6/15/2015 Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been defeated by the courts twice before in very public fashion over the issue of net neutrality; new rules proposed by the FCC in February quietly went into effect on Friday, June 12th. This comes as a three-judge panel from the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court denied a
6/13/2015 Tuesday’s, $663 million settlement against guardrail manufacturer Trinity industries includes the largest-ever award given to a whistle-blower under the False-Claims Act, a whopping $199 million given to former competitor, Virginian Joshua Harman. Harman sued on behalf of the government claiming that Trinity defrauded taxpayers by failing to notify the Federal Highway Administration of a
6/12/2015 Perhaps it was inevitable, or perhaps it is a stroke of genius, but a coalition of attorneys has launched the National Cannabis Bar Association (NCBA) in order to help people navigate what has been called the “green rush.” Medical marijuana is legal in some form in 23 states, and recreational marijuana is legal in
6/10/2015 The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday, June 8th that it will be reviewing a federal appeals ruling in its next term, petitioned by Tyson Foods, challenging a $5.8 million judgment against the company over unpaid work time at an Iowa pork-processing plant. While the sum of the judgment is miniscule in cases of
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 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
5/27/2015 In a decision that helps to define the statute of limitations for whistleblower cases, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, May 26th that whistleblowers do not get extra time to file false claims complaints during a time of war. The case revolves around former Iraq contractor, Benjamin Carter, whose 2011 complaint under review alleges
5/27/2015 For the second time in as many months, a federal court has upheld the stoppage of a key portion of President Obama’s November 2014 executive order reforming U.S. immigration policy. A split 3-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Texas Federal Judge, Andrew Hanen’s February injunction of the executive order after
5/26/2015 Perhaps no industry besides investment banks has been hit as hard by the federal court system than tobacco over the past several years. A pair of recent appeals rulings, however, indicates a substantial turn in the industry’s decades-long financial flogging. On Friday, the D.C. Court of Appeals delivered a mixed-ruling, in which some
5/25/2015 A lawsuit will continue in U.S. District Court in Minnesota regarding Target’s widespread 2013 pre-holiday data breach as banks rejected a $19 million settlement proposed last month. Over 40 million debit and credit cards were compromised during the breach, putting millions of cardholders’ information at risk. The settlement set aside by Target would have