Do You Really Need All Those Supplements?

By Jack Simony

A new report says diet supplements, like adding extra vitamin D, to your health routine, may not be as good for you as you think, the New York Times reported.

“For most people, taking extra calcium and vitamin D supplements is not indicated,”  Dr. Clifford J. Rosen, a member of the panel and a bone expert at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, told the newspaper.

- By Jack Simony

Europe Worries Debt Crisis Is Ready to Spread

By Jack Simony

European officials are warning any new rescue plans aimed at stopping Europe's debt crisis may need to include Portugal and Ireland, the New York Times reported.

For either of the countries to be included, they would have to make a formal request for assistance. Ireland has insisted it has enough money till at least spring, and Portugal, too, says they don't need the help, but European officials think otherwise.


“If Ireland were to ask for aid, then you’d have to look at what’s going on in Portugal as well,”one official told the Times.

- By Jack Simony

Multidistrict Litigation Possible in DePuy Hip Replacement Recall Lawsuits

By Jack Simony

A judicial panel on multidistrict litigation will meet next week at Duke University Law School  to hear arguments on whether MDL should be followed  for the DePuy hip replacement recall lawsuits, according to a report on Webnewswire.com.

In August, DePuy Orthopaedics recalled 93,000 if their ASR XL Acetabular Systems and ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems, because a study from the National Joint Registry showed 1 in 8 ASR recipients had problems with in 5 years if getting them.

In some cases a second hip surgery was required.

Those suing the company allege the devices wre defective and not tested correctly.

- By Jack Simony

U.S. Solicitor General Wants Supreme Court to Reject Reglan Lawsuit Appeal

By Jack Simony

The U.S. Solicitor General wants to the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appeal by drug companies in a generic Reglan lawsuit filed over a claim about failing to adequately warn about a rare movement order associated with the drug, AboutLawsuits reported. 

“The court of appeals correctly held that respondent’s failure-to-warn claims are not categorically preempted, because a generic manufacturer, can (and indeed, must) inform FDA of new information about risks that may require a change in the labeling of its drug,” the Solicitor General stated, according to the website.

- By Jack Simony

Law Departments Shift Money, Work In-House, Survey Says

By Jack Simony

More corporate businesses are taking their legal matters into their own hands and moving the legal teams in-house instead of hiring other companies, CorpCounsel.com reported.

In a recent study, released by Altman Weil's Chief Legal Officer Survey,  63 percent of the officers questioned said they had increased their internal budgets from 2009 to 2010, and 29 percent said they would decrease their use of outside firms in the coming year.

- By Jack Simony

Toyota Plaintiffs Add Counts Under Japanese Securities Law

By Jack Simony

Toyota shareholders filed a consolidated complaint using Japanese securities laws against the company and several of its officers and directors claiming the company issued misleading and false statements in conference calls with investors, The National Law Journal reported.

The complaint was filed in federal court in Los Angles on Tuesday.

The new complaint can expand the shareholders class beyond what a U.S. courts already ruled.

- By Jack Simony

Apotex Hit With $442 Million Judgment in Bloof Thinner Plavix Patent Suit

By Jack Simony

A Manhattan federal district court judge ordered Apotex to pay $442,209,362 in damages, plus interest in a patent infringement case that was first filed in 2002 by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb, The American Lawyer reported.

Blood thinner Plavix is the world's second-biggest selling drug. According to Bloomberg, the infringement sales took place in August 2006 for a three-week period.

- By Jack Simony