New York
Walmart reaches settlement deal for shareholder lawsuits over its handling of opioids
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart said Friday it has reached a proposed settlement pact related to three lawsuits filed by shareholders on behalf of the company over the handling of prescription opioids.
According to the terms of the settlement that were disclosed in a regulatory filing, insurance carriers will pay Walmart $123 million, excluding any attorneys’ fees and expenses awarded by the court to the plaintiffs’ counsel. Walmart would also maintain certain corporate governance practices for at least five years, according to the filing.
The settlement doesn’t include any admission of liability by Walmart. It’s subject to court approval.
Three Walmart shareholders filed lawsuits the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleging current and former directors and officers breached their fiduciary duties by failing to adequately oversee the company’s distribution and dispensing of prescription opioids.
In 2022, Walmart agreed to pay $3.1 billion to settle lawsuits nationwide over the impact of prescriptions its pharmacies filled for powerful prescription opioid painkillers.
California
Foster parent sentenced to 7 years for abusing children who were victims of torture
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children he had assigned to care for in his home, including some who had been previously tortured by their parents.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led away by sheriff’s deputies in a courtroom in Riverside after a brief sentencing hearing. Olguin previously pleaded guilty to lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and injuring a child, while his wife, Rosa, and adult daughter, Lennys, pleaded guilty to child cruelty. The women were each sentenced to four years of formal probation.
“Today’s sentencing marks a significant step in delivering justice to the victims who endured unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement. “These children were placed in a position of vulnerability after surviving intense trauma, only to be further exploited by someone who was entrusted with their care.”
Attorneys for the Olguins said the plea arrangement allowed for the women to be spared prison time.
“My client saved his family,” Paul Grech, Marcelino Olguin’s lawyer, said after the hearing. He declined to discuss the case further.
The Olguin family was tasked with caring for the children after they were rescued from horribly abusive conditions in their parents’ home in the Southern California community of Perris. Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, pleaded guilty in 2019 to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children and starving them and providing only a minimal education. The Turpin parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
On Friday, a victim’s advocate read to the court a statement prepared by one of the Turpin children who had stayed in the Olguins’ home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and to recover from my trauma, but unfortunately I did not receive that,” the statement said. The victim, who was not named, is still recovering and learning to trust, but forgives the family in an act of faith, the statement said.
A report found that the social service system failed the Turpin children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 when they were rescued by authorities from their parents’ home after their 17-year-old sister escaped and called 911. Eventually six of the children were placed with the Olguins.
Attorneys representing some of the Turpin children filed a civil lawsuit against Riverside County alleging the Olguins abused minors in their care. The couple hit the children in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, forced them to eat their own vomit and made them sit in a circle and recount the trauma they had experienced in their parents’ home, the attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in 2022. The suit also accused Marcelino Olguin of sexual abuse.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been a “little exaggerated” but winning a case with so much public scrutiny would have been difficult. Doug Ecks, who represented Rosa Olguin, said his client and her daughter might be seen as enablers but didn’t face charges of abuse to the same extent.
“When there was a resolution that involved no custody, that seemed in the best interest of everybody,” Ecks said.
Florida
Judge tells state’s top doctor not to threaten TV stations over abortion-rights ads
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A judge has blocked the head of Florida’s state health department from taking any more action to threaten TV stations over an abortion-rights commercial they’ve been airing.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s ruling Thursday sided with Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group that produced the commercial promoting a ballot measure that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if it passes in the Nov. 5 election. The group filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the state’s communications with stations.
“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,’” the judge said in a written opinion.
He added, “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top lawyer at the health department before resigning unexpectedly, sent a letter to TV stations on Oct. 3 telling them to stop running an FPF ad, asserting that it was false and dangerous. The letter also says it could be subject to criminal proceedings.
FPF said about 50 stations were running the ad and that most or all of them received the letter — and at least one stopped running the commercial.
The group said the state was wrong when it claimed that assertions in the commercial were false. The state’s objection was to a woman’s assertion that the abortion she received in 2022 after she was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor would not be allowed under current state law.
The state hasn’t changed its position. In a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the health department again said that the ads are “unequivocally false.”
The judge’s order bars further action from the state until Oct. 29, when he’s planning a hearing on the question.
The ballot measure is one of nine similar ones across the country, but the campaign over it is the most expensive so far, with ads costing about $160 million, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. It would require the approval of 60% of voters to be adopted and would override the state law that bans abortion in most cases after the first six weeks of pregnancy, which is before women often realize they’re pregnant.
The administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken multiple steps against the ballot measure campaign.
Kentucky
Four men charged in conspiracy to smuggle handguns to Iraq by hiding them in cars
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Four Kentucky men are accused of plotting to smuggle dozens of handguns to Iraq inside the door panels of two cars after a multiagency investigation.
The Louisville men were arrested this month, federal agencies announced. They said Haider Lazem, 41, Hasan Wasak, 27, and Abdullah Alsajee, 30, purchased the weapons at gun shops and gun shows around the state and delivered them to 30-year-old Haitham Al-Dulaimi, who arranged for their shipment.
Prosecutors allege Al-Dulaimi hid the handguns in packaging material and placed them in the door panels of a Kia Forte and a Hyundai Elantra, The Courier Journal reported. The shipment was intercepted by law enforcement in January and 38 handguns and magazines were seized.
An indictment unsealed in October charges Lazem, Wasak and Alsajee with conspiracy to violate U.S. export law, making false statements and fraud. Al Dulaimi also was charged with conspiracy and fraud, along with smuggling and dealing firearms without a license, the agencies announced.
Lawyers for two of the men reached by the newspaper declined to comment on their arrests. All four men are currently out of jail after surrendering their passports, the newspaper reported. Al-Dulaimi could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on all charges, the newspaper reported. The three others could face up to 35 years.
North Carolina
State high court orders medical certification lawsuit be reheard
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court ruled Friday that a lower court should reconsider the constitutionality of a state law that requires health regulators to sign off before expanded health care services can be offered to the public.
An eye doctor originated the challenge to the series of statutes known as the certificate of need law. Dr. Jay Singleton argued the requirement that regulators approve his ability to perform surgeries at his office violates his constitutional rights.
The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous unsigned opinion, ordered that Singleton’s case be returned to a trial court.
The justices wrote in part that the trial court that originally heard the case and a panel on the intermediate-level Court of Appeals mistakenly treated the lawsuit as one that challenged the law solely as it related to Singleton’s situation.
In fact, Friday’s decision read, the lawsuit also contains allegations of “facial challenges” that “if proven, could render the Certificate of Need law unconstitutional in all its applications.” That could eliminate fully the requirement that a medical entity seeking to expand bed space or use expensive equipment receive formal approval from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency is supposed to determine whether the services are necessary due to things like population growth or patient needs. Republican lawmakers and right-leaning think tanks have sought to reform or do away with certificate of need, replacing them with more free-market forces.
The facial challenge found in the lawsuit means three trial judges could now preside over the case instead of one.
Singleton sued the state health agency and executive and legislative branch leaders in 2020, alleging he was essentially unable to expand his New Bern practice and offer less costly surgeries because state regulators have calculated there’s no need in his area for additional operating room space. Singleton had been performing most of his surgeries at a New Bern hospital.
The ruling that vacates the 2022 Court of Appeals decision sets no date for the case to be heard.
Walmart reaches settlement deal for shareholder lawsuits over its handling of opioids
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart said Friday it has reached a proposed settlement pact related to three lawsuits filed by shareholders on behalf of the company over the handling of prescription opioids.
According to the terms of the settlement that were disclosed in a regulatory filing, insurance carriers will pay Walmart $123 million, excluding any attorneys’ fees and expenses awarded by the court to the plaintiffs’ counsel. Walmart would also maintain certain corporate governance practices for at least five years, according to the filing.
The settlement doesn’t include any admission of liability by Walmart. It’s subject to court approval.
Three Walmart shareholders filed lawsuits the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleging current and former directors and officers breached their fiduciary duties by failing to adequately oversee the company’s distribution and dispensing of prescription opioids.
In 2022, Walmart agreed to pay $3.1 billion to settle lawsuits nationwide over the impact of prescriptions its pharmacies filled for powerful prescription opioid painkillers.
California
Foster parent sentenced to 7 years for abusing children who were victims of torture
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children he had assigned to care for in his home, including some who had been previously tortured by their parents.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led away by sheriff’s deputies in a courtroom in Riverside after a brief sentencing hearing. Olguin previously pleaded guilty to lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and injuring a child, while his wife, Rosa, and adult daughter, Lennys, pleaded guilty to child cruelty. The women were each sentenced to four years of formal probation.
“Today’s sentencing marks a significant step in delivering justice to the victims who endured unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement. “These children were placed in a position of vulnerability after surviving intense trauma, only to be further exploited by someone who was entrusted with their care.”
Attorneys for the Olguins said the plea arrangement allowed for the women to be spared prison time.
“My client saved his family,” Paul Grech, Marcelino Olguin’s lawyer, said after the hearing. He declined to discuss the case further.
The Olguin family was tasked with caring for the children after they were rescued from horribly abusive conditions in their parents’ home in the Southern California community of Perris. Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, pleaded guilty in 2019 to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children and starving them and providing only a minimal education. The Turpin parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
On Friday, a victim’s advocate read to the court a statement prepared by one of the Turpin children who had stayed in the Olguins’ home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and to recover from my trauma, but unfortunately I did not receive that,” the statement said. The victim, who was not named, is still recovering and learning to trust, but forgives the family in an act of faith, the statement said.
A report found that the social service system failed the Turpin children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 when they were rescued by authorities from their parents’ home after their 17-year-old sister escaped and called 911. Eventually six of the children were placed with the Olguins.
Attorneys representing some of the Turpin children filed a civil lawsuit against Riverside County alleging the Olguins abused minors in their care. The couple hit the children in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, forced them to eat their own vomit and made them sit in a circle and recount the trauma they had experienced in their parents’ home, the attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in 2022. The suit also accused Marcelino Olguin of sexual abuse.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been a “little exaggerated” but winning a case with so much public scrutiny would have been difficult. Doug Ecks, who represented Rosa Olguin, said his client and her daughter might be seen as enablers but didn’t face charges of abuse to the same extent.
“When there was a resolution that involved no custody, that seemed in the best interest of everybody,” Ecks said.
Florida
Judge tells state’s top doctor not to threaten TV stations over abortion-rights ads
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A judge has blocked the head of Florida’s state health department from taking any more action to threaten TV stations over an abortion-rights commercial they’ve been airing.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s ruling Thursday sided with Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group that produced the commercial promoting a ballot measure that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if it passes in the Nov. 5 election. The group filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the state’s communications with stations.
“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,’” the judge said in a written opinion.
He added, “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”
State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top lawyer at the health department before resigning unexpectedly, sent a letter to TV stations on Oct. 3 telling them to stop running an FPF ad, asserting that it was false and dangerous. The letter also says it could be subject to criminal proceedings.
FPF said about 50 stations were running the ad and that most or all of them received the letter — and at least one stopped running the commercial.
The group said the state was wrong when it claimed that assertions in the commercial were false. The state’s objection was to a woman’s assertion that the abortion she received in 2022 after she was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor would not be allowed under current state law.
The state hasn’t changed its position. In a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the health department again said that the ads are “unequivocally false.”
The judge’s order bars further action from the state until Oct. 29, when he’s planning a hearing on the question.
The ballot measure is one of nine similar ones across the country, but the campaign over it is the most expensive so far, with ads costing about $160 million, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. It would require the approval of 60% of voters to be adopted and would override the state law that bans abortion in most cases after the first six weeks of pregnancy, which is before women often realize they’re pregnant.
The administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken multiple steps against the ballot measure campaign.
Kentucky
Four men charged in conspiracy to smuggle handguns to Iraq by hiding them in cars
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Four Kentucky men are accused of plotting to smuggle dozens of handguns to Iraq inside the door panels of two cars after a multiagency investigation.
The Louisville men were arrested this month, federal agencies announced. They said Haider Lazem, 41, Hasan Wasak, 27, and Abdullah Alsajee, 30, purchased the weapons at gun shops and gun shows around the state and delivered them to 30-year-old Haitham Al-Dulaimi, who arranged for their shipment.
Prosecutors allege Al-Dulaimi hid the handguns in packaging material and placed them in the door panels of a Kia Forte and a Hyundai Elantra, The Courier Journal reported. The shipment was intercepted by law enforcement in January and 38 handguns and magazines were seized.
An indictment unsealed in October charges Lazem, Wasak and Alsajee with conspiracy to violate U.S. export law, making false statements and fraud. Al Dulaimi also was charged with conspiracy and fraud, along with smuggling and dealing firearms without a license, the agencies announced.
Lawyers for two of the men reached by the newspaper declined to comment on their arrests. All four men are currently out of jail after surrendering their passports, the newspaper reported. Al-Dulaimi could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on all charges, the newspaper reported. The three others could face up to 35 years.
North Carolina
State high court orders medical certification lawsuit be reheard
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court ruled Friday that a lower court should reconsider the constitutionality of a state law that requires health regulators to sign off before expanded health care services can be offered to the public.
An eye doctor originated the challenge to the series of statutes known as the certificate of need law. Dr. Jay Singleton argued the requirement that regulators approve his ability to perform surgeries at his office violates his constitutional rights.
The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous unsigned opinion, ordered that Singleton’s case be returned to a trial court.
The justices wrote in part that the trial court that originally heard the case and a panel on the intermediate-level Court of Appeals mistakenly treated the lawsuit as one that challenged the law solely as it related to Singleton’s situation.
In fact, Friday’s decision read, the lawsuit also contains allegations of “facial challenges” that “if proven, could render the Certificate of Need law unconstitutional in all its applications.” That could eliminate fully the requirement that a medical entity seeking to expand bed space or use expensive equipment receive formal approval from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency is supposed to determine whether the services are necessary due to things like population growth or patient needs. Republican lawmakers and right-leaning think tanks have sought to reform or do away with certificate of need, replacing them with more free-market forces.
The facial challenge found in the lawsuit means three trial judges could now preside over the case instead of one.
Singleton sued the state health agency and executive and legislative branch leaders in 2020, alleging he was essentially unable to expand his New Bern practice and offer less costly surgeries because state regulators have calculated there’s no need in his area for additional operating room space. Singleton had been performing most of his surgeries at a New Bern hospital.
The ruling that vacates the 2022 Court of Appeals decision sets no date for the case to be heard.
