Corporate Law

Lawyer faces charges linked to claimed $28M health insurance fraud

A South Carolina lawyer is facing federal criminal charges linked to a claimed $28 million health insurance fraud scheme. Kathleen Devereaux Cauthen is accused of aiding others who allegedly sold some 17,000 phony policies throughout the country, via the American Trade Association, reports the Tennessean. She was charged in a…

Jun 25, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Proposed new FAA rules set stage for stricter enforcement against business use of drones

Apparently setting the stage for stricter enforcement against commercial drones and other unmanned small flying machines used in business operations, the Federal Aviation Administration has drafted new rules for “model aircraft” and is inviting public comment. Its interpretation (PDF) of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 provides specific…

Jun 24, 2014 10:30 PM CDT

Samsung and Quinn Emanuel must pay $2M for revealing ‘attorneys’ eyes only’ info, judge rules

A major law firm and its client must pay a patent litigation opponent more than $2 million in legal fees and costs, a federal judge in California has ruled. The award covers the expense of litigating a sanctions motion and discovery dispute over the revelation of “attorneys’ eyes only” information…

Jun 24, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Federal judge nixes receiver’s suit, says law firms aren’t ‘insurers of good behavior’ by clients

A federal judge in Georgia has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a receiver against an Atlanta law firm, finding that attorneys have no duty to blow the whistle on their clients. On the contrary, except in very limited circumstances, lawyers are bound by a duty of confidentiality to their clients,…

Jun 16, 2014 10:30 PM CDT

State AG sues Experian, says credit-report Goliath stonewalls consumers about known errors

A state attorney general has sued Experian Information Solutions, contending that the major credit-reporting agency has knowingly left errors in its files on consumers and makes it difficult or impossible for individuals to correct them. Filed without fanfare in state court in Biloxi last month, the suit by Mississippi Attorney…

Jun 16, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Did ‘corporate speak’ and PowerPoint lead to complacency at GM?

General Motors employees were taught to be careful when writing about safety issues. A 2008 Power Point presentation had some helpful suggestions, according to a report by Jenner & Block chairman Anton Valukas on the automaker’s failure to respond to defective ignition switches. A “problem” should be described as an…

Jun 11, 2014 12:22 PM CDT

6 attorneys fired by GM after law firm ignition-switch probe are reportedly identified

A total of six in-house lawyers were fired by General Motors following an investigation by an outside law firm of the automaker’s handling of ignition-switch issues over the past decade, reports Reuters, and the news agency says it has identified them, based on information from unnamed sources. The company’s general…

Jun 10, 2014 8:05 PM CDT

New bill could nix top Delaware court’s OK of loser-pays rule for attorney fees in corporate cases

With unusual speed, a bill was drafted by Delaware lawyers and introduced in the state legislature that could negate a state supreme court ruling last month approving a corporate fee-shifting bylaw affecting shareholder litigation. The bylaw required losing plaintiffs to cover the company’s attorney fees and costs for corporate litigation…

Jun 10, 2014 5:45 PM CDT

A sweet federal court ruling for Mister Softee owners doesn’t prevent Master Softee ice cream sales

For the past decade, attorney Jeff Zucker says he has never lost a case on behalf of a client whose family began selling ice cream in 1956 from what is now an 18-state fleet of some 600 Mister Softee trucks. And, so far, his latest litigation, against a former franchisee…

Jun 10, 2014 2:55 PM CDT

Woman sues GM over criminal conviction resulting from car crash

General Motors is facing a number of lawsuits as a result of its now-admitted problem with vehicle ignition switches. But one may be unique. A Texas woman who was convicted of negligent homicide as a result of a 2004 crash now says in a federal lawsuit filed in Tyler on…

Jun 9, 2014 10:50 PM CDT

Federal jury awards $4.7M to Yemeni-born man named Osama who was taunted and punched at work

A manager of a women’s clothing store in Brooklyn, New York, testified that a security guard was just teasing when he referred to a Yemeni-born stock clerk named Osama Saleh as “bin Laden” and a terrorist, in an apparent reference to the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on…

Jun 9, 2014 5:05 PM CDT

GM cites ‘pattern of incompetence,’ fires 15 including legal execs, will pay ignition-switch victims

An internal probe of General Motors found “a pattern of incompetence and neglect” but no intentional cover-up of ignition-switch issues that resulted in a massive vehicle recall this year after a decade of problems including at least 13 fatal accidents. Fifteen employees were fired as a result of the investigation…

Jun 5, 2014 3:30 PM CDT

Veteran lawyer fined $1K for using b-word to describe trial court in contempt-case appeal

An ugly word used by a veteran Michigan business lawyer to describe a trial court in a written appeal of a contempt case resulted in a double whammy. After upholding the Kent County Circuit Court’s contempt finding against David Charron, the Michigan Court of Appeals also fined him $1,000 for…

Jun 4, 2014 8:00 PM CDT

Seattle OKs $15 minimum wage plan

The Seattle City Council on Monday approved a plan to require employers to pay a $15 minimum wage to workers within the next three to seven years. “Today we have taken action that will serve as a model for the rest of the nation to follow,” said Mayor Ed Murray,…

Jun 3, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

Chicago sues 5 drug companies, says they pushed painkillers and drove up city’s costs

Following in the footsteps of two California counties, the city of Chicago this week filed suit against five pharmaceutical companies, contending that they drove up the city’s costs by overstating the benefits of their addictive painkillers and failing to reveal the downside of taking the drugs. It says the defendants,…

Jun 3, 2014 3:15 PM CDT