Judgment

At the headquarters of Boston Medical Group in Costa Mesa, six salesmen were working the toll-free appointment line on a recent afternoon, fielding calls from men around the country enticed by newspaper and radio ads promising a "proven" solution to erectile dysfunction in "one office visit. " The results are visible "right there in the office," one sales representative told a caller. "It's amazing. " Following a script, he answered a few questions and offered to schedule a $195 consultation at one of the company's 21 U.S. clinics.

Two men who contend PepsiCo Inc. stole their idea to sell bottled water sued the snack- and drink-maker in Wisconsin and won a $1.26-billion judgment last month after the company didn't respond. PepsiCo, which calls the accusation "dubious," says it didn't know about the lawsuit until almost a week after the court granted the award without a trial. The company wants the court to toss out the ruling, known as a default judgment, or at least give PepsiCo a chance to fight the accusation.

Plaintiffs' attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner was in her Jerusalem office in July when she got news of the Puerto Rican court's verdict. A judge there had just issued a $378-million civil judgment for her clients: the families of 17 Puerto Rican missionaries killed by Japanese Red Army militants at an Israeli airport in 1972. Yet her euphoria was tempered by pragmatic reality: She would have to try to collect the judgment from a defiant North Korea, which the judge ruled had decades ago given training and support to the assailants.

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $2.1 million for not complying with a judgment against the chain for overcharging customers in California, the attorney general's office said. The 2008 judgment had directed the retailer to fix pricing errors discovered during a government investigation into its California stores. The 2005 investigation found that 164 Wal-Mart stores in the state had scanned some items at higher prices than advertised on shelves and signs.

Patricia Cornwell won a judgment of $50.9 million against her former financial managers in federal court in Boston on Tuesday. Cornwell is the author of the bestselling Kay Scarpetta mystery novels. Cornwell accused her former money management firm Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP and its former principal, Evan H. Snapper, for negligence in the handling of her ­finances. According to Cornwell, not only had the firm improperly invested $89 million of her money, it had also made illegal campaign contributions that drew the attention of the FBI, undermined her work and even traumatized her dog . The money management firm was paid about $40,000 per month to handle Cornwell's finances, which included the renovation of her Massachusetts estate and leasing a lavish apartment for her. The managers claimed that it was Cornwell's own extravagance , including leasing expensive private jets, that was to blame.

The Oakland-based company petitioned a federal court to waive a requirement that it post a $283-million bond pending an appeal of a judgment against the company. ComputerLand also asked the court to extend a stay of the judgment against the company that is due to expire Thursday. That judgment handed down by an Alameda Superior Court jury was in favor of Micro-Vest Corp.

Marty's comments on how the individual first establishes his or her relationship with the family, then by extension to the public sector, strikes at the very heart of how our economic and political structures are formed and defined. Although his remarks are not specifically directed at any political leader, they shed light on why some people are concerned about the character of who we elect to public office. For example, an intellectual may argue that since poor political judgment does not necessarily mean a bad character flaw, it is also true that a bad character flaw does not necessarily mean poor political judgment.

The City of Los Angeles will have to pay $8.5 million to eight insurance companies and 22 property owners whose homes were damaged in the disastrous 1978 fire in Mandeville Canyon touched off by a fallen power line, lawyers in the case said Tuesday. The state Supreme Court last week refused to hear an appeal of a lower court decision affirming the judgment against the city and the Department of Water and Power. The Oct. 23, 1978, blaze destroyed 230 homes and damaged 45 others.