On September 30, 2020, the House Oversight and Reform Committee reported their first findings from an 18-month investigation into drug company pricing practices. The committee found drug companies are taking advantage of the federal law that prohibits Medicare from negotiating lower prices directly with drug companies.

The investigation includes reviews of Teva Copaxone price increases and Bristol Myers Squibb Revlimid price increases. Copaxone pricing was raised 27 times by Teva, raising the price per year of the medication from $10k to $70k. Revlimid price was increased 22 times from $215 to $763.

As seen in Law360, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York certified a class of up to 200,000 Verizon workers who participated in a Verizon 401(k) plan.

The lawsuit alleges mismanagement of funds in the Verizon 2040 target-date-fund (TDF), specifically Verizon’s Global Opportunity Fund. The complaint alleges that the fund has an “obvious and long-term underperformance over a ten-year period”. The class contains all participants of the 401(k) retirement plan who had saved in the Global Opportunity Fund during the relevant time period. The participation could be direct or indirect and may include up to 200,000 workers.

Todd M. Schneider, partner at Schneider Wallace and one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, was quoted in Law360 that they “look forward to moving this certified class to trial.”

Todd Schneider discusses the status of ERISA and class action law with Law360. He discusses the Supreme Court’s 2020 ERISA cases, defense efforts to limit ERISA litigation, which cases are ripe to take forward, Schneider Wallace’s 2020 victories in the Eighth Circuit, and the skills needed to be effective in ERISA law today.

Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky is tracking major pharmaceutical litigation news for clients and counsel.

In this update, we cover a DOJ False Claims Act complaint against Teva for kickbacks for Copaxone, certification of a class against Merck for Zetia direct purchasers, a settlement by Actavis for Intuniv, certification of a class against Bausch for Glumetza direct purchasers, and denial of a motion to dismiss by Mallinckrodt on Acthar.

A New York federal judge has appointed SWCK and its co-counsel interim lead counsel in a bitcoin market manipulation case against Bitfinex and Tether alleging hundreds of billions in damages. As reported in Law360, U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla picked the Schneider Wallace team from two other sets of legal teams vying for lead plaintiff appointment in the putative class action accusing Tether, the issuer of a “stablecoin” cryptocurrency of the same name, and cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex of engaging in a “part-fraud, part-pump-and-dump, and part-money laundering” scheme that eventually cost cryptocurrency investors hundreds of billions of dollars.  

Schneider Wallace Appointed Lead Counsel In Case Alleging Dangerous HIV Medication Against Gilead Sciences

Schneider Wallace Wins Summary Judgment On Behalf Of Over 10,000 Truckers On December 28, 2018, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona ruled that North American trucking giant Swift Transportation violated federal minimum wage laws by not paying its trainee truck drivers for hundreds of thousands of compensable hours. Schneider Wallace represents more than 10,000 trainee truckers who had several hours of pay wrongly deducted on a daily basis as a result of Swift’s unlawful policies.  Schneider Wallace presented uncontroverted evidence that Swift—the largest common carrier in the United States—routinely confined the trainees to a bunk bed in the truck’s cramped “sleeper berth” for more than 15 hours a day without pay, often while the truck was moving.  In a 36-page order granting the Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, Judge Roslyn Silver of the District of Arizona described Swift’s practices as “draconian” and “uniquely harsh,” ruling that the trainees are entitled to minimum wage for numerous unpaid hours confined to the truck. The case will proceed to a trial on damages in early 2019.

Abigail Laudick, EDiscovery Specialist at Schneider Wallace, was asked to speak at the 2018 ING3NIUS EDiscovery and Information Governance Conference, a national electronic discovery conference that highlighted issues and trends in the area for both plaintiffs and defendants involved in complex litigation today. Ms. Laudick, along with in-house counsel for a Fortune 100 company, spoke on a panel to discuss electronic discovery negotiations between parties and how to best navigate the changing and complex landscape of the EDiscovery field. Ms. Laudick continues to actively participate in the national conversation surrounding best practices in electronic discovery, and helps ensure that Schneider Wallace is on the cutting edge of this important area of law.

Schneider Wallace’s $50M Suit Against TIAA To Proceed

BNA reports that Schneider Wallace’s  “proposed class action accusing TIAA of taking improper cuts from the loan repayments workers make to their retirement plans is moving forward.”

“The retirement plan service provider may have to turn over the money it kept from these loans—allegedly more than $50 million per year—under a theory of disgorgement, a federal judge ruled March 28. TIAA was credibly accused of wrongly generating profits off retirement plan assets that it obtained through transactions that violated federal benefits law, Judge J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.”

Schneider Wallace has filed a proposed ERISA class action against Georgetown University accusing it of mismanaging two employee retirement plans by loading them with far too many investment options, many of which underperformed or charged excessive fees.