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 "settlement agreements" ...
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1994 Michael Jackson Settlement
Diane Diamond obtained a copy of the long-secret settlement agreement between Michael Jackson and Evan and Jordie Chandler. The official amount paid to Jordie Chandler was revealed to have been $15,331,250, in four installments. The Chandler parents are also believed to have split $3 million, and the family lawyer, Larry Feldman, is believed to have received $5 million.
Tags: Michael Jackson; Evan and Jordie Chandler; Larry Feldman
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Secret Justice
ABA Journal investigates how undisclosed settlements to lawsuits and closed-door proceedings shut out public scrutiny. The article finds that this practice reduces accountability and eliminates precedents. The author points to several examples of sealed court files, some of which involving giant corporations and movie stars. The major example is about a reporter, Kristen Mitchell with the Wilmington, N.C., Morning Star, who was fined for obtaining a sealed file inadvertently handed her by a court clerk. The file contained information on a secret settlement of an environmental lawsuit between Conoco Inc. and residents of a mobile home park. The newspaper, also, was ordered to pay Conoco $500,000, the journal reports.
Tags: media rights; legislation; Merrill Lynch; First Amendment; freedom of the press; judges; lawyers; settlement agreements; Sondra Locke; Clint Eastwood; 3M; jurors; business
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Lost Benefits
The Journal investigates a Florida company that offered "viatical" settlements -- financial arrangements in which terminally ill people sell the rights to their life-insurance death benefits to investors. The company is being investigated by insurance regulators and a federal grand jury. Investigators think the company's president, Frederick C. Brandau, used investor's money to buy luxury cars and homes rather than to purchase viaticals agreements.
Tags: None
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Getting Burned
Article describes the fight between plaintiffs lawyers, the State of Florida, and the tobacco industry regarding attorneys' fees for the lawsuit against the industry. The lawyers originally had a contingency fee contract with the state for a quarter of the settlement. Florida broke the contract in favor of an arbitration agreement between two of the lawyers and the industry.
Tags: None
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Dark Days on Black Mesa A People Betrayed
Traditional Hopi settlements are threatened as their groundwater reserves are rapidly depleted by a multi-national coal company. A 1966 lease agreement between the tribe and Peabody Coal Co. was negotiated by an attorney many Hopi revered, John Boyden. Records and interviews now reveal that Boyden was representing Peabody at the same time he negotiated the coal lease on the Hopi's behalf. Many Hopi want Peabody to find another water source and have asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to intervene. Former Interior Secretary Stuart Udall is among those demanding that the federal government stop Peabody from using the groundwater.
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No title (id: 12368)
The News-Press investigates Florida's controversial forfeiture laws. The News-Press reviewed 122 Fort Myers police seizure cases and found that the police had used settlement agreements and the civil courts to seize money, cars and property. (May 29, 1994)
Tags: Franceschina CAR Seized Fort Myers Police Department Investigations 3 pgs.
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Maine Indians: Legacy of the Land Claims.
Bangor Daily News looks at the life of Maine Indians nearly ten years after the signing of the Indian Land Claims Settlement, an agreement that provided Maine's Native Americans with federal money to buy state land and develop industry and education, and finds both success and failure among tribe members and controversy over the use of tribal funds, Sept. 9 - 15, 1989.