Ohio Suits

F. Lee Bailey, who won acquittal for Dr. Sam Sheppard at the doctor's second murder trial, testified in Cleveland that two neighbors killed Marilyn Sheppard in the 1954 case that partly inspired "The Fugitive" TV series. Bailey's version of the murder is at odds with the theory supported by the Sheppards' son, Sam Reese Sheppard, who has sued the state claiming his late father was wrongfully imprisoned for 10 years for his mother's death.

Farmers Insurance Group will pay $4.3 million to settle an Ohio case that claimed the company refused to insure homeowners in minority neighborhoods, Atty. Gen. Betty Montgomery said Monday. The Los Angeles-based company will spend $3 million for grants and low-interest loans to develop, build and repair owner-occupied homes throughout the state and will pay a total of $1.3 million to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the Toledo Fair Housing Center and Housing Advocates of Cleveland.

The tobacco industry won a major victory Thursday when an Ohio jury cleared the nation's major cigarette companies of allegations by 114 union health funds that they conspired to suppress information about the hazards of smoking and targeted unsophisticated blue-collar workers with slick marketing campaigns. The jury, hearing the first case of its kind to go to trial, reached a verdict after just two days of deliberations in a case where the industry faced up to $2 billion in damages.

F. Lee Bailey, who won acquittal for Dr. Sam Sheppard at the doctor's second murder trial, testified in Cleveland that two neighbors killed Marilyn Sheppard in the 1954 case that partly inspired "The Fugitive" TV series. Bailey's version of the murder is at odds with the theory supported by the Sheppards' son, Sam Reese Sheppard, who has sued the state claiming his late father was wrongfully imprisoned for 10 years for his mother's death.

Farmers Insurance Group will pay $4.3 million to settle an Ohio case that claimed the company refused to insure homeowners in minority neighborhoods, Atty. Gen. Betty Montgomery said Monday. The Los Angeles-based company will spend $3 million for grants and low-interest loans to develop, build and repair owner-occupied homes throughout the state and will pay a total of $1.3 million to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the Toledo Fair Housing Center and Housing Advocates of Cleveland.

The tobacco industry won a major victory Thursday when an Ohio jury cleared the nation's major cigarette companies of allegations by 114 union health funds that they conspired to suppress information about the hazards of smoking and targeted unsophisticated blue-collar workers with slick marketing campaigns. The jury, hearing the first case of its kind to go to trial, reached a verdict after just two days of deliberations in a case where the industry faced up to $2 billion in damages.