and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are among those involved with at least 25 lawsuits that have been filed so far on behalf of residents and businesses harmed by the gas leak. They have been filed against “Southern California Gas Co and its parent company Sempra Energy, the non-government operators of the leaking gas storage facility.” And they are suing for “negligence, hazardous activity, nuisance and trespass and seek compensation for emotional and physical injuries, as well as for diminished property values.” 

But the challenges of filing lawsuits on behalf of Flint, Michigan residents are, sadly, more complicated. Some lawsuits have been filed. But as Reuters explains, 

What's holding [other attorneys] back, several lawyers said, is not the facts or the victims, but the prospective targets: The State of Michigan, the city of Flint, and officials at various levels of government. Special legal protections make it difficult to hold governments liable for damages, they said.

Federal and state governments and employees engaged in their official duties are shielded from most private lawsuits by a legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity. The doctrine, enshrined in the laws of many countries, stems from the centuries-old principle that the government itself cannot commit a legal wrong, though exceptions have evolved.

While cities in the U.S. are not technically considered to have sovereign status, they are similarly protected by state and federal laws.…

Sovereign immunity … may not apply if the plaintiff can show there was gross negligence. Michigan law, however, shields the state's topmost officials - including the governor, agency heads and Flint's emergency manager - even in cases of gross negligence.

As to the few lawsuits that have been filed so far, the attorneys “are pushing relatively novel theories designed to circumvent immunity. The financially troubled city was governed by a state-appointed emergency manager at the time of the change to the river water.” Reuters notes:

One of the Flint lawsuits, filed in November against the state and local governments and various officials in U.S. district court in Ann Arbor, makes a federal constitutional argument. It contends that the decision to switch the water source denied residents their civil rights to bodily integrity and to be free from state-created danger. The state's response is due next month.

We hope other firms step in to help. As “Robin Greenwald of New York plaintiffs’ firm Weitz & Luxenberg, which is also representing plaintiffs in California,” put it, “’I really believe there must be something to do here … There must be an opportunity for that community to be compensated. They poisoned kids.’”

From Michigan to Texas, Insurance Industry Shame

There was a time when the liability insurance industry hid behind front groups to accomplish things, well aware the public generally detested them. Back in 1994, a representative from the American Tort Reform Association’s PR firm, called APCO, explained its "grassroots" strategy and the need for front groups in a speech before a gathering of corporate public affairs executives sponsored by the Public Affairs Council, an organization of some 500 corporations and trade associations. He said,

"You need to have credibility and that means when you pick people to join your coalition, make sure they're credible. And if they're not credible, keep them away. In a tort reform battle if State Farm - I think they're here, Nationwide - is the leader of the coalition, you're not going to pass the bill. It is not credible, O.K., because it's so self-serving."

Ha. These days they're not hiding - at all. They're brazen about what they want to do, and that is (to put it simply), to take money out of the hands of (sometimes) destitute policyholders and put right back into their own swelling pockets. Texas is a good place to start. 

The prime sponsor of an anti-policyholder travesty known as Senate Bill 1628, which is moving quickly through the Texas legislature, is the owner of an insurance agency. That hasn’t stopped him. Writes the Texas Tribune:

A controversial bill that would make it harder for homeowners and companies to recover certain damages from their insurance companies — cheered by the insurance industry and criticized by liberal groups and some businesses — cleared the Texas Senate on Thursday.…

The bill would establish a two-year time limit on seeking claims. And before being allowed to sue for deceptive acts or unfair claims handling, policyholders would have to provide advance written notice, sign a statement attesting that damages occurred and show proof of damages. It would also offer certain new immunity protections to insurance agents and adjusters who are named in lawsuits. And the bill would lower the penalty that insurance companies face for late payments.…

“It expressly immunizes wrongdoers,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. “That means a Texan who was wronged by their insurance adjuster or an insurance agent would be in a position of not being able to hold them accountable.” …

“If passed it would put homeowners, businesses, schools, churches and the rest of the state's insurance customers at extreme risk. It would neuter the penalties that insurers must pay when they are caught delaying or denying legitimate claims,” Alex Winslow, the executive director of Texas Watch, a liberal consumer rights group, wrote in a column for TribTalk, a sister publication of The Texas Tribune.

Businesses are against this bill too.  Everyone is except the insurance industry.

Ernest Martin, a partner in the Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone LLP, said he was representing a variety of business clients who were worried about the bill, including homebuilders Trammel Crow Residential, La Quinta Inns & Suites and Sovereign Bank.

“Business policyholders in Texas spend millions of dollars on insurance premiums to protect their property, business, and various business interests,” Martin said in written testimony provided to senators. “Many businesses would be financially crippled or significantly deterred without the insurance protection they purchased.”

David Stein, owner of the Roger Beasley Automotive Group of Central Texas, also criticized the bill during a recent committee hearing. 

“Why are we looking at a bill that is pretty much strictly in favor of the insurance companies?” he said. “Where in this bill does it protect families? Where in this bill does it protect the small businesses, the medium or large businesses? Nowhere.”

Texas Watch has a Change.org petition going.  Here’s what they say:

The bill rolls back decades of important policyholder protections. It incentivizes low-ball settlements, effectively immunizes insurance adjusters, agents, and employees, severely restricts when claims must be made, and creates “gotcha” provisions that allow insurers to delay payments on valid insurance claims.

Sign the petition but please do it fast.

Meanwhile in Michigan, there is an equally terrible bill that would dramatically change the state’s auto no-fault rules, drastically cutting reimbursements to medical providers and families.  Last week, “a group of protesters picketed outside the AAA Insurance office in Troy to voice their anger."

“It’s a terrible public policy,” said John Gwynne Prosser who is associated with The Concerned Association of Patients and Providers that organized the protest.

 “This is nothing more than greed” by the insurance companies, Prosser said.

Prosser said Michigan is the only state in the United States that guarantees required care to the victims of auto accidents without them going bankrupt due to medical bills, and if the bill becomes the law, many victims will not get the care they deserve, including 200 veterans.

Prosser is also the president of Neurotrauma Association which explains in a video on its website why Michigan’s no-fault insurance is important.

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press Columnist and popular author, wrote:

For more than 40 years, thanks to a vote we, the people, took in the 1970s, Michigan has led the nation in compassion for victims of catastrophic accidents, people like Erica Coulston, who used to spring out of bed each morning as an active, vivacious 23-year-old. Then, in 2007, a car crash in which she wasn't even driving left her "in the blink of an eye ... a quadriplegic ... paralysis of my legs, arms, hands and trunk muscles. ... I can no longer sweat like I used to. … I have no bladder or bowel control. ... I require assistance with showering, dressing, preparing meals. ... I have chronic neuropathic pain ..."

She said all this in a testimony this past week before our state legislators, the majority of whom were insensitive enough to keep rushing through a bill that would change Erica's life and those of victims like her forever.

For greed.

It is shameless. And it must be stopped.

CAPP also notes, “when someone is seriously injured in states that cap benefits, and the bills pile up, the accident victim ends up declaring bankruptcy, and then move on to Medicaid, with taxpayers picking up the tab.”

So let me amend what I said earlier. They're brazen about what they want to do, and that is (to put it simply), to take money out of the hands of (sometimes) destitute policyholders and taxpayers and put right back into their own swelling pockets. If you can think of a stronger word than “brazen,” let me know.  It will surely fit.

Hummus Hoaxes and Other Food Frets

You’d think that in light of hummus’ recent casualty count, hummus-makers might be feeling a little sheepish about pushing themselves out there too insistently.  Not so!

To refresh, last week, a hummus plant in Texas recalled 14,860 pounds of it after an FDA inspection found a risk of listeria contamination (which makes people sick and can kill small children and the elderly).  And then, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “released new details on the death of Daniel Collazo, a worker at hummus-maker Tribe's factory in Taunton, Mass., who was killed by a machine in 2011” after the company “had been fined for failing to adhere to standard procedures that probably would have prevented Collazo's death, and the company had hired a consultant who told them that if they did not change their practices, a death was ‘likely certain’ within a year.”

But rather than sulking in a corner about these industry embarrassments, hummus-maker Sabra has come out swinging!  The Los Angeles Times reports today that the company has petitioned the FDA for help (although the reasons have nothing to do with health and safety).  Rather, Sabra is demanding an “official hummus definition.”  This is to stop hummus imposters who use insufficient chickpeas and tahini - an apparently urgent problem requiring immediate FDA attention.

Although I suspect some might disagree with the urgency of this in light of more pressing issues.  Just ask customers of Belleville Farmer’s Market of Belleville, IL who bought shelled walnuts that “have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes” and are now being recalled following an FDA inspection.  

And that’s nothing compared to people sickened due to recent outbreaks of chicken and meat food poisoning. For example, reports indicate that 574 people now have salmonella poisoning from Foster Farms chickens.

And last week, “nearly 2 million pounds of potentially tainted hamburger patties and steak burgers” were recalled because of E. coli contamination.  Rachel Tamminga, a Kalamazoo, Michigan, college student, “was hospitalized for six days after eating meat in April allegedly produced by the Wolverine Packing Co.”  She has now filed a lawsuit.

Tamminga is the first person to contend that she was sickened in an outbreak that federal health officials said has been linked to 11 E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in four states. Five of those cases were detected in Michigan, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Of those sick so far, illnesses began between April 22 and May 2, the CDC added.

Tamminga developed severe, bloody diarrhea and abdominal pains and spent a night lying on the bathroom floor, the complaint alleges. She had to leave school in the middle of finals week to go home to her parents.

“While there, she remained extremely sore and weak and blood tests showed that she continued to be anemic as a result of the loss of so much blood during her illness,” the complaint said.

On the other hand, there are hoaxes like black bean hummus. What to do, what to do?