Jury Awards $16M to Families of Crash Victims
A Minnesota jury has ordered an airplane manufacturer and the University of North Dakota to pay about $16 million to the families of two men who died in 2003 airplane crash. In the lawsuit, the families of pilot Gary Prokop and passenger Jim Kosak claimed that Cirrus airplanes and the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation failed to provide the required training necessary to sell the airplane to Prokop. Both the manufacturer and the university said they would consider appealing the verdict. Mark Stodghill, Duluth News Tribune 06/08/2009
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a $2.3 million fine against Mattel Inc. and its Fisher-Price subsidiary for selling toys containing dangers levels of lead. The civil penalty stems from the recall of 21 million Chinese-made toys that were found to be tainted with lead or were otherwise dangerous to children. The fine is estimated to be the largest ever issued against a toymaker. Catherine Dodge and Allison Schwartz, Bloomberg 06/05/2009
