A jury has ordered a prominent New York pediatrician to pay $11 million to two sisters for failing to prevent their half-brother from sexually assaulting them. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Patricia Monroe and her workplace failed to take proper steps that could have prevented the abuse. Other defendants had previously been dismissed from the suit.

A class action alleging that Subaru sold or leased cars with defective odometers can proceed, a federal judge has ruled. In the ruling, Southern District of New York Judge George Daniels rejected Subaru’s argument that the Federal Odometer Act does not apply to original factory-installed odometers. The class action claims that the defective odometers resulted in shorter warranty periods, decreased resale value and erroneous leasing penalties.

The government must pay nearly $102 million to the families of four men wrongly convicted and imprisoned for a 1965 murder, a federal appeals court has ruled. The decision upholds a 2007 verdict that found the FBI had withheld key evidence that would have proved the men to be innocent. Two of the men, Peter J. Limone and Joseph Salvati, spent about 30 years in prison. Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo died while serving their sentences.

A Texas jury on Thursday ruled in favor of Yamaha Motor Co. in a lawsuit over alleged design defects that plaintiffs claimed caused the death of a 13-year-old boy. In the verdict, jurors found that the Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle was not to blame for the death of Forest “Eddie” Ray. The Rhino is currently the subject of about 500 lawsuits nationwide.

The mother of a child with a form of autism has filed a lawsuit against child’s teacher, school officials and others over an incident in which she claims other students were allowed to “vote” him out of the class. In the suit, Melissa Barton alleges that the defendants violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and caused emotional distress. The child, who suffers Asperger’s syndrome, is now being homeschooled.

A jury has awarded $450,000 to a student expelled from nursing school after she complained that an instructor failed to provide required clinical training. According to the lawsuit, Appalachian Technical College retaliated against the student for blowing the whistle on faculty misconduct. The award includes $50,000 in damages for emotional injuries and $400,000 in punitive damages.

Chrysler announced Thursday that it will accept more liability for injury and wrongful death claims related to vehicles produced prior to the company’s bankruptcy. The announcement means that those injured by older Chrysler vehicles can still purse claims against company assets that remain in bankruptcy court. Chrysler exited bankruptcy June 10.

Insurance regulators in Texas are trying to determine whether the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association may have wrongly denied some claims for roof damage following Hurricane Ike, the Houston Chronicle reports. The investigation comes after nearly two dozen policyholders complained about the denial of claims relating to unsealed asphalt shingles. The association contends that it should not have to cover claims for shingles lifted from roofs by the hurricane. However, shingles must be sealed in order for customers to retain their policies.

Dick Armey’s resignation from law firm DLA Piper raises some interesting issues about law firm reputation. The former House Majority Leader left the firm late last week after questions were raised publicly about his position as chairman of FreedomWorks, the “grass roots” organization that has been accused of helping to orchestrate numerous angry outbursts at town hall meetings on the healthcare legislation debate. FreedomWorks’ website says: FreedomWorks’ aggressive, real-time campaigns activate a growing and permanent volunteer grassroots army to show up and demand policy change.

Most law firms are diligent about identifying conflicts when deciding on client representation. But when law firms have the opportunity to attract a high-powered, highly visible former government leader — as DLA Piper did some six years ago — they can sometimes overlook potential problems/conflicts that can harm the firm’s reputation.

Lawyers have always been involved in and at the forefront of politics. However, in the Internet age, it’s much more difficult for attorneys to keep outside political/grassroots lobbying activities separate. The media’s easy access to online databases (such as detailed information about individual political contributions) and other websites makes the task of keeping things quiet and separate even harder.

Many attorneys also hold important leadership positions in their communities and in multiple national/international organizations. It’s a centuries-old tradition of the profession and many are great humanitarian and pro-justice causes.

But law firm managing partners and executive committees need to ensure they have ironclad early-warning systems to detect controversial issues that might arise from those organizations and that might be detrimental to the firm. Once a firm has identified a problem, it can develop a communications strategy to aggressively counter negative media coverage and other public criticism that might show up online. These criticisms can, of course, wreck havoc on a firm’s positive search engine results and remain on the Web for years.

Law firms also have rushed out hastily-worded press statements that appear overly defensive or that are filled with legal jargon that don’t help the firm’s image at all. An internal strategy to deal with these issues in advance will go far in defending the firm’s reputation in the eyes of clients and prospects.

Finally, every firm should have a crisis communications plan that takes into account a wide variety of scenarios. The participation of attorneys in controversial –or even hostile organizations — should be listed as one of those scenarios.

Medical imaging tests expose millions of patients to excessive amounts of radiation each year, new research has concluded. According to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly half a million patients were exposed to radiation doses exceeding those allowed for nuclear power plant workers annually. Doctors not associated with the study said the increased exposure to radiation will likely cause tens of thousands of additional cancer cases in the coming decades.