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Wis. Supreme Court upholds damages in drug lawsuit
Legal & Political |
2012/06/22 11:06
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday upheld damages that were awarded in a lawsuit the state brought against a prescription drug company accused of inflating prices.
The lawsuit dates back to 2004 when then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager sued 36 drug companies alleging they inflated wholesale prices to get larger payments from Medicaid, private insurers and consumers.
The case against Pharmacia Inc. was the first to go to trial, and in 2009 a jury found that the drug maker violated the state's Medicaid fraud law 1.44 million times over a decade. After reviewing the evidence, the judge found the actual tally was 4,578 and ordered the company to pay $4.5 million in forfeitures and other costs. The jury also awarded $9 million in damages.
Pharmacia appealed, arguing that the jury incorrectly calculated the damages, that the number of violations should be reduced to zero, and that a jury trial was improper. |
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Penn State: Court should dismiss Spanier's lawsuit
Legal & Political |
2012/06/15 11:15
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Penn State is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the university by its former president.
Graham Spanier sued May 25 to obtain old emails that he says are necessary to respond to Penn State's child sex-abuse probe.
Documents filed by Penn State on Thursday in Centre County court also argue that Spanier should have first requested the emails under the state's Right-to-Know law.
Penn State is conducting an internal investigation of how the university handled child molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is currently on trial and has denied wrongdoing. |
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House acts against high court on eminent domain
Legal & Political |
2012/03/01 00:46
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The House sought Tuesday to undercut a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gives state and local governments eminent domain authority to seize private property for economic development projects.
Sponsors of the bill, which passed by a voice vote, said it was needed because the 5-4 high court ruling skewed constitutional intentions that eminent domain apply only to land for public use projects.
That ruling, said bill cosponsor Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., justified "the government's taking of private property and giving it to a private business for use in the interest of creating a more lucrative tax base." As a result, he said, the "government's power of eminent domain has become almost limitless, providing citizens with few means to protect their property."
His legislation would withhold for two years all federal development aid to states or locales that take private property for economic development. It also bars the federal government from using eminent domain for economic development purposes and gives private property owners the right to take legal action if provisions of the legislation are violated.
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Court to look at life in prison for juveniles
Legal & Political |
2011/11/08 12:29
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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether juveniles convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, a follow-up to last year's ruling barring such sentences for teenagers whose crimes do not include killing.
The justices will examine a pair of cases from the South involving young killers who are serving life sentences for crimes they committed when they were 14.
Both cases were brought by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. The institute said that life without parole for children so young is cruel and unusual and violates the Constitution.
The group says roughly six dozen people in 18 states are under life sentences and ineligible for parole for crimes they committed at 13 or 14.
Kuntrell Jackson was sentenced to life in prison in Arkansas after the shooting death of a store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1999. Another boy shot the clerk, but because Jackson was present he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery.
Evan Miller was convicted of capital murder during the course of arson. A neighbor, while doing drugs and drinking with Miller and a 16-year-old boy, attacked Miller. Intoxicated, Miller and his friend beat the man and set fire to his home, killing the 52-year-old man. Miller's friend testified against him, and got life in prison with the possibility of parole. |
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Possible plea deal in Ohio abortion gunpoint case
Legal & Political |
2011/05/01 09:13
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A prosecutor says discussions about a possible plea bargain are under way in the case of an Ohio man accused of trying to force his pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint to get an abortion.
Police say 28-year-old Dominic Holt-Reid pulled a gun Oct. 6 on his girlfriend, Yolanda Burgess, and forced her to drive to an abortion clinic.
Authorities say the procedure never happened because Burgess managed to slip a note to a clinic employee, who called police.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday that his office and lawyers for Holt-Reid have been discussing a potential plea.
A message left with Holt-Reid's lawyer seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.
O'Brien approved charging Hold-Reid under a 1996 fetal homicide law. Holt-Reid has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges. |
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