National Roundup

Connecticut Dad sues ex's lover, city after fatal fire STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The father of the three girls killed in a Christmas morning house fire has sued the city, his ex-wife's contractor boyfriend and several others who did work on the home, saying they all had roles into making it into a "firetrap." Matthew Badger's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, alleges that contractor Michael Borcina failed to install a smoke detection system while doing renovations on the $1.7 million Victorian house in Stamford. Borcina escaped the blaze along with the girls' mother. The lawsuit alleges that Borcina was to oversee installation of a hard-wired smoke detection system after beginning renovations at the three-story waterfront home but failed to complete the project as scheduled in April 2011 and left the ground floor without heating. "The girls died before they could escape the home, which had become a firetrap as a result of months of substandard construction leading up to the fire," according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Stamford Advocate. The lawsuit also says city officials knew or should have known that Borcina served as the home's general contractor but didn't have a state home improvement contractor's license. Borcina's criminal attorney, Eugene Riccio, said Thursday that another attorney was being hired to handle the civil case. Stamford's director of legal affairs, Joseph Capalbo, declined to comment. The home's architect, electrician and general contractor listed on the building permit were included as defendants. Last month, Stamford State's Attorney David Cohen said he found no criminal negligence in investigating the fire, which has been blamed on a bag of fireplace ashes that had been discarded in a mudroom. The fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their maternal grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson. The grandparents' estates have notified the city of their intent to sue. The girls' mother, Madonna Badger, told NBC's "Today" show the bag of ashes didn't seem dangerous because Borcina ran his hands over them before putting them on top of a plastic bin. New York 3 TV display makers settle LCD price-fixing case ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York's attorney general says three Asia-based companies have agreed to pay $571 million to settle claims by officials in eight states that they conspired to inflate prices for liquid crystal display screens used in televisions and computer monitors. The agreements signed Thursday with AU Optronics Corp., LG Display Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and U.S. affiliates follow a $553 million settlement in December with seven other manufacturers from Japan, Korea and Taiwan accused of fixing prices for thin film transistor LCD panels from 1999 to 2006. Eric Schneiderman says about $692 million will be available for partial refunds to consumers in 24 states after court approval. The settlements conclude the lawsuit against the companies. The states involved are Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Alabama Lawsuit blames coach Saban's daughter for fight TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- The daughter of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban is being sued by a sorority sister who claims the two got into a fight over a Facebook post after a night of drinking. The lawsuit was filed late last month in Tuscaloosa by Sarah Grimes, who is identified as a sorority sister of Kristen Saban. The complaint, which seeks an unspecified amount of at least $10,000, doesn't mention the football coach or wife Terry Saban, and court files showed his daughter hadn't filed a response Thursday. Neither a law firm representing the coach's daughter nor a university spokeswoman returned messages seeking comment. A representative of the coach declined comment. A lawyer for Grimes, Stephen Strickland, called the lawsuit "a private matter." "It's not about Nick Saban, it's not about Miss Terry. It's about two individuals who used to be sorority sisters and friends," Strickland said. Both women remain students at Alabama. The lawsuit claimed Grimes and Kristen Saban were playing a drinking game called "Power Hour" with friends on Aug. 28, 2010. It contends they got into a fight after Kristen Saban posted something on Facebook saying no one liked Grimes. The suit said Grimes was hurt so badly she suffered a concussion, an increase in migraine headaches, had nasal surgery and required psychological help. "As a result of the beating and the head injuries Sarah Grimes sustained by Kristen Saban, Sarah has had repeated night terrors, anxiety, physical trembling, fears of dying from brain injuries, trouble sleeping, and intrusive recollections of the event," the lawsuit said. Kristen Saban pleaded guilty to an unspecified offense before the university's judicial board but was not prosecuted criminally, according to the suit. It said she was required to undergo psychological screening and take an anger management class. A 2009 news release from the university about sorority recruitment identified both Grimes, of Pensacola, Fla., and Kristen Saban as new members of Phi Mu. Ohio Union sues state over privately run prisons COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A union representing prison employees has sued the state, seeking to overturn Ohio's private prison contracts and get laid-off employees' jobs back. The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association lawsuit filed recently in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in Columbus charges privatization violates state laws, including a prohibition against lending state credit to private companies The union represents 270 employees who were laid off or had to take jobs in other prisons. A union spokeswoman says the jobs were lost when Ohio leased the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion to a private operator and sold the Lake Erie Correctional Facility in Conneaut to a private company. An Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman says prison policy changes make residents and prisons safer and provide better taxpayer value. Published: Fri, Jul 13, 2012