6/2/2015 Knowing how to kick a law when it’s down, Facebook unveiled a new encryption component to its website, which allows users to send and receive emails as well as Facebook notifications that organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA) are unable to view. In the wake of the temporary halting of the NSA spying
6/2/2015 The FDA ban on ephedra has been spectacularly successful in preventing harm and death. Despite the fact that I regularly bust the FDA’s chops, I believe in giving credit where credit is due and the FDA has earned some in this case. The FDA banned the popular weight loss and energy boosting herbal supplement
6/2/2015 Much like Sunday’s last-minute drama in the U.S. Senate over extending parts of the Patriot Act to authorize the NSA-spying program, the Illinois legislature was hard at work Sunday night trying to patch together a massive budget gap before the end of its spring session. The results of the failed last-ditch effort to reconcile
6/1/2015 Olympus Corporation set aside $450M for an expected settlement regarding its marketing practices. It’s already on the hook for its duodenoscopes, which are very hard to clean and have caused a number of superbug outbreaks in the U.S. Olympus failed to timely warn hospitals in the U.S. and three people died. Now federal investigators
6/1/2015 Republicans are furious at one of their own today, Kentucky’s Junior Senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul, who nearly single-handedly took down the National Security Agency’s (NSA) authorization for its spying program. Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act officially expired at midnight, June 1st despite a frantic effort by fellow Kentuckian, Republican Senate
6/1/2015 Somehow, some way, incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday, May 29th despite Wednesday’s U.S. Justice Department’s 47-count indictment and the arrests by Swiss authorities of several executives at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. The shocking nature of Blatter’s election to a fifth term is the fact that it wasn’t really very shocking. This
5/31/2015 Officers and Trustees of the Pound Civil Justice Institute announced on Thursday, May 28th that they have awarded New York University Law professor and BP settlement attorney, Samuel Issacharoff the winner of the think-tank’s first Appellate Advocacy Award. Issacharoff is being awarded the honor for his tireless efforts working on the Deepwater Horizon lawsuit against
5/29/2015 Boston Scientific must pay $100M to a plaintiff injured by its transvaginal mesh as ordered by a Delaware Jury. This is one of over 25,000 suits against BS; the suits typically claim that the product was poorly designed and that BS failed to warn doctors and patients of the risks involved in using it.
5/29/2015 Despite the ongoing FBI investigation of Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing division, Ethicon, and a strong Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning issued last year, power morcellators are still legal. The device grinds up tissue mass, and is then removed through a series of small incisions. The device, which is used to provide minimally invasive
5/29/2015 A federal judicial panel in Alabama has consolidated two lawsuits into a single claim, alleging that the networked structure of insurance group Blue Cross/Blue Shield violates federal antitrust law. Both suits, one filed on behalf of healthcare providers, and the other on behalf of individuals and small-business customers claim that the 37 separate entities