Brianna Smith is a freelance writer and editor in Southwest Michigan. A graduate of Grand Valley State University, Brianna has a passion for politics, social issues, education, science, and more. When she’s not writing, she enjoys the simple life with her husband, daughter, and son.
Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $19.5 million to settle a class action racial discrimination lawsuit with more than “200 current and former black financial advisers and their attorneys.” Additionally, the bank agreed to spend $4.5 million to “in-house development programs over the next three years to recruit advisers and help them be successful in those positions.”
Back on October 15, 2016, 15-year-old Roger Trindale was found in Central Park in Winter Park beaten and unconscious. Unfortunately, he later passed away from his injuries. Now, his family recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit in response to the incident and want answers as to why their child was taken from them so soon.
A discrimination lawsuit was recently filed against Westlake Golf and Country Club by Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz over allegations that he was a “victim of illegal discrimination because of his disability and was prevented from practicing his religion.” Lefkowitz, along with his sons, Levi and Moshe, “all use wheelchairs and live together in Westlake Golf and Country Club,” according to the complaint filed yesterday.
A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed by the mother of a 51-year-old mentally disabled man who was left to die in a hot car in August in West Covina. The suit itself was filed by Irene Melendez against the organizations responsible to looking after and transporting her son, John Cortinas, and include “Easterseals, San Gabriel/Pomona Valley’s Developmental Services, Holy Family Children’s Care and Emanuel Arellano, an Easterseals employee who drove Cortinas.”
A car dealership in Miami, Florida, recently paid $150,000 to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit with a former assistant parts manager. The dealership was a Miami AutoNation and the suit was filed against the dealership by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) back in September 2017. In the suit, former assistant parts manager, Jacqueline de la Torre accused AutoNation Chevrolet Coral Gables and AutoNation Inc. of “failing to promote Jacqueline to a parts manager position because she’s a woman.”
If you’re a fan of pistachios, listen up. Earlier this week, Bazzinil LLC issued a recall for 4,000 pounds of pistachios over concerns of potential Salmonella contamination. It turns out that during routine internal testing, some of the products tested positive for Salmonella. As a result, the company, which is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has halted “production and distribution of several specific products to investigate the source of the bacteria.”
The family of a woman killed when a valve cover went airborne on Wilson Street in the city of Decatur recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Decatur Utilities.
The Des Moines Police Department and Lonnie Porter recently agreed to settle a lawsuit over a traffic stop for $25,000. The incident itself occurred in 2016. According to a suit filed by Porter, he was driving when he “spotted a Des Moines police officer nearby and started recording live to Facebook.” In the recording, Porter can be heard saying that “he believed he would be pulled over despite having done nothing wrong.” In the recording, he added, “I ain’t going to try to avoid him because there’s no need to try and avoid him, because he is going to pull me over anyway.”
After more than a decade spent locked in a dispute over wages, J.B. Hunt Transport finally agreed to a $15 million settlement with a class of drivers. The agreement was announced earlier this month on October 1 and final approval of the settlement is scheduled for October 29.
Have you purchased a camp ax lately? If so, what store did you purchase it from? If you purchased your ax from Walmart, you may want to double check the brand name to make sure it’s not part of a major recall recently issued by the popular retailer. Earlier this month, Walmart issued a recall for more than 246,000 Oz Trail camp axes over concerns that the “ax head can detach from the handle, posing a serious risk for injury.”