April 19, 2018 Kurt Niland Consumer Fraud

Georgia Whistleblower Exposes $3.2 Million Kickback Scheme

A whistleblower who sued a group of Atlanta-area orthopedic and anesthesia providers for their alleged participation in an illegal kickback scheme has helped the U.S. government recover $3.2 million for Medicare. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the whistleblower lawsuit led to a settlement agreement between the federal government and Georgia Bone & Joint; Summit Orthopaedic Surgery Center; Southern Crescent Anesthesiology; and Sentry Anesthesia Management, as well as nurse anesthetist David LaGuardia. The whistleblower complaint, brought by Sharon Kopko, former Practice Administrator for Georgia Bone & Joint, alleged that Mr. LaGuardia, Sentry, and Southern Crescent provided a free ... Read More

April 19, 2018 Jennifer Walker-Journey Pharmaceutical

J&J faces more litigation alleging injuries with Physiomesh

A group of people who claim to have been injured by hernia repair kits made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon USA LLC have asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to consolidate the 62 lawsuits pending against the company into a multicounty litigation, and assign them to Superior Court Judge Rachelle Lea Harrz in Bergen County. Several hundred similar cases are expected to be filed. Those suing Ethicon allege the company designed, manufactured, marketed and sold defective hernia mesh, including Proceed Surgical Mesh, Proceed Ventrical Patch, Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Mesh, Prolene 3D Patch Polypropylene Mesh, and Prolene Hernia System. ... Read More

April 19, 2018 Kurt Niland Motor Vehicles

NTSB Boots Tesla From Model X Crash Investigation

Federal investigators have taken the rare action of removing Tesla as a party to an ongoing investigation of the fatal March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X in Mountain View, California. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that Tesla Inc. violated investigative protocol by releasing information pertaining to the crash probe before it was vetted and approved by the NTSB officials. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash, which does a disservice to the investigative process and the traveling public,” the NTSB said in a statement. ... Read More

April 18, 2018 Jennifer Walker-Journey Consumer Products, Food, Personal Injury

Romaine lettuce identified as source of multistate E.coli infections

Health officials have identified chopped romaine lettuce from the winter Yuma, Arizona growing region as the likely source of a multistate outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 infections. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and local and state authorities began the investigation last month to identify what could have sickened 35 people in 11 states with Shinga toxin-producing E. coli. Those who became infected with the strain of E. coli became ill from March 22 to March 31. Ninety three percent of these patients interviewed reported consuming romaine lettuce the week before their illness started. ... Read More

April 18, 2018 Kurt Niland Motor Vehicles, Personal Injury

Car in Deadly Rollaway Under Open Recall For Gear Problem

An auto recall repair would have prevented the accidental death of a 24-year-old father in Indianapolis, Indiana last month, who drowned after pulling his 3-year-old daughter out of a sinking Pontiac G6. Anthony Burgess put the 2008 Pontiac G6 in park and stepped out of the car to talk to a friend at an apartment complex. His young daughter stepped out of the car. He told her to get back in. Moments later, the car was rolling backward into a frigid pond with the girl inside. Mr. Burgess and his friend chased the car into the water. A witness on ... Read More

April 18, 2018 Jennifer Walker-Journey Pharmaceutical

Woman pleads guilty for selling dangerous stimulant to supplement maker

A Chinese woman pleaded guilty in Texas federal court for selling stimulant ingredients to a dietary supplement maker in the U.S., knowing full and well those illicit ingredients would not be listed on the supplement’s label. Gao Mei Fang, also known as Amy Gao, admitted to selling the illegal stimulant DMAA to a dietary supplement manufacturer knowing that U.S. retailers couldn’t sell supplements with that ingredient. DMAA, or dimethylamylamine, is promoted for performance enhancement but it is not legal in the U.S. because it is considered unsafe. DMAA can increase heat rate and blood pressure, and increase the risk of ... Read More

April 17, 2018 Kurt Niland Personal Injury

Southwest Airlines Engine Explosion Kills One Passenger In Flight

One Southwest Airlines passenger suffered fatal injuries when one of the plane’s engines exploded Tuesday, shattering a window and part of the plane’s fuselage. The Southwest Airlines flight had departed from New York’s LaGuardia Airport about 30 minutes before the engine failure. The incident forced the plane with 148 people aboard to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Seven other people were reportedly injured on the flight. According to Bloomberg, “the dead passenger was not identified but other passengers reported a woman being severely injured during the flight receiving aid from other passengers in a chaotic and bloody ... Read More

April 17, 2018 Kurt Niland Consumer Fraud

Wells Fargo Whistleblower Allegedly Fired For Reporting Foreign Exchange Violations

Wells Fargo Bank finds itself facing another whistleblower lawsuit, this time filed by the former head of the bank’s foreign exchange (FX) group who says the bank encouraged employees to “make false and misleading representations to customers, to engage in abusive sales practices, and to enrich themselves at the expense of clients.” According to The Mercury News, whistleblower Simon Fowles alleges he voiced complaints about the unlawful and unethical practices to managers at the San Francisco-based banking giant for years but that his concerns essentially fell on deaf ears. Mr. Fowles claims he warned high-level Wells Fargo executives about “significant ... Read More

April 17, 2018 Jennifer Walker-Journey Pharmaceutical, Recalls

Pre-workout supplements recalled due to undeclared allergen

Independent Nutrition Inc., doing business as Back to Health, is recalling certain lots of its Ignite High Endurance Pre-Workout dietary supplements because they may contain undeclared milk. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk who consume this product are at risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction. To date, Independent Nutrition has received no reports of illness related to this recall issue. Affected lots of Ignite High Endurance Pre-Workout Supplement products were sold at health food stores in California, Oregon, New Jersey and Texas between March 1, 2015, and March 31, 2018. The products were sold in ... Read More

April 16, 2018 Kurt Niland Motor Vehicles, Personal Injury

57 Million U.S. Cars on Road With Unrepaired Safety Defects

Nearly a quarter of all vehicles on U.S. roads are under an open safety recall, according to a new Carfax study, indicating millions of motorists are at risk of injury and death by driving vehicles with an unrepaired auto defect. Carfax, which operates the world’s largest vehicle history database, says that more than 57 million vehicles in the U.S. are under an open safety recall. That means problems such as faulty airbags, gear shifters, ignition switches, steering wheel assemblies, electronics, and a spectrum of other defects have the potential to cause harm, even years after the vehicles were recalled. The ... Read More

12 3 4 5...1476