Attorneys representing the city of Birmingham filed suit Wednesday against several mortgage lenders, including Birmingham-based Regions Bank, but Mayor Larry Langford said he opposes the lawsuit and would seek to withdraw it.

A vice president of the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and a vice president of RealtyTrac, a firm that tracks foreclosures, didn't deliver the good news that Todd Strange was looking for Wednesday.

Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery along with Birmingham lawyer Dagney Johnson-Walker, filed suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court today saying the predatory lending practices of these banks caused the city to lose tax revenue due to an increased number of foreclosures.

Thomas J. Methvin began his legal career with Beasley Allen in 1988 representing victims of consumer fraud. He has served as Managing Shareholder of the firm since 1998. In 2007, Tom was featured in Fortune Magazine as one of America's Premier Lawyers, and was chosen by Birmingham Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in Alabama in the field of personal injury and mass torts.

Investors might find it easier to sue insurance agents and carriers, thanks to new standards from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., attorneys said.

A recent story about how an insurance company refused to pay for a procedure that could have saved a young girl's life is very sad.

Beasley Allen has written on a practice existing in Corporate America known as "dead peasant" insurance. This is the label put on a practice where an employee takes out life insurance policies on their employees without approval of the employees.

Gov. Bob Riley, at a recent press conference with Alabama Department of Senior Services Commissioner Irene Collins, U. S. Office of Consumer Choice and Protection Director Barbara Dieker and Alabama Association for Justice (formerly the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association) President-Elect Gibson Vance, announced a new campaign to fight Medicare fraud.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Gov. Bob Riley's administration and a plaintiff lawyers' group are teaming up to provide kits aimed at protecting Alabama's elderly from Medicare fraud.

New accusations against equity index annuity sellers may lead to regulatory grief comparable to what property-casualty firms suffered during the contingent- commission scandal a couple of years ago, industry observers.