The Litigation Counsellor®

Owner of employment law and False Claims Act practice speaks on the importance

of business acumen in running a law firm. 

Our Deputy General Counsel, Kelly Anthony, Esq., recently sat down with Adam for a one-on-one interview on what helped his firm grow, what inspired him to start his own legal practice, financing their firm with Counsel Financial and advice on starting your own practice.

This is the first installment of our new monthly series. Read what he had to say...

Kelly Anthony, Esq., Assistant General Counsel

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc., have agreed to pay $2.4 billion to resolve thousands of product liability lawsuits pending in the U.S. involving allegations that the companies’ prescription diabetes drug, Actos, caused cancer.

Although U.S. courts are typically slow to adopt technological innovations, there has been a recent push to allow the admission of wearable device data into evidence.¹ Most prominently, it has been discussed in the context of personal injury litigation as a means to show notable changes in a plaintiff’s physical fitness or behavior after an injury. For instance, a plaintiff could support claims that their activity levels decreased after an injury by utilizing several months or even years’ worth of data compiled from an exercise tracker, such as a Fitbit or Jawbone or the much-anticipated Apple Watch.

At least four people apparently believe it does. Within the past week, LinkedIn made headlines over a class action suit filed in the Northern District of California concerning a product offered to the social networking site’s premium account holders, which purportedly has cost the four named plaintiffs job opportunities. The product, called “Reference Search,” provides those members who purchase a subscription the ability to search for and, through internal messaging, contact individuals who may have worked with a potential job candidate—without that candidate’s knowledge.

A jury in Bakersfield, California, has returned a $5.7 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Ethicon Inc., after finding that Ethicon’s TVT Abbrevo transvaginal mesh device was defectively designed and that Ethicon failed to warn doctors of the risks associated with the product.

On Thursday, February 19, 2015, LinkedIn unveiled its newly enhanced platform of business-to-business lead generation products. The launch follows the $175 million acquisition of Bizo, a company devoted to helping advertisers reach businesses and professionals, in August 2014. LinkedIn utilized Bizo’s team and technology, as well as partnered with AppNexus, to bring to life what the company promises is a suite of products that will provide “a faster way to reach, nurture, and convert high-quality leads on and off LinkedIn.”

United States District Court Judge, Hon. Nicholas G. Garaufis, on February 19, 2015, issued a 150-page decision concluding that Plaintiffs, the United States and the attorneys general of 17 states, proved by a preponderance of evidence that Defendants, American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company, violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In particular, the Court held that Non-Discrimination Provisions (“NDPs”)

On Thursday, January 8, 2015, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who is presiding over the multi-district litigation involving prescription antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride), granted the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s motion for leave to identify and present a new general causation expert. Previously, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (“PSC”) offered four witnesses to testify as to whether Zoloft caused birth defects in babies born to mothers who took the drug while pregnant, but the Court excluded the testimony.

On Monday, November 3, 2014, Stryker Corporation announced it would pay at least $1 billion to settle cases brought by thousands of patients over injuries sustained by faulty hip implants manufactured by its subsidiary, Howmedica Osteonics Corp.

Counsel Financial was pleased to host a gathering of many prominent female mass tort attorneys during the 2014 Women En Mass retreat in Aspen, Colorado. It was a great opportunity for all to meet other powerhouse women in the mass tort arena and share

A University of Central Florida football student?athlete with sickle cell trait died after collapsing to the ground during practice. On the day of the student-athlete's death, the team allegedly endured a particularly grueling practice, described as punishment in which neither water nor trainers were readily available. The student-athlete was observed having difficulty breathing, falling to the ground, and eventually becoming incoherent before emergency personnel were called. The athlete died soon thereafter. The university's athletic association had a policy in place for mandatory screening for sickle cell trait in African-American athletes, to which the student-athlete tested positive. Six months after the initial screening, the head athletic director for the university noticed the student-athlete did not have the required sickle cell screening test result in his sports medicine file. The athletic director instructed the student-athlete to obtain another laboratory screening, and the results were again positive. Although the results should have been sent to the university's sports medicine department, they were not provided to the athlete or the sports medicine department until after his death. The university's policies and procedures for athletes with positive sickle cell trait results proscribed a number of notifications, accommodations and procedures that must be disseminated and taken. Plaintiff asserted that the university was negligent for failing to inform the student-athlete of his positive test results; failing to inform team personnel of the positive test results; failing to provide appropriate counseling to the student-athlete regarding the risks, precautions and symptoms relating to sickle cell trait; failing to inform, counsel or educate team personnel regarding the risks, precautions and symptoms to avoid a sickling collapse; failing to educate the personnel about exercise modification, intervention and emergency management for an athlete with sickle cell trait; and failing to follow appropriate procedures and timely respond when the student-athlete showed signs and symptoms of physical distress during the conditioning session.

Verdict: $10,000,000