Injunction issued in state case vs. mortgage brokers

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Suffolk Superior Court granted a preliminary injunction her office requested in two lawsuits it filed against individuals and mortgage companies allegedly engaged in a financial scam that targeted victims of foreclosure. The lawsuits involve individual mortgage and real estate brokers and attorneys and Brockton-based Primary Mortgage Resources, the state said. In some cases, homeowners lost the equity in their homes after seeking assistance to prevent a foreclosure, the state said. The attorney general's office said it "obtained a preliminary injunction against 15 individuals and companies," which prevents them from engaging in any more foreclosure-rescue transactions. Primary Mortgage did not return a call. (Kimberly Blanton)

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued CVS/Caremark Corp. after customer records with personal information such as driver license and credit card numbers were found in the trash behind one of the chain's stores. Investigators with the office of the attorney general found the documents in a dumpster in Liberty, Texas, Abbott's office said. CVS said the dumped materials were files that were improperly thrown away when the store relocated to a new site. The disposal violated CVS's existing record-retention and privacy policies, the company said, adding that confidential paperwork is supposed to be returned to warehouses for secure disposal. CVS said it had fired the store manager and was cooperating with the attorney general's office. (Reuters)

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has finally signed an agreement with the New Center for Arts and Culture to build a performing arts facility on a block of the emerging Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a center spokeswoman said. The agreement was delayed for months in 2004 as the Turnpike and center executives negotiated and was ready for the authority to sign last summer, just before the Big Dig ceiling panel collapse that killed a Boston woman. The accident and investigation delayed the agreement. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston and Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the New Center was the first cultural institution to be designated for a location along the Greenway parks system, which is replacing the elevated Central Artery highway. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Boston real estate investment trust Winthrop Realty Trust said it acquired 13 light distribution and service center properties in Nashville for $87.2 million through a joint venture with Sealy & Co. Winthrop owns 50 percent of the joint venture, while Sealy oversees its day-to-day operations. Winthrop said $74 million of the purchase price was financed through a first mortgage loan. (AP)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a Waltham maker of scientific instruments and laboratory supplies, said president and chief executive Marijn E. Dekkers realized about $12.2 million from the exercise of options to acquire 500,000 shares of company stock in 2006. Thermo Fisher also said in a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Dekkers received total pay valued at $10.7 million. Dekkers's pay included option awards valued at $4.48 million, stock awards valued at $2.6 million, a $2.14 million bonus, and a salary of about $1.04 million. (Dow Jones)

THE NATION

Vonage Holdings Corp., the pioneer of Internet-based phone calls, said patent fights could lead to bankruptcy and the company's liquidation. Vonage lost a patent lawsuit with Verizon Communications Inc. last month that, if upheld on appeal, will force the company to pay $58 million in damages and 5.5 percent of revenue from phone lines. The company may also lose the use of technology that lets customers make calls to standard phones. (Bloomberg)

Google Inc. is ready to introduce a copyright protection tool that helps media owners to automatically report acts of piracy on its YouTube website, chief executive Eric Schmidt said. Schmidt said the tools, known as "Claim Your Content," could resolve accusations that the world's largest provider of Web search services is tolerating piracy by consumers who share video on YouTube. (Reuters)