Listen to the entire show – River to River This week, animal rights and free speech organizations filed a lawsuit against the State of Iowa that challenges a state law from 2012, often referred to as Iowa’s ag-gag law or ag-whistleblower law. The law made it illegal to get a job at a livestock farm through misrepresentation in order to conduct an undercover animal cruelty investigation. The …
Last month, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones ordered more than $100 million in refunds for nearly 2 million State Farm policy owners, alleging the company charged excessive rates for its homeowners and renters insurance. It apparently was the first such refund approved since California’s landmark Proposition 103 rolled back a wide swath of insurance rates nearly three decades ago, …
A 19-year-old lawsuit continues to haunt State Farm Insurance, and billions potentially hang in the balance. A federal judge in East St. Louis on Sept. 16 conferred class-action status on plaintiffs representing 4.7 million State Farm policyholders. The plaintiffs allege that State Farm schemed to contribute millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with the intention of having the money …
Some customers of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. claim the company conspired to help elect an Illinois Supreme Court candidate so he could vote to throw out a $1 billion award against the company. Now they will be able to bring their case as a group. A federal judge on Sept. 16 ruled that 4.7 million State Farm policyholders can band together to sue the insurer for allegedly lying …
The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) and the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) have offered to underwrite the legal costs for the defense of the drainage districts targeted in the Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) lawsuit. Leaders of the utility claim officials in Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac Counties have failed to adequately manage 10 drainage districts in their area, causing nitrate levels …
Yakima Valley farm workers involved in a class-action lawsuit since 2012 against a management company for wrongful firing will receive their settlement payments Sunday according to a news release from Columbia Legal Services. NW Management and several other companies agreed to a settlement payment after several years of litigation according to the news release. Columbia …
A western Massachusetts bean sprout farm has agreed to pay $78,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that alleged the farm was discharging pollutants into the Connecticut River. The suit alleged that Chang Farms, in Whately, violated the terms of its federal Clean Water Act permit by discharging industrial wastewater into the river.