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After the case was settled and GM recalled the cars, congressional subcommittees summoned CEO Mary Barra to Washington. Staffers demanded thousands of documents from GM and parts maker Delphi. |
The request unearthed a major problem for GM. Delphi provided a GM Form 3660 from April of 2006 that showed that DeGiorgio signed off on changing the switches but didn't change the part number, making the alteration harder to track. |
At a hearing, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, told Barra that DeGiorgio perjured himself, and also said GM withheld the form in the Melton case, even though legally required to provide it. |
"Corporations think they can get away with hiding documents from litigants and there will be no consequences," McCaskill told her. "I want to make sure there's consequences." |
Barra replied that if GM withheld a document, it will "deal with" those responsible. |
About a month after that hearing, Cooper filed a motion in Cobb County, Georgia, contending that the Meltons would not have settled had they known that DeGiorgio lied and GM covered it up. |
Their lawyers say punitive damages against GM could far exceed the $5 million settlement. And they won't settle with Feinberg because they want a trial to find out what happened in Brooke's crash. |
"We hope someone during our case will be helped, maybe a life will be saved somewhere," Ken Melton said. |
Three weeks ago, GM dismissed 15 employees after former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas issued a report blaming its failure to recall the cars on a dysfunctional corporate culture. DeGiorgio and some lawyers were among those let go. |
In his report to GM's board, Valukas wrote that he found DeGiorgio's change form in company files, where it had been since June of 2006. |
Yet GM didn't produce the document when ordered by the Georgia judge, Cooper said. That could mean legal trouble for GM. |
Historically, courts have been reluctant to reopen lawsuits once they're settled. But the document with DeGiorgio's signature could help the Meltons' cause, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. |
If the family wins, other settled cases could be reopened and could go to trial, raising the risk of big punitive damages, Henning said. Lawyers in other cases also will want bigger payments from Feinberg because if Cooper can prove fraud, it makes their cases stronger. |
The GM lawyers who told the court the DeGiorgio document didn't exist are at risk of disciplinary action, according to Henning. Lawyers can't tell a court something doesn't exist and then say they didn't know about it. "If you say it's not in there, it was your obligation to make sure it wasn&a... |
Prosecutors also could pursue a perjury charge against DeGiorgio, but it's difficult to prove, Henning said. DeGiorgio told Valukas that he didn't remember signing the document. |
The Associated Press has been unable to reach DeGiorgio. GM's law firm in the Melton case, King & Spalding, would not comment. |
Using a methodology developed to compensate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Feinberg rolled out his compensation plan on Monday. In death cases, it considers age, annual earnings and number of dependents. People can opt for quick settlements, or they can go to Feinberg with extraordinary circumstances... |
At a press conference, the biggest settlement example Feinberg cited under his formula was $7.8 million for a 10-year-old whose crash injuries paralyzed two limbs. |
There are legal loopholes that protect GM and make it appealing for victims to go to Feinberg instead of going to trial. Most states give people one or two years after a crash to file lawsuits. If they miss that statute of limitations, they usually can't file. Also, under its bankruptcy deal, GM is shielded from c... |
GM has asked that the bankruptcy judge enforce the shield, but lawyers want all claims to go against the "New GM." |
Cooper says using the bankruptcy shield contradicts what GM wants the public to see — a company willing to atone for its misdeeds. |
GM wants to appear willing to pay victims, but the bankruptcy shield "effectively says 'we want to compensate you under the rules that we choose,'" Wayne State University's Henning said. |
GM spokesman Greg Martin says the company is voluntarily compensating victims. |
Still, for crashes like Melton's, which happened after GM's bankruptcy, neither loophole applies. That puts GM at risk since it has admitted the switches were defective and its employees were incompetent and negligent. |
"GM has essentially pulled all of its defenses," Henning said. |
The Melton case is even worse for GM, as noted in an August, 2013 case summary from Phil Holladay, a King & Spalding lawyer defending the company. According to Valukas, who viewed the summary, Holladay wrote that the case was a poor candidate for trial. |
Cooper, Holladay wrote, will argue that GM knew about the defective switches since the Cobalt first rolled off the assembly line, yet it has "essentially done nothing to correct the problem for the last nine years." |
Cooper says if the Meltons can reopen their case, a trial would finally expose the truth. |
"This case is the best case to get at what GM knew and when they knew it," he said. |
How can a club like Livingston be riding so high in the Premiership when the two Dundee clubs with greater resources languish in much lower positions? |
St Johnstone gave their all to try to stay in the cup but they were finally worn down by Leigh Griffiths. |
A favourite tune at Dens over the years has been Three Little Birds by the legendary Bob Marley and the Wailers. |
St Johnstone have been drawn against Betfred Cup holders Celtic in the quarter-finals. |
It wasn’t convincing at times but all that matters is that St Johnstone are in the last eight of the Betfred Cup. |
It was maybe written in the stars that the one who got away would send Dundee crashing out of the Betfred Cup. |
Benjamin Kallman is confident he can be the man who finally converts Dundee’s golden chances. |
Darren Dods has called on his Brechin City players to prove that their midweek collapse against Dunfermline was an early-season “blip”. |
A win against Dunfermline tonight would give Brechin City a last game shot at progressing to the knock-out stage of the Betfred Cup for the first time. |
Archives|HEAT HITS WEST'S TRADE.; Volume of Sales at the Stores Drop Below That of Week Ago. |
HEAT HITS WEST'S TRADE.; Volume of Sales at the Stores Drop Below That of Week Ago. |
Beef nihari from Al Noor. |
Sweat has stopped dripping perpetually from my pores, and recently, I actually wore a jacket. That in itself has created a good enough excuse to start cooking things like chicken soup and bolognese, but also, to seek out some heartier and less summer-friendly restaurant fare. To kick things off, I led a small group to ... |
The first version was tackled at Al-Watan, where the arrival of the nihari sent out a ginger-infused, swoon-inducing aroma that had everyone reaching for pieces of buttered naan to start dipping into the smooth, red gravy. The meat itself is tender enough that you probably don't even need teeth to eat it, and the flavo... |
At Al Noor, located just blocks away, we turned our attention to the second version, where it was ordered spicy and had a nice amount of heat, but not so much as to overwhelm. The gravy, with its beautifully reflective sheen, was slightly creamier, a tad more citric, and could be argued as better or worse than Al-Watan... |
Al-Watan, 13611 Inglewood Ave., Hawthorne, (310) 644-6395., Al Noor, 15112 Inglewood Ave., Lawndale, (310) 675-4700. |
What is it like to live at Red Brook Harbor Club? Simply amazing! I woke this morning to the sound of the Halyards clanging and magically all my stress and worries blew away. On to coffee on the deck watching the sun burn off the fog and the water sparkle like diamonds... It is going to be a great day! I see the crew a... |
They've got them in Southlake, they've got them in Richardson, and now they'll get them in downtown Dallas: Cinnaholic, the award-winning gourmet cinnamon roll chain that just happens to also be vegan, is opening its first branch in Dallas proper. It'll go into the 1700 Pacific building, with an anticipated opening in ... |
Cinnaholic is the California-based chain that rose to fame after its appearance on the TV show Shark Tank. They do "custom" cinnamon rolls, with more than 30 frosting flavors and nearly two dozen toppings. You select a frosting such as maple or Irish cream, then add toppings like fresh berries, nuts, or gingersnap cook... |
Everything is dairy-free, lactose-free, egg-free, and cholesterol-free, making Cinnaholic vegan-friendly. |
The company was founded in 2009 by baker Shannon Radke and her husband, Florian, in Berkeley, California. They've since opened franchised shops in Las Vegas, San Diego, and more. Although Cinnaholic's products are vegan, that's almost secondary, Florian says. |
"If you go into our store in Berkeley, we don't have a sign that says it's a vegan cinnamon roll," he says. "Our big thing is that we're the first and only custom gourmet cinnamon roll shop, with frosting flavors and toppings. We're like a Cold Stone Creamery for cinnamon rolls." |
Local franchisees AB and Elisa Tiffee have taken a slow and steady approach. The first branch opened in Southlake in 2015, followed in 2016 by a second branch in Richardson, next door to Alamo Drafthouse in the Richardson Heights shopping center. |
The downtown branch will be two doors down from Starbucks, next-door to the Smoothie King. It'll be part of the underground tunnels network but has a street-facing entry in the courtyard at the intersection of Elm and Akard Streets. It'll observe prototypical downtown hours, IE weekdays during the daytime only, caterin... |
"We're excited to bring the concept to downtown Dallas," Elisa Tiffee says. |
Russia says Syrian forces have taken full control of Eastern Ghouta, as one of the most intensive military operations in the country's seven-year war nears an end. |
State-run news agencies in Russia on Thursday reported Syrian forces had raised the national flag in Douma, which was the last rebel-held city in Eastern Ghouta, a strategic enclave on the fringe of the Syrian capital, Damascus. |
If confirmed, it would be a significant victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which has made sweeping territorial gains in the past two years from rebel groups, with Russian military power helping him turn the tide of the conflict in his favor. |
But it also comes as Assad's government faces threats of military action from the United States and potentially its allies, following a suspected chemical gas attack over the weekend that President Donald Trump has openly pinned on Assad through a series of Twitter posts. |
The head of the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation, which represents the country's military mission in Syria, called the seizure of Douma "a landmark event" in Syria's history. |
"The state flag flown over a building... in the city of Douma marked the regained control over this settlement, and consequently over entire Eastern Ghouta," Maj. Gen. Yury Yevtushenko said, according to Russia's Sputnik news agency. |
Syria has not publicly declared control of Eastern Ghouta, though state media reported earlier that the main rebel group in Douma, Jaish al-Islam, agreed on Sunday to evacuate the city. |
Jaish al-Islam members have not responded to CNN for comment, and has stopped posting statements on its online accounts in recent days. But its fighters and their families have been seen leaving Douma on buses and have been photographed arriving at refugee camps in northern Syria. |
Eastern Ghouta was once home to around 400,000 people, but in the past four weeks alone more than 133,000 have fled and tens of thousands more had been trapped inside Douma, UN refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic said Tuesday. |
Photo: Greg Broom The Basics They sound better, right? Right. Full-size headphones offer full-size audio quality. The larger drivers produce an expansive soundstage with richer bass. Unlike on-ear or in-ear models, these headphones are circumaural, meaning each cup surrounds the entire ear, blocking out ambient noise. ... |
There are plenty of decent closed-back headphones hovering around the $100 mark. But I haven't heard anything that hits the same of price/performance nirvana as the Creative Aurvana. Not only does this full-size headphone offer a supremely comfortable design, you'll also get fantastic fidelity that belies its ridiculou... |
If you think the white metal is headed higher, then these are investments you should consider. |
Investing in silver has been a tough battle in recent years, and the plunge in commodity prices almost across the board in that same time hasn't done the white metal's price any favors. Yet now, many investors think that silver has bottomed out, and its big price bounce in early 2016 has many people convinced that a re... |
In general, you can invest in silver in three different ways. The most obvious is to buy silver bullion directly. Coin and precious metals dealers sell silver bullion both in person and by delivery over the internet, and you can get quantities of anywhere from one ounce to a 1,000-ounce bar fairly readily in the silver... |
Second, securities related to silver trade on stock exchanges. Silver mining stocks offer exposure to the silver market, typically rising in value when silver prices go up and falling when silver performs poorly. Since you can buy or sell stock whenever the stock market is open, mining stocks have the virtue of being m... |
Finally, silver streaming companies offer financing to mining companies in exchange for interests in their production. These companies don't mine silver themselves, but the capital they provide allows their mining-company customers to produce silver of their own. Streaming companies accept repayment for providing capit... |
Is silver a smart investment? |
Silver is an interesting commodity because it combines elements of precious and base metals. With silver trading at just 1% to 2% of the price of gold, it's hard to consider silver as a true precious metal, but its historical significance still makes silver a key part of the precious-metals group in most investors' eye... |
The challenge with investing in silver is figuring out ways to make your investment grow. If you just buy a hunk of metal, then your only hope for gains is that the prevailing price in the silver market will rise. That could happen, especially if you expect the global economy to get stronger in the near future. But it'... |
By contrast, investing in mining stocks and streaming companies has risk, but the profits that they generate can be more valuable. A few mining stocks even pay dividends, and while those payouts are typically modest, they point to the ability to make money in the business. Focusing on low-cost providers is essential in... |
For streaming companies, the key to success is finding companies with the leverage to negotiate lucrative deals. Opportunistic streaming companies can benefit in times of weakness for the mining industry by offering valuable capital on extremely favorable terms. Others won't do as good a job of making lucrative deals a... |
Investing in silver is risky, but the right moves can result in big financial rewards. Focusing on the companies that make smart silver decisions on their shareholders' behalf often ends up being more lucrative than simply buying bullion and hoping for silver prices to move in your favor. |
At least two people shot dead and another six wounded after man fires shots in cathedral on Sakhalin Island. |
An armed man has killed two people and wounded six others in a shooting at an Orthodox cathedral on Russia's Sakhalin island, off the country's eastern coast, according to Reuters news agency. |
Russia's state-run news agency, RIA, reported that a man opened fire, killing a nun and a churchgoer on Sunday at the main cathedral in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. |
Most of the wounded were shot in the legs and their lives were not in danger, RIA quoted Archbishop Tikhon, the regional leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, as saying. |
The shooter was arrested, the Federal Investigative Agency said, adding that he worked as a security guard in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. |
So far no motive for the attack has been reported. |
This attack came only days after a teenager shot and killed a teacher and policeman at a school in northern Moscow. |
Security forces in Russia are on high alert due to concerns over possible attacks at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. |
But the games are taking place thousands of kilometres away from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and there was no apparent link between Sunday's shooting and Sochi, according to Reuters. |
Archbishop Tikhon said a prayer service will be held later on Sunday for the victims, adding that the church would have to be cleaned of victims' blood and blessed. |
Joseph Anthony Armas, 22, was booked into the Kitsap County Jail for investigation of the death of Ashlee McClelland, 20. |
PORT ORCHARD -- After initially telling police a friend accidentally shot 20-year-old Ashlee McClelland, her boyfriend later admitted he shot McClelland in the chest while trying to unload a stolen rifle, according to court documents filed Wednesday. |
Joseph Anthony Armas, 22, was arrested and booked Tuesday night into the Kitsap County Jail for investigation of a first-degree manslaughter and possession of stolen firearms. |
Armas is also being held on unlawful possession of firearms because a previous felony conviction prohibited him from handling guns and a five-year-old protection order prohibited him from possessing guns, according to court documents. |
Armas has not been charged with a crime. Prosecutors have three business days to charge him. |
Authorities first learned of McClelland's injuries at about 7:36 p.m. Sunday, when a Port Orchard police officer stopped a car after it drove past a stop sign near Harrison Medical Center’s urgent care facility on South Kitsap Boulevard. Armas got out of the car and alerted the officer to McClelland, inside the car, sa... |
McClelland was taken from Port Orchard to Tacoma General Hospital, where she died. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled she died as a result of homicide. |
During an interview, Armas told investigators McClelland had been shot inside her apartment on the 2200 block of Sidney Avenue. Armas said a friend had brought four stolen firearms to the residence -- two rifles, two pistols. Armas said the friend’s name was “Dave,” but said he only knew he was from Port Angeles. |
Police searched McClelland’s apartment and found two rifles, both of which had been reported stolen to Port Orchard police. |
Meanwhile, Armas had been booked into the Nisqually Indian Tribe jail outside Olympia on an arrest warrant, said Deputy Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheruff's Office. |
On Tuesday detectives met with Armas at the jail where, according to court documents, Armas admitted he accidentally shot Armas while trying to unload one of the rifles. |
Although the shooting occurred inside the city limits, Port Orchard police requested assistance from an inter-agency group made up of local Kitsap County law enforcement officers called the Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team. |
The 2,700-acre park covers grasslands, freshwater riparian habitat, saltwater marshes, and coastal sage scrub habitat. |
June 3, 2013, 5:05 p.m. |
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