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Does Off-Label Promotion Settlement Signal Change in FDA Policy?

Litigation
Law 360 |
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Law360 on the Decline of Civility in the Profession($)

Bad Behavior On The Rise In The Legal Profession


In August 2015, during a tense discussion in a deposition of a woman accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of improperly seizing her home, the plaintiff’s attorney stopped to duck her head under the conference room table.


“I asked her what she was doing,” said JPMorgan’s lawyer, Brian Rich, according to the deposition transcript. “She indicated that she was looking to see if there was anything between my legs.”


The plaintiff’s attorney, Mary Alice Moore Leonhardt, later apologized and said she lost her composure after being “chronically and persistently exposed to condescending behavior by attorney Rich.”

Litigation
Reuters |

VW Emissions Probe Looks at Possible Bank Fraud

The U.S. Justice Department sent German automaker Volkswagen AG a subpoena under a bank fraud law in its diesel emissions probe.


The government is using the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act to issue the civil subpoena, a 1989 law used in investigating large financial institutions, said the source who requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe. The law allows the government's civil division to investigate fraud over the last 10 years.


VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan declined to comment on talks with regulators, but said the automaker "will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies."

Litigation
Legal Newsline |

Wright Medical Seeks New Trial in $11mln Hip Case

The case of a failed hip replacement of a Utah woman who received an $11 million jury award in a bellwether trial late last year isn't over yet, as the defense has filed routine post-trial motions.


The multimillion-dollar verdict was reached in November. The judge in the case, filed in Atlanta federal court, is considering a motion filed in January asking for the overturning of the jury's verdict or a new trial. The plaintiff's response accuses the defendant of "playing Monday morning quarterback".


Litigation
Law.com |
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Hard Times Hit World’s First Publicly Traded Law Firm

Australia’s Slater & Gordon has grown accustomed to life in the spotlight. Ever since becoming the world’s first publicly-listed law firm in 2007, the personal injury and employment claims specialist has had to regularly provide statements informing investors of its financial performance and strategic developments, while its every move has been closely scrutinized by rivals and industry observers.


But Slater & Gordon has recently been creating headlines for the wrong reasons.

Slater & Gordon will now undertake a restructuring of its operations, which it says will include the “likely closure” of a number of U.K. offices and potential staff layoffs. (The firm currently has 20 outposts in the U.K., employing close to 4,000 people.) This month the firm will deliver a revised operating plan and restructuring proposal to its lenders, including National Australia Bank Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp., with the aim of extending its current debt deadline of March 31, 2017. Any amendment to its facilities must be agreed by the end of April, otherwise the firm will face the prospect of repaying the more than half a billion dollars it currently owes.

Litigation
Fox News |

Criminal Charges Dropped Against Deceased Energy Company CEO, But Landowner Class Actions Filed

Federal authorities sought Thursday to drop a criminal indictment of bid rigging against Oklahoma energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon, who died in a fiery single-car crash just hours after the indictment was announced.


Meanwhile, attorneys for a northwest Oklahoma landowner filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against McClendon's former company, Chesapeake Energy, alleging a conspiracy that involved another energy executive, ex-Sandridge Energy CEO Tom Ward.


The U.S. Department of Justice's Chicago-based antitrust division alleged in the indictment against McClendon that he and unnamed co-conspirators orchestrated the conspiracy to rig bids for landowner leases in northwest Oklahoma. Ward, a longtime friend of McClendon's who co-founded Chesapeake in the 1980s, was the CEO of Sandridge at the time the conspiracy was alleged to have occurred.

Litigation
Legal Newsline |

Payment System Operator Fined for Collecting Personal Information from Consumers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered online payment platform Dwolla Inc. to pay $100,000 and fix its security practices after allegations of deception.


“Consumers entrust digital payment companies with significant amounts of sensitive personal information,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said. “With data breaches becoming commonplace and more consumers using these online payment systems, the risk to consumers is growing. It is crucial that companies put systems in place to protect this information and accurately inform consumers about their data security practices.”


From December 2010 until 2014, Dwolla claimed to use safe and secure transactions. The company claimed its security practices exceeded industry standards and were compliant to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. The CFPB alleges, however, that Dwolla fell short of these promises.

Litigation
The Legal Intelligencer |

Insurer-Initiated Doctor Peer Review Not Privileged in Med Mal Case

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to review the appeal of an insurer seeking to protect a medical peer review it initiated for the purpose of deciding whether to maintain a business relationship with the doctors being reviewed.


The Superior Court ruled in August 2015 that the peer review is not privileged under the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act.


In upholding a Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas ruling in Venosh v. Henzes, a three-judge panel of the Superior Court said the act's privilege provision only applies to peer reviews initiated by a professional health care provider.