This late-summer edition of Commercial Roundup features a notable ruling on personal jurisdiction, a pair of False Claims Act decisions, a couple of opinions tossing class certification orders, a 2-1 split in a securities fraud case (the dissent has the better end of it), a rare victory for plaintiffs in an action for unlawful maintenance
The Third Circuit’s decision in In re Avandia Marketing, Sales Practices & Product Liability Litigation, No. 14-1948 (3d Cir. Oct. 26, 2015), accepts a path-breaking fraud-on-the-intermediary theory under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (RICO), which allows you to recover three times your actual damages plus reasonable attorneys’ fees. Expect more cases like this.
Continue Reading Rewards of RICO
Get ready, folks, for a new wave of cases under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 — RICO, for short. The Second Circuit ruled this week that a case by the European Community and EC member states may proceed with a RICO case against RJR Nabisco for money laundering and worse. European Community v. RJR
Way back in January 2009, Blawgletter wrote that we doubted a 1995 federal law – a sub-section of which the Second Circuit called "the RICO Amendment" — bars claims, under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, that allege fraud involving credit default swaps and other swap contracts. MLSMK Inv. Co. v. JP Morgan Chase & Co., No.
Blawgletter just wrote a paper for an American Bar Association newsletter. It starts thus:
You know that the Supreme Court took no antitrust cases in its (current) October 2010 Term, right? You feel either sad (defense lawyer) or happy (plaintiff side), yes? We’ll have no Twombly,[1] no Leegin,[2] no Weyerhaeuser
If you've tired of hearing campaign promises about tax cuts, repeal of tax cuts, extension of tax cuts, tax cuts for the middle class, tax cuts for income over $250,000 a year, and the like — relax. Let Blawgletter tell you about an entirely other subject: tax avoidance.
And not just any kind of tax
The Second Circuit last week prescribed death for a class action alleging that Eli Lilly and Company fooled doctors into treating patients with Lily's anti-schizophrenia drug Zyprexa.
The plaintiffs — unions and others that pay all or part of patients' pharmaceutical bills — alleged that Lilly violated the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by hiding and misrepresenting
Seldom does Blawgletter get the pleasure of reading an Intriguing and Forceful Analysis of a recent and important court of appeals decision. Our dear friend Sam Simon blessed us with his views about In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., No. 07-4046 (3d Cir. Aug. 16, 2010) (post here), today. And, with his kind
The Third Circuit came out last week with a 200-page rumination on the post-Twombly plausibility of conspiracies under section 1 of the Sherman Act (and the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., No. 07-4046 (3d Cir. Aug. 16, 2010).
The court upheld dismissal of hub-and-spoke conspiracy claims that
The U.S. Supreme Court took aim today at "the troubling specter of turning RICO into a tax collection statute." Hemi Group LLC v. City of New York, No. 08-969, slip op. at 13 n.2 (U.S. Jan. 25, 2010). But the Court coudn't muster a majority on the reason why the specter had to die (give up the ghost?).