By Mani Dabiri | Published February 5, 2020 | Posted in Civil Business Litigation and Investigations, Federal and State Criminal Defense, Government Subpoenas and Investigations, White-Collar and Regulatory Defense | Tagged Tags: departmentofjustice, DOJ, history |
Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur
Did you know? This year marks the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Justice Department, which Congress created in 1870. If you’d like to learn more, the Department has created a special webpage to commemorate the occasion. It includes a timeline that traces the agency’s beginnings in 1789 to its modern founding in 1870 and through the present Read More
Read MoreAn Impending Point of No Return
A prominent federal court of appeals has dismissed a lawsuit that aimed to compel the government to respond to climate change more urgently. It’s an interesting case. Essentially, the plaintiffs wanted an injunction that ordered the government to phase out emissions from fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Or to come up with a Read More
Read MoreAnd Then There Were Six
On Wednesday, the longest-serving justice of the California Supreme Court announced that he would retire this summer. It’s a big deal for a court that seats only seven. Ming Chin, the state’s first Chinese-American justice, will hang up his robe after nearly twenty-five years on the high court. Before that, he served on the trial court Read More
Read MorePut that New-Year Resolution on Hold
That’s what a federal court in California said to the state legislature two days before a new employment law was to go into effect. The new law, Assembly Bill 51, would’ve banned mandatory arbitration agreements with employees. It also would’ve banned agreements that required folks to opt out of arbitration. And it would’ve barred retaliation against those Read More
Read MoreA Class of World-Class Footballers
The federal court in Los Angeles has certified a class action in the case of soccer players from the U.S. women’s national team who have sued over unequal pay. What does that mean? It means the court agreed that the plaintiffs should be grouped together as a class because there’s a lot of them, for Read More
Read MoreHealthcare Investigations at Warp Speed
We covered one of the U.S. Justice Department’s major healthcare sweeps last month. But we didn’t know the feds had shut things down with such blinding speed. Reportedly, it took them six to eight months from first alert to coordinated raids. The investigation is said to have begun earlier this year when analysts detected a surge in Read More
Read MoreFTC Sues Over Phony Business Practices Online
Speaking of online reviews, the Federal Trade Commission just moved to settle two cases against businesses it alleged engaged in deceptive acts or practices online. In the first, the agency alleged the defendants sold fake likes, views, followers, and subscribers on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms. And they did not discriminate. They sold to everyone: Read More
Read MoreDon’t Violate HIPAA Fighting Bad Yelp Reviews
Healthcare providers, beware: You cannot respond to bad online reviews by disclosing your patients’ protected health information (or PHI). As you know, PHI refers to any health information that identifies or could be used to identify a patient. If you’re not sure what counts, do your homework or call your lawyer. But don’t disclose it Read More
Read MoreMore Varsity Blues
As the college-admissions scandal winds its way through court, California’s clawing back the money. The tax money, that is. A few days ago, the state enacted a new law that scrutinizes all tax deductions these defendants may have taken for charitable donations to any college or university. It applies to every tax year beginning with 2014. It also denies Read More
Read MoreThe Lure of Free Cancer Screenings
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department announced a major takedown of telemedicine that it says went too far. It’s among the bigger healthcare-fraud sweeps to date: 35 people charged with over $2.1 billion in false or fraudulent bills. The defendants hail from telemedicine companies and genetic-testing labs and include nine physicians. They reportedly billed Medicare for tens Read More
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