More than a dozen Botox users and relatives filed a lawsuit Wednesday contending that the blockbuster wrinkle-buster injured them or killed their relatives, and they blamed maker Allergan Inc. for failing to warn them of the dangers.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court near Allergan’s Irvine headquarters, links the toxin-based drug to three deaths, including one in March of a 69-year-old Texas nurse who received injections for neck and shoulder pain.

The second death was that of a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, also from Texas, who died in 2004, allegedly after receiving injections to control limb spasticity.

The third death occurred earlier this week in Arizona. In that case, a 71-year-old woman allegedly got Botox injections for wrinkles around her mouth at a mall clinic a year ago. After that, the suit says, she had trouble swallowing and breathing, was unable to speak and lost weight until she died. All three deaths involved uses of Botox that were not approved by federal regulators.

The suit also contends that Botox injections both for approved uses, such as smoothing frown lines, and unapproved uses, such as treating migraines, left 12 other plaintiffs with a range of disabilities, including blurred vision, numbness, allergic reactions, flu-like symptoms, muscle weakness and difficulty breathing.

An Allergan spokeswoman said, "It is important to recognize that Botox has a remarkable safety record. The product was first approved nearly 20 years ago and today benefits 21 different patient populations across more than 75 countries."

A jury in Cheyenne, Wyoming has awarded a Colorado Springs couple more than $18 million for injuries the husband suffered when a tractor-trailer struck the car he was driving at the Interstate 25 and 80 interchange in July 2006.

Attorneys for Werner Enterprises and Cheryl Neal attempted to persuade the court Brophy did not properly yield to the tractor-trailer, according to court documents.

When Tom Brokaw opened Sunday’s somber edition of "Meet the Press" he showed a large wooden sign Tim Russert had displayed in his office, that said "Thou shall not whine.’ And Brokaw addeded ‘Thou shall not weep or cry this morning.’ This is a celebration, a time to remember."

But that edict proved hard to observe as Russert’s colleagues eulogized him on the NBC political talk show he moderated for nearly 17 years until his unexpected death from a heart attack Friday.

And, I assume, that the edict was also difficult to observe by those watching for the program opened silently, with the camera focused on a darkened set and the moderator’s empty chair. Brokaw and a gathering of Russert’s friends sat in a semicircle in front of the stage, reminiscing about the man and his passion for political discourse.

For three straight days, NBC News devoted its resources to memorializing him on the air. And, if I may editoralize:  This was, other than letting Tim Russert have his head (as cowboys do to their best horse), the only thing NBC has done with decency in the past 5 years.

Of course it wasn’t just his own employer that lionized Russert. CNN, CBS, ABC, Fox, and, especially, that Icon of Conservatism, Rush Limbaugh, dedicated messages of admiration.

There was not much laughter at NBC this weekend, but is there ever?

First it was that Sci-FI icon (The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes) and now the supply chain that ships foods to far-flung consumers is also good at spreading disease and mayhem.

A family whose child wass molested by a hotel employee sues and finds itself a target of federal probes.

Or if it had stopped when the hotel’s insurer, American International Group, decided on exceptionally tough tactics — endless depositions, private investigators and psychological tests — to prevent a payout to the family. Or when federal prosecutors, perhaps acting on a tip from lawyers for the insurer and hotel, started questioning the family’s immigration status (they’re from Britain) and launching criminal probes into their business dealings. Or when a settlement deal with the hotel fell apart and the battle headed back to court.

But it hasn’t ended. Eight years after their daughter was attacked, the Gayters’ fight grinds on.

Lawsuits have snaked through two federal trial courts and two federal appellate courts. At least 20 lawyers have worked on the matter, including litigators from some of the top firms in the country. Lawyers for the hotel have been admonished repeatedly for overreaching discovery tactics. Yet they’ve been able to bat down a jury trial.

Now, however, the FAmily is hoping to inflict some pain. On May 2, they filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the hotel, the insurer and several of the lawyers who worked against them, accusing the group of malicious prosecution for allegedly instigating the criminal investigation and immigration proceedings.n The family is seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

The case is no sure thing, but the family may be helped by a record showing the government eventually abandoned both the criminal and immigration investigations. Plus, after eight years of fighting, an uphill battle isn’t likely to cause much concern for the family.

In April 2000, the family traveled to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a getaway. Just after they returned from the trip, their daughter read a section from the children’s book, "Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul," which counseled that if children are touched inappropriately, they should tell an adult.

The daughter told her parents that Bryan Hornby, director of Wyndham’s day care program, Kids Klub, had sexually molested her several times throughout their seven-day stay at the resort. They immediately called the police in the Virgin Islands — who arrested Hornby.

It turns out that the girl wasn’t the only victim. Two other cases were brought by families who said their children were molested by Hornby. The other two families agreed to settle for undisclosed amounts in April 2008, according to court documents filed in the Virgin Islands.

By March 2001, Hornby was convicted of unlawful sexual contact and sentenced to five years in prison. (He was released in 2006 and then deported to his native Zimbabwe.)

AIG, the hotel’s primary insurer, took the lead in assembling, and paying for, a defense team. It included Los Angeles solo litigator Bill Schroeder; the Virgin Islands firm Dudley Clark & Chan; and another Virgin Islands firm, Hymes & Zebedee. Three Am Law 200 players were also on the defense list: Reed Smith; Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker; and Baker & Hostetler. The insurance company also hired counsel for Hornby, even though it was no longer required to do so under Wyndham’s policy, according to a Dec. 12, 2001, letter from AIG to Hornby.

From the start, AIG and Wyndham played hardball: They wanted repeated psychological evaluations of the family and hired private investigators. They asked to speak with friends of the family and the daughter’s classmates, and took a two-hour deposition of the daughter’s school principal. The family recently filed lawsuit says that investigators also stole the family’s garbage to obtain evidence.

The goal, according to court papers filed by the defense, was to show that the family were overstating their injuries and had a history of lying on government documents, including their

IMMIGRATION QUESTIONS

In May 2002, Douglas Beach, of counsel at Dudley Clark, subpoenaed the familys’ immigration records. Along with Schroeder, the Los Angeles solo, he deposed the father in Washington, D.C., at the offices of Baker & Hostetler.

The lawyers zeroed in on the familys’ visa status. The father and his wife had come to the United States in 1996 to work for a Northern Virginia advertising company. In 1999, they lost their jobs, but quickly started working with a Boston-based sports marketing company. Under an agreement with his employer, the father started an advertising company of his own.

According to a court filing, defense lawyers believed the arrangement was a cover for a money laundering operation. In court documents, they outlined a scheme where the father was allegedly sending $18,000 a month in payments to his former employer, which in turn was kicking back a portion of that money n the form of salary payments.

The father and his wife would be deposed six more times.

In 2003, the family had enough and refused to comply with a subpoena for access to their business computers. Lawyers for the plaintiffs turned to judges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to force the family to comply. And when they were rebuffed, the attorneys took the matter to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a July 2004 ruling, the 4th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling, calling the request "unduly burdensome" and "harassing."

With their discovery shut down, Wyndham’s lawyers sought help elsewhere: the federal government.

For a while, it looked as if the family had the government on its side. Back in May 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft honored them for their work with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In response to their child’s ordeal, they had marshaled an ad campaign to raise awareness about child molestation.

Within six months, prosecutors were investigating the family for money laundering and immigration fraud. The family, in their suit, say that attorneys and the insurer supplied information from the civil battle to help the government launch a criminal investigation.

It’s a fairly common occurrence, say former prosecutors not involved in the litigation for private lawyers ri regularly refer potential criminal cases to federal prosecutors, but is incumbent on any prosecutor to keep their antennae up and beware of ulterior motives.

The family learned they were targets of a probe in December 2004. A business associate told them that he had been served with a grand jury subpoena to testify, says the family’s current lawyer. He says when they into the matter, they discovered their clients were indeed under investigation for visa fraud and money laundering.

In their May 2 complaint, the family say thatan Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia handled the probe, along with a Special Agent with the Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations in the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General, as well as a Special Agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to the complaint, information in the government’s possession included DVD recordings of the father’s deposition.

In September 2006, the family learned that the government wasn’t going to pursue criminal charges. Their immigration status, however, was a different matter. The father and his counsel learned that month that the wheels had been set in motion for deportation. The father was ordered to appear at the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services office in Fairfax, Va. Once there, he was arrested for immigration violations, was fingerprinted, and had his mug shot taken. The father says he was also detained in a holding cell several hours before he was allowed to leave after posting a $5,000 bond.

In May 2007, U.S. Immigration Judge John Bryant granted a motion by the Department of Homeland Security, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to terminate the case. The motion gave no reason for the change of heart.

By the end of the government investigations into their business and immigration status, the family say they had spent some $400,000 in legal fees.

A proposed settlement would have more than covered the spending. In July 2005, the parties agreed to settle the case on the eve of a trial. The payout: $2.1 million.

But disputes raged over fine points, such as which family member would receive the money. And the funds were never released.

After two years of haggling, the family moved to restore the case. Chief Judge Curtis Gomez, in the Virgin Islands, granted the motion, ruling last November that the case was still active. He ordered pre-judgment and post-judgment interest on the money, according to court documents. Counsel has appealed the decision to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the issue is currently being briefed.

The family hired new counsel on April 23 and their former counsel withdrew his representation on April 28. It is unclear why the change took place.

In addition to the malicious prosecution allegation in their May 2 complaint, the family are claiming abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false light. Named in the suit are AIG, the Wyndham resort (now known as Wind International Inc.), and its lawyers, Schroeder, Dudley Clark & Chan, and Beach.

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A study of court settlements in personal injury lawsuits against businesses estimated companies could save an average total of $114,000 per claim or $670,000 for severe injuries by promptly settling cases instead of fighting them in court.

The study, which was published this month in the Columbia Business Law Review, also projected $32,000 in savings from lower legal expenses, or about $211,000 for cases involving severe injuries.

The study based the projections on how much it would cost businesses to make "early offers" to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses and wage losses of injured claimants. The quick settlements would reduce legal fees and "pain and suffering" damages.

Texas state health officials have warned consumers to avoid eating uncooked tomatoes believed linked to an outbreak of potentially deadly salmonella poisoning in Texas and eight other states.

A Federal Court Jury ruled that United Fire & Casualty Insurance Company pay a $21 million award, almost exactly what United Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. still owed to repair the stores — $16.7 million — plus penalties for delaying payment.

The jury’s verdict, capping a trial that lasted several days over two weeks.

Each store was assigned money to cover building damage, business interruption, tenant improvements and loss of business personal property from windstorm and from vandalism, theft or looting.

The family of Emily Rae Rice, who died while in custody at the Denver City Jail, has reached a $4 million settlement with Denver Health Medical Center.

As part of the settlement, Denver Health agreed to significant changes in patient screening and treatment at both the medical center and the jail.

Rice, 24, died Feb. 19, 2006, in the jail 20 hours after she was released from the hospital. She had suffered a lacerated spleen and liver and bled to death from injuries she sustained in a drunken-driving crash.

Rice’s family had filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Denver Health. The settlement reached does not apply to others named in the suit — the Denver Sheriff’s Department and several deputies who were working in the jail when she died.

But besides the money, the Rice family was gratified by the changes Denver Health agreed to make, particularly checking patients for vital signs at intake and release and every four hours.