Los Angeles 407 articles

A whistleblower lawsuit accusing a Los Angeles-based hospital group of engaging in unlawful financial arrangements has led to an $8.1 million settlement with the U.S. Government. Avanti Hospitals LLC and six of its owners agreed to pay the U.S. $8.1 million to settle whistleblower allegations that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Physician Self-Referral Law (also known as the Stark Law), and the False Claims Act. The lawsuit, filed by Dr. Joshua Luke, the former CEO of Gardena Hospital, alleged that Avanti, Gardena Hospital, and at least two other Avanti affiliates bribed a high-referring physician with payments that exceeded the ... Read More

About 3,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with malignant mesothelioma. A third of them are Veterans. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. It develops in the lining of the lungs or abdomen. And while it can take up to 50 years to develop, once diagnosed, mesothelioma usually kills within a year or two. A disproportionate number of Veterans are diagnosed with the disease because many were exposed to asbestos during their service. Asbestos is a durable, fire-resistant mineral, which made it an excellent insulation. As a result, it was widely used in buildings and ships ... Read More

More than 100 cities have electric scooter services that provide convenient transportation especially in high-traffic areas. But many riders of the two-wheeled vehicles are landing in the emergency room, often for head injuries that could have been prevented had they been wearing a helmet. According to an observational study conducted by researchers with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), about 40 percent of e-scooter riders treated at two southern California emergency departments suffered head injuries, but only 4.4 of them wore a helmet. Equally as troubling is that researchers also found that 182 of 193 e-scooter riders they observed ... Read More

Wei Chen was an accomplished pilot who in 2011 had flown around the world in a single-engine plane, later writing a book about his experience, “Around The World in 69 Days: What Would You Attempt To Do If You Knew You Could Not Fail?” But on Dec. 21, the founder and CEO of Sunshine Enterprise Inc., took off in a Cessna 560 from Fulton County Airport-Brown Field in Atlanta, bound for Memphis, Tennessee, along with three other people including top-level executives from his company and Wei Chen’s brother and best friend John Chen, when about a mile into the flight ... Read More

Last spring, Los Angeles police launched an investigation into sexual assault claims against University of Southern California (USC) gynecologist Dr. George Tydall. Several former and current female students had reported that he had inappropriately touched them, unnecessarily penetrated them with his hands, made lewd comments, and photographed them while they were at his office for medical exams. The investigation became one of the largest – if not the largest – sex crimes investigations involving an individual in the Los Angeles Police Department’s history. As part of their investigation, police began following the former gynecologist, noting that on two occasions Tydall, ... Read More

Positive Train Control or PTC, the technology that can automatically slow trains in dangerous sections of track, will not be installed in the Metro-North rail system for another two years after federal regulators gave the railroad a deadline extension. Metro-North, the New York City-based commuter rail operated by New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), was supposed to have PTC up and running on all of its trains by Dec. 31, 2018. The rail says it has achieved critical benchmarks in its implementation of PTC technology across its 800 miles of track, but it needs more time to complete installation and ... Read More

A rise in reported health issues linked to various Rhino-branded male enhancement supplements has prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a warning to consumers that the products should not be purchased or used because they contain hidden drugs that can be dangerous to consumers’ health. The FDA has received reports of people experiencing chest pain, severe headaches and prolonged erections after taking a Rhino product that led to surgical intervention and hospitalization due to extreme drops in blood pressure. Since 2007, the FDA has identified more than 25 products marketed with variations of the name “Rhino” that ... Read More

A Los Angeles Fire Department whistleblower who allegedly faced severe backlash after speaking out against waste and fraud within his station has been awarded $2.75 million by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury. Stephen Meiche, who joined the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1980, said his LAFD colleagues ostracized him and subjected him to differential treatment that diminished not just his peace of mind but threatened his safety, NBC News Los Angeles reported. Mr. Meiche, a certified diver and diver instructor for the LAFD said his troubles started in March 2014 after he complained that members of the dive team ... Read More

Two women have filed a lawsuit against Riot Games accusing the League of Legends developer of violating California equal pay laws, sexual harassment, and discrimination against women. The proposed class action lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Melanie McCracken, who has worked with the company for five years, and Jessica Negron, who worked at the gaming studio from April 2015 to April 2017. The lawsuit accuses Riot Games of “creating, encouraging, and maintaining a work environment that exposes its female employees to discrimination and retaliation.” It also claims the company pays its female employees less than ... Read More

A Northrop Grumman subsidiary will pay the U.S. a total of $31.65 million to settle civil and criminal allegations that it intentionally overbilled the federal government for work on two U.S. Air Force contracts for battlefield communications technology. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation admitted that its employees deployed to a Middle East air base defrauded the U.S. Air Force by overbilling time charged to the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) contract. The Virginia-based company, which maintains operations in Los Angeles and San Diego, also inflated labor hours for employees working under the Dynamic Re-tasking Capabilities Contracts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s ... Read More