According to the Washington Post, Samsung is suspending production of its Galaxy Note 7 replacement phones after more reports of fires in South Korea and the United States. Questions: 1. According to the article, what major U.S. carriers are suspending sales or exchanges of the troubled device? 2. How many fires have been reported so… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Loss Contingencies
Suit without merit?
A $5 million suit was filed in Federal court alleging that Starbuck’s is deceiving customers by filling drinks with too much ice. Questions: 1. Based on the allegation, do you think that Starbuck’s should report the lawsuit as a contingency in their upcoming annual report? Why or why not? 2. Besides claiming that too much… Read more »
Why Won’t My Car Start?
Before many subprime borrowers drive their car off the lot, their car is equipped with a starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. This article and video highlight the problematic issues related to “electronic repossession.” Questions: 1. What percentage of car loans are estimated to be lending for subprime borrowers? 2…. Read more »
Abusing the System or a Genuine Life Line?
The classification of animals as emotional support has been permitted by antidiscrimination laws for some time, allowing owners to take their pets to shops, restaurants, or residential buildings that have no-pet policies. However, a recently increasing trend in uncaged animals on airplanes has become a source of complaints by flight attendants, passengers with allergies, and… Read more »
Conflict of Interest?
The commercials may sound wonderful, but unfortunately, patients are being victimized by medical credit cards. The cards, issued by specialty finance companies and commercial banks, carry huge interest rates after an initial zero interest period expires. There are also heavy penalties for late payments. Questions: 1. What types of services can be paid for with… Read more »
Where’s the paper trail?
As more and more Americans face mortgage foreclosure, banks’ crucial ownership documents for the properties are often unclear and are sometimes even bogus, a condition that’s causing lawsuits and hampering an already weak housing market. Docx, and companies like it, were recreating missing mortgage assignments for the banks and providing the “legally required signatures†of… Read more »
More BP back in the News
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are currently investigating several BP entities regarding trading in the next-day natural gas market at Houston Ship Channel during October and November 2008. The FERC’s enforcing body is now mulling whether to pursue charges against BP, which was prosecuted on… Read more »
The Avandia Disaster
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)’s $3.4 billion legal charge on the diabetes drug Avandia probably isn’t the last of the costs the company will record against this drug. That means Avandia will probably be a lossmaker for GSK, proving that former CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier 1999 failure to follow up on worries about heart attack deaths associated with Avandia… Read more »
Wage and Hour Violations
On December 9, 2009, Wal-Mart disclosed that it had settled a long-running wage and hour dispute in Massachusetts for $40 million. According to the Boston Globe, this was the largest wage and hour settlement in the state of Massachusetts. Interestingly, it was just a year ago at the end of 2008 that Wal-Mart reported that… Read more »