An appeals court panel has ruled against big tobacco in an important cigarette marketing case.  According to Dow Jones News Wire, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld most of a lower court ruling which found that the industry’s deceptive marketing schemes violated federal anti-racketeering statutes.

This is the second important  appeal the tobacco industry has lost in recent months.  Late last year, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1965 Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act does not protect cigarette makers from fraud lawsuits over how those makers market cigarettes they describe as “light or “low tar.” Also, the high court said federal oversight of cigarette testing did not preclude those lawsuits.  (more…)

Thousands of  people are expected to file lawsuits against the makers of Levaquin, and antibiotic tied to tendon damage.

The first Levaquin tendon injury trial is expected to begin sometime in the late summer of 2010.  Last June,  federal Levaquin lawsuits were consolidated in a Multidistrict Litigation before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in the District of Minnesota.  Recently, attorneys representing Levaquin victims in New Jersey state court requested that those lawsuits be centralized before one judge, as well. (more…)

New regulations for suncreen labeling may finally be ready by the end of the year.  According to WebMD, the new rules would for the first time require sunscreen labels to provide information on how well they protect users from ultraviolet A (UVA)  rays.  These rays don’t cause sunburn, but they do contribute to skin cancers and skin aging, the report said.

The report also said  that makers of sunscreen will no longer be able to use certain claims  on labels, WebMD said.  For example, claims  of SPFs higher than 50 will be barred unless they can be backed up by scientific evidence.  Also terms like “sunblock,” “waterproof,” “sweat-proof,” and “all-day protection” will not be allowed. (more…)

State  Farm told adjusters that damage to  property in the path of Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge should be attributed to water if the property was  a total loss, according to the testimony of  woman who worked for the insurer on Katrina claims.  The witness claims that, as a result, such properties were not thoroughly inspected.

Kerri  Rigsby testified that in  the weeks following Katrina, she attended a State  Farm meeting where adjusters were told to “hit policy limits” on flood claims and tell policyholders an engineer would be sent out to determine whether State Farm owed money for wind damage.   (more…)

Few answers were provided at yesterday’s first Senate Chinese drywall hearing.   Though officials from the  Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and other federal agencies appeared, they could not provide conclusive information about the health risks posed by exposure to Chinese drywall fumes.

Some senators on the Subcommittee for Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance were clearly not happy with the lack of answers from federal officials, according to the South Florida Business  Journal. “We’ve got to figure out what in the world these people are gonna do,” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida)  said. “They can’t afford rent and paying the mortgage if they are still living in the house.” (more…)

Medtronic Inc. did not disclose that Dr. Timothy Kuklo, a former Walter Reed surgeon who conducted a study on the company’s Infuse Bone Graft product, was a paid consultant when asked for  a list of such physicians last fall by Sen. Charles Grassley.  Now, according to a report in the Associated Press, the Iowa Republican wants to know why.

As we reported last week, Kuklo’s Infuse Bone Graft study, which claimed to show that wounded soldiers’ leg injuries healed better when the product was used, was published in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery last August, but retracted in March. An Army investigation found several problems with it. For one thing, the study cited higher numbers of patients and injuries than Walter Reed officials could account for. Kuklo also did not obtain the Army’s required permission to conduct the study, and investigators at Walter Reed have also concluded that Kuklo forged his co-authors signatures on the study. (more…)

Norfolk, Virginia has become the first U.S. city to ban potentially-toxic Chinese drywall.  The ban was prompted by reports that fumes from Chinese drywall have produced putrid odors and caused metals to corrode in homes across the country.

The vote in Norfolk City Council to ban the use of Chinese drywall was unanimous.  According to the Associated Press, the ordinance requires contractors to certify that they are not using drywall made in China.  If they don’t, they will be denied a building permit.  The ban is being imposed to protect homeowners from contractors or builders who may knowingly use or sell a product that might not be safe. (more…)

Consumer advocates are praising President Barack Obama for issuing a new memorandum that overturns a Bush Administration policy that in many cases barred the filing of personal injury lawsuits in state courts.  According to the memo, during Bush’s tenure, federal agencies often announced that their regulations preempted state law, including state common law, without explicit direction by the Congress or an otherwise sufficient basis under applicable legal principles.

According to the one advocacy group, Obama’s new directives will require that  many regulations issued within the past 10 years  be reviewed and in some cases amended. “It reflects what we believe the law in reality has always been and how it should always have been applied.” Les Weisbrod, President of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), said in a statement.  “This corrects a decade of abuse of the regulatory process and signifies a triumph both for states’ rights and for the legal rights of all Americans and their families.” (more…)

Rituxan, the most widely used drug to treat lymphoma, has been linked to progressive multifocal leukoencephalitis (PML), according to the findings of a new study.

PML is a viral infection that affects the white matter of the brain.  Patients with PML exhibit neurological symptoms like confusion, dizziness or loss of balance, difficulty talking or walking, and vision problems. PML gets worse over time, and is usually fatal. There is no treatment or cure for the disease.  It is often associated with drugs that suppress the immune system.  (more…)

Some plaintiffs’ lawyers representing people involved in Seroquel lawsuits will present documents at a news conference today that they claim show  AstraZeneca  executives discussed promoting the off-label use of the drug in children and elderly  patients.  Off-label uses are those that have not been approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).  Doctors are permitted to use any approved drug in any way they see fit, but drug makers are legally barred from promoting off-label use.

In a Wall Street Journal report published today, some of those documents were detailed.  They include one that cited plans to “broaden Seroquel use on and off-label,” including among adolescents and patients with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, at medical meetings, in sales calls and with patient-advocacy groups,” the Journal said. (more…)