Before becoming LegalReader's Editor-in-Chief, Jay W. Belle Isle worked as a freelance copywriter with clients on four continents. Jay has a degree in Business Administration from Cleary University and a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Jay has also worked as a contracts administrator for a DOD contractor specializing in vehicle armor.
4/30/2015 In a great example of “CYA,” Takeda settles Actos cases for $2.3B. The agreement, yet to be approved by the plaintiffs, is a result of last year’s whopping smackdown in which a federal jury awarded a shopkeeper $9B, payable by Takeda and it’s former partner, Eli Lilly & Co. The court reduced that award
Colorful Pills by Vera Kratochvil Continual increases have states asking big pharma about astronomical drug prices. Many states are even proposing legislation that will force big pharma to share its development costs and profits as justification for ever-increasing prices. Tony DeLuca, a democratic representative in Pennsylvania, introduced legislation this week saying, “We need to have some
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on same sex marriage today. Arguably one of the nation’s hottest hot topics, SCOTUS is preparing to drop the hammer once and for all on whether I can marry Brad Pitt. The actual decision won’t surface until June, which is fine because… summer wedding! The justices heard two and
A recently filed class action lawsuit claims Monsanto lied about Roundup safety. The suit, filed in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County claims that the mega-corporation’s herbicide is not safe for humans as has been promised by Monsanto. Monsanto states that Roundup targets a specific enzyme (EPSP synthase) that is only found in
Olympus Corp., manufacturer of the TJF-Q180V duodenoscope, might have known about a risk involving their product at least two years ago. At least that’s when it issued letters to European hospitals warning that, without proper cleaning, it’s a possibility that Olympus duodenoscopes carry deadly disease. Unfortunately, in the U.S. that possibility may have become a
The once-taken-seriously Heritage Foundation filed a 100-page amicus brief as SCOTUS prepares to hear the issue again. In the brief, the Heritage Foundation tells SCOTUS legalizing gay marriage kills 900,000 fetuses. The “logic” behind this mind-numbingly stupid claim? If “the gays” can legally marry, there will be fewer opposite sex marriages, which means more women
The Mirena IUD may increase the chances of developing pseudotumor cerebri creating a potential new cause of action. Certain plaintiffs in a 2014 suit regarding the Mirena IUD even asked to have their pseudotumor cerebri claims separated into a unique class. The request was denied based on there not being enough pseudotumor cerebri claims to
A Texas family court refused to allow a legally married gay couple to put either of their names on the birth certificates of their newborn biological twins despite the fact that each of the men, Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, biologically fathered one of the twins, Lucas and Ethan. The court also refused to allow
Pfizer wins first Zoloft birth defect case, Pesante v. Pfizer, Inc. On Friday, April 17, the verdict came in that mega-corporation Pfizer’s Zoloft anti-depressant was not the cause of plaintiff’s heart abnormalities. This is the first of over 1,000 such cases currently in the judicial system. The fact that Pfizer won will have widespread repercussions
The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the ban on “gay conversion therapy” in New Jersey. The ban specifically addresses minors and the ruling states that state officials may forbid treatments that could put minors at risk. Governor Chris Christie signed the law in 2013. The court dismissed a “John Doe” suit brought by