Due to the mortgage foreclosure crisis, Monday the Alabama State Bar and Legal Services Alabama announced their partnership with a plan to help Alabama homeowners remain in their homes. Thomas Methvin, State Bar President-elect tells WAFF 48 News, "It's a way to give back to the public and to try and keep people from losing their homes. There have been so many people that have been victims of predatory lending practices and we just want to make sure their rights are enforced before someone tries taking their house."

Lawyers in Huntsville will kick off a statewide program here today to assist homeowners in danger of losing their houses because of mortgage foreclosures, according to the Alabama State Bar Association.

The Alabama State Bar and Legal Services Alabama have joined to form a unique partnership with a plan to help Alabama homeowners remain in their homes. Both groups announced a public awareness and education campaign today.

Plaintiffs get close to $5B, but Merck could have done a lot worse.

Attorneys who spent nearly one year negotiating a $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement were left pondering a paradox. Since each side now is certain that the other is prepared for, if not relishing, a litigation Verdun, wouldn't it make better sense to settle after a minimum number of skirmishes?

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top doctors at the helm of one of the nation's most influential medical journals are giving the Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case. The Food and Drug Administration "is in no position" to guarantee drug safety, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief. Lawsuits can serve as "a vital deterrent" and protect consumers if drug companies don't disclose risks.

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.

One Prattville man is dead, a woman is in critical condition and a Montgomery man has been charged with homicide by vessel and boating under the influence after a horrific boating accident on Lake Martin. Patrick Cumbie, 22, is in the Elmore County Jail under $15,000 bond for the death of Donny Tatum, a 62-year-old Prattville man, according to the Alabama Marine Police. Tatum's sister-in-law, Sue Tatum, is in critical condition after suffering life-threatening injuries, said Whit Moncrief, who is a Prattville resident and a friend of the victims.

WETUMPKA -- A Prattville woman continued to fight for her life Monday, following a fatal weekend boating accident on Lake Martin, and more criminal charges may be filed in the case. Sue Tatum was listed in "critical" condition Monday evening at Baptist Medical Center South, said Melody Ragland, marketing coordinator for Baptist Health. Her injuries are life-threatening, District Attorney Randall Houston said.