A settlement requiring the Brazilian Blowout manufacturer to warn consumers and hair stylists of the health risks associated with its products was announced today, making it the first government enforceable action in the U.S. to address the exposures of formaldehyde gas associated with said products. more ›

Actress Brittany Murphy's death rocked Hollywood and the headlines in December 2009, and just five months later, her husband Simon Monjack also died suddenly. Now Murphy's mother is claiming toxic mold found in the couple's home is what really killed them. more ›

It's been a long, arduous, and contentious battle, and it appears it's coming to an end: Frank and Jamie McCourt's high-profile divorce is about to be settled, reports the L.A. Times, and as part of the agreement, Jamie McCourt will agree to give up any claims on the Los Angeles Dodgers. more ›

The family of Mitrice Richardson have long believed the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department mishandled their daughter's case, and today those still-bereaved loved ones are closer to reaching a settlement with the law enforcement agency. more ›

No matter what Jimmy Johnson, the spokesman for ExtenZe says, their little pills don't help a man's littler penis get bigger. Alas, the Monrovia-based Biotab Nutraceuticals Inc. have been misleading customers with their "unsubstantiated advertising claims," for their supplements, including ExtenZe, and are now being made to payout $1.75M in civil penalties to their deflated consumers. more ›

They're being called "millionaire cops," because in the last ten years at least "17 officers have won million-dollar-plus jury verdicts or settlements from the city in lawsuits in which they leveled accusations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, retaliation and other workplace injustices," reports the L.A. Times. Many more have also won five-figure and six-figure payouts. more ›

Sure, Twitter is free, and, if you can put up with some spammers, the occasional fail whale, and those annoying "promoted Tweets," at the end of the day, it doesn't cost you a damn thing to use it. However, if you use your Twitter powers for evil and not good, well, it could end up costing you like it did Courtney Love. more ›

Remember Meg Whitman? Remember her housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillian? Meg Whitman and her husband, Griffith Harsh IV, reached a settlement today with their former employee "during a closed meeting at the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in San Jose," according to CBS2. Whitman did not attend the meeting. more ›

Nearly two years to the date, a judge today is expected to sign off on a $200 million settlement that would go to family members and survivors of fatal Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth. On the afternoon of Friday, September 12th, 2008 a Metrolink train headed to Ventura County crashed head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 125 more. more ›

The Mission Viejo man who claims his French Onion Soup at Claim Jumper included a surprise ingredient from the prophylactic section has settled his suit against the Inrvine-based restaurant chain, according to an AP report published on HuffPo. No information regarding the terms of the settlement, reached yesterday, are being made public, and both parties involved have indicated "the deal indicates no admission of liability by either party." Zdenek Philip Hodousek filed the suit after biting into the condom, which was later determined to contain female DNA, during an Easter Brunch meal in 2009. more ›

When the city tried to regulate digital billboards earlier this decade, the advertising industry brought on the lawsuits. Out of one big cases, CBS Corp.'s Outdoor division and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. landed a major settlement in 2006: 800 billboards could be converted into digital ones. more ›

It was January 26th, 2005 when Juan Alvarez parked his gasoline-drenched Jeep Cherokee on train tracks in Glendale. He said it was an attempt to commit suicide before he changed his mind the last minute. He jumped out of the way before "a fast-moving Metrolink train struck the SUV, derailed and struck a parked Union Pacific locomotive before colliding with another Metrolink train traveling in the other direction," as the Associated Press describes. 11 people died and 180 were injured. Alverez was convicted of murder last year. more ›

Sewer work on a small section of Cesar E. Chavez Ave. between North Broadway and New High will resume today lasting up to two weeks (.pdf). Crews will reduce traffic lanes on North Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez Ave. to rehabilitate aging pipeline as part of a $2 billion settlement agreement with the EPA and Santa Monica Baykeeper. In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency sued the city of Los Angeles over frequent sewage spills, which were reported to happen on average two times a day. Between 1994 and 2004--when the settlement was reached--it was estimated that Los Angeles had experienced more than 4,500 spills. more ›

So is this why my health insurance with them has increased again... for the fourth time in two years? Nevertheless, it's a good thing for the people who are getting payback. "Anthem Blue Cross, the state's largest for-profit health insurer, has agreed to pay a $1-million fine and offer new coverage -- no questions asked -- to 2,330 people it dropped after they submitted bills for expensive medical care," reports the LA Times this morning. "The settlement follows Anthem's agreement last year to pay a $10-million fine to settle similar charges involving 1,770 members in HMO-type policies overseen by the Department of Managed Health Care, another state regulator." more ›

Remember this angering video where a local video blogger documented the 2007 Immigration March that went from happy and free-spirited to LAPD officers terrorizing everyone by spraying rubber bullets into the crowds and taking batons to reporters? Today, the LA City Council approved $12.85 million to settle nine lawsuits against the city, but that's not the end of it as there were 27 lawsuits. Also, this not the only recent LAPD settlement the LA Times reports: "The settlement of the May Day cases comes on the heels of the council’s approval last week of a $20.5-million payout to four current and former police officers who claimed they were falsely arrested and mistreated in the wake of the scandal involving the police department's Rampart Division." more ›

Remember those ads that ran between 1997-2000 featuring a sassy chihuahua who was crazy about Taco Bell? Turns out the Irvine-based company turned down a pitch made in the 1990s by Michigan ad men Joseph Shields and Tom Rinks for a "psycho chihuahua" but "later hired another ad agency that wound up using the talking animal in the now famous 'Yo quiero Taco Bell' ads," reports the OC Register. more ›

On May Day 2007, hundreds of marchers, journalists and 18 officers were injured when the LAPD heavily overreacted to a small group of agitators at MacArthur Park. That led to lawsuits, which could be settled very soon, says the LA Times: "Victims of the melee in MacArthur Park last year involving Los Angeles police have reached a tentative multimillion-dollar settlement with the city, people close to the settlement talks said today... A couple of the sources, however, placed the proposed settlement at about $10 million." If you need a reminder of what happened, you probably should watch this video. more ›

In the largest ever multi-state consumer protection-based pharmaceutical settlement, California will receive $5.6 million--the largest share of the $62 Million, 32 state settlement--from medicine maker Eli Lilly and Company, the makers of antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. “Eli Lilly put profits ahead of patients when it marketed Zyprexa for a use that had not been properly tested or approved, in many cases, putting young women at risk for weight gain, hypoglycemia and even diabetes,” Attorney General Brown said a statement released today. Eli Lilly was accused of engaging "in unfair and deceptive practices when it marketed Zyprexa for off-label uses and [failing] to adequately disclose the drug’s potential side effects to healthcare providers." more ›

When the chips are down and you need cash to settle up some legal matters, unloading some real estate is a good move. more ›

*Updates listed at the top. L.A. Celebrates 225th Birthday With Historic Nod (CBS2) LA Celebrates 225th Birthday With Traditional 9-Mile Walk (NBC4) Officials Take 9-Mile Walk To L.A. To Celebrate City's Birthday (KABC) Happy Birthday LA! (Fox 11) Happy 225th, L.A.! (LA City Beat) In the beginning: The founding of Los Angeles (Tidings Online) The Settlement of Los Angeles (Los Angeles Almanac) Original Settlers of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (Los... more ›