The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "law suits" ...
-
Wage Theft In the Fields
American farmworkers have often experienced egregious abuses, but nothing is more pervasive, nor harder to ferret out, than the wage theft that results from a practice called farm-labor contracting. Found in the fields of every handpicked crop in the country, farm-labor contractors not only provide growers with crews, but also handle wages and manage everything from verifying immigration status to providing workers' compensation. The problem is, the contractors systematically underpay the workers. “Farm labor contractors,” says writer Tracie McMillan, “give American produce growers what companies like China's Foxconn offer to Apple: a way to outsource a costly and complicated part of the business, often saving money in the process and creating a firewall between the brand and the working conditions under which its products are made.” And yet McMillan — a fellow with both the Knight-Wallace program at University of Michigan, and the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University — found that enforcement is rare: In 2008, inspectors visited only 1,499 of the more than 2 million farms nationwide; in 2011, California inspectors found just seven minimum wage violations on the state’s 86,000 farms. Fines are minimal: “It's cheaper to violate the law than to follow the law,” says one farmworker advocate. And wage theft is tedious to prove, requiring inspectors to interview workers, analyze time cards, and collect payroll records. That's why workers and their advocates in California are counting on a lawsuit brought earlier this year on behalf of two farmworkers against the contractors who hired them—as well as the growers who outsourced the work. The suit alleges that the contractors routinely undercounted the hours worked, failed to pay minimum wage or overtime, failed to provide safe or sanitary working conditions, and housed the workers in unsafe and unsanitary living quarters. The “collective action” suit—open to anyone who can prove he or she experienced the same treatment—may cover thousands of workers and deliver awards substantial enough to deter other employers from the same practices.
Tags: Labor; farms; working conditions; wage
-
Coincidence or Cluster
"The series examined a series of lawsuits filed since April 2006 that claim that groundwater and air contamination from two neighboring manufacturers caused people in McCullom lake, population 1,000, to get sick with brain cancer and other illnesses."
Tags: cancer; McHenry County Department of Health; law suit; groundwater; contamination; Rohm and Haas Manufacturing Company; Modine Manufacturing company
-
Danger in Tow
Los Angeles Times investigated U-Haul International. They looked at the high number of towing accidents that occur while towing U-Haul trailers. U-Haul trailers were not kept up to standard and maintenance was poor. When faced with law suits from injured customers, "U-Haul has repeatedly lost, altered or discarded truck and trailer parts" which would have been evidence.
Tags: travel; transportation; U-Haul International; safety; driving; moving; law suits; destruction of evidence; injuries
-
Who wants to be a Billionaire
Sam Gross believed, and believes, that "he'd been done wrong and is owed millions for his pain - maybe even billions." However after losing the case, Gross kept at it. Going through lawyers and judges, finally representing himself, without any appearance of logic. Dallas Observer reporters investigated his case and found his claims bogus.
Tags: law suits; suing; corporations; media; Texas Instrument; judges; lawers; claims
-
Patients in the Dark
The story investigated what patients aren't being told about their doctors, and what they are unable to find out even if they ask. Utah law prevents patients knowing whether a doctor is currently in treatment for substance abuse, or has been in the past, hospital disciplinary history, basic information about malpractice suits etc. The Physicians Licensing Board, meanwhile, seldom severely restricts the practice of even the most troubled doctor, preferring to provide repeated 'second' chances.
Tags: medicine; doctors; malpractice; Utah Physicians Licensing Board; public awareness; Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing; National Practitioners Data Bank
-
What's a Life Worth?
The series began with an investigation into the affects of asbestos contamination on the small country town of Ragland, AL., and its relation to the international asbestos trade and legislation in congress to stem the tide of asbestos related lawsuits. It ended with an investigation of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which is responsible for protecting the public from environmental asbestos and other hazards.
Tags: asbestos; contamination; public health; Alabama Department of Environmental Management; law suits; lead; PCB; mesothelioma; FOIA
-
Fools Gold
Bernard Haldane Associates purports to offer top notch career counseling services to people looking for high salary jobs. What they really are is a scam. They charge $5000 up-front for services they never offered. Complaints are hushed up and when the company is sued they just change the company name and keep going.
Tags: Bernard Haldane Associates; career counseling; scam; fraud; Better Business Bureau; attorney general law suits; SEC
-
Cincinnati Archdiocese Investigation
For the past three years the authors have been investigating the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for covering up sex abuse in the church and the practice of controlling victims to prevent public revelation. Victims are now pushing lawmakers for a law change that would allow civil suits to be tried in court, despite the passing of the statute of limitations.
Tags: Catholic church; sexual abuse; Archdiocese of Cincinnati; Archbishop of Cincinnati; statute of limitations; Senate Bill 17; Court Order; civil suits; sex-abuse
-
A Death in McAllen
This investigation by the Texas Observer looks into nursing home abuse and state legislation protecting owners from non-economic damages in civil suits. What they found was a 2003 Texas law placed a $250,000 cap on damages, heavily lobbied by nursing home companies, directly affected the number of nursing home inspections and leaves little punishment for nursing homes who abuse, or even kill, their patients. The story also tells the tale of Noe Martinez Jr., a patient who died in McAllen Nursing Center due to gross negligence in July 2004. The state only fined the center $1,300 for his death. Because caring for Medicaid patients like Martinez costs nursing homes up to $1,800 per year, the center more than likely saved money because of his death.
Tags: abuse; elderly; McAllen Nursing Center; civil lawsuits; lobbying; CAR; politics; negligence; non-economic damage caps; health care
-
Right Place, Right Time -- Ohio's fledging trauma system saving lives
This investigation examines Ohio's 2-year old trauma law. It found that in general the law is effective, the state has more trauma centers than any other and patients are often directed to the ones best suited for their needs. The investigation also found that the law still has a way to go, and that medical helicopters are benefiting from the changes.
Tags: trauma; medicine; rural medicine; hospital; MedFlight; victims; medical reporting; health