A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by Mr. Brown’s office and claims that some of the inflatable bounce houses that help entertain young children at parties have unsafe levels of lead, sometimes dozens of times the federal limit.

“I was surprised,” said Mr. Brown, who is running for governor in a state with 2.7 million children under age 5. “But as we test more and more of these products, we find dangers.”

The Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, California prompted the lawsuit.  The advocacy group did an investigation and tested dozens of bounce houses concentrating on the vinyl that gives them their bounce.

The lead levels in the vinyl varied from 5,000 parts per million to 29,000.  This is way above the federal limit of 0 to 300 parts per million.

Senior Vice President of Cutting Edge Creations Inc., Robert Field, called the investigation a “witch hunt.”  He believes it could seriously damage the bounce house industry.

“California already has many financial problems,” Mr. Field said. “Do they really wish to potentially place thousands of small-business owners that operate children’s party centers out of business?”

According to spokesman for the center, Charles Margulis, children should not stop using the houses, they should just wipe their hands and faces afterward.

Dr. Megan Schwarzman, a family physician and an associate director at the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, said that she had not seen the test results, but that there was no safe level of lead exposure for children. “Everyone is exposed from so many different sources,” Dr. Schwarzman said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lead exposure can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death.

Mr. Brown stated he wanted manufactures to stop using lead-containing vinyl and for rental companies and party places to post warnings about lead in the bounce houses.  “I certainly don’t want to be a kill joy here,” he said. “I just think parents should be cognizant.”

Nixon is facing involuntary manslaughter charges as well as six other felonies in the crash that killed his brother’s fiancee Amanda Brady, a Henrico school teacher.  The Fire Captain’s son and wife also suffered serious injuries.

Nixon was in command of the boat when it struck a channel marker on July 5.  According to court records, Nixon had been drinking at the time the boat, carrying four children and six adults crashed.  Nixon was released on bond Wednesday morning.  Court documents said that Nixon had a blood alcohol level of .14 at the time of the crash.

Nixon is also facing child endangerment charges and operating a boat while under the influence.

Lt. Shawn L. Jones from the Richmond Fire Department was asked about Nixon’s future with the department and stated, “It is the City’s policy not to comment on personnel matters.  He is still an employee of the Richmond Fire Department.”

Brian Kabateck, an attorney for the plaintiffs, stated that Farmers denied claims to boost its bottom line.  He also stated the average loss among homeowners named in the lawsuit was $25,000 to $50,000.

“Once again, it appears Farmers has engaged in the egregious practice of denying or underpaying claims, simply to frustrate policyholders and discourage them from seeking the compensation they deserve,” Kabateck said.

Jerry Davies, Farmers spokesman, would not comment on the lawsuit and stated the company had not seen it yet.  A message to the state Department of Insurance wan not immediately returned.

Farmers and other insurers were accused of similar practices after the 1994 Northridge earthquake that killed 72 people and caused an estimated $15.3 billion in damage.

Farmers is accused of hiring biased consultants to deny or undercut claims as well as being unreasonable in its claims adjustment practices.

“The result is that plaintiffs and defendants’ other insureds are cheated of monies rightfully owed to them,” according to the lawsuit.

One plaintiff, Russell Reed, 55, who lives in Altadena, had damage to his home from the fire.  He stated he had a layer of ash and debris a foot deep in his pool that clogged drains and was a nuisance for weeks.  Reed said Farmers agents came out a month or two after the fire and said he wasn’t eligible to receive any money.

“I’ve been a good customer of Farmers for a long time,” he said. “The one time we have a major catastrophe, Farmers doesn’t want to assist me.”

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in May a man who looks nothing like Bren set up bank accounts in Bren’s name earlier this year, deposited Bren’s refund check into one, and then transferred most of the money out.

The complaint did not say how the man obtained Bren’s check.

The suspect is referred to in court documents as FNU LNU, for “first name unknown” and “last name unknown” as he has not been identified.

The man set up four accounts in Bren’s name at East West Bank’s Cerritos branch on Feb. 16 and used a U.S. Treasury check payable to Bren in the amount of $1,389,524.61 as deposit for the accounts.

The man gave a mailing address in South Los Angeles and listed his occupation as “smoke shop.”

During the next month the man made a series of transfers from the accounts in a total of more than $1.1 million.

During this time the Internal Revenue Service notified the Secret Service of the deposit.  According to the complaint the Secret Service “came to know that the true Donald Bren, to whom the IRS refund check was made payable, is the chairman of the Irvine Company, and not FNU LNU.”

The Orange County Business Journal reports that Bren is not on the hook for the loss, which would be taken by the bank or its insurance company.

The $1.4 million would represent around 0.12 percent of Bren’s reported net worth of $12 billion.

According to the plaintiffs at least 30 children born to workers who were employed by Motorola since the 1960s have birth defects.  These defects include physical and developmental disabilities; cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, sterility and brain malformations. Also, many of the affected children suffer from physical or skeletal deformities and two children were born with a missing ear.

The lawsuit claims that Motorola “knew or should have known about the potential hazards, citing a 1986 study by IBM and John Hopkins University showing workplace exposure to the chemicals, solvents, metals and other compounds could cause serious reproductive harm.”  The lawsuit also states that Motorola was aware that the chemicals they used to make the semiconductors and computer chips in sterile “clean rooms” are toxic and could result in birth defects of children born to people who have came into contact with the chemicals.  According to the plaintiffs protective gear was not provided by Motorola to its employees in the “clean rooms.”

Motorola officials were not available for comment.

Kati Moore, now 20, contended Tim Horton, her 24-year-old supervisor at a California based Starbucks coffee shop, would send her inappropriate text messages on a daily basis.  Reports state one of the messages read, “I’d like to f-tomorrow.”

Moore accused Starbucks of failing to protect her from the daily workplace harassment and stated her other Starbucks supervisors were conscious of the illicit activity, yet carelessly kept quiet about the matter.

Prosecutors were alerted immediately when Moore’s mother found out about the relationship between her underage daughter and the Starbucks supervisor.

Horton pleaded guilty to a felony charge of illegal sex with a minor and served four months in prison for the offense.

Moore’s case was even featured in a “20/20” investigation concerning teenage victims of workplace sexual harassment.  Fast food restaurants often have sexual harassment reports because they are common for many teens to become employed for the first time.  ”They’re vulnerable, they’re young, they’re new to the workforce, ” said Dr. Susan Strauss, a sexual harrassment expert interviewed in the “20/20″ investigation.

Starbucks also issued the following statement when the “20/20” report was first aired:  “These two employees concealed their relationship from Starbucks, which violated company policy. We are confident that the case will ultimately be resolved in finding that Starbucks is not at fault.”

Specifics regarding the settlement have not been released.

Lawyers representing E*Trade have filed hundreds of pages depicting Lohan’s drug abuse, DWI busts and brawls, in order to further prove that E*Trade cannot further defame her in their commercial than what she has already done to herself.  Additionally E*Trade attorneys are trying to prove that Lohan lives in Hollywood and not in Long Island where the lawsuit was filed.  E*Trade corporate headquarters is located in Manhattan and the attorneys are asking the judge to change the venue to their.

The lawsuit was filed by Lohan after the E*Trade commercial came out which featured the now famous E*Trade baby. During the commercial the baby is talking about his portfolio, when his girlfriend asks him if he had been spending time with a “milkaholic” baby named Lindsay.  Lohan saw the commercial and then filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit believing that the “milkaholic” baby was a spoof of her.

According to reports Lohan’s lawyer plans to dismiss the request of change of venue.

Also listed as defendants were Alan R. Jones, of Raymore,  Aaron Dean, of Centreville, Va., and Robert D. Mirande, of Manassas, Va.

Mirande is accused of grooming the teen for sexual relations including providing her with alcohol and having inappropriate sexual contact with her.

The victim reported that she was 17 when the sexual harassment and misconduct started and it continued until she was 19 and a freshman in college.

The attorney for the victim, Lynn Johnson, told KMBC Channel 9 News that Mirande took advantage of her. “He engaged in inappropriate contact and conduct with her that eventually left her with significant psychological and emotional injuries.”

The victim’s parents reported the incident to USA Swimming in 2008 and discovered that USA Swimming continued to use the coach.  The parent’s said their daughter still receives therapy twice a week for post traumatic stress syndrome.

Dean was the Dolphins former head coach and was listed as a defendant for allegedly taking no action after learning of the abuse.

“Dean left Kansas City shortly thereafter and was approved by USA Swimming to coach Occoquan Swimming in Northern Virginia. USA Swimming and Dean then approved the hiring of Mirande as his assistant coach,” according to a news release from Shamberg, Johnson and Bergman.  “As of today, Rob Mirande is still coaching young female swimmers.”

Current general manager of the Kansas City Dolphins, Sturman, declined declined comment and forwarded all inquiries to USA Swimming.

The Children’s Rights group which filed the case is seeking changes on behalf of approximately 8,500 children in foster care statewide.

The lawsuit contains 6 child plaintiffs who suffered because of the system’s failures. The children’s advocacy group is being represented by the Boston law firm of Nutter McClennen & Fish.

The lawsuit alleges that the state Department of Children and Families breached the constitutional rights of the children by placing them under situation which were both dangerous and unstable.

“Kids move from home to home to home with incredible frequency.  Once kids are in foster care they are not making it back home or into other permanent families with any kind of timeliness”, said Sara Bartosz, Senior Staff Attorney for Children’s Rights.

She said the state has also failed to adequately prepare and support families to be reunified with their children.

The department has been quick to defend itself and is determined to fight to protect its reputation.  A statement was issued by the department in response to the lawsuit saying it shares the goal of protecting the children.

Children’s Rights has also filed lawsuits in past years against Connecticut, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Washington D.C.

According to the claim the accident occurred last month when Cherlynn Tang fell backward in accumulated melted water, suffering a fatal head injury. Tang was attending the skate session with her teenage children.  The claim states that the city didn’t maintain the rink in a safe condition and didn’t have emergency medical care on hand.  Safety rules also were not implemented.

Attorney’s for Callahan & Blaine, who filed the claim on behalf of Tang’s husband and three teenage children, could not be immediately reached for comment.

City officials declined to comment on the claim.

The accident occurred about 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 14.

Orange County Fire Authority paramedics treated Tang at the scene before taking her to Western Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead two days later.

Helmets were optional for Great Park skaters and according to City Officials Tang was not wearing a helmet at the time of her fall.

The Great Park Corporation runs the park and is essentially a department of the City of Irvine.