Connecticut
Judge dismisses lawsuit in Little League case
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Connecticut father who said a local Little League demoted his 9-year-old son to a lower-level team because of the father's plans to build affordable housing next to a former league official's home.
U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden in Bridgeport threw out the lawsuit Monday, saying Christopher Stefanoni didn't prove any allegations in the lawsuit he filed against the Darien Little League and its officials in 2013.
Stefanoni also alleged the retaliation was part of a larger concern by Darien residents that affordable housing would draw black people to the wealthy and mostly white town.
A lawsuit by another developer accuses the town of rejecting his affordable housing proposal in an effort to keep out minorities.
Town officials deny the allegations.
Louisiana
Judge approves jury trials for lawsuits over spill
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge has ruled oil spill cleanup workers who sue BP for medical problems that surface later in life have the right to make their case before a jury.
The BP oil spill medical settlement reached in 2012 was set up to pay cleanup workers and others who experienced certain illnesses during the immediate aftermath of the April 2010 disaster.
NOLA.com/The Times Picayune reports it was designed to keep medical claims out of the courtroom.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier (BAHR'-bee-aye) said the settlement terms don't specify whether these so-called "back-end litigation option" cases must be tried before a judge or a jury.
If someone wants a jury trial, he says they can ask for one.
Florida
Advocacy group's lawsuit alleges discrimination
MIAMI (AP) - A consumer advocacy group has filed a class-action lawsuit against Cigna saying a new policy discriminates against people with HIV and AIDS and violates the federal health law by requiring them to get their medications from its mail-order pharmacy.
Consumer Watchdog filed the lawsuit Monday in South Florida federal court. It says sending the drugs through the mail puts privacy at risk because packages could end up at the wrong address or be seen by others. It also says the mail is not a reliable way to ensure people get their medications on time and prevents them from interacting in person with a pharmacist. Patients who do not obtain their medications by mail must pay full price.
The group alleges that the policy also violates the Affordable Care Act because it discourages people with HIV and AIDS from choosing that company's insurance plan by making it difficult to obtain medications.
Cigna had not responded to an e-mail seeking comment by Tuesday morning.
The plaintiff is a Fort Lauderdale man referred to as John Doe in court documents. If he opts out under the policy, he would face exorbitant costs because his local pharmacy would be considered out of network, Consumer Watchdog attorney Jerry Flanagan said.
"What's the good of an insurance policy if you can't get the medications you need to stay alive when you need them or are forced to risk your health and privacy to use it," Flanagan said.
The group filed a similar lawsuit against Aetna in California late last year. Consumer Watchdog said HIV and AIDS patients had the right to opt out of mail-order programs under two similar suits it settled with United Healthcare and Anthem Blue Cross.
One of the cornerstones of President Barack Obama's signature health law forbids insurance companies from turning away people with pre-existing conditions such as HIV or cancer. Yet hundreds of patient advocacy groups say insurance companies have found a way to discriminate against these people, who are more expensive to cover because they require lifelong treatments.
Two health organizations filed a complaint with federal health officials last summer alleging that some Florida insurance companies were putting all the HIV and AIDS medications in a special category where the patient is required to pay a percentage of the cost of the drug, rather than a flat co-pay. Some are as high as 50 percent, leaving people on the hook for thousands of dollars. That compares with the average $10 to $40 per medication co-pay that most pay.
The insurance companies have since agreed to change their prescription drug policies.
New York
NY sheriff: Killing of 15 loose bison was correct call
COEYMANS, N.Y. (AP) - An upstate New York sheriff stands by his decision to have 15 runaway bison shot and killed last week, but he says he should have had his own personnel shoot the animals instead of letting others do it.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple tells The Daily Gazette of Schenectady that a better course of action would have been to have the sheriff office's emergency response team shoot the bison Friday, a day after they escaped from an Albany-area farm.
Apple says he couldn't vouch for the training of three men sent by the buffalo farm's owners to shoot the animals. He likened the shooting scene to the "Wild West" and at one point tried to call it off before finding out it was over.
He says the animals weren't put down humanely.
Iowa
NTSB refuses to reopen Buddy Holly plane crash
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) - The National Transportation Safety Board has declined a request to reopen the investigation of the Iowa plane crash that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
The Civil Aeronautics Board ruled in 1959 that the most likely cause of the crash was pilot error. Snow was listed as a secondary caused.
In a letter dated April 21, the agency said the evidence presented in a request from pilot L.J. Coon wasn't sufficient to merit the reconsideration of the findings of the original investigation. Coon had contended that there were other issues involving weight and balance calculations, fuel-gauge readings and more that contributed to the crash.
Coon didn't respond to a request for comment Monday on the decision from the Mason City Globe Gazette.
Published: Wed, Apr 29, 2015
