Is $45,000 a Lot for a Sexual Harassment Settlement?

Sexual Harassment

One of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment while at the National Restaurant Association received a $45,000 settlement. A second accuser settled for $35,000. What’s the going rate for sexual harassment claims?

It’s about what the National Restaurant Association paid to these women. Many litigants reach a confidential settlement before completing a trial, so tabulating statistics about sexual harassment claims is very difficult. One study looked at 50 sexual harassment settlements (PDF) in cases before Chicago magistrate judges, and found that amounts average around $53,000, with a median of about $30,000. Employees who take their case to trial—and win—fare significantly better, averaging more than $217,000, according to a separate study. That ratio is normal in employment litigation: Settlements are typically around one-quarter the size of trial verdicts. (The plaintiff

Glaxo Settles Cases With US for $3 Billion

Avandia

The British drug company GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday that it had agreed to pay $3 billion to settle United States government civil and criminal investigations into its sales practices for numerous drugs.

The settlement would be the largest yet in a wave of federal cases against pharmaceutical companies accused of illegal marketing, surpassing the previous record of $2.3 billion paid by Pfizer in 2009. In recent years, drug companies have been prime targets of federal fraud investigations, which have recovered tens of billions of dollars for Medicaid and Medicare.

The cases against GlaxoSmithKline include illegal marketing of Avandia, a diabetes drug that was severely restricted last year after it was linked to heart risks. Federal prosecutors said the company had paid doctors and manipulated medical research to promote the drug.

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