A lawsuit was filed by lead plaintiff Rita Koenig, who is requesting class action status, against Western & Southern Mutual Holding Co., and Columbus Life Insurance Co. The lawsuit alleges that the insurance companies have breached their contracts with policyholders by not paying beneficiaries.

The lawsuit claims that the insurance companies use the Social Security Administrations Death Master file, which lists the name of every social security number holder who has died, to stop making annuity payments to deceased annuity recipients, but are not using that same database to make life insurance payments to beneficiaries who are owed money. More Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Two Ohio Life Insurance Companies

The husband of Shelly Occhipinti-Krout of Parker, Colorado has filed a lawsuit against Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado, alleging his wife died three weeks after getting sick with listeria from infected cantaloupe produced on the Jensen Farm.

The lawsuit says that Occhipinti-Krout purchased tainted cantaloupe at King Sooper’s grocery store. “It went from … her having cardiac arrest at the hospital to being in a coma,” Tiffany Weider said after her mother was stricken. “She didn’t even get to see her son graduate high school. This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Channel 7 News in Denver, reported. More Jensen Farms Sued Over Wife’s Listeria Death

The FDA lifted a ban on Del Monte Fresh Produce cantaloupes imported from a facility in Guatemala on Tuesday, the same day that Del Monte Fresh dropped its lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for the ban.

The FDA would only say that the two events represented an ‘amicable resolution” to the dispute, and not whether the ban lift was related to the dropped lawsuit. More Del Monte Fresh and FDA Reach Amicable Resolution over Cantaloupe Imports

The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a state appellate court’s ruling that will send the case back to trial for more hearings. Originally, the Madison County judge sided with plaintiffs on a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris over the marketing of ‘light’ cigarettes.

“The Supreme Court had an opportunity to review the appellate decision but found no basis to do so,” an attorney behind the lawsuit, said. “After a long journey through the courts, we believe this decision moves the judgment a step closer toward a final confirmation for the 1.1 million Illinois consumers who were represented in the lawsuit.” More Illinois Supreme Court Allows Judgment Against Philip Morris To Move Forward

Reebok has agreed to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that the  shoe and clothing company falsely advertised that its toning shoes could measurably strengthen leg, thigh, and buttock muscles.

New Balance and Skechers have also faced lawsuits regarding the advertising claims of their toning shoes. The FTC had issue with claims made by Reebok that their EasyTone shoes were proven to increase strength and tone in the buttock muscles by 28 percent, and increase strength and tone in hamstring and calf muscled by 11 percent more than regularly walking shoes. More Reebok Settles FTC Toning Shoe Lawsuit with $25 million in Customer Refunds

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and California Controller John Chiang have increased pressure on life insurance companies accused of unfair claims settlement practices, failure to turn unclaimed money over to the state, and failure to monitor and control dormant retained asset accounts.

The life insurance industry is being hit with investigations in nearly 35 states. According to Fox Business,  California announced it will be begin market conduct examination against MetLife, John Hancock Insurance, Prudential Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, The Hartford, Sun Life Financial, New York Life Insurance Co., Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., Aegon Group (which includes Transamerica) and Pacific Life Insurance Co. More California Insurance Commissioner Steps Up Investigations of 10 Life Insurance

Interns Alex Footman and Eric Glatt filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court alleging that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated minimum wage and overtime laws by hiring interns. The lawsuit is seeking class action status for the more than 100 unpaid interns that served on various Fox Searchlight productions.

According to the lawsuit, Fox had the interns do menial work that did nothing to educate them about filmmaking, and which should have been performed by paid employees, as labor rules require a certain type of educational experience must be given for an intern to be considered an exempt employee. More Black Swan Interns Sue Fox Searchlight Over Unpaid Wages

John Hancock Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corp., has settled with Florida insurance regulators over the way the company has been handling unclaimed life insurance payments.

According to the terms of the settlement, John Hancock will pay $3 million to cover the costs of the investigation and attorney fees. The insurance agency also agreed to return funds to beneficiaries, including interest payments owed from the date of the death of the policyholder. The company will also establish a $10 million fund for beneficiaries who cannot be contacted, and will provide quarterly reports to the state for three years, Bloomberg reported. More John Hancock Settles With Florida Insurance Regulators

Mary Mai Nguyen and Tuoc Duong have filed a lawsuit in Harris County, Texas against AstraZeneca and sales representative Ghadeer Rafeedie, alleging the side effects of Nexium, a proton pump inhibitor used for heart burn and acid reflux, caused them to suffer bone deterioration and bone fractures.

According to the lawsuit, studies performed as early as 2006 found that PPIs interfere with the body’s ability to absorb calcium, which increases bone loss and bone fractures, and that AstraZeneca ‘obscured, misrepresented and obfuscated” the information. More Texans File Nexium Lawsuit Over Bone Deterioration and Fracture

After Del Monte Fresh Produce submitted an independent audit of the Guatemala farm from which it imports cantaloupes, showing that the farm was following good agricultural practices, and tests that showed no pathogens were infecting the cantaloupes, the FDA lifted an import restriction on the produce.

The Del Monte cantaloupes were linked to a salmonella infection that sickened 20 people in 10 states. The outbreak is not connected to the listeria outbreak that has killed as many as 16 people, and was connected to Colorado grown cantaloupes. More FDA Lifts Del Monte Fresh Produce Guatemalan Restriction on Cantaloupe