Features
News from the FDA
Important information you need to know.
'Tort Hellhole' Moves to Curtail Access
Mississippi plaintiffs' lawyers, battered by a 2-year fight with medical and business lobbyists, are seeking ways to undermine new laws that limit civil litigants' access and recoveries in the state that has been dubbed a 'tort hellhole.' Meanwhile, the tort reform juggernaut is rumbling into other states.
Features
Baycol: A Sudden Rush to Settle
In the last several weeks, Pittsburgh-based Bayer Corp. has been rapidly settling federal lawsuits and claims involving Baycol, the anti-cholesterol drug it pulled off the market in August 2001 after it was linked to 100 deaths worldwide, two Miami law firms say.
Features
How Much Damage?
The recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in <i>EZ Dock Inc. v. Schafer Systems Inc.</i>, 276 F.3d 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2002) may well have an impact on the development of biotechnological and pharmaceutical inventions.
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Case Briefing
The latest rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Preserving the Attorney-Client Privilege
Within the context of corporations and other commercial entities, maintaining and preserving the protections afforded by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine require special precautions. If access to information and materials otherwise protected from disclosure is provided to individuals other than those who 'need to know,' then a corporate client may inadvertently waive the protections offered by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine.
U.S. Seeking Share of Payout on Implants
Nine years and at least $1 billion ago, class-action plaintiffs settled their claims with makers of silicone breast implants. But one rather weighty party remains unhappy with the deal ' the United States government.
Supremes Mull Maine Discount Prescription Program
The Supreme Court appears torn over what to do with Maine's discount prescription drug program, which has been challenged by the pharmaceutical industry and the Bush Administration as a violation of the federal Medicaid law.
Federal Circuit Negative on Best-mode Defense
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has taken an increasingly dim view of an accused infringer's attempt to invalidate the claims of a patent-in-suit by alleging that the patentee failed to satisfy the best-mode requirement.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›