Monetary Settlements Research Articles

Follow legal guidance for addressing liability issues arising from student‐athletes' injuries

There appears to be an emerging trend of lawsuits arising out of injuries to college student‐athletes in practice sessions and competitions. The targets of the lawsuits range from other student‐athletes to coaches, trainers, teams, and universities. Although these types of cases have emerged from time to time in the past, the current wave of concussion‐related litigation and significant monetary settlements provide an interesting backdrop to their recent growth.

Money Shortage, Monetary Settlement and Monetary Policy —— A Monetary Settlement Model Based on the Theory of Money Supply and Demand

China's is a micro liquidity tension that has occurred in macro liquidity. Based on the theory of money supply and demand, this paper builds a unified monetary settlement theory and model. The findings show that China's money shortage is a structural and cyclical monetary contraction caused by currency deposits. The deeper reason is the failure of the policy under the guidance of the wrong index and theory. To cure this problem, it is necessary to construct a theoretical model that is more realistic, and to act from the aspects of system, structure and implementation of monetary policy.

Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) 2002-15: Review of Office of Inspector General Patient Dumping Settlements.

IntroductionThe Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986 was enacted to prevent hospitals from “dumping” or refusing service to patients for financial reasons. The statute prohibits discrimination of emergency department (ED) patients for any reason. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services enforces the statute. The objective of this study is to determine the scope, cost, frequency and most common allegations leading to monetary settlement against hospitals and physicians for patient dumping.MethodsReview of OIG investigation archives in May 2015, including cases settled from 2002–2015 ( https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/enforcement/cmp/patient_dumping.asp ).ResultsThere were 192 settlements (14 per year average for 4000+ hospitals in the USA). Fines against hospitals and physicians totaled $6,357,000 (averages $33,435 and $25,625 respectively); 184/192 (95.8%, $6,152,000) settlements were against hospitals and eight against physicians ($205,000). Most common settlements were for failing to screen 144/192 (75%) and stabilize 82/192 (42.7%) for emergency medical conditions (EMC). There were 22 (11.5%) cases of inappropriate transfer and 22 (11.5%) more where the hospital failed to transfer. Hospitals failed to accept an appropriate transfer in 25 (13.0%) cases. Patients were turned away from hospitals for insurance/financial status in 30 (15.6%) cases. There were 13 (6.8%) violations for patients in active labor. In 12 (6.3%) cases, the on-call physician refused to see the patient, and in 28 (14.6%) cases the patient was inappropriately discharged. Although loss of Medicare/Medicaid funding is an additional possible penalty, there were no disclosures of exclusion of hospitals from federal funding. There were 6,035 CMS investigations during this time period, with 2,436 found to have merit as EMTALA violations (40.4%). However, only 192/6,035 (3.2%) actually resulted in OIG settlements. The proportion of CMS-certified EMTALA violations that resulted in OIG settlements was 7.9% (192/2,436).ConclusionOf 192 hospital and physician settlements with the OIG from 2002–15, most were for failing to provide screening (75%) and stabilization (42%) to patients with EMCs. The reason for patient “dumping” was due to insurance or financial status in 15.6% of settlements. The vast majority of penalties were to hospitals (95% of cases and 97% of payments). Forty percent of investigations found EMTALA violations, but only 3% of investigations triggered fines.

Dispute Settlement Systems in Asian FTAs: Issues and Problems

Asian countries have actively engaged in global FTA races and led rule development in terms of FTA negotiations. While proliferating FTAs raise concern for growing inconsistency problems between the WTO and FTAs, this paper shows diverging approaches in Asian FTAs in relation to dispute settlement systems that are the core element of the legal basis for FTAs. Broadly speaking, many Asian FTAs adopt a “WTO type” dispute settlement system. Asian FTAs involving the United States, however, have invariably employed the “NAFTA type” dispute settlement system that puts more emphasis on prompt implementation by unilateral retaliation, monetary settlement, and numerical limit for special disputes typically concerning labor and the environment. Since more Asian countries are negotiating FTAs with the United States, this divergent approach toward dispute settlement systems in FTA should be thoughtfully realigned to ensure a coherent development between WTO and FTA systems.

The Importance of Taking Privacy Seriously

The Importance of Taking Privacy Seriously

Clergy Sexual Abuse Litigation: Survivors Seeking Justice. By Jennifer M. Balboni (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2011, 180pp. 43.77)

Balboni identifies her interest as being the processes of official disclosure and the path taken to civil litigation by survivors of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic Clergy. The empirical data, on which this work is based, come in the form of in-depth face-to-face interviews with 22 survivors of clergy sexual abuse who have pursued litigation and 13 of their advocates. Balboni provides a space for survivors’ accounts of the ‘why’ behind their decision making and the impact of civil litigation on their lives to be heard, discussed and contextualized with both clarity and sensitivity. She acknowledges the breadth and depth of survivor responses, and the perspectives of their legal advocates, employing defiance theory, symbolic interaction and other points of analysis, to capture the journey of survivors towards litigation and beyond. Balboni’s work is deeply poignant in its recognition of survivors’ voices, the complex transformative capacity of litigation, the effects of community forming amongst survivors and the complex nature of ‘empowerment’ obtained by survivors through civil litigation. Acknowledging that, for many survivors, litigation becomes a means of identity change and truth telling, Balboni admits that ‘these survivors helped me understand that litigation is more about voice than monetary settlement’ (p. 149). This work is not deeply analytical or theoretically rich but privileges the voices of survivors and their advocates with sufficient frameworks to contextualize and explain participants’ perspectives and experiences.

The Corrective Justice State

Prosecutors, federal agencies, state attorneys general, and other officers in the executive branch often shape national policy through large monetary settlements with corporations. But the debate over this kind of “regulation by deal” has changed dramatically over the past decade. Although commentators once questioned whether such settlements made for good policy or exceeded officials’ legal authority, today’s headlines instead raise questions long associated with private justice: How do state actors appropriately compensate direct victims of the gulf coast oil spill? Is the National Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement sufficiently limited to paying only those homeowners with the most “deserving” losses? The growing commitment of public resources to collecting victim compensation from corporate wrongdoers characterizes what I call a “Corrective Justice State.” Corrective justice, a concept ordinarily associated with the private law of torts, contracts, or property, differs from traditional public law approaches to compensation in three ways. Corrective justice (1) repairs discrete injuries between identifiable parties, rather than curing diffuse social harm; (2) uses wrongdoers’ funds to restore individual losses, rather than public funds to improve public welfare; and (3) favors retrospective sanctions of specific wrongdoers over prospective regulation. Increasingly, public officials justify massive settlements with the rhetoric of corrective justice to bolster new, creative applications of executive power. But that same corrective justice philosophy may poorly serve those who depend on the modern administrative state for effective regulation and compensation. To the extent the Corrective Justice State relies on discretionary settlement decisions to regulate corporate behavior, it may forgo prospective solutions among broad constituencies, with traditional democratic checks from courts and legislatures. And despite their lip-service to corrective justice — where state actors trumpet payouts financed by corporate wrongdoers for the benefit of a “deserving” class of victims — public officials often lack information required to serve parties’ specific interests in corrective justice. Government actors need to move beyond corrective justice principles to address our collective concerns. State actors may continue to pursue corrective justice when they broker large compensatory settlements, so long as they adopt more procedural safeguards for the victims they purport to serve — including more participation and judicial review. But, to address collective and diffuse problems, those same safeguards should be relaxed to account for (1) value of individual claims, (2) the diversity of interests and relief, and (3) the extent to which state action forecloses private litigation.

Rationales For and Against FCC Involvement in Resolving Internet Service Provider Interconnection Disputes

Rationales For and Against FCC Involvement in Resolving Internet Service Provider Interconnection Disputes

Light Staffing Can Mean Heavy Liability

Light Staffing Can Mean Heavy Liability

Institutional monitoring through shareholder litigation

This paper investigates the effectiveness of using securities class action lawsuits in monitoring defendant firms by institutional lead plaintiffs from two aspects: (1) immediate litigation outcomes, including the probability of surviving the motion to dismiss and the settlement amount, and (2) subsequent governance improvement such as changes in board independence. Using a large sample of securities lawsuits from 1996 to 2005, we show that institutional investors are more likely to serve as the lead plaintiff for lawsuits with certain characteristics. After controlling for these determinants of having an institutional lead plaintiff, we show that securities class actions with institutional owners as lead plaintiffs are less likely to be dismissed and have larger monetary settlements than securities class actions with individual lead plaintiffs. This effect exists for various types of institutions including public pension funds. We also find that, after the lawsuit filings, defendant firms with institutional lead plaintiffs experience greater improvement in their board independence than defendant firms with individual lead plaintiffs. Our study suggests that securities litigation is an effective disciplining tool for institutional owners.

Settling for Less? Organizational Determinants of Discrimination-Charge Outcomes

Although more than 60,000 workers formally charge their employers with unlawful sex or race employment discrimination annually, fewer than one in five charges results in outcomes favorable to the complainant. Building on sociolegal and organizational theory, this study examines how employing organizations avoid unfavorable discrimination-charge outcomes. Using EEO-1 establishment reports matched to discrimination charge data provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, I assess the effect of employers' legal experience, resources, and indicators of legal compliance on the likelihood that complainants receive favorable charge outcomes, benefits, monetary settlements, and policy change mandates. In general, I find that legal experience, establishment size, and indicators of legal compliance insulate employers from unfavorable charge outcomes. However, in situations where employers are willing to settle claims, legally experienced establishments are more likely to pay monetary damages and receive mandates to change their workplace policies.

Avoiding Malpractice Lawsuits by Following Risk Assessment and Suicide Prevention Guidelines

Every 17 min, someone in the United States commits suicide. This equates to 83 suicides every day throughout the year (A. R. Roberts & K. Yeager, 2005). Suicide results in approximately 30,000 reported deaths annually. The loss of a patient to suicide is often a feared outcome among psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and crisis counselors, especially because the law assumes that in most situations suicide is preventable. Suicide accounts for many of the largest monetary settlements and judgments as well as a large proportion of malpractice lawsuits filed against mental health clinicians. Yet, clinician's often lack sufficient education on the legal aspects of malpractice associated with patient suicide. This article reviews several legal cases in which psychiatrists and/or social workers failed to protect patients. This includes failure to conduct a comprehensive biopsychosocial and lethality assessment, failure to warn of imminent risk of suicide, and/or breach of duty to care standards. Each case presentation concludes with recommendations for actions. Next, the article identifies common allegations made in suicide malpractice lawsuits. Conditions necessary to meet the criteria for a malpractice suit are laid out. The article concludes with the authors' guideline (FIKKE) for managing malpractice risk along with a decision-making flowchart designed to reduce a patient's risk of suicide during the treatment process.

The Prevalence of Wrong Level Surgery Among Spine Surgeons

A questionnaire study. To evaluate the prevalence of wrong level surgery among spine surgeons and their use of preventive measures to avoid its occurrence. Wrong site surgery fails to improve the patient's symptoms and has medical, emotional, social, and legal implications. Organizations such as the North American Spine Society and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations have established guidelines to prevent wrong site surgery. Spine surgeons' compliance with these guidelines and the prevalence of wrong-level spine surgery have not been investigated previously. All members of the American Academy of Neurologic Surgeons (n = 3505) were sent an anonymous, 30-question survey with a self-addressed stamped envelope. A total of 415 (12%) surgeons responded. Sixty-four surgeons (15%) reported that, at least once, they had prepared the incorrect spine level, but noticed the mistake before making the incision. Two hundred seven (50%) reported that they had done 1 or more wrong level surgeries during their career. From an estimated 1,300,000 spine procedures, 418 wrong level spine operations had been performed, with a prevalence of 1 in 3110 procedures. The majority of the incorrect level procedures were performed on the lumbar region (71%), followed by the cervical (21%), and the thoracic (8%) regions. One wrong level surgery led to permanent disability, and 73 cases resulted in legal action or monetary settlement to the patient (17%). There is a high prevalence of wrong level surgery among spine surgeons; 1 of every 2 spine surgeons may perform a wrong level surgery during his or her career. Although all spine surgeons surveyed report using at least 1 preventive action, the following measures are highly recommended but inconsistently adopted: direct preoperative communication with the patient by the surgeon, marking of the intended site, and the use of intraoperative verification radiograph.

How did the Master Settlement Agreement change tobacco industry expenditures for cigarette advertising and promotions?

The 1998 multistate Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the tobacco industry restricted cigarette advertising and promotions. The MSA monetary settlement was also associated with an average cigarette price increase of U.S.$1.19/pack between 1998 and 2001 to fund, in part, industry payments to the states. We examined Federal Trade Commission reports on how the tobacco industry spends its cigarette advertising and promotional dollars to see if changes expected as a result of the MSA occurred. Expected changes included reduced total expenditures and reductions for outdoor advertising, specialty promotional items identified with a brand (e.g., caps, t-shirts, lighters), and public entertainment. However, tobacco industry spending for advertising and promotions increased 96% between 1995 and 2001, with large increases in 1998 and 1999, as the MSA took effect. Between 1997 and 2001, outdoor advertising declined 98%, expenditures for specialty promotional items decreased 41%, although public entertainment increased 45%. However, in 2001, these categories represented only a small fraction of the total budget. Expenditures for retail-value-added increased 344% between 1997 and 2001 (to 42.5% of total), perhaps to mitigate increased cigarette prices. In 2001, the incentives-to-merchants and retail-value-added categories comprised more than 80% of total expenditures. To adequately monitor tobacco industry expenditures as they adapt to the MSA and other tobacco control efforts, more refined reporting categories are essential.

Incidence of wrong-site surgery among hand surgeons.

Until recently, wrong-site surgery had received little attention and had been considered a random, infrequent event. In 1997, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Task Force on Wrong-Site Surgery was formed to determine the incidence of wrong-site surgery and to initiate the "Sign Your Site" campaign. The purpose of our study was to determine the incidence of wrong-site surgery among hand surgeons, elucidate surgeons' practice habits and measures taken to prevent its occurrence, and evaluate the effectiveness of the AAOS "Sign Your Site" campaign. One thousand, five hundred and sixty active members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) were polled by mail. Each member received a confidential twenty-nine-question survey. Nonrespondents were sent a second, identical survey. One thousand and fifty (67%) of the surgeons responded. One hundred and seventy-three surgeons (16%) reported that they had prepared to operate on the wrong site but then noticed the error prior to the incision, and 217 (21%) reported performing wrong-site surgery at least once. Of an estimated 6,700,000 surgical procedures, 242 were performed at the wrong site, an incidence of one in 27,686 procedures. The three most common locations of wrong-site surgery were the fingers (153), hands (twenty), and wrists (twenty-one). Permanent disability occurred in twenty-one patients (9%). Ninety-three cases (38%) led to legal action or monetary settlement. Seventy percent of the responding orthopaedic surgeons were aware of the "Sign Your Site" campaign, and 45% had changed their practice habits as a result. Prior to the AAOS "Sign Your Site" campaign, the issue of wrong-site surgery by hand surgeons had not been addressed. Although wrong-site surgery is rare, 21% of hand surgeons reported performing it at least once during their careers. Since the institution of the "Sign Your Site" campaign, 45% of orthopaedic hand surgeons have changed their practice habits, and almost all routinely take some action to prevent wrong-site surgery.

91. Concerning the Complaint of Citizens A. I. Baidina, V. N. Basov, N. S. Bogatikova and Others Regarding the Violation of Their Constitutional Rights by the Provisions of the Third and Fifth Paragraphs of the First Part of Article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Use of Cash Registers in the Conduct of Monetary Settlements with

91. Concerning the Complaint of Citizens A. I. Baidina, V. N. Basov, N. S. Bogatikova and Others Regarding the Violation of Their Constitutional Rights by the Provisions of the Third and Fifth Paragraphs of the First Part of Article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Use of Cash Registers in the Conduct of Monetary Settlements with

The ethics of health care professionals' opinions for hire

Serving as a forensic consultant or medical expert witness is a professional duty and social responsibility. While objectivity is a hallmark of ethical health care evaluation, conflict arises when medical experts exhibit bias and serve the hiring party's interests instead of the public's. The authors define different types of expert witnesses and examine the means for improving the quality of testimony. They evaluate professional association codes of ethics, health care education, neutral medical experts and the field of bioethics. Incorporating case-based analysis of medical expert testimony in the education of health care professionals may elevate the caliber of testimony. Court-appointed neutral experts may overcome some of the problems inherent in professional and product liability litigation. Neutral bioethicists may play a constructive role in mediating medicolegal disputes. Adopting strong professional association codes of ethics requires the consent of all members, and loss of membership for ethics violations may not be a powerful enough deterrent to biased testimony. Biased testimony contributes to scientifically unfounded liability verdicts. The public ultimately pays for huge monetary settlements via higher costs for all goods and services. Financial incentives in the current professional and product liability system will make it difficult to institute court-appointed neutral expert panels on a widespread basis. Dentists should view themselves as clinicians and evaluators. Rendering expert opinions on forensic matters is an ethical part of dental practice. By doing so with honesty and objectivity, dentists serve as a bridge to justice and fulfill a social responsibility.

Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General - Executive Summary

This report of the Surgeon General on smoking and health, Reducing Tobacco Use, appears at a time of considerable upheaval in the arena of tobacco use control and prevention. Legal and legislative efforts to protect children from tobacco initiation and to diminish the prevalence of smoking among adults are in a state of flux, with some important gains and some sobering setbacks. Major changes in the public stance of the tobacco industry have evoked a reevaluation of strategies for controlling and preventing tobacco uptake. Enormous monetary settlements have provided the resources to fuel major new comprehensive antitobacco efforts, but the ultimate cost and benefit of these resources are still to be determined. Into this changing landscape, the report introduces an assessment of information about the value and efficacy of the major approaches that have been used--educational, clinical, regulatory, economic, and comprehensive--to reduce tobacco use. The report evaluates the scientific evidence for each approach, attempts to place the approaches in the larger context of tobacco control, and provides a vision of the trajectory for tobacco use prevention and control based on these available tools. Thus, although our knowledge about tobacco control remains imperfect, we know more than enough to act now. Widespread dissemination of the approaches and methods shown to be effective in each modality and especially in combination would substantially reduce the number of young people who will become addicted to tobacco, increase the success rate of young people and adults trying to quit using tobacco, decrease the level of exposure of nonsmokers to environmental tobacco smoke, reduce the disparities related to tobacco use and its health effects among different population groups, and decrease the future health burden of tobacco-related disease and death in this country. These achievable improvements parallel the health objectives set forth in Healthy People 2010, the national action plan for improving the health of all people living in the United States for the first decade of the 21st century (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS] 2000a). Twenty-one specific national health objectives related to tobacco use are listed in Healthy People 2010, including reducing the rates among young people and adults to less than half of the current rate of use. Attaining all of these tobacco-related objectives will almost certainly require significant national commitment to the various successful approaches described in this report. The major conclusions of this report are not formal policy recommendations. Rather, they offer a summary of the scientific literature about what works. In short, this report is intended to offer policymakers, public health professionals, professional and advocacy organizations, researchers, and, most importantly, the American people guidance on how to ensure that efforts to prevent and control tobacco use are commensurate with the harm it causes.

24. In the Case Concerning Verification of the Constitutionality of Specific Provisions of the Sixth Paragraph of Article 6 and the Second Paragraph of the First Part of Article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation of 18 June 1993 “On the Use of Cash Registers in the Conduct of Monetary Settlements with the Population” in Connection with an

24. In the Case Concerning Verification of the Constitutionality of Specific Provisions of the Sixth Paragraph of Article 6 and the Second Paragraph of the First Part of Article 7 of the Law of the Russian Federation of 18 June 1993 “On the Use of Cash Registers in the Conduct of Monetary Settlements with the Population” in Connection with an

The increasing medical malpractice risk related to pressure ulcers in the United States.

The development of pressure ulcers is a common adverse occurrence among hospital patients and nursing home residents. In recent years, there have been media reports of older plaintiffs winning up to $65 million from healthcare providers, related to the development of pressure ulcers. The passage of sweeping nursing home reform legislation as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA‐87) may have influenced this trend. A review of identifiable federal and state legal databases was undertaken to investigate these issues. One hundred seventy‐three lawsuits related to pressure ulcers were identified between 1937 and 1997, with all but 11 (6%) recorded in the last 15 years. Although the majority of cases were related to the development of pressure ulcers among nursing home residents, hospitals were a defendant in almost one‐quarter of the cases. The median (range) number of cases identified annually increased significantly in the 5‐year epochs before and after passage of OBRA‐87 and increased again after publication of OBRA‐87 regulations in 1992 (2 (2–4) vs 9 (5–15) vs 19 (16–23) cases per year, respectively, P < .0001), evidence that this law has had a broad impact on medical malpractice risk. In addition, the median (range) age of patients for whom a suit was brought also increased significantly before compared with after 1987 (48 (2–81) vs 72 (5–96) years, respectively, P = .0009), evidence that the law facilitated the ability of older adults to become plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases. The median (range) monetary settlement or judgment did not change significantly during the three 5‐year epochs ($340,000 ($4000‐$2,000,000) vs $168,000 ($2200‐$2,000,000) vs $279,000 ($25,000‐$65,000,000), respectively, P = .44), evidence that the OBRA‐87 statutes and regulations established both a standard of care that should not be breached and a standard that can be achieved by healthcare providers. This article reviews these trends, provides examples of pressure ulcer cases, discusses the implications of these findings, and provides recommendations for minimizing this medical malpractice risk. J Am Geriatr Soc 48: 73–81, 2000.