West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced a $220 million settlement with Deutsche Bank for fraudulent conduct.
Tag: Settlement
West Virginia Settlement Erases Some Consumer Debts
West Virginia’s attorney general has announced a settlement with a debt collection company resulting in more than $150,000 in debt cancelled for consumers in the state.
The settlement settles allegations that Northwood Asset Management Group LLC collected debts for Alliant Capital Management LLC without a license to do that in West Virginia.
The attorney general’s office alleged they violated the state’s consumer protection law.
Northwood and Alliant denied any wrongdoing. Northwood has since obtained the needed license and bonding.
The settlement requires Northwood to refund more than $26,000 collected from consumers and close all accounts that it attempted to collect before it was licensed and bonded, cancelling almost $152,000 for 142 West Virginia consumers.
It also requires Northwood to pay $1,000 to the state.
Lawyers Still Working on Terms of Water-Crisis Settlement
More than three months after a tentative settlement was announced, lawyers are still trying to work out documents to spell out terms of a $151 million deal resolving a class-action lawsuit over a West Virginia chemical spill that tainted a local water system.
Lawyers for area residents and businesses, West Virginia American Water Co. and Eastman Chemical met for nearly two hours Tuesday with U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. The purpose was to discuss “the progress of finalization of the settlement agreement,” according to a court docket entry that offered no other details of the closed-door conference.
Tentative settlements were reached in late October between lawyers for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses and attorneys for West Virginia American Water and Eastman Chemical.
In an order made public Thursday, Copenhaver pushed the trial date in the case back from Feb. 7 to March 21. The move is mostly a formality, because no trial is planned in the case, unless the settlement were to fall apart, and there has been no indication that is likely to happen.
Under the deals, West Virginia American would pay up to $126 million and Eastman up to $25 million to residents, businesses and workers who were unable to use their tap water during the “do not use” order period that followed the contamination of the region’s Elk River water supply by a spill of MCHM and other chemicals from the Freedom Industries facility just 1.5 miles upstream from the water company intake.
Lawyers are now trying to work out the exact language of more detailed settlement documents that must be submitted to Copenhaver for his review and approval and for a public review period that allows members of the plaintiff class to object or opt-out of the deal.
More information about how residents and businesses can file claims for compensation will be made public once those formal settlement documents are publicly filed with the court.
Since the tentative settlement was announced, Copenhaver has held at least 10 closed-door meetings with lawyers in the case to discuss the exact language of the settlement documents those lawyers are trying to finalize.
State Reaches $3.5 Settlement with Drug Wholesaler
West Virginia officials have reached a $3.5 million settlement with a wholesaler accused of flooding the state with millions of prescription pain pills.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced the settlement Tuesday with H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Co.
The settlement resolved allegations that H.D. Smith failed to detect, report and stop the flood of suspicious prescription drug orders into the state, contributing to widespread drug abuse.
Morrisey says in a news release the settlement is the largest so far in a broader case.
Settlements involving lesser amounts were previously reached against Miami-Luken, Anda Inc., the Harvard Drug Group, Associated Pharmacies, J.M. Smith Corp., KeySource Medical Inc., Quest Pharmaceuticals, Top Rx and Masters Pharmaceutical LLC.
Litigation involving two remaining defendants is subject to a confidentiality order in Boone County Circuit Court.
West Virginia Gets $253,500 Share of Drug Case Settlement
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says West Virginia will receive a $253,500 share of a settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb involving allegations that it promoted the anti-psychotic drug Abilify for unapproved uses.
Morrisey announced the state’s share of the $19.5 million settlement in a news release. Forty-two other states were involved in the legal action.
Abilify is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and Tourette’s disorder in adults and children. California alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb promoted the schizophrenia drug for unapproved uses on children and for elderly patients with dementia.
Settlement Approved for Coal Mines Owned by Governor-Elect
A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring pollution reductions and a $900,000 civil penalty by Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Governor-elect Jim Justice.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced the settlement in September with Southern Coal Corp. and 26 affiliates.
The settlement resolves allegations of Clean Water Act violations from Justice-owned mines in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
It requires Southern Coal to use an EPA-approved environmental management system, undergo compliance auditing, implement data tracking, and pay escalating penalties for future violations. It also calls for the company to set up a public website about water test results and to produce a $4.5 million letter of credit to ensure work is done.
U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad approved the consent decree this week, finding it “fair, adequate and reasonable” and not against the public interest.
Calls to Southern Coal and its attorney were not immediately returned Thursday. Company spokesman Tom Lusk said in September that most of the violations cited were from permits inherited from coal companies not previously owned by Southern Coal.
The civil penalty will be split between the federal government and Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. West Virginia withdrew from the lawsuit talks in early 2015, saying the company’s compliance had improved under state enforcement since 2008.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General John Cruden wrote in a brief last week, supporting approval, that the settlement followed lengthy negotiations. “It ensures compliance at existing operations, reaches beyond violating facilities to impose company-wide preventive measures, and addresses environmental concerns broader in scope than those alleged in the complaint — all the while avoiding the delay, risk, and expense of protracted litigation,” he said.
The federal complaint, filed along with the proposed settlement in September, said the coal companies exceeded their permits for water pollution discharges or failed to sample water and monitor and report discharges “on numerous occasions.” Environmental Protection Agency enforcement officer Laurie Ireland cited 852 violations in 2012, dropping to 405 last year and down to 272 so far year. There have been “notable improvements” in the mines’ compliance since negotiations began in 2014, she wrote in a court document filed Dec. 2.