The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned a massive sex discrimination lawsuit on behalf of at least 500,000 women claiming that Wal-Mart favors men over women in pay and promotions.

The justices suggested that they are troubled by lower court decisions allowing the class-action lawsuit to proceed against the world's largest retailer.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a key vote on the high court, said he is unsure "what the unlawful policy is" that Wal-Mart engaged in to deprive women of pay increases and promotions comparable to men.

Billions of dollars are at stake in the case. Class actions create pressure on businesses to settle claims and create the potential for large judgments.

Wal-Mart denies it discriminates against its female employees.

But Joseph Sellers, the lawyer for the women, said that lower courts were persuaded by statistical and other evidence put forth so far in the 10-year-old lawsuit.

Sellers said a strong corporate culture at Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters that stereotyped women as less aggressive than men translated into individual pay and promotions decisions at the more than 3,400 Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs stores across the country.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered Health Net Inc., a major health maintenance organization, to cover more than $180 million in claims by consumers, health care providers and creditors in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The Advocate that Louisiana will get the smallest portion of the payout.

"We have about $12 million coming to us to policyholders, providers and general creditors, meaning companies who sold them supplies or that rented them space," Donelon said.

Donelon said the unanimous ruling, issued Friday, will reimburse all of AmCare Louisiana HMO's members, providers, and creditors for any losses caused by Health Net's conduct.

Health Net sold health plans in the three states to AmCareco Inc. in 1999. In 2002, the troubled health plans were placed under state supervision. Each of the state's insurance departments sued AmCareco and Health Net, alleging fraud, negligence, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.

In 2005, a state district court jury awarded the Texas plaintiffs around $100 million in damages. In 2005, a state judge in Baton Rouge issued similar verdicts against Health Net and awarded $30 million to the Louisiana and Oklahoma plaintiffs.

The Michigan Supreme Court says it will decide if judges can order a sewer system when septic tanks fail and spoil a lake.

The court says Thursday it will take an appeal in a case involving Worth Township along Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb region. State regulators want the township to install a sewer system, but an appeals court said local government isn't responsible for the problems of private property owners.

Some septic systems are failing on a five-mile stretch between M-25 and Lake Huron in Sanilac County. Waste is being discharged into Lake Huron and its tributaries.

Worth Township says it can't build a sewer system without financial help from the state.

A California appeals court has sided with environmentalists in a decision that blames Los Angeles County and its flood control district for sending polluted runoff into the Pacific Ocean.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the county is responsible for the heavily polluted storm water flowing untreated each year down the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper environmental groups say the ruling is a turning point in the battle for clean water. Council attorney Aaron Colangelo says the county must now eliminate the flow of pollutants.

The Los Angeles Times says the Flood Control District argued its channels were simply conduits for upstream polluters, but the court says the district controls the flow to the ocean.

Vivendi SA said Wednesday it will significantly reduce the EUR550 million provision it had made to cover potential damages for a U.S. class action case after a U.S. judge narrowed the size of the class.

The Paris-based company's potential liabilities have been slashed by 80% in light of the court victory, which will free up more cash as the group prepares to buy out Vodafone PLC's minority stake in telecoms operator SFR.

Vivendi made the provision in its 2009 accounts to cover any eventual payout after a jury in January last year found the company liable for 57 misstatements about its financial condition in the two years leading up to its near bankruptcy in 2002.

The damages arising from the ruling in January 2010, which was based on a class involving shareholders outside the U.S., could have totaled more than $9 billion, according to lawyers for the shareholders, although Vivendi's lawyer Herve Pisani rejected the sum as "unfounded."

The ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell that shareholders who bought Vivendi shares outside the U.S. are barred from bringing fraud claims against the company in the U.S., considerably narrowed the overall size of the potential class.

Albany Medical Center will pay $4.5 million to settle its share of a federal class-action lawsuit alleging officials conspired with counterparts at other hospitals in the area to keep pay down for about 4,000 registered nurses.

Court documents say similar settlements for about 2 percent of nurses' pay from June 2002 to June 2006 were reached with companies operating St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, St. Mary's Hospital and Samaritan Hospital in Troy and Albany Memorial Hospital.

The hospital companies admit no wrongdoing. The suit is still pending against Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.

A call to Albany Med was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Attorney Daniel Small, representing the nurses, says about $9 million altogether is in an escrow account pending the end of the case. Lawyers are requesting one-third.

As it scrambled to placate the 400 ticketholders who didn't get a seat to Super Bowl XLV, the NFL has a second group of angry fans on its hands.

Eagan Avenatti, LLP, a law firm specializing in consumer rights, launched an investigation into claims that the Cowboys deceived season ticket holders into buying $1,200 seats with obstructed views.

While the NFL took the blame for the 400 fans whose temporary seats weren't ready for Sunday's game, Avenatti took aim at Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

"These season ticket holders are rightfully irate at Jones and the Cowboys," attorney Michael Avenatti said in a statement. "Jones sold the very fans that helped finance the construction of the stadium on the idea of attending the Super Bowl, took their money, and then put them in illegitimate seats with obstructed views. What team or owner on the planet would treat its best fans like this?"

Known as the "Founders," the fans helped finance the $1.2 billion stadium, contributing more than $100 million in personal seat licenses and another $3 million in annual season ticket sales. Each paid at least $100,000 in PSLs.

"We will get to the bottom of this," Avenatti said. "And when we do, I expect we will find that greed and ego had a lot to do with what happened."

Meanwhile, the NFL expanded its makeup offerings to the 400 fans who had tickets but didn't even get a seat on Super Sunday. The league's offering includes the option of a free ticket to next year's Super Bowl game plus a cash payment of $2,400 (triple the original face value of Sunday's ticket) or a ticket to a future Super Bowl, including next year's if so desired, plus round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations, but not the $2,400. They can wait until after the conference championship games each season to see whether their favorite team reaches the Super Bowl.