Confidentiality

USC has settled a lawsuit brought by former running back Stafon Johnson, who was injured in 2009 when a bar carrying 275 pounds fell on his neck in the school's weight room. USC and Johnson released a joint statement Wednesday evening. "The University of Southern California and former student-athlete Stafon Johnson wish to jointly announce that Mr. Johnson has resolved his lawsuit against the university arising out of his September 28, 2009, weight room injury," the statement said.

Here's your hey-Mickey-you're-so-fine Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: --Zappos has been hacked. The online retailer and its discount affiliate, 6pm.com, say a data breach compromised customer account information such as billing addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers. The security problem did not affect "critical credit card and other payment data," Zappos Chief Executive Tony Hsieh wrote in an email. He explained that the company was "the victim of a cyber attack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky.

Here's your fight-the-power Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: --Christmas wasn't kind to the video game industry. U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 21% in December from a year ago, to $3.99 billion, as players bought fewer games for their aging consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group. The month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was the top-seller, and Just Dance 3, which placed second.

Here's your three-times-a-lady Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: -- A little fungicide with your Coke? Coca-Cola says it has alerted the Food and Drug Administration after discovering that Brazilian growers had sprayed their orange trees with a fungicide that is not approved for use in the U.S. Most orange juice products made by Coke and other companies contain a blend of juice from different sources, including...

Here's your take-me-home-tonight Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: -- There's no sugar high for Hostess Brands, maker of the Twinkie and other fine products. The company is reportedly preparing to go back into bankruptcy just two years after completing its last bankruptcy proceedings. People familiar with the matter say the company is facing a cash crunch with more than $860 million in debt, high labor expenses and rising ingredient costs. When Hostess, then called Interstate Bakeries, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, it blamed low sales and high fixed costs.

Prime Healthcare has responded, with a letter and a public statement, to my January 4 column about the flouting of patient confidentiality by its corporate office and two executives at its Shasta Regional Medical Center. In the response, Prime states for the record that it believes its disclosure of medical information about the patient, Darlene Courtois, was legal because she “voluntarily disclosed her medical records” to the investigative reporting organization California Watch.

Mike didn't talk much. After all, I was a stranger, another one of the guardians in a white coat that kept him imprisoned in the locked ward of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. The hospital needed a medical resident to do basic physicals on its newly admitted patients. It was my turn to rotate on the service. Like most teens there, 16-year-old Mike (not his real name) had been sent to the ward after being arrested for some combination of minor vandalism, underage drinking, disturbing the peace and generally "acting out. " I was convinced that these misbehaviors were cries for help rather than actions demanding punishment.

The head of Canada's Boy Scouts has apologized to victims of sexual abuse in the organization and announced an independent review of confidential files it has long kept on leaders accused of molestation. "Our sincere efforts to prevent such crimes have not always succeeded, and we are sorry for that and saddened at any resulting harm," said Steve P. Kent, chairman of the governing board of Scouts Canada. Kent said he has asked an outside auditing firm to review confidential records that Scouts Canada, like the Boy Scouts of America, has maintained for decades to keep known molesters out of its ranks.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, said Thursday that he plans to participate in the bidding process for the Dodgers. The process could begin next week, when the investment bank handling the sale of the Dodgers is expected to provide prospective buyers with confidential financial data in a bid book. He "will see a book," Cuban wrote in an email. Cuban told The Times last month that he had inquired about buying the Dodgers but "wasn't interested" at an asking price of at least $1 billion.