Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford will meet this morning with lawyers he said filed an unauthorized lawsuit against mortgage lenders on the city's behalf.

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.

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.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The state of Alabama has agreed to settle Medicaid drug pricing lawsuits it filed against prescription drug manufacturer Bristol Myers Squibb and four other companies, but final details in some cases are still being worked out, lawyers for the state said Friday.

WETUMPKA -- The criminal case against a Montgomery man charged in a fatal accident on Lake Martin has been bound over to a grand jury. Patrick Leigh Cumbie faces boat­ing under the influence and homicide by vessel charges. Cumbie was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when the boat he was piloting ran into a pontoon boat Aug. 9 near Ko­waliga Marina. Donald Tatum, 62, of Prattville died as a result of the collision. Sue Tatum, his sister-in-law, was critically in­jured. Cumbie also is facing a civil lawsuit, which was filed in Montgomery County three days after the accident. Jere Beasley represents the Tatums in that lawsuit.

A civil complaint has been filed this week on behalf of a Prattville woman who was criti­cally injured last weekend in a boating mishap on Lake Martin, and her husband, who witness­ed the accident but was not in­jured.

Montgomery attorney Jere Beasley filed the complaint, asking that monetary damages be assessed against 22-year-old Patrick Cumbie of Montgomery. Cumbie is accused of powering an open motorboat into a crowd of swimmers, which included Sue Tatum and her husband, Kenny, then ramming into the pontoon boat aboard which sev­eral other members of the Ta­tum family and several friends were enjoying the lake.

On Friday, June 27th, the United States Supreme Court issued an order rejecting all further appeals of the $20,709,000 pollution verdict entered against the Continental Carbon plant in Phenix City, Alabama, and against its parent company, China Synthetic Rubber Corporation of Taiwan.

Pharmaceutical company Merck says it will start cutting checks next month for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. Merck announced plans today to fund the $4.8 billion settlement involving about 50,000 lawsuits.

MONTGOMERY, Ala., July 3 (Reuters) - The state of Alabama said on Thursday it would offer 69 drug companies it sued over alleged Medicaid price-fixing 30 days to reach a settlement before taking further legal action.

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG inflated drug prices paid by Alabama's Medicaid program and must pay the state $114.3 million in damages, a jury ruled after a two-week civil-fraud trial. After deliberating for 5 1/2 hours yesterday and today, the state jury in Montgomery, Alabama, found the drugmakers liable for misrepresentation.