Monthly Archives: September 2012

They say the mullet hairstyle is business in the front but party in the back. But there isn’t much of a party where the ironically-named Samuel Mullet, Sr. is concerned: The leader of a breakaway Amish group in Ohio is facing life in prison for forcibly cutting off the beards of Amish men and the hair of Amish women who had left his compound.   Violent Shearings A Cleveland jury on September 20 convicted Mullet, who is 66, and 15 …

Hip replacements are hailed as a miracle of modern medical technology, restoring mobility to otherwise incapacitated consumers for a good 15 to 20 years. The problems start when the artificial hips are defective and constantly dislocate or discharge metal splinters into the patient’s body. The first settlements were reached last month with three plaintiffs for $200,000 a piece for defective Johnson & Johnson DePuy ASR hip replacements. Those payouts are just the tip of the iceberg, however, as the multinational …

You get the calls all the time from credit card companies – “Would you like to hear about additional products offered by the bank?” If you said yes during a call from Discover during the over three-and-a-half-year period from December 2007 through August 2011, you may be in for a little extra cash. Discover announced on September 21 that it has settled deceptive marketing charges brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which …

A Connecticut cab driver who was fired after he refused to pick up a blind customer with a service dog is now suing under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming his own disability – fear of dogs – and saying his employers discriminated against him. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Connecticut on September 11 against the Yellow Cab company and the Connecticut State Department of Transportation by Mansoor Ahmad and his father, another cabbie who was fired after …

U.S.consumers are $18.7 billion dollars behind on their credit card debt. Increasingly, banks are taking delinquent borrowers to court, suing them for payment. Often, these borrowers never show up in court to contest the charges. This can be a big mistake, especially because the documents submitted to the court frequently include costly errors.   Failure to Act Has Consequences When a debtor fails to contest credit card charges or show up in court, the bank or collection agency wins the …