Armed with a top American lawyer, a former Novo Nordisk boss in the US makes a number of serious accusations against the Danish pharmaceutical company, which is accused of having used illegal sales methods, which must have cost American society a fortune. Novo is also accused of bribing patients.
Getting a case down to its “gist” and to its “core,” retired federal judge Nancy Gertner said, involves picking the evidence that’s most favorable to your side. “That kind of selection is inevitably argument,” she said, as part of a webinar on openings presented Tuesday by NITA and CVN.
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Presented by: Reuben Guttman, Judge Gertner, Judge Noble, and Phillip Freidin – Cases can be won or lost at the opening statement. No opening is the same, and strategies differ depending on the case and the jurisdiction. In this first-ever collaborative webcast between NITA and Courtroom View Network (CVN), retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, Missouri circuit court judge Michael Noble, and Miami trial lawyer Philip Freidin will join NITA faculty Reuben Guttman in this 90-minute webcast, for a spirited analysis of what makes a commanding opening statement.
The panel will show CVN video clips of actual opening statements from a variety of civil jury trials, then examine not only the lawyers’ performances but also the demonstratives that can play such a critical role in visually conveying the details in these extremely complex, high-stakes cases to jurors.
Among the clips under analysis are a first-in-the-nation bellwether products liability trial involving metal hip implants that ended in an $8.3 million verdict, a landmark opening statement from trial attorney Mark Lanier that helped secure a $47.5 million Vioxx verdict, and the opening statements from a trial in Texas involving a large explosion at a BP refinery.
Also: Free NITA Webcast August 18: Building Rapport with a Jury: Lessons in Picking the Jury That’s Right for Your Case (Aug 13, 2020)
Presented by: Richard Schoenberger – It can be easily argued that jury selection is the most important part of the trial. After all, they are the folks who will be making the decision that affects your client’s future. Get the wrong mix, and you may have yourselves a problem. And getting people to be brutally honest and speak openly in front of a room full of strangers on topics they never before considered can be, to put it mildly, a tad difficult. How do you make jurors feel comfortable enough to talk and really open up? How do you bounce from juror to juror? How do you reveal and “de-select” those jurors who are wrong for your case? How do you convert your questions to establish the all-important challenges for cause? Let’s talk about it!
Program Date: June 22, 2020 |
Over the last several years Americans have had a crash course in the role that whistleblowers play in compliance enforcement. No statute gives whistleblowers a greater role than federal and state false claims acts. These statutes not only allow the government to bring suit to address fraud on the government, but they allow private citizens to step into the shoes of the government to bring suit. Now, particularly in a Covid19 era – with trillions of taxpayer dollars poured into the economy – the false claims acts are taking on even greater importance. This seminar will cover:
• what you need to know about these laws
• who can bring suit?
• what bounty provisions exist?
• what are the cases that will arise in the Covid19 era?
• what are the pleading and evidentiary issues you need to know?
Reuben Guttman of Guttman, Buschner & Brooks, PLLC is a leading whistleblower lawyer and coauthor of a soon to be published text on pre-trial litigation; Adam Hoffinger is co-chair of the white collar defense and government litigation group at Schulte, Roth & Zabel, PLLC and is one of the nation’s leading defense lawyers.
Click here for more information.
Source: https://www.celesq.com/programs/view/false-claims-act-litigation
By Reuben Guttman
For fraudsters, government expenditures are a license to steal. One thing fraudsters know is that with trillions of dollars in expenditures from federal and state governments in healthcare dollars and bucks for battle tanks and fighter jets, there are not enough eyes watching the till to keep cheaters in line.
Now, in response to a pandemic, the government has pushed over $2 trillion out the door in stimulus money. Government dollars will be earmarked for grants, loans, and for the procurement necessary to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate the economic consequences of the consequent quarantine.
With government investigators already stretched too thin in enforcing compliance, there will be a need for whistleblowers to pick up the slack. Whistleblowers are no more than everyday honest citizens with an inherent litmus test fabricated from common sense and integrity which causes them to raise questions when they see impropriety. Though the current President has through his words and conducted attempted to cast a pall over the conduct of whistleblowers — particularly as they have lent transparency to his conduct — the truth is that we are a nation whose rule of law was tempered for the better by the work of whistleblowers. Those challenging the statute quo eradicated the evil of slavery, brought voting rights to women, worked to eradicate discrimination in our educational systems, and have challenged workplace harassment and discrimination based on race, gender, religion and sexual orientation. Whistleblowers have exposed unlawful pharmaceutical marketing practices and scams by fraudsters selling college and graduate degrees.
Whistleblowers now have a new challenge. In the provision of healthcare supplies and healthcare itself, they will have an opportunity to be the watchful eyes who can protect government expenditures and the quality of healthcare. In businesses — large and small — across the country they can monitor applications for government grants and loans and make their voices heard when they see impropriety.
For those who step forward and seek to bring transparency to wrongdoing, there is in existence a law dating back to 1864 that provides individuals the right to step into the shoes of the government, report fraud, and bring litigation in the name of the government to seek economic redress on behalf of the government. That statute is called the False Claims Act allowing redress against those who cheat the Federal Government. More than 20 states — including California, New York, Illinois and Florida — have their own False Claims Acts allowing whistleblowers to bring litigation when the fraud involves sate dollars.
There has been over the past several weeks clamor about the importance of this statute and perhaps a need to amend it to make it more effective in batting the fraud that will arise out of the misuse of stimulus dollars. Those who litigate under the False Claims Act know that the law was thoughtfully drafted and is effective. It needs no amendment. What is needed is an administration that fully respects the importance of whistleblowers. Americans need an administration that will fully staff — at the agency level — the ability to investigate and analyze the information and complaints brought forward by whistleblowers. We need an administration committed to imposing the full panoply of damages — treble actual damages and civil penalties — on wrongdoers. And we need an administration that goes after individuals and not merely the corporate shells that provide cover for their misconduct.
Whistleblowers are our heritage; they are an American tradition. Honoring them and protecting our stimulus dollars means aggressive enforcement compliance under a law that is on the books and works.
