| Volume 135 Number 1 |
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Forward this news alert to your family and friends
Helpful Links
Texas Consumer Complaint Center
Credit Reports and Identity Theft
Your Guide to Small Claims Court
Contact Us
1-713-743-2168
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Has someone asked you to pay for something with a gift card, maybe from Amazon? Don’t do it. It probably is a scam. Read — with more here, Click here for more.
Jury awards record-setting $110.5M in baby powder lawsuit
A St. Louis jury has awarded a Virginia woman a record-setting $110.5 million in the latest lawsuit alleging that using Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused cancer. The jury ruling Thursday night for 62-year-old Lois Slemp, of Wise, Virginia, comes after three previous St. Louis juries awarded a total of $197 million to plaintiffs who made similar claims. Those cases, including the previous highest award of $72 million, are all under appeal. About 2,000 state and federal lawsuits are in courts across the country over concerns about health problems caused by prolonged talcum powder use.
Click here for more.
Your Money
Gift card deals for moms, dads, grads. It's one of the best times of the year to buy gift cards, especially restaurant gift cards. At many popular chain restaurants, when you buy a gift card you'll get something free in return. A few stores also are running gift card promotions perfect for Mother's Day, graduation and Father's Day gifts. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Five percent late fee on balloon payment is not enforceable. The Arizona Supreme Court invalidated a five percent late fee assessed against the unpaid principal balance when the loan matured, holding that it was an unenforceable penalty. The court recognized that "[p]arties to a contract can agree in advance to the amount of damages for any breach," but explained that parties "do not have free rein in setting liquidated damages." In order to determine whether a liquidated damages provision, such as a late fee, would be enforceable, the Court adopted the test stated in Restatement (Second) of Contracts, §356(1), which provides that a liquidated damages provision is enforceable, "but only at an amount that is reasonable in light of the anticipated or actual loss caused by the breach and the difficulties of proof of loss." The court held that the late fee "did not reasonably forecast anticipated damages likely to result from an untimely balloon payment" and also "did not reasonably approximate" the actual loss suffered by the Noteholder. Significantly, the Court noted that the Noteholder was adequately compensated for its loss of use of the balloon payment as a result of the default interest rate that the borrower was required to pay. Dobson Bay Club v. La Sonrisa De Siena (Ariz. 2017). Click here for more.