Sicel Technologies, Inc., announced today that the organization has not been placed into involuntary bankruptcy. Effective August 31, 2010, Paul McDaniel became the interim President and an interim Director of the company. Currently, Sicel's operations are continuing and several employees who had previously been furloughed have returned to work.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Sicel Technologies, Inc.

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Thursday's announcement by a Kent, WA attorney that he has ended his federal lawsuit against the City of Seattle's parks gun ban does not affect the on-going state-court case filed jointly by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association.

SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb noted Friday morning that there has been some confusion about the two cases. SAF and NRA were joined by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Washington Arms Collectors and five individual plaintiffs in their lawsuit, which found the city's parks gun ban to be in violation of state law. That case has been appealed by the city.

"The federal case, as plaintiff Bob Warden noted in his statement, has never been connected to our case," Gottlieb clarified. "The SAF/NRA case, which was filed first and has already won in King County Superior Court, remains very much alive and we are confident that we will prevail in the state court of appeals.

"We respect Mr. Warden's decision to end his challenge of the gun law," he added, "and wish him well."

The two cases had been occasionally confused by local reporters because both challenged the city's illegal city parks gun ban. The SAF/NRA case prevailed because it correctly held the ban violates the state's preemption statute regarding firearms regulation. Warden challenged the ban on state and federal constitutional grounds.

"The state preemption statute is clear," Gottlieb said. "At the end of the day, I anticipate that SAF and NRA, and our fellow plaintiffs, will share a significant victory, one we can all be proud of. Ultimately, of course, our case isn't about declaring victory or taking credit, but about protecting the firearm civil rights of all Washington gun owners."

SAF is currently involved in major legal actions against gun laws in North Carolina, New York, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C. as well as a challenge to a portion of the 1968 federal gun control act. Information about these cases is available at www.saf.org.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms.  Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.  

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation

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http://www.saf.org

Indiana today filed papers with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles becoming the fifth government entity to decline to intervene in a lawsuit brought against JM Eagle, the world's largest producer of plastic pipe, on behalf of a fired ex-JM Eagle employee by the law firm Phillips & Cohen LLP.  In filing a pleading with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Indiana joins California, where the suit was filed, Florida, Massachusetts as well as the federal government in declining to intervene in the case.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia were named by the plaintiff's counsel as "real parties in interest" – a listing that essentially invited those states and D.C. to join, or "intervene," in the lawsuit. Only four states have chosen to do so while three states and D.C. are still deciding.  The decision by four large states and the federal government to opt out of direct participation in the case supports the growing perception that the case against JM Eagle is unfounded.

The U.S. government conducted its own intensive three-year investigation of JM Eagle's products and quality-control processes and declined to join the case in February. Federal statistics show that 94 percent of these kinds of lawsuits are eventually dismissed when the federal government chooses not to get involved.

"We are gratified that Indiana was not persuaded by the dishonest pressure campaign directed at states by the plaintiff's contingency-fee law firm.  This large state has stood up for what is right in human nature by deciding not to intervene in this baseless, frivolous lawsuit," said Neal Gordon, JM Eagle's vice president of marketing. "We are confident that as more states and local governments learn about the facts of the case they also will see no benefit in intervening."

A few points in addition:

* Results of recent tests by the independent Jana Laboratories confirm the quality and reliability of JM Eagle PVC pressure pipe - both currently and during the period covered by the lawsuit. The lab conducted the tests on pipe from the same batch provided to the federal government for its own inquiry. The company's pipe has been certified by the industry-standard certification bodies NSF International and UL to meet all long-term strength requirements. In addition, the number of claims against the company's pipe over the last 10 years was miniscule - at a rate of less than one-tenth of one percent and most of those claims related to installation or other non-manufacturing errors.

* In a serious blow to the central claim in the lawsuit (and as alluded to above), one of the plaintiff's key witnesses denied in a sworn statement ever saying that JM Eagle intentionally compromised the quality of its pipe. After reading quotes from the Second Amended Complaint that were falsely attributed to him by Phillips and Cohen, Brian Wang, a long time plant manager, gave a sworn affidavit claiming the falsity of the quotes. Wang denied under oath that JM ever sacrificed pipe quality by using cheaper ingredients, speeding up production or failing to replace parts on extruders. Wang, who is the most senior JM Eagle employee listed in the lawsuit's Second Amended Complaint, worked for J-M Manufacturing - now JM Eagle - from 1984 to June 2006, including as a plant manager at three of the company's 22 plants.

* JM Eagle has spent more than $350 million in the last 15 years to deploy the most modern manufacturing practices and equipment available to ensure that its products set the standard for superior quality in the plastic-pipe industry. The company recently announced a capital-improvement project budgeted at $20 million to further improve its manufacturing facilities this year alone.

* In addition to its own rigorous in-house testing, JM Eagle is subjected to more than 400 unannounced audits and inspections each year across its 22 plants, conducted by reputable, independent agencies including Underwriters Laboratories, NSF, Factory Mutual (FM), International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).    

* JM Eagle recently announced an unprecedented 50-year warranty against manufacturing defects for its pipe products. This warranty-unmatched by any other pipe manufacturer-is a significant first step toward rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure and proof the company stands 100 percent behind its pipe.    

* Vendors and suppliers providing various raw materials and equipment have issued letters verifying the quality of the products used by JM Eagle in the manufacture of its plastic pipes. In fact, these letters confirm that all plastic pipe manufacturers use essentially the same standards-compliant raw materials to make their products as JM Eagle. This is in direct opposition to claims made in the lawsuit, which alleges that JM Eagle used inferior or non-standard materials in order to trim costs.

* There is clear evidence that John Hendrix, the fired ex-employee who brought the lawsuit, was also the architect of a kickback scheme to defraud JM Eagle. The company has a sworn affidavit confirming that he offered to inflate a claim in return for money to be sent directly to his home. Also, after Hendrix was fired, he was caught impersonating a JM Eagle employee in order to obtain from a lab proprietary test results on the company's pipe, using his personal email address and offering to pay with his personal credit card.

* A diverse coalition of civil rights and community organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Anti-Defamation League, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) cosigned a letter expressing outrage over racially insensitive language contained in the complaint about the ethnicity and nationality of JM Eagle's employees and leaders. APALC also sent a letter to Phillips & Cohen's named partners demanding that they withdraw the irrelevant and offensive references from the lawsuit immediately. In a condescending and insulting reply to the request, Phillips & Cohen refused to drop the needless race-baiting language. Their insensitive refusal is proof of Phillips & Cohen purposefully putting racial intent into the lawsuit.

About JM Eagle

With 22 manufacturing plants throughout North America, JM Eagle manufactures the widest array of high-grade, high-performance polyvinyl chloride and high-density polyethylene pipe across a variety of industries and applications including utility, solvent weld, electrical conduit, natural gas, irrigation, potable water and sewage. More information can be found at www.jmeagle.com

SOURCE JM Eagle

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http://www.jmeagle.com

Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) announced today that the remaining court proceedings in the case entitled VINNIE LAVENDER, by and through her Conservator, WANDA BAKER; WALTER SIMON; JACQUELYN VILCHINSKY vs. SKILLED HEALTHCARE GROUP, INC., et al (and 22 individually-named California nursing facilities receiving administrative services from Skilled Healthcare, LLC) have been further postponed and are now scheduled to begin on September 8, 2010.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100628/SHGLOGO)

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100628/SHGLOGO)

About Skilled Healthcare Group

Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., based in Foothill Ranch, California, is a holding company with subsidiary healthcare services companies, which in the aggregate had trailing twelve month revenue of approximately $768 million and approximately 14,500 employees as of June 30, 2010. Skilled Healthcare Group and its wholly-owned companies, collectively referred to as the "Company", operate long-term care facilities and provide a wide range of post-acute care services, with a strategic emphasis on sub-acute specialty health care. The Company operates long-term care facilities in California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, including 79 skilled nursing facilities that offer sub-acute care and rehabilitative and specialty health skilled nursing care, and 22 assisted living facilities that provide room and board and social services. In addition, the Company provides physical, occupational and speech therapy in Company-operated facilities and unaffiliated facilities. Furthermore, the Company provides hospice and home health care in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and New Mexico. References made in this release to "Skilled Healthcare", "the Company", "we", "us" and "our" refer to Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. and each of its wholly-owned companies. More information about Skilled Healthcare is available at its Web site -- www.skilledhealthcaregroup.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes "forward-looking statements". You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements contain words such as "may," "will," "project," "might," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," "continue" or "pursue," or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. In particular, they include the forward looking statements regarding court proceedings and settlement discussions relating to the Lavender case. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events, including the assumptions stated in this release.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, the actual performance of Skilled Healthcare may differ materially from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that the parties in the Lavender case do not reach a settlement before the plaintiffs seek to convert the jury verdict to a judgment and the factors described in Skilled Healthcare's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" contained therein) and in our subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.

Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release. Skilled Healthcare disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc.

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http://www.skilledhealthcaregroup.com