Lawsuit Over LA Lap-Band Ads Is Settled

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A company that promotes Lap-Band weight-loss surgery has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a false-advertising lawsuit, with some of the money going to billboards warning the public about the risks of weight-loss surgery.    
That from 2009 to 2011 five patients died after Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign.

  
Relatives of two of the dead patients, Ana Renteria and Laura Faitro, filed the lawsuit as a class action in 2011.    
The proposed settlement, to be paid by the Top Surgeons company, still needs the approval of a Los Angeles County judge. A hearing is scheduled Thursday.    
The proposed deal calls for $100,000 to be spent on advertising throughout Southern California explaining the risks of the procedure.