A Travis County jury has awarded $6.2 million to a former Austin musician who, after drinking at a private party, was paralyzed when he dove into an underfilled apartment complex pool in 2005.

Jurors determined that the man, Jordan VanDusen, was 49 percent responsible for his injuries and the owner of Longhorn Landing Apartments was 51 percent liable for failing to close a dangerous pool or warn swimmers that water levels had fallen about 11/2 feet.

The division of liability means VanDusen, left a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms, would receive 51 percent of the $12.4 million in damages if the judgment stands. Jurors returned the verdict Monday night after two days of deliberations and a nine-day trial.

"We never, ever contested responsibility for Jordan," said Sean Breen, VanDusen's lawyer. "He admitted he made a mistake — a momentary, thoughtless mistake."

But swimmers also should be able to expect that an open pool is safe to use, Breen said. Instead, he said, managers of the apartment complex at 4700 E. Riverside Drive failed to close the pool even though employees noticed that water levels had dropped and even though state and city laws require underfilled public pools to be closed.

In addition, testimony showed that Aspen Square Management — which owned the apartment complex when VanDusen was injured but sold it in October — did not have appropriate safety procedures in place, Breen said.

VanDusen was a guitarist, singer and songwriter for the now-defunct band JVD who had moved from New York state to Austin with bandmates two years before the accident. A videotape, shot by a friend and played for jurors, showed a group roughhousing around the pool at 2 a.m. before VanDusen, then 23, dove into an area that should have been 4 to 41/2 feet deep but instead was 21/2 to 3 feet deep.

Jeff Ray, lawyer for Aspen Square, said the company will appeal the verdict.

Ray argued that VanDusen was solely responsible for his injury because the pool's depth was obvious, signs prohibited diving at the pool and VanDusen's judgment was impaired by alcohol. Blood tests after the accident showed VanDusen's blood alcohol level was 0.09, he said. The legal limit to drive in Texas is 0.08.

Breen argued that the apartment complex, marketed to college-age residents, condoned pool parties where alcohol was consumed, yet neglected to plan for associated risks.

But Ray noted that jurors, answering a separate question, also found VanDusen to be 51 percent responsible for negligence in causing his injury. "If a plaintiff is more responsible for causing the accident, the plaintiff receives nothing," he said. "So we believe there is a conflicting jury finding that we will appeal."

Ray also will ask District Judge Orlinda Naranjo to dismiss or reduce the award before Naranjo enters a final judgment, which typically takes about a month.

Since the accident, VanDusen has been living in New York, where Medicaid benefits are more generous, but hopes the jury award will let him return to Austin.

"I really enjoy it down here; a lot of my friends still live here, and I hate the cold and snow of New York," VanDusen said. "This means I'll have options and better care from doctors and therapists familiar with my type of injury."

Now 28, VanDusen hopes to continue writing songs by computer and recently purchased a harmonica "so at least I can play an instrument."

By Chuck Lindell

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Jurors awarded $10.1 million in damages to the family of an overdose victim Tuesday, hoping the multimillion verdict strikes fear into other "pill mills" that have turned Houston into a national hub for prescription drug abuse.

"Our verdict shows how much our community is against these pill mills and wants things to change," said juror Lauren Simmons, after finding gross negligence led to the overdose death of Michael Skorpenske of Conroe.

Another juror, Tim Bammel, agreed, saying the verdict issued in 234th District Judge Reece Rondon's court should discourage others who might be improperly churning out the addictive drugs that killed Skorpenske.

Skorpenske, 54, died July 7, 2007, two days after his only visit to the Family Medi Clinic in The Woodlands where he received a prescription for three potent drugs: hydrocodone, xanax and soma.

He had sought help there for chronic pain he suffered from a motorcycle injury and a fall at a petrochemical plant.

The clinic's director, Dr. Maurice Conte, had prescribed this same drug combo — known as the "holy trinity" — at least 3,800 times between 2006 and 2007 at more than 17 pain area clinics that he then oversaw, records showed. But his prescription-writing came to an abrupt halt when he was forced to surrender his license to the Texas Medical Board just three days after Skorpenske died.

Conte, who repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during the four-day trial, was found grossly negligent and slapped with the stiffest penalty: $9.05 million.

The 72-year-old physician chose not to be present for the reading of the verdict, and his attorney, Thomas Swanson, declined comment.

The Skorpenske family's attorney, Tommy Hastings, commented on Conte's absence: "I don't think he has any remorse or compassion. The other two defendants expressed their sympathy about Skorpenske's death, but Conte took the Fifth even on that."

Hastings believes other pill mills will take notice, especially "if their only motive is profit and we can take that away."

Another defendant, Melissa Martin, was also found grossly negligent and ordered to pay about $745,000 in damages. She was an equal owner of the cash-only clinic along with her husband, Harris County sheriff's deputy Lewis Martin Jr., and a chiropractor, Michael Kabzinski.

Kabzinski settled out of court for an undisclosed amount before the trial started. The plaintiffs say they were unaware of Lewis Martin Jr.'s involvement until after the statute of limitations had run out.

The third defendant, Jimmy Moore, a recruiter who placed the doctor at the clinic, was ordered to pay the least, $85,000, because one of the 12 jurors did not believe his involvement met the test for punitive damages.

Skorpenske's 88-year-old mother, Augusta Jackson, who was a plaintiff along with her son's three children, was speechless after the verdict. Then her eyes teared and she said, "Maybe some of those pill clinics will shut down. Let's hope,"

Skorpenske's sister, Sandra Smith, referring to more than 1,200 pill deaths recorded in the last two years, says "the jury has given a lot of hope to other families of those who are

By CINDY HORSWELL

The diocese, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 due to mounting sex abuse claims dating as far back as the 1950s, said on its website the average payout was about $750,000, far higher than the average in five comparable settlements.

An attorney representing the majority of the purported victims rejected the offer as "woefully inadequate" and said the diocese was misleading about the size of the offer.

"We're almost half way there to what a reasonable settlement would be," said Wilmington attorney Thomas Neuberger, who represents 98 people.

Payouts under the new offer would likely range from $75,000 to $3 million, depending on the severity of the alleged abuse, the diocese said on its website.

U.S. Roman Catholic archdioceses have collectively paid some $2 billion in settlements to victims since the priest sex scandals first erupted in Boston nearly a decade ago.

Neuberger criticized the Wilmington diocese for comparing its offer to five settlements obtained in bankruptcy court.

Neuberger said from a legal standpoint a better comparison was the $660 million paid by the Los Angeles archdiocese outside of bankruptcy. The watchdog website BishopAccountability.org estimated the Los Angeles settlement at $780,000 per victim.

The Wilmington Diocese, with a Catholic population of about 233,000, increased its offer from around $55 million after a state jury found that St. Elizabeth Parish owed purported victim John Vai $3 million.

Vai had claimed he was molested as a teenager in the 1960s by Francis DeLuca, a priest who was later defrocked.

Under the latest settlement offer, victims are required to agree to drop all legal action against the diocese and parishes, which are not part of the bankruptcy.

"Lawyers for some survivor-claimants have said that the parishes want to buy their way out of litigation cheaply. But a settlement fund of $74 million ... is hardly cheap," said a letter from Francis Malooly, the bishop of the Wilmington diocese.

Neuberger said the diocese and parishes combined have $1.7 billion in resources and said the victims had been working on a payout of $1.3 million on average with the prior bishop, who died in 2009.

The settlement was increased by contributions from outside the diocese, including $53 million from a Catholic foundation started 80 years ago by John Raskob, the builder of New York's Empire State Building.

The Wilmington diocese said its offer was higher than the average claims paid by five other dioceses in bankruptcy court settlements: Fairbanks, Alaska; Davenport, Iowa; Spokane Washington; Tucson, Arizona and Portland, Oregon.

Last week, Milwaukee's Roman Catholic archdiocese said it would file for bankruptcy due to the financial drain of unresolved lawsuits brought by purported victims of sexual abuse by priests.

A Delaware County woman who claims she was groped by Donald Duck at a Disney theme park may proceed with her case in federal court, a U.S. district judge has ruled.

April Magolon, 27, was vacationing at Walt Disney World in May 2008 with her fiancé and young children. With a child in her arms, she approached a cast member dressed as the notoriously feisty fowl and asked for an autograph.

Magolon, of Upper Darby, claims the man in the duck suit grabbed her breast, molested her, "and then made gestures making a joke indicating he had done something wrong."

She filed suit in December 2009 claiming the incident at Disney's EPCOT Center ruined her vacation and caused her severe physical injury, emotional anguish, and distress. The encounter left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, headaches, nausea, flashbacks, and a digestive problem, she said in the lawsuit. Originally filed in Common Pleas Court, the suit was moved to federal court in August.

Magolon's attorneys claim the incident was not isolated. In court papers, they say the episode was "one in a long line of continuing, long-standing, similar prior incidents" that the Walt Disney Co. has failed to address.

Disney said Magolon had filed suit against the wrong corporate division and asked the court to dismiss the suit or move it to Florida. The company's requests were refused last week by U.S. District Judge John R. Padova.

Padova ruled that Magolon's suit could proceed in Philadelphia because her fiancé and doctors were all in Pennsylvania. The judge also wrote that Disney was more likely to be able to afford the costs of litigation in Philadelphia than Magolon would be in Florida.

Magolon could not be reached for comment. A Disney spokeswoman said she could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit states that in 2004, after a 13-year-old girl was fondled by a man dressed as Tigger in Magic Kingdom's Toon Town, authorities received 24 similar complaints. Michael Chartrand, who portrayed Tigger, was later acquitted of all charges.

By Sam Wood

Inquirer Staff Writer

The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court, comes two months after the church issued a 546-page report documenting sexual or physical abuse involving its overseas missions between 1950 and 1990.

Most of the victims were identified as children of missionaries serving in Africa and Asia.

The plaintiff in the suit, Sean Coppedge, said he applauds the report and that he provided information and other help to the denominational commission that wrote it. But he said the denomination needs to be held accountable for failing to protect its missionary children.

It’s believed to be the first suit against the denomination in connection with abuse in the mission field in the latter 20th century — abuse that has now been documented in two extensive denominational reports in the past decade.

Coppedge said he hopes other victims also come forward to “find healing and justice.”

His suit focuses on events at the Methodist-Presbyterian Hostel, which was jointly owned by the Presbyterians and the United Methodist Church.

He said he was sexually assaulted at age 14 by an older, stronger boy at the boarding house in Kinshasa — the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire. Coppedge was staying there while his parents, Presbyterian missionaries, worked about 600 miles away in a remote station.

“On the night I was sexually abused I immediately informed the Presbyterian authorities, but little was done, even though they knew the perpetrator had abused at least one other person prior to me,” Coppedge said in an emotional news conference Monday at the Louisville office of one of his attorneys, Ann Oldfather.

“In fact, the senior Presbyterian employee at the boarding house told me to keep quiet about the matter, and soon the perpetrator was allowed to return to the boarding residence,” he said

The suit says that the denomination had reports of abuse at mission posts throughout the world before Coppedge’s 1988 assault and that it “knew or should have known … that its mission children were vulnerable to sexual abuse.”

The suit seeks damages for emotional distress, lost wages, counseling costs and other injuries.

In October top Presbyterian officials apologized to victims of abuse upon the release of the report by its Independent Abuse Review Panel, which documented 29 cases of sexual abuse of minors and one of physical abuse in the mission field.

That wide-ranging investigation was prompted by an earlier report.

A separate, independent committee reported in 2002 that a deceased missionary, William Pruitt of Dallas, had sexually abused 22 girls and women in the Congo and the United States from the 1940s to the 1980s — and that Presbyterian co-workers failed to act aggressively when they learned of the allegations.

The denomination responded to that report by adopting a series of reforms to its constitution in 2005, imposing such things as stricter requirements for reporting abuse to civil authorities and giving accusers more say in the disciplinary process.

Rob Bullock, director of communication for Presbyterians’ General Assembly Mission Council, said he couldn’t immediately comment until church officials had a chance to review the suit.

Coppedge, 36, called on the church to take stricter steps, such as advocating for more victim-friendly state laws regarding the time limits for bringing lawsuits and criminal charges. He also urged it to require that all volunteers be required to report abuse and undergo background checks.

By Peter Smith • psmith@courier-journal.com • December 13, 2010

Abbott Laboratories and two other drugmakers agreed to pay $421.2 million to settle claims they overcharged the U.S. for medicines, the Justice Department said.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's Roxane Inc. will pay $280 million, Abbott will pay $126.5 million and B. Braun Melsungen AG will pay $14.7 million. Boehringer and B. Braun are closely held. The settlements resolve civil claims that the companies inflated the average wholesale prices for drugs reported to the federal health programs Medicare and Medicaid.

The government reimbursed doctors and pharmacists at those higher prices, and the companies actually sold the drugs at a fraction of those stated prices, U.S. officials said. The scheme let doctors and pharmacists pocket more profits, and the drugmakers kept them as customers, U.S. officials said.

"This practice was widespread in the pharmaceutical industry -- so widespread in fact that average wholesale price, AWP, it was jokingly said, really stood for 'Ain't What's Paid,'" Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil division, said today at a news conference in Washington. "Indeed, the only purchasers who paid the full inflated reported drug price were you, the American taxpayers."

The settlement resolves lawsuits under the False Claims Act, which lets private citizens sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. A Florida company that administers drugs at patients' homes, Ven-A-Care Inc., will get $88.4 million as whistleblowers.

'The Spread'

The difference between the inflated government payments and the price paid by health-care providers for a drug was known as "the spread," and profits for doctors or pharmacists increased as the spread widened, U.S. officials said.

"The government alleges that Abbott, Roxane and Braun created artificially inflated spreads to market, promote and sell the drugs to existing and potential customers," according to a Justice Department statement.

Roxane, a generic drugmaker based in Columbus, Ohio, said it settled the "expensive and disruptive litigation" and "at all times" complied with U.S. laws and regulations.

"The expense of protracted litigation adds to the cost of producing Roxane medicines and therefore impacts the competitiveness of our business," Roxane said in a statement.

Abbott spokeswoman Adelle Infante said in a telephone interview: "We continue to believe that we have complied with all laws and regulations and have entered into this agreement to eliminate the uncertainty associated with continued litigation."

The settlement won't affect fourth-quarter financial results and will be covered by reserves set aside earlier this year, Infante said. She declined to say whether Abbott had changed its pricing policies as a result of the case.

Abbott Shares

Abbott, based in Abbott Park, Illinois, fell 5 cents to $46.87 at 3:48 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Representatives of Ingelheim, Germany-based Boehringer didn't immediately return voice-mail messages left after regular business hours.

A person who answered the phone at B. Braun's headquarters in Melsungen, Germany, said no one was available to comment until tomorrow and hung up.

The U.S. intervened in a False Claims case against Roxane and filed a lawsuit on Jan. 18, 2007. The U.S. sued Abbott in May 2006, according to the Justice Department.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

By Justin Blum and David Voreacos - Dec 7, 2010 1:01 PM PT

Wilmington paid $875,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the widow of a decorated former Marine who was fatally shot more than four years ago by police investigating the Pagans Motorcycle Club, according to documents filed Friday in federal court.

Hale, a 25-year-old former Marine and member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club from Virginia, was sitting on the steps of another club member's Wilmington home when police surrounded him and stunned him with Taser guns before shooting him. Officers found a pocket knife and pepper spray in Hale's pants pockets after the shooting, although Hale did not display either weapon.

Witnesses including Fred Mixson, a contractor who was working next door, told The News Journal that Hale was seated, had just vomited and was shaking violently from three Taser blasts when he was killed. Mixson also said Hale posed no threat when Lt. William Browne shot him in the chest with three .40-caliber rounds.

According to the city's version released by communications director John Rago, state and Wilmington police were conducting surveillance in the 1400 block of W. Sixth St. when they saw Hale helping a woman load items from his friend's house into her car. There were no criminal charges against Hale, but police considered him a "person of interest" in their investigation into the club.

Officers were concerned that Hale would take the woman and her children hostage and decided to arrest him if he was seen alone outside the house, the city's statement said.

When officers got word Hale was on the steps, state and city police approached him shouting, "Police," and "Show us your hands," according to the city's account.

Hale was seated on a ledge next to the steps, with his hands in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. He stood up and his hands were still concealed when officers approached, city officials said.

Witnesses at the time told The News Journal that Hale was chatting with the woman and two children at the top of a stoop. He remained seated on the third step from the top when officers approached, they said.

After the woman and children were out of the way, officers warned Hale a stun gun would be used if he did not show his hands, the city said. An officer fired his Taser but one of the two probes missed. A second officer then fired his Taser, hitting Hale's clothing but not penetrating his skin. Hale experienced some effect that caused him to rock back on the ledge on which he had been seated.

A Taser fires two probes simultaneously. One probe conducts a positive charge, while the second conducts a negative charge. If both make -- and maintain -- contact, about 1,200 volts will run through the body. If not, no electricity will be discharged, the city said.

When the effects seemed to be wearing off, a third Taser was fired at Hale, causing him to sit up -- or stand up, according to some accounts -- with his hands still in the pocket of his sweatshirt, according to police and civilian witnesses interviewed by Wilmington police, city officials said.

Single mother alleges that a sheriff's deputy touched her chest during a 2008 traffic stop, then followed her home and assaulted her in the driveway. The deputy faces a criminal trial in the incident as well as two others.

A single mother who alleged she was sexually assaulted by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy during a 2008 traffic stop was awarded a $245,000 settlement Tuesday.

The Downey woman said she had been pulled over after midnight in Paramount, and told she'd be jailed for drunk driving. But when the deputy returned to her driver's side window, he told her "she looked like a nice girl," according to her lawsuit, and said: "What are you going to do for me in order for me not to bring you to jail tonight?"

What followed was an alleged sexual assault that began in the woman's car and continued in her driveway. Deputy Mark Fitzpatrick is facing a criminal trial next year in connection with the incident and two others, according to interviews and records. He had a history of sexual misconduct accusations during his roughly two-decade career with the Sheriff's Department, authorities said.

Fitzpatrick, 41, has pleaded not guilty.

The Downey woman was driving alone when Fitzpatrick pulled her over. The armed deputy allegedly asked her if she had children, reminded her how much trouble she would be in and began shining his flashlight on her chest.

"Let me see your breasts," he said, according to the woman's civil complaint.

Soon after the deputy began touching her chest, the complaint said, another patrol car pulled up nearby. Frustrated, Fitzpatrick allegedly demanded that the woman lead him to her home.

Once there, she said she tried to "scurry into the safety of her home," but was cornered by Fitzpatrick. The deputy ordered her to pull down her leggings and raise her dress, so he could "get a better view," before he allegedly began sexually assaulting her, according to the lawsuit.

A car passed by and he grabbed her close, whispering in her ear that he "really likes her," according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleged that the Sheriff's Department was "deliberatively indifferent" to past allegations of misconduct against Fitzpatrick.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore rejected those claims, saying Sheriff Lee Baca "is not indifferent to any allegations."

Fitzpatrick has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of his trial, Whitmore said. Attempts to reach Fitzpatrick's attorney Tuesday were unsuccessful.

By Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times

December 1, 2010

For a split second, Matthew T. Hook appears to pause in midair, his muscles paralyzed by electricity, before plunging more than 8 feet to the ground, headfirst.

"We had to Tase him," Perry Township Police Officer Shawn Bean is heard saying on the videotape. "He's down on the ground. Send us a medic."

As a result of injuries from that fall, Hook, 23, suffered "serious and permanent brain damage" and remains "incompetent, severely disabled and hospitalized," according to a civil-rights lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.

The suit filed by Hook's mother and guardian, Laurie Peabody of the Far North Side, alleges that police used "deadly excessive force" during the incident on Aug.8. Hook was shocked when he attempted to scale an 8-foot fence behind Dick's Sporting Goods, 6111 Sawmill Rd. He was driving a stolen SUV before fleeing on foot.

Hook, who struggled with drug addiction, is the father of a 2-year-old child.

Cincinnati attorney Alphonse Gerhardstein, representing Hook and his mother, said Bean ignored a clear warning by the manufacturer, Taser International. The Taser operating instructions warn that using the instrument on a subject on an elevated surface "may increase the risk of death or serious injury resulting from a loss of balance, fall or change of momentum."

"Officers know better than to Tase a nonviolent person who is standing on a fence," Gerhardstein said. "This tragedy could easily have been avoided and the arrest made without any threat to public safety."

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, costs and attorneys fees. It was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus of Columbus.

A Perry Township Police Department investigation cleared Bean of acting improperly. Police Chief Robert Oppenheimer told The Dispatch earlier this year, "I support the officer in the decision he made."

By Alan Johnson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A woman has sued the Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging that a priest initiated a sexual relationship with her in 2008 when he was supposed to be acting as her grief counselor.

The married woman, whose identity wasn't disclosed, alleged that the priest began the sexual relationship days after her terminally ill mother was admitted in November 2008 to the Rainbow Hospice in Chicago and continued the affair for several months after her mother died.

The woman alleged that the priest did not "responsibly manage" her emotional dependence and instead seduced, manipulated and sexually exploited her when she was in a vulnerable state, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The Tribune is not naming the priest because he has not been charged with a crime.

When the woman's husband complained to the archdiocese in December 2008, the lawsuit said, church officials did nothing.

A spokeswoman with the Chicago archdiocese confirmed that the priest works for the archdiocese but declined to comment on the lawsuit.

At a news conference Monday, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called on the archdiocese to take action.

"At the bare minimum, they should remove the priest … while the lawsuit is pending," said SNAP president Barbara Blaine.

A spokesman for Rainbow Hospice confirmed that the priest worked there but that the hospice fired him after they learned of the allegations involving the woman.

A mother and father's lawsuit says a Steak 'n Shake restaurant served their son hot sauce that led to hospital treatment.

Tim and Mary Katherine Gann of Cleveland said in their lawsuit against the restaurant, its parent company and an employee that their minor son, whose name and age were not given, ordered chili at the eatery Oct. 9, 2009, and was given a hot sauce not normally served at the chain, the Cleveland Daily Banner reported Monday.

The Ganns claim the employee who brought their son Blair's Mega Death Sauce, failed to warn him about its intensity and encouraged him to consume it.

The lawsuit says the boy had difficulty breathing and suffered hives, severe pain and inflammation of his digestive system. He was treated in a hospital.

A civil jury Thursday awarded more than $9 million in damages to two motorists who were seriously injured in a rear-end collision on Highway 180 in Fresno in April 2008.

Susan Lutz, 51, of Fresno hugged her attorney, René Sample, in Fresno County Superior Court after the panel awarded Lutz nearly $2 million in damages.

Lutz suffered a brain injury in the April 11, 2008, collision and has vertigo for the rest of her life, Sample said.

The panel awarded $7.3 million to Clarice Brewer, 56, also of Fresno. Brewer can no longer walk because of the collision and uses a wheelchair, said her husband, Henry Brewer.

The $9 million award is one of the larger personal injury awards in Fresno County, according to Warren Paboojian, a specialist in personal injury cases who was not involved in this case.

Pamela Williams couldn't understand why her bottom was covered with infected, painful blisters after what she believed was a routine gynecological procedure at Bethesda Hospital in 2005.

Days earlier, the Bethesda employee and Bond Hill resident underwent an outpatient procedure to eliminate fibroids and thin the uterine wall to relieve her discomfort.

To perform the procedure, Williams chose respected doctor Alan Altman, head of Bethesda's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Now, though, Williams is suing her employer and Altman.

In her Hamilton County lawsuit, she accuses Altman of botching the procedure so badly that he scalded her vagina, rectum and other areas with a superheated saline solution. Then, the malpractice suit adds, Altman sent her home without telling her about the scalding or treating her second- and third-degree burns.

Williams, a 14-year Bethesda employee, wouldn't be interviewed for this story because of the sensitivity of her job, said James Posey, her attorney. "She works at the (public relations) department at Bethesda and that's where she deals with malpractice suits against the hospital."

Neither attorneys for Bethesda nor for Altman and Associates in OB/GYN Inc., a Montgomery group of obstetric and gynecological doctors, would comment.

Williams alleges the botched procedure caused lifelong disfigurement that resulted in her permanent "inability to engage in marital relations with her husband" as well as pain during bowel movements.

In the Feb. 22, 2005, procedure called an "endometrial ablation," a wand containing a saline solution heated to 195 degrees was inserted into her uterus. The heated solution was supposed to be released into and left in the uterus for 10 minutes.

"The concept is it goes in and, in essence, bakes off the lining of the uterus to end that situation or limit it," Posey said.

The wand is encased in a sheath and plugs the cervix, creating a dam that prevents the 195-degree saline solution from leaking out. While that wand was still filling the uterus with the heated solution, Altman is alleged to have ignored several warning beeps from the machine and taken the wand out while it still was releasing the 195-degree solution and scalded Williams.

The machine's operating manual notes the wand isn't to be removed until the water has cooled to room temperature. Altman admitted he never reviewed the operator's manual for Williams' procedure - but insisted he didn't deviate from proper medical care.

"Additionally, (Altman and his group) dispute the nature and extent of Mrs. Williams' alleged injuries," court documents, filed by Altman's attorneys, note.

But medical workers who treated Williams days later didn't.

The injuries, because of their severity and location on her body, stunned emergency room staff.

"The burns to Pamela Williams were so pronounced and horrific that hospital personnel inquired as to whether she was the victim of physical abuse by her husband," Williams' suit alleges.

In court documents, Altman blames the two nurses assisting him for Williams' burns, saying they didn't obey his instructions to turn off the machine in time to avoid the scalding - but both nurses swore under oath they heard no such instruction.

"(T)he only evidence before this Court that Bethesda's nursing staff deviated from accepted standards of care has been submitted by ... Altman," Bethesda attorneys noted in court documents. Bethesda denied all allegations of neglect by the hospital and its staff.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money for Williams and her husband.

Attorneys for Altman and the hospital noted in court documents Williams wanted $1 million to dismiss the suit. It is set for trial Tuesday before Common Pleas Court Judge Jody Luebbers

What happens in Dakar doesn't necessarily stay in Dakar.

That is what a Delta Air Lines pilot and a flight attendant know if they've seen the lawsuit filed against them and the Atlanta-based airline.

A fellow flight attendant accuses the pair of covering up drunken and belligerent behavior in the Muslim land.

Delta flight attendant Jeanette French claims in the suit filed Friday in Fulton County State Court that pilot Loren Gus Pryor attacked her during an overnight layover in the African city. The Georgia woman claims the pilot from Texas was among a group from the Delta flight who were swilling beer taken from their aircraft and that they were making a scene while they were poolside at the Pullman Teranga Hotel in August 2008.

When she told them to cool it and warned that alcohol was illegal there, Pryor allegedly lashed out at her, grabbing her by the shoulder, twisting her around and shoving her away.

"You're not my mother," the lawsuit claims he said. "Now get the [expletive] out of here." He also allegedly warned her, as nearby pilots laughed and shouted more obscenities, that "You don't want to [expletive] with me."

Pryor could not be reached for comment. Neither could French. Her Atlanta attorney Musa L. Eubanks did not return calls for comment.

Eubanks wrote in the suit that her client is suffering "fear, anxiety, worry and severe emotional distress" over the incident and what followed.

The suit, which also names Delta and flight attendant Jeffrey Hill as defendants, seeks unspecified damages, claiming French was so upset upon her return home that she slept for nearly two days.

French claims Delta let Hill and Loren fabricate a defense that led to the March dismissal of a complaint she filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The suit claims the airline contributed to French's distress by failing to properly investigate the alleged incident and then telling her she might have to fly with Pryor again.

Delta declined to comment about the suit, and Hill could not be reached.

French also alleges that Delta failed to ensure her complaint was maintained in confidence, claiming that "news of the incident was all over Delta" by November 2008.

Delta has yet to file a legal response to the suit.

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One current and two former Los Angeles Airport Police officers have filed a lawsuit accusing department officials of discriminating against white officers and giving black officers preferential treatment in promotions and disciplinary action.

The suit, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that black officers were promoted over whites despite receiving lower scores on promotional exams and that white officers were disciplined more harshly for misconduct compared with black officers facing similar accusations.

Even serious misconduct by black officers, such as repeated domestic violence arrests, criminal investigations for burglary or smuggling steroids resulted in little or no discipline, the suit alleged.

An airport police spokeswoman declined to address specific allegations in the lawsuit but said in an e-mail to The Times that "Los Angeles Airport Police complies with all anti-discrimination policies and procedures established by the city of Los Angeles."

According to the lawsuit, Edward Corrington, Arthur Juliano and Jeff Shelton alleged that the environment at the department was "racially charged" and "permeated with discrimination." Specialized units including the K-9 unit were dominated by black officers, the suit alleges.

The suit contends that the environment began at the academy and that the department's recruiting arm was also predominantly black.

"In maintaining a virtually all-black division responsible for recruitment, background investigations and training, the department ignores the fact that Los Angeles has a population less than 10% black and an airport in which less than 5% of the passengers are black," the officers' attorney, Michael McGill, wrote in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged that former airport security Chief James Butts Jr. requested a list of officers with their ethnicities after a 2007 test for sergeant promotions and "manipulated" the rankings so that more black officers would be promoted.

Butts, who resigned from the post last year and is now running for mayor of Inglewood, said he had not seen the lawsuit but vigorously denied the accusations.

"I definitely deny that any manipulation occurred while I was there that had any racial preference," he said Wednesday. "Racial preferences were never a factor in any type of promotion or recruitment."

The three officers also contend that they were unfairly disciplined by department officials.

According to the lawsuit, Shelton was transferred to the Van Nuys airport and ordered to stay away from LAX premises as a result of a sexual harassment complaint. Corrington was fired after an ex-girlfriend obtained a temporary restraining order and accused him of domestic violence. Juliano was subjected to a number of internal affairs complaints and investigations and received a "comment sheet" for calling officers by their first names. He no longer works for the department. The men contend that all the accusations were unfounded.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and that the three be reinstated.