Sonosky Chambers, Lieff Cabraser, and Zwerling Schachter File RICO Lawsuit on Behalf of Alaska Native Tribal Health Care Providers Against Drug Manufacturers and Distributors for False and Deceptive Marketing of Dangerous Prescription Opioid Drugs

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Opioids Lawsuit Filed

Federal RICO action that is largest tribal complaint in history seeks justice from opiate drug manufacturers and distributors for unprecedented community and medical costs and American Indian and Alaska Native opioid deaths in Alaska

On behalf of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Chugachmiut, the Copper River Native Association, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and Southcentral Foundation, today the law firms of Sonosky Chambers Sachse Miller & Monkman, LLP, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, and Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP filed a RICO racketeering lawsuit in federal district court in Anchorage against Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Actavis, Insys, Mallinckrodt, McKesson, Health Mart Systems, AmerisourceBergen, Walgreen Co., the Kroger Co., Albertson’s, CVS and related entities responsible for the explosive opioid epidemic across the United States and in the impacted Alaska Native communities. [Read more…]

Mark Chalos Named Co-Lead Interim Counsel for Plaintiffs in Ford F-150 Brake Failures Class Action

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Motion blurred cars and trucks driving on the highway

Lieff Cabraser partner Mark P. Chalos has been named Co-Lead Interim Class Counsel for plaintiffs in litigation filed on behalf of hundreds of 2013-2016 Ford F-150 pickup truck owners who are experiencing sudden brake failures in their vehicles. The suit was filed after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received more than 200 complaints from Ford F-150 drivers who said the trucks’ brakes suddenly fail without warning during driving. [Read more…]

Supreme Court Set to Review Mandatory Arbitration in the Employment Context

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construction workers

Court will rule on cases involving workers’ rights to sue their employers in court

As reported by the Wall Street Journal the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to make rulings in three cases that involve workers’ rights to sue their employers. The fundamental question is whether employment contracts can allow employers to force workers to bargain away their rights to sue in court over employment disputes. [Read more…]

Phong-Chau Nguyen to Join Board of SF Bar Association’s Barristers Club for 2019

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Phong-Chau Nguyen Joins Board of SF Bar Association's Barristers Club for 2019

Lieff Cabraser partner Phong-Chau G. Nguyen has been selected by the Barristers Club of the San Francisco Bar Association to serve on the Board of Directors for 2019. The mission of the Barristers Club is to foster professional growth, provide opportunities for community service, and serve as an advocate for its members. The Board of Directors determines the Club’s mission, sets policy and procedures to fulfill that mission, and supports the membership in fulfilling the Club’s mission.

Founded in 1927, the Barristers Club  is comprised of members of The Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) in their first ten years of practice, as well as BASF members who are law students. The group seeks to promote fellowship among the newer members of the legal profession and holds numerous CLE seminars, social, and networking events throughout the year.

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Tiseme Zegeye to Speak on Careers in Litigation at BASF “Careers in Law” Conference

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Tiseme Zegeye BASF Careers in law

Lieff Cabraser attorney Tiseme Zegeye will participate in a panel discussion entitled “Careers in Law: Everything You Always Wanted to Know” at the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) on November 1, 2018. The event will feature expert practitioners in the areas of Labor and Employment Law, Appellate Law, Tax Law, and Litigation. Tiseme will be speaking on a panel covering Careers in Litigation. [Read more…]

Lieff Cabraser and Co-Counsel Announce $215 Million Settlement of Class Action Lawsuit Against George Tyndall, M.D., and the University of Southern California for Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Other Serious Offenses

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Hospital

Lieff Cabraser, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Girard Sharp LLP, and Hagens Berman LLP announce that a $215 million settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of women who were sexually abused, harassed, and molested by gynecologist George Tyndall, M.D. while they were students at the University of Southern California (“USC”). The case will be settled as a class action, subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on the basis of a class defined to include “all current or former female students who were seen for treatment by Dr. George M. Tyndall at USC’s student health center for women’s health issues (the ‘Settlement Class’).” [Read more…]

Cascade of Child Sexual Abuse Accusations Arises Against Dr. Reginald Archibald of The Rockefeller University Hospital in New York

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University Hospital

The New York Times has published an article revealing what appears to be a widespread pattern of sexual exploitation and abuse by now-deceased Dr. Reginald Archibald at The Rockefeller University Hospital, a staggering range of incidents that may date back as far as the 1950s and extend to a thousand patients or more. [Read more…]

Judge Rejects Viacom’s Arbitration Bid Effort in Child Privacy Violations Lawsuit

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Viacom Child Privacy

As reported by Law360, U.S. District Judge James Donato has denied an attempt by  Viacom to force a proposed class action alleging widespread violations of child privacy laws into arbitration. The suit accuses Viacom of violating child privacy protection laws by collecting and selling personal identifying information of children who used Viacom’s child-focused mobile aps. [Read more…]

Lieff Cabraser Files New Lawsuit Against the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut Over Allegations of Drugging and Sexual Abuse of a Student

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College prep school

On October 12, 2018, Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel filed the latest in a series of lawsuits against the exclusive Hotchkiss college preparatory school in Connecticut, over allegations that a teacher at the Hotchkiss School drugged and sexually assaulted a student at the school in the 1990s. In addition to seeking justice for the former student plaintiff, the lawsuit seeks to uncover a pattern of tolerance, institutional cover-ups, and multiple predation events at the school going back decades. The suit also calls for a “truly independent” investigation of sexual abuse at Hotchkiss, citing a previous study by the law firm Locke Lord that the current pleadings describe as “woefully incomplete.” [Read more…]

Lieff Cabraser Announces Class Action Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Patrick Sutton, M.D., and Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA

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Hospital

Lieff Cabraser and Sauder Schelkopf LLC have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of women who were sexually assaulted and harassed during treatment by longtime Huntington Hospital ob/gyn Patrick Sutton. The complaint was filed by three women who allege assault and harassment by Sutton, and notes that the hospital had received numerous complaints about Sutton’s behavior dating back 20 years, yet continues to allow him to practice there. Dr. Sutton has worked at Huntington Hospital since 1989. [Read more…]

Huntington Hospital Gynecologist Repeatedly Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Medical Board

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Hospital building

The LA Times reports that Dr. Patrick Sutton, a noted Pasadena obstetrician, faces the suspension or loss of his license in the wake of a fifth accusation of sexual misconduct. In this fifth instance of alleged inappropriate behavior, state regulators accuse Sutton of making improper comments about a patient’s appearance and sex life. Though the previous accusations were available in public records, the Times notes that they were not previously reported in the media. [Read more…]

Humane Society Announces Reconciliation Process as Latest of Multiple Efforts to Improve Workplace Culture

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Humane Society

Lieff Cabraser attorney Kelly M. Dermody notes clients are pleased HSUS is committed to providing healthy and safe environment to fulfill its mission

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is proud to announce the details of a Reconciliation Process, the latest among multiple efforts that are underway to improve the organization for the benefit of all HSUS employees and volunteers. These efforts follow current and former HSUS employees bravely coming forward to call for change at the organization.  The Reconciliation Process is being led by noted employee advocate Katherine Kimpel of KK Advising PLLC and was established with input from employment law attorney, Kelly Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. The Reconciliation Process is in addition to other actions the HSUS Board is taking to improve the organization’s workplace culture, including working with culture experts on culture change, completing a Board governance review and commissioning a pay equity study. [Read more…]

Lieff Cabraser Partner Dean Harvey Discusses the Expansion of Antitrust Law to the Employment Setting

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Dean Harvey on Antitrust and Employment Cases

Workers are recovering millions after challenging illegal anticompetitive “no-poach” agreements between companies that restrict employee mobility and depress salaries. Dean Harvey, plaintiff attorney and partner at Lieff Cabraser, provides detail on the successful 2015 “High Tech” Employees class action suit against Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, and industry giants that resulted in a settlement valued at $435 million, the largest resolution in history of antitrust claims in the employment setting, on either an aggregate or per-class-member basis. [Read more…]