Current Events in January 2010

States have taken action in recent weeks against companies that exploit homeowner desperation with advance fee loan modification scams. Oregon is the latest state to take action.

The Oregon Department of Justice recently investigated allegations that the California-based USMAC Law Group violated state law by collecting advance fees for loan modifications aimed at preventing foreclosure sales. The investigation also focused on allegedly deceptive infomercial advertising for the firm's loan modification program that was broadcast nationally on satellite television as well as allegedly non-compliant contract language.

As a result, the USMAC Law Group is prohibited from doing loan modifications in Oregon and must pay $28,857 under a settlement with the Oregon Department of Justice.

"I will not hesitate to take action against companies that attempt to take advantage of Oregon homeowners in distress," said Oregon Attorney General John Kroger.

The 2008 Oregon Mortgage Rescue Fraud Protection Act prohibits loan modification companies from collecting advance fees and using confusing contract language.

The settlement will provide a total of $6,857 in refunds to two Oregon consumers. Nine additional Oregon consumers who contracted with The USMAC Law Group may also be eligible for refunds.

The company also must pay $22,000 to the Oregon Department of Justice and cease doing loan modification work in Oregon. The settlement, in which The USMAC Law Group admits no wrongdoing, was filed in Marion County Circuit Court.

Cracking down on unscrupulous loan modification work is part of a comprehensive strategy by the Department of Justice, the Department of Consumer and Business Services, the Oregon Legislature and consumer groups to fight the foreclosure crisis. Other states around the nation have taken similar action as foreclosures continue to mount.

"Homeowners should be wary of companies that offer to help modify mortgages for a fee," said Cory Streisinger, director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. "If you're struggling with your mortgage, nonprofit foreclosure counselors can provide better help - and they won't charge you."

A class action lawsuit alleges that funding for Chicago-area transit is administered in a manner that blatantly discriminates against minorities. The suit, filed on January 6, claims that Chicago overfunds commuter railroads at the expense of the city's storied L subway system.

The lawsuit concedes that most of the $1 billion annual transportation budget is spent on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), which oversees the L and city buses, but says the Authority's sheer number of passengers means that it remains shortchanged.

The complaint says that the CTA has received around 87 cents per passenger trip since 2000; in the same amount of time, commuter railroad Metra received $4.42 per trip. According to the suit, the budget gap is the result of longstanding racism; around 70 percent of Metra riders are white, while 60 percent of CTA riders are African American or Hispanic.

The suit is being handled by civil-rights firm Howard Ashley Watkins & Weltman and a clinic at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Its about peoples livelihoods, lead plaintiff Manuel Munguia told the Chicago Sun-Times. Its really about getting the access we deserve, to education, to good jobs, and ultimately, to opportunity and prosperity.

The plaintiffs contend that the funding disparity is a result of the decades-old Council Wars, which pitted black mayor Harold Washington against a group of white politicians in the Chicago City Council and, later, the Illinois General Assembly. The Council Wars, which lasted from 1983 to 1986, saw 29 aldermen vote down all mayoral proposals and appointments.

Judy Pardonnet, a Metra spokeswoman, scoffed at the allegations, and said that the rail system categorically denies any type of racial discrimination. Pardonnet added that a lot of information stated in the lawsuit [is] not true.

The suit drew quick support from several area politicians. Jesse Jackson Jr., a U.S. Congressman widely believed to be interested in City Hall, scolded the state legislature for ignoring our communities for too long.

Mayor Richard Daley took a more cautious tone, agreeing that a funding disparity exists between the two systems but refusing to explicitly call the gap racist. Daley said there has been a lack of funding for the CTA over many, many years, and that he hoped the suit would draw wider attention to the problem.

The plaintiffs will likely have an uphill climb in proving their case. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that merely proving the disparate racial effects of a policy isn't enough; a plaintiff must show that the policy actually makes racially-based distinctions.

The CTA is the second-largest transit system in the country, second only to New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which also oversees that city's commuter railroads, bridges, and tunnels. Barring a breakthrough in union negotiations, the CTA will cut rail and bus service by nine and 18 percent, respectively, on February 7.

2009 will go down in history as a year when Ohio consumers had enough. Attorney General Richard Cordray today released his office's consumer complaint numbers, which reached a historic high with 30,259 complaints, up 20 percent from 2008.

"Last year was extremely challenging financially for many Ohioans," said Cordray. "We're counting our pennies and weighing each purchase. There is no tolerance for companies that fail to deliver on their promises. Ohio consumers have had enough, and we're seeing them speak out in numbers we haven't seen in the past."

Through the office's complaint resolution process and legal action, approximately $7 million in consumer restitution, civil penalties, costs and other relief was generated in 2009.

"It is our priority to ensure that Ohio consumers are treated fairly and have recourse from deceptive practices," said Cordray. "In 2009, largely in answer to consumer complaints, we filed 37 cases against companies that were taking advantage of Ohioans."

The Attorney General's office posted the full report online at http://www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/2009ConsumerProtectionReport.

The year's top 10 complaints concerned:

• Motorized vehicles (buying a car, auto repair services, receiving titles from dealers)

• Collections, credit reporting and financial services (wrong information on credit reports, credit repair services, collection calls for debts not owed)

• Household goods and property improvement (roofing, driveway repair, general contractors)

• Internet and phone

• Shopping, food and beverages

• Mortgage (lenders, servicers, foreclosure rescue companies)

• Computers and electronics

• Professional services

• Health and beauty

• Utilities

When you think of people who use illegal drugs, you think first of young adults, like the hippies and flower children of the 60s. But those hippies have gray hair now, and increasingly it's Grandpa who's getting high.

A new study done for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows a dramatic increase in illicit drug use among people over 50. Researchers say baby boomers who discovered marijuana, cocaine and other drugs as young people apparently haven't given it up.

This isn't just a matter of concern for law enforcement, researchers say. With a portioin of the aging population have used their drugs over a lifetime, it could double the need for substance abuse treatment services by 2020.

"This new data has profound implications for the health and well-being of older adults who continue to abuse substances," said SAMHSA Administrator, Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. "These findings highlight the need for prevention programs for all ages as well as to establish improved screening and appropriate referral to treatment as part of routine health care services."

Substance abuse at any age is associated with numerous health and social problems, but age-related physiological and social changes make older adults more vulnerable to the harmful effect of illicit drugs use.

"This study highlights the fact that older Americans face a wide spectrum of healthcare concerns that must be addressed in a comprehensive way," said Assistant Secretary for Aging, Kathy Greenlee. "The Administration on Aging is committed to working with SAMHSA and all other public health partners in meeting these challenges."

The latest SAMHSA short report, Illicit Drug Use Among Older Adults, shows that an estimated 4.3 million adults aged 50 or older (4.7 percent) used an illicit drug in the past year. In fact, 8.5 percent of men aged 50 to 54 had used marijuana in the past year, as opposed to only 3.9 percent of women in this age group.

The SAMHSA report also shows that marijuana use was more common than nonmedical use of prescription drugs among males 50 and older, but among females the rates of marijuana use and nonmedical use of prescription drugs were similar.

Although marijuana use was more common than nonmedical use of prescription drugs for adults age 50 to 59, among those aged 65 and older, nonmedical use of prescription drugs was more common than marijuana.

The report, which examines the prevalence of any illicit drug use, marijuana use, and nonmedical use of prescription drugs, is based on data collected during 2006 to 2008 from a nationally representative sample of 19, 921 adults aged 50 or older who participated in SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

If you think a friend or loved one is abusing cocaine, better read this.

Once upon a time, people said that television had killed the art of conversation. Such a notion seems almost quaint now that we have the internet. Who hasn't been told in answer to a question:

"Why are you asking me? Just Google it."

And we do. Search engines have become our sources of gossip and news, our advisors on what we should buy, our pick-up scene, our all-encompassing (and sometimes woefully inaccurate) encyclopedia and, increasingly, Google and Co. are becoming our doctors, too. Think of any given health problem and I'll bet you $100 without even looking that there are numerous Web pages dedicated to it, a patient's forum and probably a Facebook group as well.

So what's the problem? We're living in the Information Age, after all surely it's a good thing if patients can research their own conditions and treatments. That way they can work alongside their doctors on the road to healing!

I just had to take a five-minute break. The last sentence made me laugh too much. The reason can be summed up in a gem of 90's slang, TMI Too Much Information and I doubt there's a general practitioner in the country who isn't nodding their head as they read this. It's one thing to inform yourself, another to understand what you have read and put it in context.

A couple of years back I went to stay with an American guy and his Italian girlfriend in Sicily that I met through a hospitality exchange site. While they seemed a pleasant couple, I couldn't help but notice she handled all the money, including his bank cards. When she and I went out shopping one morning, she told me why:

He's an alcoholic, she explained. I had to let him move in with me because it had gone too far. When we were just dating he called me up one night to say goodbye forever because he was dying of a heart attack. Of course I rushed round at once with an ambulance but it turned out his chest pains were actually caused by acid reflux. He'd been drinking too much cheap red wine.

Hit by sudden pains in the chest, her boyfriend had immediately consulted Google and pulled up a plethora of pages about heart attacks. Had he read a little more carefully, he might have worked out there were more probable explanations but, in a state of drunken anxiety, he jumped to the worst-case scenario, not bothering with the small print.

Of course, assisted hypochondria is nothing new. Before the internet there was the well-known phenomenon of Medical School-itis where students of medicine passed the long winter evenings by poring over lists of symptoms, slowly talking themselves into suffering from rare and incurable diseases. And these were intelligent young students, trained to read between the lines and come to sober conclusions. But humans will be humans and when it comes to worrying about our health, it would seem that the old New York Graffiti still holds true: Hypochondria is the only disease I haven't got.

Full Disclosure

At this stage I should admit that I'm something of a hypochondriac myself. Within two minutes of making the acquaintance of a doctor, I'm usually pulling up my shirt to ask them to look at my moles and tell me if I have cancer or not. I guess I always wanted to die young like my rock star heroes and now that I'm past 30, it's getting a bit late in the day. I'm not even famous yet. Consumer Journalist Dies Young just wouldn't make the papers.

So when I had some bad stomach cramps last summer, I was on the net like a shot. I tried out www.yourdiagnosis.com but it couldn't offer me anything more exciting than constipation as an explanation for my condition. The site did, however, offer me another potential five diagnoses if I was prepared to shell out $17.

Trusting that everything can be found for free on the Internet if you look hard enough, I surfed on and came to www.familydoctor.org, a name that inspired confidence. I entered my symptoms and clicked on abdominal pain, short-term, and found a flow chart which looked easy enough to follow.

I discovered with relief that I wasn't having a miscarriage or an attack of appendicitis but then agreed that my pains did get worse when I ate greasy food. I learned to my horror that I was possibly suffering from gall stones and was advised to see my doctor at once. Following the chart I admitted to suffering from muscle aches and nausea recently and almost fainted as I was directed to a box that suggested I might have a kidney infection or even... a TUMOR.

Yes, further down the page, constipation was also offered as a diagnosis but that quiet voice of reason was drowned by the competing neurotic voices in my head, the loudest of which was debating what, exactly, I would like my epitaph to be. I might have chosen "I told you I was ill" but numerous comedians, both known and obscure, have beaten me to it.

To be fair, the site did include the disclaimer: "This tool has been reviewed by doctors and is for general educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice. The information in this tool should not be relied upon to make decisions about your health." But that was the equivalent of your dad telling you to drive carefully as he threw you the keys to the family car.

Feeling it was now only responsible to fully assess my condition, I went to www.webmd.com and was reassured to see a nice clickable image of a human body and was invited to use a pointer to locate my condition. I'd been at the computer for several hours at this point and my head was hurting. A list of symptoms came up and I hit anxiety at once. Did it get worse from emotional stress? It sure did! Especially when in the pop-out menu of associated conditions I saw epilepsy...

Relucantly, I had to skip the b's and c's but any of my ex-girlfriends could have agreed with my difficulty to wake from sleep and I finished my session of cyberchondria learning that in addition to gall stones, a tumour and epilepsy, it could well be that I was a diabetic...

Doctors recognize the lack of standards of health information on the net and some well-meaning professionals in Switzerland have founded Medhunt to usher surfers to respectable, credible sites for their research. But the design is dismal, the advice too sober and it's a drop of sense in a sea of hysteria.

The Brave New World of Medicine 2.0

The problem is that these days, health care lacks the context it once did. Granted, doctors of the past didn't have the benefit of the latest innovations in medicine but they often knew their patients well. Consultations took time, there was some personal rapport there was even a time when doctors visited their patients at home when they were ill.

But just to show that history goes in cycles, it turns out that doctors are once again to be found in your bedroom. Sort of. As long as you're happy to bare all to a stranger in a white coat on your computer screen. A new generation of doctors are to be found on sites like www.americanwell.com or www.hellohealth.com who will arrange appointments via webcam and order you the drugs you need. Best of all, you don't have to pick up any contagious diseases from other patients in the waiting room.

And if the rates set by American doctors are too rich for your blood, you can always try your luck at somewhere like MedIndia, where you can get a doctor's opinion for just $15. The site claims its doctors have been trained in the U.S. or Britain and, to their credit, they do not prescribe or sell drugs.

Of course, for some people, getting medicine with a prescription seems almost as 20th century as paying for music and video. Search Google for the drugs you want to buy online and any number of "reputable" websites will offer to post you packages of Viagra, Propecia or abortion pills once you enter your credit card number. They might first go through the motions of making you fill in a questionaire to seem more credible but essentially they're modern drug dealers. Here's one sales pitch I found:

"You can buy prescription drugs online at incredibly cheap prices from online pharmacies and overseas drugstores directly from your computer and enjoy discreet deliveries to your home or office. Eliminate hassles and maximize savings on the prescription medication that you need with our service."

Hassles like federal law. But it seems many Americans either don't know or care much about the harsh penalties for possessing pills of dubious origins without a prescription. According to the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, the illegal drug trade is expected to soar to $75 billion in 2010, up 90% from 2005,

When I lived in India, many travelers paid for their trips by exporting incense, clothes or jewelry. It was common knowledge, however, that many also opted to take back more profitable commodities in their backpacks. So when a friend about to fly out of Delhi confided he was engaged in a spot of smuggling, I expected to see kilos of hashish in his hotel room. Instead he grinned foolishly as he dropped Viagra pills into empty vitamin pots.

I sell them at the local pub! Pays for the flights! he chuckled.

But it's not just a question of legality. The World Health Organization estimates that more than half the pills purchased online have been tampered with. The pills you order are often cheap for a reason: They're either out and out fakes or may contain toxic elements like paint in an attempt to resemble the originals.

Worse yet, they may have been made in makeshift laboratories in India or Mexico and contain too much or too little of the active ingredient, posing a threat to your health.

A Sense of Community

If there's one thing the internet has done for health, however, it's to have created virtual communities of patients who previously suffered alone. Whether you're a hypochondriac like me or genuinely suffer from a medical condition, it's not much fun to worry about your symptoms by yourself but at places like www.thehealingwell.com people can discuss their illnesses, share tips and experiences with drugs and treatments and generally keep each other's morale up.

I was living last year in Sardinia, an island off the Italian mainland and was camped on some land belonging to a local woman in her 50's. She had fibromyalgia and consequently felt exhausted a good part of the time, requiring that she took frequent naps and paid someone to take care of her vegetable patch. No one else in the nearby area had ever heard of the condition and behind her back said she was just lazy.

As much as anything else, having no one to talk to about her disease infuriated her. I finally persuaded her to get an internet connection and a cheap laptop and, after some coaching on how to use a mouse and navigate the internet, she was hooked. She soon found forums where people all across the world suffered from fibromyalgia and, thereafter, each time I passed by to ask for some eggs from her chickens or to take a lettuce from the garden, I found her glued to her laptop, typing away with a painstaking single finger.

Like life, the internet is what you make it.

There's no way information can be regulated health advice on the net will only ever be as good as your common sense. If you're prepared to take pills made under dubious conditions in the developing world then there are any number of sites that will oblige you. If you want to prove to yourself you're dying, then just name your disease and you'll find symptoms to match.

And if you can handle the thought of unburdening your health worries to strangers in a forum or consulting a doctor via a webcam... then the future has already arrived.

On the other hand, it's good to remember that health is literally a life-and-death matter. A do-it-yourself mentality is fine if you're painting the bedroom but an occasional visit to a real, live diagnostician with M.D. after his or her name is still the only sane way to keep tabs on your health.

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Tom Glaister is the founder and editor of www.roadjunky.com - The Online Travel Guide for the Free and Funky Traveler -- sponsors of the Road Junky Travel Film Festival May 28.

It's only a matter of time before car entertainment systems are replaced by Internet-connected devices. At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Ford has brought that day closer, not with a car-mounted computer, but an in-dash interface that connects with existing devices.

Ford's reasoning is simple. Tech-savvy consumers already have a smartphone or other device that connects to the Internet and can access information and entertainment media. What they need is a better, safer way in which to access it while in the car.

Ford unveiled its voice-recognition SYNC technology at the 2007 CES. Based on the Microsoft Auto platform, it allowed drivers and passengers to connect portable media players to their vehicle and interact with devices and vehicle systems through spoken commands. At the time, MP3 players were the devices of choice.

Since then, smartphones and netbooks have come along, and PC tablets are on the horizon, allowing consumers to access, not just music, but all types of information available on the Internet. At this year's CES, Ford rolled out a new in-car device control interface called MyFord Touch. It is designed to make it easier to interact these increasingly complex devices while minimizing driver distraction. For example, one app will read aloud a recipients text messages while the device is connected. Some apps will work only when the car is in park.

In-dash screens

The new system features a pair of 4.2-inch LCD screens, with five-way button controls built into the steering wheel. In addition, there's an eight inch touch screen and, of course, SYNC's voice command technology.

Rather than include a computer that will become obsolete long before the vehicle, Ford's technology will be an elaborate interface used to control the consumer's existing device, such as a smartphone. MyFordTouch will make it easier, for example, to call up and play Internet radio stations. Easy access to other entertainment channels could soon be in the works.

Ford is working with Electrobit, a provider of embedded software solutions to the automotive and wireless industries, to create an interface to allow phone application developers access to SYNC. Thus an application programming interface (API), which acts as programming interface for a particular phone platform, will enable phone software developers to create new applications for the vehicle, taking advantage of the input mechanisms and vehicle data the Ford SYNC platform provides.

"For example, it took only a few weeks to develop a phone demo application providing the vehicle occupants with Ford SYNC control of Pandora Internet radio stations," said Artur Seidel, vice president and general manager, automotive software, Elektrobit Inc. "This is an application that I use on my phone and would like to see integrated with my vehicles infotainment system. The convergence between automotive and consumer devices that Ford SYNC provides keeps accelerating."

High-tech Taurus

The interface has already impressed the auto industry, with Edmunds.com naming the 2010 Ford Taurus, which has the new system, with its Technology Breakthrough Award.

"We chose the 2010 Ford Taurus to receive the first annual Edmunds.com Breakthrough Technology Award because the vehicle offers an extensive and impressive array of electronic amenities that also represent an excellent value for consumers," said Doug Newcomb, senior technology editor, Edmunds.com.

Ford executives think consumers have been pleased with the company's initial technology systems and have high hopes for the upgrade.

"According to our research, 32 percent of customers surveyed indicate that SYNC was critical or important to their decision to purchase," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a CES keynote speech. "And with each SYNC upgrade, we see growth in heavy users."

Ford expects 80 percent of its fleet to carry the new technology within five years. However, safety advocates concerned about driver distractions like texting and talking on cell phones might have reservations about the plethora of new data available in the front seat.

Ford, for its part, says its system will reduce distractions, not create them.

"That's the whole point of SYNC technology -- to minimize the distraction of in-car use of mobile devices you love by connecting and controlling them by voice," said Ford VP of global product development Derrick Kuzak.

The immediate take on Google's Nexus One phone was that, while slick, it was no iPhone killer. Could be, but after spending a few days with our new Nexus we find it replacing both the Kindle and our Blackberry as a must-have companion.

When we got our first Kindle last March, we found it a perfectly satisfactory replacement not only for books but also for our daily dose of The Wall Street Journal (no walking down the driveway or trying to fold the paper while eating cereal).

But over time, we have found the low-contrast Kindle screen a bit hard on the eyes and we've grown tired of listening to press baron Rupert Murdoch complain about how everyone is "stealing" his content. (Note to Rupert: I pay you for home delivery of the WSJ, for Web access and for the Kindle edition. Last time I checked, that's not theft).

As for the Blackberry, it's a passable if bulky email device, a rather terrible telephone and not much else. If you wear it on your belt, it gets caught on everything and looks geeky. If you put it in your pocket, various keys get pressed as you move around, sending weird emails and placing calls to who knows who.

We were initially perturbed to find that the Nexus One, though unlocked, was -- as they say, at the end of the day -- really only usable on the T-Mobile network, though it worked excellently on our in-house Wi-Fi. A quick visit to the nearest T-Mobile kiosk got us up and running with a month-to-month, no-contract plan.

We have so far found T-Mobile's 3G network to rival our in-house Wi-Fi network for such everyday tasks as opening Web pages and scanning email. The big, beautiful high-resolution screen makes the Kindle display look like your third grade teacher's daily blackboard exercises. It makes the Blackberry look like a Model A Ford.

It makes calls!

We have also -- surprise -- found it be an excellent telephone. We've found it almost impossible to have a conversation on the Blackberry because of its constant drop-outs, fuzziness and other-worldly squawks and groans. But when we placed our first call on the Nexus One, we thought for a moment that we had accidentally picked up a wired phone by mistake.

The audio quality was excellent, signal strength was consistent and -- most important -- the Nexus displayed outstanding duplex capability, meaning that two people could talk simultaneously without causing drop-outs and static.

Speculation is that Google's strategic goal in selling its own phone is to give a boost to its Android operating system. If so, this is certainly the way to do it. The guys at the T-Mobile booth oohed and aahed over our Nexus One, the first one they had seen, the same reaction it's received from everyone except, of course, for iPhone fundamentalists who will brook no other orthodoxy than Apple.

This and other Android-powered phones will most likely have their strongest appeal for those who use other Google products, including Gmail and Google Search. It will immediately synch up to your Gmail and Google Voice accounts, something that can be problematic on other phones.

Physically, the Nexus looks pretty much like an iPhone, although it is a little bit thinner and lighter. Inside, it has a faster processor, a bit more memory and higher-resolution graphics. The battery is huge, which should make for long charge times.

Navigation, music, games and all the other must-haves all seem to work just fine, though we haven't had a lot of time to try them out.

Kindle Killer?

So what's all this have to do with the Kindle?

Maybe nothing, but for months I have carried my Kindle around the way an addict carries a pack of cigarettes. When waiting at Starbucks, sitting glumly in a cab or subway or getting in some couch time, my first impulse has been to switch on the Kindle and read whatever I haven't yet gotten to in the Journal.

But the last few days, the Kindle has been left at home to keep the Blackberry company. When idle time presents itself, I flick on the Nexus One to scan Google News (eat your heart out, Rupert) and get up to date on whatever foolishness or horror has most recently afflicted what's left of the civilized world.

When in the horizontal mode, the Nexus screen looks huge and it's a snap to enlarge or shrink a particular page. With Google rapidly scanning books of all descriptions, it's only a matter of time, one suspects, before ordering up a free (if ad-infested) book on the Nexus will be as easy as ordering a Kindle copy from Amazon.

No doubt next-generation Kindles will have bigger, or at least better screens, but whether they'll have everything else the Android system can offer is debatable.

From what we've seen so far, the Nexus One is about as close to having the power of a desktop in your pocket as you're likely to get. One word of caution: Be sure you understand that the current model is compatible only with T-Mobile and, perhaps, certain regional carriers. You can't use it on your Verizon, AT&T or Sprint account. See our earlier review for the details.

A federal appellate court ruled this week that class action plaintiffs who find their federal cases thrown out can't turn around and re-file in a state court.

The decision, rendered by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, involved a class action against Bayer regarding its prescription medication Baycol. The drug was intended to lower cholesterol and fight cardiovascular disease, but was taken off the market in 2001 after being linked to 31 deaths.

The plaintiffs, led by West Virginia resident George McCollins, filed a class action lawsuit in a West Virginia county court in 2001. The suit was later removed to federal court, and heard by a multidistrict litigation (MDL) panel in Minnesota.

The MDL panel denied class certification in 2008, holding that, to state a proper claim for economic injury under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act (WVCCPA), McCollins would need to "demonstrate Baycol was something other than what he bargained for," which was impossible since he hadn't been injured by the drug, and had in fact benefited from it. The court subsequently granted an injunction preventing the plaintiffs from bringing an action in state court. The appeals court's decision affirmed that injunction.

The Eighth Circuit agreed with the MDL panel's ruling, ruling that "economic loss alone is insufficient" to state a claim under the WVCCPA. Judge Diana Murphy went on to hold that "[r]e-litigation in state court of whether to certify the same class rejected by a federal court presented an impermissible 'heads-I-win, tails-you-lose situation.'" The court cited a Seventh Circuit decision, In re Bridgestone/Firestone, which similarly held that unsuccessful federal class actions couldn't be reheard in state court.

The plaintiffs contended that their individual economic damages were so small that bringing individual actions would be a waste of time and money, and that a class action was thus their only practical option. Judge Murphy recognized this concern, but said that the plaintiffs "have no absolute right to litigate their claims as a class ... only a right, preserved by the district court's narrowly tailored injunction, to litigate their own claims."

The decision could have far-reaching implications in other circuits. Dorsey & Whitney LLP, one of the firms representing the defendants, highlighted the decision on its website as one that "could limit class action exposure for product liability defendants." Whether the plaintiffs plan to appeal is unclear.

The Eighth Circuit appeals court is dominated by Republican-leaning judges, who are regarded as relatively hostile to civil plaintiffs and class action suits. Nine of its 11 judges were appointed by Republican presidents. Judge Murphy was appointed by President Bill Clinton, while the other two judges deciding the case -- Duane Benton and Lavenski Smith -- were both appointed by President George W. Bush.

23 state attorneys general today announced a $22.5 million settlement with pharmaceutical companies Abbot and Fournier over charges the drugmakers illegally blocked generic alternatives to the cholesterol-lowering drug Tricor from hitting the market.

The settlement comes from a 2008 lawsuit alleging that Abbott and Fournier's actions violated antitrust law, through practices such as "product hopping," where the drugmakers would make small changes to the product, stop promoting older versions of the drug, and manipulate the drug codes used to sell cheaper generic versions, in order to maintain a stranglehold on the market.

The states also alleged that Abbott and Fournier filed multiple lawsuits over patent rights in order to delay sales of generic versions of Tricor.

"Abbott and Fournier devised a complex scheme that illegally blocked cheaper generic drugs from entering the market," said California Attorney General Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown. "They used minor reformulations of the drug to delay competition and filed frivolous patent lawsuits. This scheme cost California and other states millions of dollars."

According to the state attorneys general, because Abbot and Fournier were preventing generics for coming to market, state and local governments had to pay higher prices for Tricor. Abbot alone recorded over $1 billion in profits from sales of Tricor in 2009.

"Idaho spends millions each year on prescription drugs for Medicaid and Idaho taxpayers bear the cost," Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. "When those costs are inflated by unlawful anti-competitive practices, as we have seen in several cases involving major drug companies, we owe it to the taxpayers to recover their money and stop the unlawful activity."

Under the terms of the settlement, the states will be reimbursed for overcharges from purchases of Tricor, as well as reimbursing the attorneys general for fees and costs from the litigation. Abbott and Fournier are also forbidden from manipulating or blocking the drug codes for Tricor, if a generic manufacturer wants approval from the Food and Drug Administration to create an alternative, until after a specific time period.

Abbott and Fournier have already paid more than $67 million to privately settle consumer and third-party claims.

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For several years now, we've been warned of the possible dangers of cell phone use. In fact, a lawmaker in Maine wants to make her state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer. And San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wants his city to be the nation's first to require warnings.

But -- if you will -- hold the phone for a moment. A new study in mice led by University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) provides evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer's disease.

"It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer's symptoms," said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, USF Research Professor at the Florida ADRC. "It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer's mice."

Regarding the risk of brain cancer that some researchers believe is posed by prolonged cell phone use, Arendash told ConsumerAffairs.com that the Interphone Study, which was initiated several years ago by the World Health Organization (WHO), goes a long way toward allaying such concerns.

Arendash says many of the countries that took party in that study have said independently they have found "absolutely no effects on brain cancer."

He says the claim that longer-term cell phone use doubles the risk of brain cancer needs to be put into perspective. According to Arendash, the risk of brain cancer normally is "1 in 200, so a doubling the risk is 1 in 100. That is still at or below one percent. That is still a minimal risk, even if they are correct, which I don't believe they are."

According to the study, results of which are published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, exposing old Alzheimer's mice to electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of the harmful protein beta-amyloid, in addition to preventing the protein's build-up in younger Alzheimer's mice.

Sticky plaques

The sticky brain plaques formed by the abnormal accumulation of beta amyloid are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Most treatments against Alzheimer's try to target beta-amyloid.

The highly-controlled study allowed researchers to isolate the effects of cell phone exposure on memory from other lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise. It involved 96 mice, most of which were genetically altered to develop beta-amyloid plaques and memory problems mimicking Alzheimer's disease as they aged. Some were non-demented, without any genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's, so researchers could test the effects of electromagnetic waves on normal memory as well.

Both the Alzheimer's and normal mice were exposed to the electromagnetic field generated by standard cell phone use for two 1-hour periods each day for seven to nine months.

The mice didn't wear tiny headsets or have scientists holding cell phones up to their ears; instead, their cages were arranged around a centrally-located antenna generating the cell phone signal. Each animal was housed the same distance from the antenna and exposed to electromagnetic waves typically emitted by a cell phone pressed up against a human head.

If cell phone exposure was started when the genetically-programmed mice were young adults -- before signs of memory impairment were apparent -- their cognitive ability was protected. In fact, the Alzheimer's mice performed as well on tests measuring memory and thinking skills as aged mice without dementia.

If older Alzheimer's mice already exhibiting memory problems were exposed to the electromagnetic waves, their memory impairment disappeared. Months of cell phone exposure even boosted the memories of normal mice to above-normal levels. The memory benefits of cell phone exposure took months to show up, suggesting that a similar effect in humans would take years if cell phone-level electromagnetic exposure were provided.

Based on their promising and unexpected findings in mice, the researchers concluded that electromagnetic field exposure could be an effective, non-invasive and drug-free way to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease in humans. They are currently evaluating whether different sets of electromagnetic frequencies and strengths will produce more rapid and even greater cognitive benefits than those found in their current study.

There's been much excitement about Google's new Nexus One, touted by many as the iPhone-killer. Enthusiasts say the sleek device combines much of the iPhone's coolness factor without tying the consumer to a single carrier (the iPhone works only on AT&T Wireless in the U.S.).

Eager to see this latest marvel, we went to Google.com/phone yesterday to explore the options, which boiled down to three:

1.) Pay $529. Buy the "unlocked" Nexus One phone and insert the SIM card from your existing phone.

2.) Pay $179+. Buy the T-Mobile version of the Nexus One on a new two-year contract with all of the usual ifs, ands and buts. Of course, existing T-Mobile customers "may qualify for upgrade pricing," the site informs us.

3.) Wait. Want to use the Nexus One with Verizon Wireless. Just wait, a Verizon version is "coming soon," we're told.

Now, here at ConsumerAffairs.com, we have cell phones strewn about the way newspaper offices used to have paper piled up everywhere. We have the new Google-powered Android from Sprint, numerous Blackberries from Verizon and AT&T and several plain vanilla AT&T phones from various manufacturers.

Some of us routinely carry two phones, not because we're particularly geeky but because we've learned the hard way that Verizon works in West Los Angeles while AT&T often doesn't. On the other hand, AT&T works better in much of the Washington, D.C., area. Sprint is good in cities, but generally spotty in the boondocks.

With all these phones, the heat is always on from the powers that be to hold down cell phone spending. We occasionally hear raised voices sputtering something like, "If I get one more $69.99 cell phone bill, I'm going to ..."

This is a long way of saying that we were thrilled at the thought of getting the unlocked Nexus One and using it on one of our existing accounts. We placed the order, all $529 worth, Tuesday night and the jolly FedEx man dropped it off before lunch Wednesday. Someone even engraved our name on the back.

So far, so good.

Whistling a merry tune, we plopped a Verizon Blackberry down on the desk, pried the back off, yanked out the battery and went looking for the SIM card. Hmmm ... doesn't seem to be one.

A bit later, at the Verizon Wireless store, a technician looked at us quizically. "There's no SIM card in our phones," he said.

We returned to the office, cursing, as co-workers with AT&T phones grabbed their handsets and scurried away.

Looking more closely at the Google store we discovered the paragraph which states:

"The currently available Nexus One device is unlocked and will recognize SIM cards from any mobile service provider using the GSM standard, but is incompatible with the frequency band used by the AT&T and Rogers networks for 3G data ... Additionally, the Nexus One is incompatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

Let's see. An "unlocked" phone that won't work with Verizon, AT&T or Sprint -- the #1, 2 and 3 wireless carriers. That leaves us with -- you're right! -- T-Mobile.

We wobbled over to the T-Mobile page, where it appears that a plan with unlimited usage and no annual contract will cost us about, oh, $79.99.

Our current plan of action is to find a way to bury that $79.99 in some section of the budget that won't be unearthed for another year or two, giving us time to age sufficiently so that we can retire without being dismembered by the front office pennypinchers.

This, of course, requires a trip to the T-Mobile store and, having spent most of the afternoon fooling with this, traffic has worked its way up to gridlock, meaning it will be at least tomorrow before we're able to give you a realistic review of this possibly nifty little gadget.

Update: After two days, Truman thinks the Nexus One may be a Kindle killer.

Sagittarius Sporting Goods of China is recalling about 10,000 Master Forge five-burner gas grills sold at Lowe's Stores.

The flexible rubber hose on the LP gas tank can come into contact with burner box, causing the hose to melt and rupture when the grill is lit. This poses a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

The firm is aware of two reports of the hose melting and rupturing. No injuries or property damage have been reported.

This recall involves Master Forge five-burner, stainless steel gas grills. The name Master Forge is on the grill hood. The model number L3218 is located on a label inside the left front door of the grill.

The grills were sold at Lowes stores nationwide from September 2009 through November 2009 for about $500.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled grills and contact Sagittarius to obtain a free repair kit.

For additional information, contact Sagittarius at (800) 444-6742 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Friday.

The recall is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

After credit cards and unauthorized charges, nothing seems to get consumers more worked-up than a rebate runaround. But as has been previously reported here,frustration has been designed into the rebate transaction.

Michael, of Caldwell, Idaho, was attracted to Staples' paper rebate. Just buy two reams of paper and one ream is just $1.00, after the rebate, he was told.

"However, you had to pay the full price of $10.60 and then go online and find out how to apply for their silly rebate," he told ConsumerAffairs.com. "The online experience took over 30 minutes and was very user unfriendly."

Chris, of Denver, went to Discount Tire because of a $40 rebate. But when he got home, he checked his invoice and realized that, not only did he pay full price, but was actually charged an additional $40!

"When I called to point out the mistake the manager said 'oh yes - it's a glitch in the computer and the cashier has to over-ride to give you a credit.' They offered a refund but I had to go back to the shop in person, Chris told ConsumerAffairs.com. "When I went back it took some convincing for them to understand they owed me $80. The $40 they charged me PLUS the forty rebate."

Chris wonders how many other consumers didn't notice the charge instead of the rebate. His advice? Check your receipts.

New Weapon

Businesses have always tried to make it hard to redeem rebates because they significantly cut into profit margins if everyone uses them. A new weapon in their campaign to reduce rebate expense is the debit card.

On one hard, getting a debit card containing the amount of the rebate instead of a check seems more convenient. You can spend the money where-ever you want. However, there can be problems for the consumer that work to the advantage of the business.

For example, if your pre-paid rebate debit card has $50 on it and you make a purchase for $42.87, how are you going to get the remain $7.13 off the card? Most stores do not allow you to use a debit card for a purchase that exceeds the amount on the card. However, if you tell the cashier ahead of time you only want to put a portion of your purchase on the card, in some cases you can.

However, consumers should carefully plan how they use these rebate debit cards, asked questions, and hope you don't the experience of Glenn, of Tijeras, N.M, who got a $50 debit card rebate from T-Mobile when he agreed to extend his contract.

"I tried to use the $50 debit card but the card locked up at $43.56," Tim told ConsumerAffairs.com. "When I called T-Mobile customer service to complain, Lisa the rep said I actually over charged the card by $6.44 and that I owed T-Mobile that amount. I asked how could a $50 debit card be over charged when that was its limit? The rep had no answer, but said I'd soon be getting a bill for the amount owed."

Rebate Scams

Of course, some rebates are not rebates at all, but are out and out scams. Michelle, of Liverpool, N.Y., discovered that the hard way, she said, when she received a "rebate" check after purchasing PediPaws at her local Bed, Bath and Beyond.

"I cashed it at my local bank, and then discovered a $149.99 unauthorized charge on my checking account statement," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. I investigated the name on the check, Buyers Advantage, as well as Trilegiant Corp., and discovered many, many on-line reports of fraud regarding this company and method. My bank also investigated, and returned the $149.99 to my account."

Michelle's first tip-off that something wasn't quite right should have been the fact that she quickly received the "rebate" check. Generally, it takes a long time to receive a legitimate rebate.

Despite the more than 800 rebate complaints received at ConsumerAffairs.com in the last 12 months, why do we keep falling for the rebate trap? Probably because all consumers want a bargain. When a business can advertise a $299 smart phone for $199, after a $100 mail-in rebate, consumers quite logically think they're getting a deal. Some are, of course, but a lot more aren't.

A good rule of thumb is to focus on the regular price when you're shopping for an item, and not count on ever receiving the promised rebate. Otherwise, you too could end up in the rebate trap.

Though the economy appeared to improve slightly last year, 2009 was a terrible year for 1.3 million individuals and businesses who filed for bankruptcy protection, a 32 percent increase over filings for the first eleven months of 2008.

The statistics, gathered by the National Bankruptcy Research Center, measure consumer and business filings from December through November. December 2009 filings are not included in the total.

Bankruptcy filings in November 2009 topped 110,000, marking the ninth straight month they surpassed 100,000, and up 12 percent from November 2008's total.

"Indeed, 2009 filings have now passed the year-to-date total for any previous year since the 2005 bankruptcy reform bill," the Center's analysis said.

What's readily apparent is the increase includes a significant upturn in the last year in Chapter 7 (liquidation) filings, which have increased by more than 42 percent compared to this time last year, where Chapter 13 (rehabilitation) filings have increased by only 12 percent. The steadily declining share of Chapter 13 filings, less than 30% of 2009 filings to date, contrasts with the strong push by Congress in its 2005 bankruptcy legislation to encourage bankrupts to choose Chapter 13 rather than Chapter 7.

Nationwide, the filings to date amount to almost 11,500 filings per million households. The states with the highest household-adjusted filing rates are Nevada (two-and-half times the national average), followed by Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana, with household-adjusted filing rates more than one and a half times the national average.

More than one out of every six bankruptcy filings this year has occurred in one of those states, even though those states include only one in twelve American households. The lowest filing rates were in Alaska, followed by the District of Columbia, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota, all less than half the national average.

"The proportion of bankruptcies filed jointly has also increased from 30 percent to 36 percent over the past year, as more families seek relief through bankruptcy at the national, regional, and local level", said Chris Lundquist, President of LCI.

Arizona Records Biggest Increase

The states with the biggest increase in filings since 2008 were Arizona, with an 80 percent jump, followed by Nevada, California, Wyoming, and Utah, all with increases of about 60 percent. Although 2009 filings are higher than 2008 filings in all states, several states have experienced comparatively modest increases. The lowest increases, all about 12-15 percent, are in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

At the county level, the counties with the highest filing rates were concentrated in Georgia. Seven of the ten counties with the highest filing rates were in Georgia, with the highest rate in the county occurring in Shelby County, Tennessee, with a filing rate almost three times the national average. The second and third highest filing rates were in two counties east of Atlanta, both with filing rates more than two and a half-times the national average.

On a national basis, 28 percent of all filings to date were under Chapter 13, the procedure most directly related to home-mortgage distress. There was a substantial variation among the states on the prevalence of bankrupts seeking Chapter 13 relief.

The States with the highest share of Chapter 13 filings (50% or more in each case) were concentrated in the South: Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee. At the other end of the spectrum were States with relatively low Chapter 13 shares (all less than 10%). The three lowest were New Mexico, Iowa, and West Virginia, all with less than 10% of their filings under Chapter 13.

Professor Ronald Mann of the Columbia Law School, who analyzed the statistics for NBRC, told the Wall Street Journal that the numbers suggest Congress's recent revision of the bankruptcy law was not very effective.

"I don't think anybody who's knowledgeable about the bankruptcy system thought the statute was well crafted," he told the Journal.

We've all seen those products advertised on late-night TV infomercial that promise to solve problems like scrubbing baked-on crud from cookware, mopping up gallons of spilled milk, and falling off ladders when cleaning gutters.

But -- surprise, surprise -- Consumer Reports' tests of 15 such products reveal that many of them are not worth buying.

CR's experts suggest that some of the products not worth paying for include The Slap Chop dicer, the Snuggie, the ShamWow, The Ab Circle Pro, Debbie Meyer Green Bags and the iRobot Looj gutter cleaner.

According to the report, infomercials are a mighty money machine. They can chop marketing costs to as little as one-tenth the size of a traditional advertising campaign and slice posted prices when they increase the total bill with shipping and handling fees and other extras.

The secret, according to an advertising expert, lies in neuroscience -- infomercials are carefully scripted to pump up dopamine levels in your brain. The fun starts with dramatizations of a problem you didn't know you had followed by an incredible solution, then a series of ever more amazing product benefits, bonuses, and giveaways, all leading to the final thrilling plunge of an unbelievably low price. After the ride, dopamine levels drop in 5 or 6 minutes, which is why they ask you to buy in the next 3 minutes.

"Consumers should pause 10 minutes before buying anything from an infomercial and see if they can get the same job done for free or with a product that they already have in their house," said Jeff Blyskal, senior editor, Consumer Reports. "Think if you can find another solution for this 'problem.' Instead of buying an exercise machine, for example, doing sit ups or just following a diet may accomplish the same thing."

In recent years, the magazine has turned up a mix of "miracle" gadgets and goops that deceived, delivered, or landed somewhere in between. Additionally, a check of the ConsumerAffairs.com database found consumer complaints about the way these products were marketed. Here's a look at some of them:

• Slap Chop The manufacturer claims that by slapping this gadget, which costs about $20, with your palm, you can "dice, chop, and mince in seconds" and remove skins from onions and garlic. CR slapped mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, chocolate, almonds, and other foods and found that it chopped unevenly. Harder foods needed about 20 slaps and tended to get trapped in the blades. While garlic peels came off in five slaps, onion skins were only partially separated after ten.

Lisa writes ConsumerAffairs.com from Fairfield, PA that the company's Web site says you can get a second Slap Chop for just $7.95 when you order the first one, but points out that it sent a second one without getting her consent. She says she contacted the company, saying she wanted only one of the gadgets. Lisa says she was assured that things would be okay, but adds, "I opened the package today, and lo and behold, I have TWO Slap Chops." She concludes that while $8 might not be a lot, "it is the principal of the thing. Don't force someone to take products that they didn't want."

• Snuggie "The Snuggie blanket keeps you totally warm," the company claims, and is made of "ultrasoft, luxurious fleece." You get two for $19.95. Consumer Reportstesters put Snuggies through ten wash-and-dry cycles and asked 11 staffers to check them out. The staffers found the Snuggie was so far from snug that several staffers had trouble walking. Each time CR laundered two Snuggies, they removed a sandwich bag worth of lint from the dryer.

The problem for Ronald of San Gabriel, CA was that the Snuggies just kept on coming. "I placed two orders for Snuggies buy 1 get 1 free blankets in March 2009 which were advertised on 'AS Seen on TV.' I received both orders without incident. In Late May I received a third order(which I never placed). I contacted customer service and they told me to return it and my account would be credited, which it was with no problem. A week later a fourth order was delivered (again, I did not order it)." Ronald tells ConsumerAffairs.com that it cost him $10.68 each time he shipped an item back. "This company is running some kind of a scam by repeatedly sending items out and charging peoples accounts and due to the cost of returning the items people are getting taken advantage of," Ronald concludes.

• Shamwow The ShamWow claim tells you, "Like a chamois, a towel, a sponge, works wet or dry, holds 12 times its weight in liquid." You get eight towels -- four 19 x 23 inch towels and four 15 x15-inch towels - for $19.95. Testers at the magazine dunked ShamWows in water, soda, and milk until each could hold no more liquid and the small ones to see if they could slurp up as much water, milk and used motor oil as sponges. As it turned out, ShamWow soaked up only ten times its weight in water or soda and usually 12 times its weight in milk. If testers used a damp ShamWow, they needed another cloth to wipe remaining droplets.

The marketing ticked off Linda of San Francisco. She tells ConsumerAffairs.com "I ordered this product because the commercial on TV said it was not available in stores. I am now seeing this product in stores and the ad is still running stating it is not available in stores. Had I known I could have purchased this product in a store I would not have ordered it through the mail incurring shipping and handling charges."

The latest indicator on the health of the housing market is not encouraging, but is also not unexpected. Pending Home Sales plunged in November after rising sharply in October, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Pending home sales, reflecting the sales contracts signed but not yet closed, fell 16 percent from October, but was still 15.5 percent higher than November 2008.

The drop off was expected because, up until mid November, the first-time home buyers tax credit was set to expire at the end of the month. Buyers hoping to take advantage of the windfall hurried to complete their deals in October and early November.

As it turns out, Congress extended the tax credit another six months, and even expanded it. But it may take some time for its effects to show up in sales numbers.

"It will be at least early spring before we see notable gains in sales activity as home buyers respond to the recently extended and expanded tax credit," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "The fact that pending home sales are comfortably above year-ago levels shows the market has gained sufficient momentum on its own. We expect another surge in the spring as more home buyers take advantage of affordable housing conditions before the tax credit expires."

Buyers who have a contract in place to purchase a primary residence by April 30, 2010, have until June 30, 2010, to finalize the transaction to qualify for the tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers.

Sales Pace Still Better Than 2008

The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast dropped 25.7 percent to 74.4 in November but is 14.7 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index fell 25.7 percent to 82.0 but is 9.2 percent higher than November 2008. Pending home sales in the South fell 15.0 percent to an index of 97.8, but are 14.7 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index declined 2.7 percent to 124.6 but is 21.4 percent above November 2008.

Yun projects an additional 900,000 first-time buyers will qualify for the extended tax credit in addition to about 2 million who have already purchased; 1.5 million repeat buyers also are expected to benefit from the credit.

"Many trade-up buyers, who have historically timed their purchase based on school-year considerations, will have to accelerate their buying plans if they need the tax credit to make a trade," Yun said. Repeat buyers do not have to sell their existing home to qualify for the credit, but they must occupy the home they buy as their primary residence.

Yun added that mortgage interest rates cannot remain at rock-bottom levels for a sustained period and will likely inch higher in 2010. But the tax credit impact in the first half of the year and expected job growth impact in the second half will support home buying activity and absorb enough inventory to bring a rough balance between buyers and sellers. Home prices are expected to stabilize or even modestly rise as a result in 2010.

A coalition of consumer groups asked the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and Congress to investigate Comcast's "TV Everywhere" online video initiative today, claiming it could block competition in the burgeoning Internet TV market.

The new platform, called "Fancast Xfinity," allows Comcast subscribers to watch various TV shows and content online, but only if they have already subscribed to traditional cable television service. In their petition, the coalition said such a service "rests on an illegal agreement among competitors specifically designed to undermine emerging Internet-based competition and consumer choice in video programming delivery."

"TV Everywhere is...designed to ensure consumers cannot cancel their [cable] subscriptions and turn to competing TV services that use the Internet, Internet-connected televisions and set-top devices, which perhaps include over-the-air digital streams," the letter said. "By tying online television to incumbent...subscriptions, TV Everywhere is designed to undermine new forms of competition and consumer choice currently emerging over the Internet."

Media reform group Free Press, part of the coalition, recently released a report documenting the cable industry's battles against, and now wary embrace of, the growth of Internet television and online video distribution.

According to report author Marvin Ammori, all the major incumbent cable and telecom providers engaged in off-the-record discussions about building subscription-based video platforms.

"Because of fears of violating antitrust law through colluding, the cable TV executives did not seek an antitrust exemption; instead, they attempted to hide their actions by eliminating a paper trail," Ammori said, citing reports from The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on the matter. "They deliberately engaged in only unwritten, verbal conversations."

Ammori said that any platform that involved agreement or support from all the incumbent cable and telecom companies could present a major hindrance against competition by third-party online video distributors.

"[A]n independent online programmer must recoup its costs through charging users or advertisers for content. It must compete with 'free,'" he said.

Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), dismissed the accusations of collusion as "strange." "Contrary to Free Press' suggestions, the antitrust laws do not prohibit, but encourage collaboration, even among competitors, that lead to innovation and new products and services for consumers," he said.

A model that would give consumers the option to get more value -- by access to online content -- as part of the TV subscription they already pay for is something that consumers should have the right to embrace or reject," he said.

McSlarrow also claimed that the deal was designed to ensure content providers are fairly compensated for their work. "Programmers invest tens of billions of dollars a year to produce high quality content; they have the right to experiment with different business models and determine how to recoup that investment," he said.

In his report, Ammori documented many battles between content providers and cable networks over both transmission fees, and the attempts to distribute content online, including Time Warner Cable's threat to drop all of Viacom's channels if it put its content online in 2008.

Ironically, Time Warner Cable found itself advising its customers on where to view shows online in late 2009 when News Corporation demanded hefty increases in the fees paid to license its content for airing on cable. The two sides worked out a deal to continue showing programming in the last few hours of 2009.

The concerns regarding "TV Everywhere" come as federal regulators prepare to tackle the merger of Comcast with NBC-Universal, creating a potential media juggernaut that would own both the nation's largest cable company and a content provider of multiple cable channels and dozens of broadcast and cable television shows.

Consumer groups such as Free Press have claimed that the merger, if approved, would accelerate the push to place free online Internet TV sites such as Hulu behind "paywalls," incorporated into subscription-only services under the "TV Everywhere" model.

Comcast is already in the crosshairs of the Federal Communications Commission over its blocking of access to the BitTorrent file-sharing engine. The FCC ruled that Comcast should be penalized for its actions, a ruling the cable giant is currently appealing.

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 4, 2010
The Credit Card Act of 2009 takes effect next month, but as consumers are all to aware, lenders spent the second half of last year getting ready for it, jacking up interest rates and closing thousands of accounts.

With the new rules expected to take billions of dollars from banks' bottom lines, industry experts say consumers can expect to face all sorts of new fees in the coming year.

"There are so many things that issuers can do that the Card Act doesn't touch," Bill Hardekopf, chief executive officer of LowCards.com, a Web site that tracks the industry, told the Wall Street Journal.

Hardekopf and other analysts expect banks to get creative this year, coming up with new fees for a batch of products and services. The industry, they say, has become much more reliant in recent years on fees, rather than on interest charges. To earn interest, banks have to loan money.

In the new credit environment, banks are more reluctant to make loans. In some cases, tighter lending standards have reduced the loans they can make.

For consumers, the new credit card rules will limit some interest rate hikes. Under the new law, banks have to give customers ample notice of a rate hike. They will no longer be able to raise rates on existing balances.

Damage Already Done

But for many existing customers, that is of little consolation. Most credit card companies have used the time between the Card Act's passage in May and its implementation date to do many of the things that will be prevented under the law. This did not go unnoticed in Congress.

"The abuses by some in the industry which led Congress to pass my original legislation seem to have only increased since the bill's signing," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in November. "In fact, The Pew Charitable Trust reports that interest rates have spiked this year by an average of 20 percent on credit cards representing more than 91 percent of the $864 billion in outstanding credit card balances."

ConsumerAffairs.com has received thousands of complaints from credit card customers in the last six months. Christine, of Cheney, Wash., said Chase, in effect, forced her to cancel her credit card account.

"Basically, they upped the interest on my platinum card from 12 percent APR to 24 percent to 28 percent APR for absolutely no reason," she told ConsumerAffairs.com.

Christine said she was surprised at her treatment because she considered herself a good customer who always paid her bill on time. But with default rates rising in a bad economy and new rules set to reduce the amount of fees banks can collect, Chase and other banks took steps last year to reduce their loan portfolios and to make those smaller portfolios pay more. Many good customers ended up paying the price.

Crackdown On Overdraft Fees

Banks stand to take another hit on July 1 of this year when new Federal Reserve rules on bank overdraft fees take effect. Under the new rules, banks will be required to get customers' permission before giving them overdraft "protection" on their ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases.

It will change the present system in which banks automatically cover a customer's purchase when there are insufficient funds, but charge a $35 fee. Many consumers report being overdrawn by less than a dollar, triggering the hefty fee.

While the new rule is a major victory for consumers, it's a major setback for banks. According to Federal Reserve estimates, banks rake in $50 billion a year on overdraft and other service fees. So consumers shouldn't expect banks to suffer this financial setback without reacting.

Some banks and credit card issuers have begun charging fees for services that were once free, such as paper statements. Others have started scaling back their loyalty rewards programs.

Free Checking May Disappear

Free checking accounts could also become a thing of the past. In a 2008 study, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported that 75 percent of consumers with checking accounts paid nothing for it.

The other 25 percent, the study showed, paid minimum balance fees, overdraft fees and other service charges that subsidize free checking for the majority. You can expect banks to begin raising the threshold for free checking, so that 75 percent number gets smaller and the 25 percent number gets larger.

Banks are likely to come up with new products and services to offer their customers, all with some sort of fee attached. Tim Smith, CEO of Probity Financial Services, says banking has changed over the years, and the way financial institutions look at fees, is one of the biggest changes.

"In the past banks charged overdraft fees to punish and discourage their customers from overdrawing their accounts," Smith told ConsumerAffairs.com last year. "At some point they realized this was a service they could provide and charge for."

That means consumers should stay alert in their dealings with financial institutions, from their local bank to their credit card companies. When banks offer new services and products, make sure you understand them completely, including their costs, before signing on.

Because in almost every case, there will be a cost.

The number of pets in the United States diagnosed with the H1N1 influenza virus continues to grow, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). And in each of the cases, it appears the pets contracted the virus from their owners.

The latest confirmed case involves an 8-year-old cat in southern California. Health officials said the female domestic shorthair started sneezing and had nasal discharge in mid-December -- shortly after its owner became sick with a confirmed H1N1 infection. The cat spent a lot of time on its owners lap, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Veterinary Public Health Program said.

The cats veterinarian took a swab sample, which tested positive for the H1N1 virus and Mycoplasma felis. That is a type of bacteria that can cause conjunctivitis, respiratory disease, and arthritis in more than one joint, health officials said. The California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory at Davis confirmed the H1N1 test results.

The cat is now recovering.

Los Angeles health officials said this is the first confirmed case of H1N1 in a local pet. Nationwide, however, several other pets and animals have tested positive for the virus.

In December, a dog in New York contracted the virus. The 13-year-old Bedford Hills canine became sick after its owners had a confirmed case of H1N1.

The dog was lethargic, not eating, and had a temperature of 103.6 when its owner took him to the emergency veterinarian on December 13, 2009. X-rays revealed the mixed breed had signs of pneumonia, health officials said.

Veterinarians treated the dog with intravenous fluids, antibiotics, nebulization, and other supportive care. The dog was hospitalized for 48 hours and is now recovering. Tests revealed the dog did not have canine influenza (H3N8), but did have the 2009 H1N1 virus. The Iowa State Laboratory confirmed that finding.

These cases are the latest in a string of illnesses and deaths in pets and animals linked to H1N1 a potentially deadly virus first reported in late March in central Mexico, California, and Texas

The AMVA has tracked these cases since November, when Iowa health officials confirmed the first case of the disease in a 13-year-old indoor cat.

More cases

Here are some other confirmed cases of H1N1 in pets and animals in the United States and around the world:

• In late December, health officials confirmed the H1N1 virus in some commercial pigs in North Carolina. The pigs showed mild symptoms of the disease after possible exposure to people with flu-like illnesses;

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Russia in December confirmed an outbreak of the H1N1 virus is some pigs in that country;

• The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December confirmed additional cases of H1N1 in some turkeys in Virginia. Other turkeys on that Virginia farm tested positive for the virus in November. USDA officials said a farm worker had previously been sent home with flu-like symptoms. USDA officials said the turkeys were still safe to eat. That case marked the first time heath officials had confirmed the virus in U.S. turkeys. Officials had previously confirmed H1N1 in domestic turkeys in Canada and Chile;

• On December 4, Colorado health officials confirmed two cats -- from different households in that state -- tested positive for H1N1. Veterinarians suspected the cats, ages 10 and 11, became sick after someone in their households contracted the virus. The cats are now recovering;

• In early December, Germany confirmed an outbreak of H1N1 in a commercial herd of 425 pigs. Two pigs died. The source of the outbreak is listed as unknown or inconclusive;

• A 12-year-old cat in Pennsylvania died of H1N1 in early November. The domestic shorthair developed a respiratory illness on November 3, 2009, after four members in the household became sick with flu-like symptoms, the AMVA said. The cat then became lethargic, lost its appetite, and had difficulty breathing. X-rays revealed the cat had pneumonia;

• An 8-year-old female cat in Oregon died from H1N1 on November 24, the states public health veterinarian said. The cats owner had previously tested positive for the virus. When the cat arrived at the veterinarians office, she was hypothermic, dehydrated, weak, and had nasal discharge, and blue-tinged mucous membranes. X-rays revealed the cat had severe pneumonia and fluid in her chest. A nasal sample taken from the cat tested positive for the H1N1 virus;

• In November, France confirmed a cat in that country tested positive for the virus. Health officials said the cat developed a respiratory illness shortly after two children in the household became ill. The cat recovered in six days;

• Preliminary tests for H1N1 in a California cheetah came back positive in November. Final tests later confirmed that finding. Investigators suspect an animal handler was the source of that infection. Four cheetahs in that private zoo developed respiratory problems, including coughing, nasal discharge, lethargy, and decreased appetite. But only one of the cheetahs tested positive for H1N1. There are no reported cases of Influenza A: H1N1 (2009-H1N1) transmission from animals to humans in a zoological setting, The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) said. Animal collections at zoological institutions, therefore, do not present a concern for public health;

• On November 28, published reports in China stated two dogs in Beijing tested positive for the H1N1 virus;

• A cat in Oregon died from an H1N1 infection on November 7, state health officials said. The cat became sick shortly after a child in the household had flu-like symptoms. Three other cats in the household became sick, but have since recovered. Tests revealed those three cats were not infected with the virus;

• Utah health officials in November confirmed a cat in Park City had contracted the H1N1 virus. The cats owner had previously been sick with flu-like symptoms. The cat is now recovering.

Pigs in the United States, Finland, Indonesia, and Taiwan have also tested positive for H1N1, the AVMA said.

Veterinarians say all these recent cases show its possible for the H1N1 virus to spread from humans to animals, especially those who have close contact with their owners.

What to do

What steps can pet owners take to protect their animals and prevent the spread of this virus?

In an interview with ConsumerAffairs.com, Dr. Ann Garvey, a veterinarian with the Iowa Department of Public Health, recommended the following:

• Wash your hands frequently;

• Cover your mouth when you cough and your nose when you sneeze;

• Minimize your contact with your dogs, cats, or other household pets if you have any flu-like symptoms.

Pet owners who notice any signs of respiratory illness or other influenza-like symptoms in their animals should contact their veterinarians, Dr. Garvey said.

The AVMA said it will continue to track cases of H1N1 in animals and post its findings on the organizations Web site.