Articles by Jef Feeley and Sophia Pearson

Court Upholds NFL’s $765 Million Concussion Settlement as ‘Fair’

The National Football League’s $765 million concussion settlement was found by a federal appeals court to be fair, if imperfect. The decision sets in motion the resolution of thousands of lawsuits covering more than 20,000 retired players. About 1 percent …

Massey Ex-CEO Blankenship Sentenced to 1 Year in Jail for Fatal Mine Explosion

Former coal baron Donald Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison for evading mine-safety rules in one of the final chapters of a fatal mine explosion that was the worst U.S. coal industry accident in almost 40 years. U.S. …

6 Years After Upper Big Branch Tragedy, Ex-CEO of Mine Faces Sentencing

Six years after 29 miners were killed in a West Virginia coal dust explosion, the man who ran the mining company like a fiefdom — a coal baron and power broker who earned millions of dollars a year — will …

West Virginia Coal Boss Should Face Maximum Sentence, U.S. Says

Former coal baron Donald Blankenship should face the maximum sentence of one year in prison for flouting mine-safety rules, prosecutors said, urging a judge to send a message to the coal industry. The government asked U.S. District Judge Irene Berger …

Dallas Jury Orders Johnson & Johnson to Pay $500M in Hip Implants Case

Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $502 million to a group of patients who accused the company of hiding flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that caused the devices to prematurely fail and left them facing surgeries and pain, …

J&J Must Pay $72M Over Powder Tied to Woman’s Cancer

Johnson & Johnson must pay $72 million to the family of a woman who blamed her fatal ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum powder in the first state-court case over the claims to go to trial. Jurors in St. Louis …

How a King of Coal Conspired Against Mine Safety

To hear Donald L. Blankenship tell it, the U.S. coal industry has been undone by inept regulators, evil unions, the media and “global warming hoaxers.” But for jurors at his criminal trial in Charleston, West Virginia, it’s the king of …

Blankenship Jury Still Deadlocked in West Virginia Mine Blast Case

Jurors at former Massey Energy Co. Chief Donald Blankenship’s criminal trial ended their eighth day of deliberations after telling the judge they remain deadlocked on charges the coal executive plotted to ignore safety rules before a 2010 mine explosion that …

Defense Rests in West Virginia Mine Blast Trial, Blankenship Stays Mum

Former Massey Energy Chief Donald Blankenship won’t take the witness stand to explain what happened when a company mine exploded in 2010 killing 29 workers, choosing instead to leave his fate in the hands of jurors at his criminal trial …

J&J Win in First Trial Against Tylenol Skirts Defective Design Claim

Johnson & Johnson defeated a lawsuit claiming it had improperly designed its Tylenol pain reliever in the first case to go to trial over the link between the widely used over-the-counter drug and liver damage, according to a J&J spokesman. …