Miami Herald; November 18, 2013

In Florida, and almost three dozen other states, it is a crime to have intercourse without disclosing a sexually transmitted disease.

So prosecutors thought they had a solid case when they charged a Manatee County woman who failed to tell her female partner that she was HIV-positive. A Tampa appeals court, however, threw out the case, ruling that “sexual intercourse” could take place only with a penis and a vagina — in other words, between a man and a woman.

But last month, a South Florida appeals court issued a conflicting opinion, upholding charges against a Key West man whom police had accused of lying about being HIV-positive to his male partner. The ruling more broadly defined intercourse, finding that it did not require opposite genders or specific body parts.

USA Today; November 19, 2013

George Zimmerman, acquitted in July in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was arrested Monday afternoon for allegedly pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend and pushing her out of her house as he packed to move out, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.

Zimmerman barricaded himself in the house Samantha Scheibe rented in Apopka, which he had shared with her since around August, Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a news conference. She gave deputies a key, and they pushed aside furniture he had piled against the door.

Zimmerman was unarmed and offered no resistance when he was arrested about 1 p.m. Lemma said investigators believe two weapons are in the home -- a shotgun and an assault rifle -- and are seeking a search warrant. The arrest report said Zimmerman had apparently locked up the shotgun before deputies arrived.

To read the complete article, please click here: usatoday.com.

Would you like to attend the Trial Lawyers Summit in January, but don’t really need the CLE credits?  If so, The National Trial Lawyers has created a special social packet for attorneys who would prefer to do some networking with some of the finest plaintiff and criminal defense attorneys in the country.  For $650, you can attend the parties scheduled for Sunday and Monday nights, January 19 and 20, 2014, as well as two lunches on Monday and Tuesday, January 20.

Sunday night features a Welcome Reception with a live band and entertainment.  Monday you can attend The Trial Lawyer Awards Luncheon with keynote speaker CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.  Later that evening, you can attend the President’s Reception with a live band and entertainment at the Loews St. Moritz Lawn & Pool.  That’s followed on Tuesday with another luncheon at the Loews.

For more information or to purchase a ticket, call 866-665-2852.

The Trial Lawyers Summit will be held January 19-22, 2014 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.  To learn more about the Summit or to register, go to www.ntlsummit.com.

MSN/AP; November 18, 2013

The father of a 4-year-old New Jersey boy who shot to death a 6-year-old neighbor with his father's unsecured gun rejected a plea bargain Monday that would have required him to serve seven years in prison.

Anthony Senatore of Toms River pleaded not guilty in state Superior Court to six counts of child endangerment.

Senatore, 34, is accused of keeping a loaded .22-caliber rifle unsecured in his bedroom. That's where his son found it in April, took it outside, and shot 6-year-old Brandon Holt once in the head.

Senator's lawyer, Robert Ebberup, says Senatore is "deeply horrified over what took place and feels awful about it."

To read the complete article, please click here: MSN.com.

Lawyersandsettlements.com; November 17, 2013

Cole County, MO: While not particularly active in the headlines of late, Lexapro birth defects is an issue that has nonetheless kept percolating in the shadows, and is poised to make a return to the public conscience with the start of the consolidated Lexapro/Celexa Products Liability Litigation trial in May of next year.

Lexapro (escitalopram) is a member of the SRRI class of antidepressants (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) and is prescribed for depression. The latter, together with other forms of mental illness, continues to be a force in the US, with 25 percent of Americans suffering from diagnosable mental illness, according to the New York Times (8/19/13).

To that end, mental illness such as depression is increasingly treated with medication such as Lexapro, with one in five Americans currently prescribed at least one psychotic medication, according to Dr. Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College, writing in the New York Times.

To read the complete article, please click here: lawyersandsettlements.com.

Lawyersandsettlements.com; November 18, 2013

Chicago, IL: Two more brain injury lawsuits have been filed against the NFL, alleging players were not adequately warned about the risk of traumatic brain injury associated with football. The two lawsuits also name Riddell, maker of helmets, for failing to warn players about the risk of brain trauma.

According to the Chicago Tribune (11/6/13), Bobby Douglass, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears, and John Cornell, a former player for Northwestern who was part of professional training camps, allege they developed brain damage linked to injuries they sustained while playing football. Their lawsuits allege that multiple concussions increased their risk of permanent brain damage and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition linked to multiple brain injuries.

The NFL has already agreed to settle lawsuits brought by more than 4,500 players for approximately $765 million. In agreeing to the settlement, the league did not admit any wrongdoing.

To read the complete article, please visit lawyersandsettlements.com.

News Inferno; November 15, 2013

Lawyers for the city of Chicago are looking into marketing claims made by the makers of some narcotic painkillers in advance of a potential lawsuit against the drug makers.

The probe concerns if the drug maker overstated the medications’ benefits while downplaying risks, including that patients could become addicted to the drugs known as opioids, a court filing indicates, according to The New York Times.

To read the complete article, please click here: newsinferno.com.

Forbes; November 18, 2013

The headlines BP endured in April, 2010 were ugly. The Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. From a public relations standpoint, the camera-feed of oil gushing from the unplugged well into the blue waters of the Gulf was a constant reminder of the environmental damage caused by the accident. From a legal standpoint, BP was on the hook for billions of dollars. The accident left a heavy toll on the company’s stock. By June of 2010, it lost half its value, plunging from about $60 to $27. Three-and-a-half years later, it has only recovered about half its share price.

To read the complete article, please click here: forbes.com.

Reuters; November 18, 2013

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would not review a ruling by the secretive intelligence court that gave the government access to records kept by Verizon Communications Inc on millions of telephone calls.

The long-shot case was brought to the high court by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest research organization. It was the first time the high-profile issue has come before the justices since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden began in June to leak secret documents detailing American surveillance programs.

The NSA used records like those provided by Verizon as part of the spy agency's counterterrorism surveillance activities.

The court rejected the case in a one-sentence order.

To read the complete article, please click here: reuters.com.

NOLA.com/Associated Press; November 4, 2013

The Supreme Court on Monday declined for now to jump back into the long-running legal fight over abortion, but a flood of new state restrictions has increased the chances that the issue soon will be back before the justices.

The court stepped back from a dispute over a now-nullified Oklahoma law to limit drug-induced abortions. But a new filing asks the justices to block new Texas restrictions that have dramatically reduced the availability of abortions in Texas.

Oklahoma also is challenging its state high court's rejection of a law mandating an ultrasound exam before an abortion can be performed and Arizona, backed by 16 other states, wants the justices to let it enforce a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except for medical emergencies.

To read the complete article, please click here: nola.com.

NBC News/Associated Press; November 5, 2013

A federal appeals court on Monday temporarily halted plans by companies in New Mexico and Missouri to begin slaughtering horses, continuing on-again, off-again efforts to resume domestic equine slaughter two years after Congress lifted a ban on the practice.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued a temporary injunction barring the Department of Agriculture from inspecting the plants, which were gearing up to open in the coming days after a federal judge in Albuquerque on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by The Humane Society of the United States.

The Humane Society and other animal protection groups alleged the department failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits to the slaughterhouses.

To read the complete article, please visit nbcnews.com.

NBC News; November 5, 2013

Steel workers who do their jobs wearing flame-retardant gear tried to convince the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that they should be paid for the time they spend "donning and doffing" such items before and after their shifts.

In a case that could affect unionized workers in poultry processing, meat packing and other sectors, roughly 800 current and former workers at the United States Steel Corp plant in Gary, Indiana, are seeking the extra pay.

A crucial point in the case is the difference between "clothes" and "protective gear."

In high court arguments, the nine justices struggled to clearly differentiate between the two — a task that the U.S. Labor Department has only made harder over the years.

To read the complete article, please click here: nbcnews.com.

News Inferno; November 4, 2013

British drug maker AstraZeneca in under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over a major clinical trial involved in the approval of its heart drug Brilinta (ticagrelor).

AstraZeneca said on Thursday that it had received a civil investigative demand from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for documents and information about the so-called PLATO study (PLATelet Inhibition and Clinical Outcomes). AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said the company would cooperate with the investigation. Soirot said he was “very confident” in the findings of the clinical trial, because “a strong academic group” had overseen the trial, 4-Traders.com reports.

The company did not disclose the nature of the investigation, and DOJ spokesman Peter Carr had no immediate comment on the case, according to 4-Traders. The PLATO study, which included 18,000 patients was first reported at a medical meeting in 2009 and then formed the basis of drug approval applications in the United States and other countries. Brilinta, a blood thinner, received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in July 2011.

To read the complete article, please click here: newsinferno.com.

HLN; November 5, 2013

The prosecution is expected to wrap its case this week against former Utah doctor Martin MacNeill, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of his wife.

Defense attorneys for MacNeill say his wife died of natural causes after face-lift surgery; prosecutors allege that MacNeill drowned and drugged his wife to be with his mistress, but there are some things prosecutors will never be able to share with the jury. Here are three of them:

To read the complete article, please click here: hlntv.com.

CNN; November 4, 2013

Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion to settle charges that the company marketed drugs for unapproved uses and paid "kickbacks" to doctors and nursing homes.

The penalties announced Monday involve fines and forfeiture to the federal government and several states. The settlement involves the schizophrenia drugs Risperdal and Invega, and the heart failure drug Natrecor, the company and Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Johnson & Johnson and two subsidiaries "lined their pockets at the expense of American taxpayers, patients and the private insurance industry," Holder said.

The penalty amounts to one of the country's largest health care-related settlements, the Justice Department said.

It also results in what one plaintiff's attorney called the largest whistleblower payout in U.S. history. Whistleblowers in three states will collect $167.7 million under the False Claims Act.

To read the complete article, please click here: money.cnn.com.