Hemispherx Biopharma agreed Tuesday to settle all of the pending securities class actions against the biotechnology company that had been consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The proposed settlement requires formal court approval.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Hemispherx (AMEX:HEB) of Philadelphia said the settlement will be paid from the company's insurance coverage and will not result in the payment of any funds by the company. The company said the settlement “expressly is not an admission of any culpability by Hemispherx or its officers.”

The series of lawsuits, according to documents Hemispherx filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleged the company and certain officers misrepresented the status of Hemispherx’s new drug application for Ampligen, an experimental treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome the company has worked on for more than three decades.

Last November, the FDA rejected the company’s new drug application for Ampligen and recommended the company conduct additional studies to demonstrate effectiveness. Hemispherx has stated it is continuing to work with the FDA to address the issues raised by the agency.

http://www.stockdestiny.com/entry/Hemispherx-Biopharma-settles-class-action-securities-lawsuits

Wal-Mart has petitioned the US Supreme Court to reconsider a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirming class action certification in a gender discrimination case, notes a Jurist report.

The company has asked the court to examine whether the Appeals Court's April ruling was proper under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Due Process Clause, the Seventh Amendment and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (FRCP). Wal-Mart's position is that the class is overbroad and that the Ninth Circuit's decision is inconsistent with certification standards in multiple circuits.

Wal-Mart also contends that claims for monetary relief cannot be certified under FRCP 23, which it says only applies to claims to injunctive relief. The report states that the case was filed in 2001 by female Wal-Mart employees who contend that Wal-Mart's nationwide policies result in lower pay for women than men in comparable positions and longer waits for management promotions than men.

The revelation that BP's Texas City refinery emitted toxic benzene for more than a month has ignited a furor in the port community that has suffered its share of deadly industrial accidents and toxic spills.

Thousands of residents who fear they may have been exposed to the known carcinogen released at the oil refinery from April 6 to May 16 have been flooding parking lots and conference halls where local trial attorneys hosted information sessions and sought clients for class-action lawsuits against the oil giant.

BP faces the new challenge just as it is reaching a key milestone in another crisis — plugging the Gulf of Mexico well that blew out in an oil spill disaster that is costing the company billions of dollars.

On Wednesday, more than 3,400 people lined the hallways and sidewalks around the Nessler Center to sign on to a $10 billion class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Galveston federal court by Friendswood attorney Anthony Buzbee.

The lawsuit alleges the release of 500,000 pounds of chemicals - including 17,000 pounds of benzene - has jeopardized the health and property values of people who live and work in the area. At the nearby College of the Mainland, a separate town hall meeting drew a crowd of 600.

"I've never seen anything like this," Buzbee said, looking at the lines waiting to enter a large room at the civic center where lawyers helped people fill out paperwork. "I can't believe this is mass hysteria and that everybody here is a faker," Buzbee said.

Webster-based lawyer Chad Pinkerton said he's met with about 8,000 residents over the past week. "I believe this is probably the largest prolonged release in Texas history and many, many people are sick," he said.

Word of the lawsuits spread this week, propelled in part by rumors that BP was cutting checks to head off the benzene claims from the $20 billion fund established to pay claims related to the oil spill.

Wal-Mart asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to throw out a class-action lawsuit against it that the retailer says is the largest employment suit ever.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April that Wal-Mart should face charges in court that it pays women less than men for the same jobs. The lawsuit, which covers all female workers at Wal-Mart since 1998, could cost the company billions if it loses.

"It's an extremely significant case," says former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission general counsel Eric Dreiband, who is not involved in the lawsuit. "The rights of millions of women are at stake."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest private employer, says the case raises serious issues about procedures governing class-action lawsuits.

"The class is larger than the active-duty personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard combined — making it the largest employment class action in history by several orders of magnitude," Wal-Mart argued in its petition to the Supreme Court.

A $10 billion toxic tort class action lawsuit has been filed against BP over alleged emissions from its troubled Texas City oil refinery, alleging that workers and residents in the area were exposed to benzene and other chemicals.  
More than 2,200 workers at the refinery and residents from the surrounding area filed the BP class action lawsuit on August 3 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. The complaint alleges that for 40 days earlier this year, the company illegally released the chemical benzene into the atmosphere.

The benzene lawsuit comes just as BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, was finally able to stop the flow of oil from a well a mile under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, which has caused a massive oil spill that is expected to cost the company tens of billions of dollars in oil spill lawsuits and clean up costs.

Plaintiffs in the BP Texas City refinery class action lawsuit say the company has been releasing benzene into the atmosphere at the plant due to a hydrogen compressor that broke down on April 6. The 2,212 plaintiffs allege that they suffered serious injuries and illnesses from benzene exposure.

Benzene is an industrial chemical that has been linked to the development of cancer, leukemia and other life-threatening health problems. It is a known carcinogen used as an industrial solvent in the production of plastic and synthetic rubber, as well as drugs and dyes.

BP’s Texas City Refinery is the third-largest oil refinery in the United States, and has been the subject of several major safety incidents. As recently as September, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit BP with an $87.4 million fine for not complying with a safety agreement made after a March 23, 2005 explosion and fire that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others.

In February 2009, BP Products North America agreed to pay $180 million to resolve a separate environmental lawsuit over benzene emissions at the oil refinery. That case involved violations of a 2001 consent decree and Clean Air regulations which were identified during inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following the March 2005 blast.

Under the terms of that settlement, BP agreed to spend $161 million to address their Clean Air Act violations by setting up better pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring devices and improving their internal management practices. Another $6 million was designated to fund a project to reduce air pollution in Texas City and $12 million was paid as a penalty.