Legal Headlines

Personal Injury

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.




Personal Injury

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.




Community

Students were rewarded for their creative writing skills at Brantwood Childrens Home this summer. The main goal of the contest was for the children to learn about themselves and to get them geared up for the up and coming school year.




Community

Winners of the Brantwood Childrens Home summer writing contest along with board member Tom Methivin




Environmental

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.

 





Starting this month, officials from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will begin recruiting participants for the East Metro Perfluorochemical (PFC) Biomonitoring Study. The study will directly measure the amount of the PFCs in 200 participants who live in the east metro area, where the drinking water has been found to contain the chemicals.




Pharmaceutical

Merck & Co. will start cutting checks for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx next month after announcing Thursday that it will fund a $4.85 billion settlement expected to resolve roughly 50,000 lawsuits.




Pharmaceutical

Department of Veterans Affairs watchdogs have concluded that the department failed to alert veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in a timely manner to the dangers posed by a drug it was prescribing, VA officials acknowledged Wednesday under sharp questioning from lawmakers.




Environmental

The city of Columbus was awarded $3.4 million Tuesday for its share of punitive damages in its lawsuit against a Phenix City plant. The city of Columbus, local boat dealer John Tharpe and south Columbus resident Owen Ditchfield won their suit against Continental Carbon in 2004. They had said their homes, businesses and buildings had been damaged by carbon black dust emitted from the plant.





Continuing concern about possible contamination from chemicals produced at 3M's Cottage Grove facility has state health officials seeking volunteers for a study of perfluorochemical levels in residents near the plant and several landfills.