The mayor of a suburban Seattle town is suing the maker of the opioid pain medication OxyContin, claiming the pharmaceutical company knowingly allowed pills to be funneled into the black market, ultimately arriving on the city's streets.

City of Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson is suing Purdue Pharma in federal court for gross negligence and nuisance because, according to Stephanson, Purdue Pharma's "drive for profit" led to the company "supplying OxyContin to obviously suspicious pharmacies and physicians and enabling the illegal diversion of OxyContin into the black market." According to news reports, the lawsuit was prompted by a newspaper article that ran last year in the Los Angeles Times, which claimed the company knew about the illegal trafficking of its pills in Los Angeles and did nothing to stop it. Stephanson says Everett has spent millions of dollars combating OxyContin and heroin abuse.

“Our community has been significantly damaged, and we need to be made whole,” said Stephanson.

The lawsuit doesn’t say how much money the city is seeking, but the mayor says Everett will attempt to quantify its costs in coming months.

“We look forward to presenting the facts in court,” the company countered in a statement.

—Source:  rep-am.com

Mardi Gras season has come to a close, and so has a lawsuit relating to a New Orleans krewe that wanted to throw t-shirts from its parade floats.

Just in time for the Mardi Gras parades, a civil court judge in New Orleans dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former member of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx that sought to enjoin the krewe from throwing signature t-shirts during the February 22 parade.

Attorney Taetrece Harrison, former member, alleged that the 2016 krewe captain, Julie Lea, stole her idea of throwing t-shirts after she left the organization. In an action filed in court, Harrison sought to have the krewe enjoined from being able to throw t-shirts because she said when she initially brought up the idea it was rejected. To support her claim, Harrison noted that Lea offered her $200 for the idea, which she says shows "there's some value to the idea that's presented." Lea countered that the offer was for the designs Harrison proposed for the t-shirts, not the idea of throwing them.

Just days before the parade, Judge Sidney Cates IV dissolved a lower court's order banning the t-shirt throw and dismissed Harrison's suit. The attorney for the krewe argued that Harrison had not proved she sustained "undue stress" or negligent or intentional "infliction of emotional distress" and refuted the notion that Harrison's shirt throw idea was original.

"It's quite common knowledge in this city that Mardi Gras krewes have been throwing T-shirts for years and years and years, so that's just not an original idea," the krewe's attorney said.

After Judge Cates ruled, noting that he was not "comfortable issuing an injunction because of undue stress," Harrison reportedly left the courtroom, calling Lea a "thief."

—Source: nola.com

A Tennessee man has joined a class action lawsuit against the maker of the super popular Hatchimal fuzzy interactive toy after his daughter's treasured Christmas gift failed to hatch.

“I don’t want to mention how much I spent for this thing — it’s embarrassing,” Jared Winegarden said. “I was stepping in for the ‘big win.’ A quest; if you will, to be the most awesome Dad ever. Bought, paid for, and delivered.”

Yet, in his daughter's case, the Hatchimal failed to hatch from the egg without "surgical" assistance from Winegarden's wife. Now, Winegarden has joined a class action lawsuit against Spin Master claiming that Hatchimals don't always hatch, creating unhappiness in families that can range from “extreme disappointment to tragic.”

According to news reports, Spin Master notes that the egg can take up to 25 minutes of rubbing, tilting and tapping for it to begin hatching, which then can take up to 30 minutes. In a Facebook post from late December 2016, Spin Master wrote that “while the vast majority of children have had a magical experience with Hatchimals” the company had also heard from consumers who had encountered challenges. In response, the company said it increased its number of consumer care representatives, extended its hours and increased the capacity for callers in the queue to help prevent calls dropped due to the holiday volume. It also created troubleshooting tips and videos on its website.

—Source: washingtonpost.com

A New Jersey mother is suing her local hospital after a nurse mistakenly brought her the wrong baby to breastfeed.

Melissa Richman claims The Valley Hospital maternity ward staff failed to double-check the identification bracelets of the mother and child when she was brought what she thought was her newborn daughter for a 4:30am feeding. According to news reports, Richman states that after twenty minutes of breastfeeding the wrong baby a nurse came in and admitted the error.

Richman is suing the hospital, alleging that the mix-up deprived her newborn daughter of colostrum, the nutrient-rich milk produced by a new mother, as well as the initial bonding experience between mother and child.

"It should be inconceivable that something like this could happen," said David Richman, Melissa's husband.

The Valley Hospital declined to comment.

—Source:  nbcnewyork.com