Lots to talk about today, civil justice fans—much of it scary, perhaps even unsuitable for children—all of it guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat (as always!).
The Bush administration is apparently determined to wreak as much havoc as it can before it turns into a pumpkin this January. Now it’s trying to auction off 110,000 acres of federal land in the prestigious red-rock area of southeastern Utah—and you’ll never guess why…there’s gold in them thar hills! (Well, sort of—actually, the land is said to be “energy rich.”) Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to try and block this latest example of Bush’s regulatory midnight madness. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), who grew up in the red-rock area, called the auction “a final insult from an administration that has done so much to destroy our country.”
Meanwhile, former AIG-CEO Hank Greenberg has reportedly been up to his old tricks again—which is to say, being a greed-driven naughty boy. Hank and several of his buddies agreed to settle a claim for $115 million with a teachers' pension fund it had allegedly swindled. Apparently, Hank’s old friends at AIG had been unnecessarily outsourcing work related to the fund to Greenberg’s new company, C.V. Starr and Co., generating “hundreds of millions” in sham commissions and fees to Greenberg and his cronies.
Last, but certainly not least, a drug company that allegedly enlisted the help of phony pitchmen and advocacy groups to heap “trumped-up” scientific praise on a schizophrenia drug is now being sued by the state of Texas, which hopes to recoup millions of dollars spent on the drug through the state’s Medicaid system. According to a Texas AG filing, the company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, part of Johnson & Johnson, “targeted Texas Medicaid with their sophisticated and fraudulent marketing scheme” aimed at bilking the state out of as much money as it could through sales of "Risperdal." Texas learned of the case through Pennsylvania whistle-blower Allen Jones who said, “It’s standard practice in the industry to influence a few key decision-makers, but this is perhaps the most transparent example I have seen.”
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