Before #MeToo, several states, including Florida, Washington, and Louisiana, already had "sunshine in litigation" laws, which prohibit confidentiality provisions if they conceal "public hazards," such as dangers to general health or safety.
Instead of seeking wrist-slapping penalties under weak mining laws, the United States attorney, R. Booth Goodwin II, filed fraud charges, accusing Gary May of plotting with others "known and unknown" to conceal lethal hazards, doctor safety records and manipulate ventilation equipment and machinery to foil inspectors and leave miners at risk for their lives.
Workplace safety experts warn that the rollback of the OSHA record-keeping rule will enable unscrupulous companies to fudge their injury data and conceal ongoing hazards from regulators.
In addition, the state maintained that defendants concealed these hazards from the public or misrepresented that they were safe.
A1 A National Tobacco Trial A federal appeals court in New York is reviewing a controversial decision by a Brooklyn judge, who ruled two years ago that he would subject tobacco companies to a single national trial that would determine once and for all whether they should be assessed punitive damages for concealing the hazards of smoking.
Last month, three communities in California sued 37 oil, gas and coal companies including Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron for their alleged contributions to sea level rise and for concealing the hazards posed by global warming.
In 1991, then-California Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a bill pushed by then-state Sen. Bill Lockyer outlawing agreements that conceal information about public hazards including defective products, environmental dangers and financial frauds.
However, because of the projected increase in climatic extremes (Bartholy et al. 2011), the 30-year average value can conceal high fluctuation in the hazards.
In his opening statement, the lawyer, Michael Ciresi, said the state would introduce evidence from formerly secret company documents to prove that the industry conspired as early as the 1950's to conceal what it knew about the hazards of smoking.
