6/1/2015 Somehow, some way, incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday, May 29th despite Wednesday’s U.S. Justice Department’s 47-count indictment and the arrests by Swiss authorities of several executives at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. The shocking nature of Blatter’s election to a fifth term is the fact that it wasn’t really very shocking. This
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
5/28/2015 In what looks to be the most widespread and lucrative corruption scandal in the global history of sport, the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed a 47-count indictment against 14 executives of the worldwide soccer governing body, FIFA. The executives are being charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The Justice Department alleges that
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
5/26/2015 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
5/26/2015 Charter Communications is expected to announce on Tuesday that the company has reached an agreement to purchase Time Warner Cable. If the deal passes regulatory scrutiny, the third and second largest cable providers, respectively, will provide heavy competition to industry leader Comcast, as well as other companies like DirecTV and Netflix. The estimated $55
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
5/25/2015 On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed down a ruling that tobacco companies must tell the public that cigarettes are designed to be addictive. However, the tobacco industry doesn’t have to tell the truth about past actions. The opinion’s author, Judge David Tatel, wrote that the court decided that,
5/21/2015 The FDA announced yesterday that it is warning healthcare professionals of potential problems with Zerbaxa (ceftolozane and tazobactam). Apparently, the Zerbaxa labels cause confusion over dosages. The risk stems from the vial label being approved with each individual active ingredients’ strength listed (e.g. 1 g/0.5 g). The product is not dosed like that, though,
5/21/2015 Earlier this month, the FDA posted an alert regarding Hospira’s LifeCare PCA3 and PCA5 infusion pumps. The computerized systems are used to continuously deliver anesthetic or therapeutic drugs and can be programmed remotely over a hospital’s Ethernet or wireless service. Both Hospira and the FDA learned of certain security vulnerabilities in Hospira’s PCA3 and