Lawyers Blog

WASHINGTON – A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chemist and his son were arrested in Maryland today in connection with an alleged $2.27 million insider trading scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Elton Malone, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations, Specials Investigations Branch.

A criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Maryland charges Cheng Yi Liang, 57, and his son, Andrew Liang, 25, both residents of Gaithersburg, Md., with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud relating to their trading in the securities of five companies: Clinical Data Inc., Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc., Middlebrook Pharmaceuticals Inc. and

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The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Wal-Mart v. Dukes , a gender discrimination class action lawsuit estimated to include more than 1.5 million womenthe largest class action lawsuit in US history. The issues are (1) whether claims for monetary relief can be certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2) and, if so, under what circumstances; and (2) whether the class certification ordered under rule 23(b)(2) was consistent with rule 23(a). The case was filed in 2001 by female Wal-Mart employees who contend that Wal-Mart’s nationwide policies result in lower pay for women than men in comparable positions and longer waits for management promotions than men. Read all post…

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is to overhaul ‘no win, no fee’ conditional fee arrangements (CFAs) in a bid to reduce high payouts to lawyers and prevent unnecessary litigation making it to courts in England and Wales.

Measures announced by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke will see the abolition of the recoverability of success fees and associated costs in ‘no win, no fee’ CFAs, with claimants to pay their lawyers’ success fees instead.

Meanwhile, as proposed by Lord Justice Jackson’s review of civil litigation costs last year, lawyers will be allowed for the first time to take a slice of their client’s damages.

Other measures include introducing a 10% increase in damages payouts, the introduction of a new test to ensure that overall costs are proportionate, and an increase in the costs which can be recovered by people who win their cases without legal representation.

The Government unveiled plans to implement the bulk of Jackson’s planned reforms to litigation funding in November last year as part of a review of its annual legal aid bill.

Announcing the plans today (29 March) Clarke (pictured) said: “With no major reform for 15 years, the civil justice system has got out of kilter.

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In Wells Fargo Bank, NA v. Haecherl (4D09-4569), the Fourth District reversed the trial court’s order concluding that it did not have jurisdiction to consider a motion to vacate notice of voluntary dismissal. The interesting thing about this case is that the appellant was seeking to vacate it’s own voluntary dismissal. The court noted that Rule 1.540, which allows a party to seek relief from a dismissal, applies to any party that is impacted by the dismissal. Therefore: “Here, appellant was adversely impacted by the notice of voluntary dismissal, and was therefore entitled to seek relief pursuant to the rule.”

Bret Michaels is performing at a concert at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho at 8 p.m. tonight and has donated an autographed guitar that will be raffled off with proceeds going to the family.

Raffle tickets will be sold throughout the concert.