Settlement of lawsuit against ABC exceeds $177 million
Compiled from news services
SIOUXFALLS, S.D. — A legal settlement between ABC and a South Dakota meat producer in a defamation lawsuit over the network’s reports on a beef product that critics dubbed “pink slime” exceeded $177 million, an attorney for the producer said Wednesday.
Disney, which owns ABC, disclosed a $177 million legal settlement charge in a filing with a government securities regulator this week that didn’t specifically link it to South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. BPI attorney Dan Webb said that based on the disclosure, it appears Disney is funding $177 million of the settlement and insurers are “paying the rest.”
“As Disney disclosed, $177 Million is not the total settlement amount,” Mr. Webb said in a statement.
Disney reported in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it’s pursuing “additional insurance coverage for this matter.” The company didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment from The Associated Press.
BPI and ABC announced the settlement in June while the case was at trial. BPI could have been seeking damages as high as $1.9 billion, according to the SEC filing from Disney.
BPI sued in 2012, saying ABC’s coverage of its lean, finely textured beef product misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe, is not beef and isn’t nutritious.
Driver's tip led to arrest
KANSASCITY, Mo. — A man charged in the shooting death of a western Missouri police officer was arrested after an alert driver provided a tip that the fugitive was wandering within miles of where the killing took place, a law enforcement official said.
The driver reported seeing Ian McCarthy walking along a state highway near Bucksaw Marina, just east of Clinton, and he was arrested without incident late Tuesday, Sgt. Bill Lowe of the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
The arrest ended a twoday manhunt that began after 37-year-old Clinton police officer Gary Michael was shot to death during a traffic stop Sunday night in Clinton, about 75 miles southeast of Kansas City.
Officer Michael and Mr. McCarthy had exchanged gunfire before the officer died and the driver fled. Sgt. Lowe said Mr. McCarthy, 39, had a gunshot wound when a patrol trooper arrested him. Sgt. Lowe said the wound “wasn’t serious” and probably was from his confrontation with Officer Michael.
Baby lived 3 days in bag
ELMIRA,N.Y. — Two sisters who thought a dog was making noises near their neighbor’s bushes discovered something shocking: a filthy 8-monthold baby girl who survived three nights outside in a white plastic bag.
“Her legs were just dangling in the bag. Her head was in the bag. Her whole head was covered all the way down,” Kayla Seals said.
The baby was hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday and the 17year-old mother, Harriette Hoyt, was in jail facing a charge of attempted murder.
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