Three law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of victims of last weekend's Fernley flood - the second such complaint in two days.

In their suit filed Friday in Lyon County District Court in Yerington, the Reno firms of Maddox & Associates, Leverty & Associates and Dunlap & Laxalt are seeking unspecified damages from the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District.

The complaint came a day after Reno lawyer Robert Hagar filed a
suit in Washoe County District Court on behalf of Judy Kroshus, whose home was among hundreds flooded after a storm-swollen irrigation canal ruptured Jan. 5. That suit, which also seeks class-action status, names the irrigation district, local governments and homebuilders as defendants.

Both lawsuits allege that the irrigation district did not properly maintain the canal and failed to minimize damage once the breach occurred in the fast-growing town 30 miles east of Reno.

Ernie Schank, TCID president, said the district reacted as quickly as possible after learning about the rupture, which was reported at about 4:20 a.m.

"This will be a complex case," lawyer Cal Dunlap told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "A lot of this is unknown territory. It's not immediately clear which laws apply."

Judges will have to certify the lawsuits as class actions, meaning that the suits represent all plaintiffs affected by the flood.

"It's unusual for two class actions to be certified," said Jeffrey Stempel, a law professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "Filing first is always an advantage."

Stempel maintained the irrigation district generally would be liable for flood damage.

"If you've penned up an animal and the animal escaped and hurt
someone, it's usually your responsibility," he said. "In this case, the district penned up water and it got away from them."

The irrigation district operates the canal under a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns it.

Schank has said he realizes the district will be targeted by lawsuits, but was unsure whether it's liable for flood damage.

Betsy Rieke, area manager for the reclamation bureau, has said her agency thinks the district would be liable.

Rieke's agency continues to investigate the cause of the breach, which occurred after unusually heavy rain.

A recently enacted law will allow class-action lawsuits -- commonplace in the countries such as the United States -- to be filed in Italy starting July 2008.

Adusbef, which focuses on financial services matters, wants to take aim at the so-called practice of anatocism, where compound interest is calculated on the initial loan plus interest that is accumulated each time the money comes due.

"We want to start from the most hated banking practice, this form of usury that is known as anatocism," Adusbef said.

That is opposed to using simple interest, in which only the interest on the original money borrowed is added.

Although banned by the Italian civil law code, Italian banks have been using compound interest for over 50 years, Adusbef said. No-one at Italian banking association ABI was immediately available for comment.

If you bought diamonds over the last decade, you might be entitled to some money back.

The mining company De Beers is settling a $295 million class action lawsuit.

De Beers was accused of fixing diamond prices and monopolizing the market. The case involves diamonds bought from 1994 through March of 2006.

The amount of money you can get depends on how much you paid an the quality of the diamonds.

https://www.diamondsclassaction.com

A class action lawsuit has been filed against pharmaceutical powerhouse Sanofi-Aventis alleging that the company hid data concerning adverse events associated with their obesity medication Zimulti. The French company allegedly concealed data showing Zimulti's propensity to cause depression. Zimulti has also been shown to increase suicidal ideation and action in some cases.

In June the FDA unanimously decided that Zimulti could not be recommended for approval in the U.S.; however, the drug can be purchased through online pharmacies based in other countries.

"Policyholders have every right to expect fair and honest treatment from their insurers," McCollum says. "We will continue to aggressively demand accountability and transparency from the insurance industry in Florida."

Travelers allegedly conspired with Marsh & McLennan and other brokers to create the illusion of a competitive bidding process by submitting fake bids even though the brokers had already determined which insurer would receive a particular policyholder's business, according the Florida officials.

Travelers paid "contingent commissions" to these brokers, and these commissions were not disclosed to policyholders, officials say.

The Florida Attorney General's Office, Department of Financial Services and Office of Insurance Regulation will receive a combined $1.1 million of the settlement. The money will fund a reimbursement pool for affected public entity policyholders and repay the state agencies' costs of investigation.

In addition to the financial settlement, Travelers has agreed to a consent decree and final judgment that will provide comprehensive injunctive relief, including a requirement to disclose compensation that Travelers pays to insurance brokers.

Travelers also will be required to disclose to all customers and prospective policyholders the ranges and averages of payments it made to insurance brokers on specific lines of insurance.

The consent decree and final judgment will be filed in Leon County Circuit Court this week.

Travelers has cooperated with the multistate task force and will provide assistance to the states as they continue their investigation of insurance brokers and other insurers. The company has already reimbursed a nationwide group of policyholders for overcharges and has adopted significant business reforms that govern its bidding and underwriting practices.

In addition to Florida, the following states following seven states and the District of Columbia participated in the investigation and settlement: Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.