A Charleston County, South Carolina, jury awarded $1,189,408 to Plaintiff Clifford Hansen after determining he had been unfairly excluded in a business purchase that he had personally developed. The jury held defendant, Beechwood Development Group of South Carolina, LLC, accountable for the investment Mr. Hansen made in developing plans to purchase Hickory Springs Water Company, which bottles and distributes drinking water for retail and wholesale customers. The defendants eventually purchased the business and assets of the company to the exclusion of the plaintiff.

Last week, we told you about a lawsuit filed by Minnesota's attorney general against the nation's largest arbitration company. The suit, filed July 14, 2009, in Hennepin County District Court by Attorney General Lori Swanson against the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) of Minnesota, alleged "consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising." On July 19, Swanson announced that the NAF had agreed it would no longer arbitrate any cases between consumers and businesses.

On July 14, 2009, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against the National Arbitration Forum of Minnesota, the nation's largest arbitration company for consumer credit disputes, alleging "consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false advertising." The lawsuit was filed in Hennepin County District Court.

There is an effort currently underway to remove the rights of consumers to seek justice through the court system when they are injured by a product or drug. The issue is preemption, and it would essentially provide companies with immunity from lawsuits despite negligent action on their part.

MONTGOMERY, ALA. - Beasley Allen law firm will represent the City of Montgomery and its Police Department in an effort to recover money spent for new video surveillance equipment that failed to function properly. The equipment, which included surveillance cameras mounted in police patrol cars and related support software, was purchased from North Carolina-based Integrian.

Beasley Allen has been selected for inclusion on The National Law Journal's 2008 Plaintiffs' Hot List. The list is the magazine's "unscientific survey" of the litigation scene since the summer of 2007, and features exemplary firms that devote at least half of their resources to plaintiffs' work, and which have achieved at least one significant win during that period. Only 15 firms in the United States were selected to appear on the 2008 list.