PROTECT CONSUMER JUSTICE.ORG

Los Angeles Times: The new owner of Countrywide Financial Corporation has agreed to pay $108 million to settle federal charges that the company overcharged and deceived 200,000 mortgage borrowers who were facing foreclosure.

Washington Post: Officials at McNeil Consumer Healthcare “tried to perform a ‘phantom recall’ of defective Motrin by sending contractors around the country to buy up the medicine from stores without alerting regulators or the public.”

Eureka (Cal.) Times-Standard: A confidential settlement has been reached with Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, Cal., after a radiology technician administered 151 CT scans to a 2-year-old boy over a 65-minute period.

Miami Herald: More than 150 homeowners could be part of a class action suit against homebuilders who used drywall imported from China.

Los Angeles Daily Journal: The Teen Alcohol Safety Act would end the “social host” immunity for adults who provide alcohol to minors in California, one of just three states that provides such an immunity.

Los Angeles Times: “A coalition of oil interests, insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and other business interests has poured at least $480,000 into a mail and television campaign to oppose” Betsy Butler, a candidate in the Democratic primary for the California Assembly.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: A New York jury has awarded “the largest ever employment discrimination verdict” to a group of about 5,600 women who sued Novartis Pharmaceuticals for gender discrimination.