The documentary film, “Hot Coffee: Is Justice Being Served?” revisits the famous McDonald’s “spilled coffee” case and describes the propaganda about the case created by business interests. The documentary film chronicles how business interest groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and “tort reform” activists misrepresented the facts of this […]
Author: Martin & Jones
Florida Regulators Investigating Force-Placed Insurance
The Florida Commissioner of Insurance announced an investigation into premium pricing and practices in the force-placed insurance market. Force-placed insurance is often purchased by banks when mortgage borrowers stop paying for their own homeowner’s insurance. Florida regulators announced that they will look into claims by consumer advocates that banks are […]
CFPB Proposes Tighter Rules on Mortgage Servicers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has proposed new rules to govern the activities of mortgage servicers. Mortgage service companies are the entities which collect mortgage payments from homeowners on behalf of lenders. The practices of mortgage servicers have been under increasing scrutiny as reports of servicing abuse – from […]
Command Center to Combat Medicare Fraud Launched
A new high-tech command center was recently opened in Baltimore. The command center is intended to assist investigators in their efforts to detect and combat Medicare fraud. The command center features a giant video screen that can display data and photos and also allows for face-to-face communication with investigators throughout […]
CFPB Files Suit Over Debt-Relief Scheme
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently filed its first civil action. The agency, formed by the Dodd-Frank Act with the mission of regulating the consumer finance industry, sued and effectively stopped a Los Angeles firm that was charging homeowners for loan modifications that never happened. The CFPB charged that […]
Details Emerge from Glaxo Whistleblower Suit
New details have emerged regarding GlaxoSmithKline’s acts of misconduct which led to a $3 billion qui tam (“whistleblower”) suit. GlaxoSmithKline (“Glaxo” or “GSK”) recently agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve claims that the drug giant unlawfully engaged in off-label marketing of nine prescription drugs. The Glaxo employees who became […]
J&J Settles Illegal Marketing Claims Involving Risperdal
In a recent regulatory filing, Johnson & Johnson revealed that it had reached an “agreement in principle” with the federal Department of Justice and a number of states involving marketing practices for Risperdal. Specifically, drug maker Johnson & Johnson reported that it had reached a settlement of three pending False […]
Mayo Clinic Settles Whistleblower False-Billing Suit
The Mayo Clinic has agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle a federal whistleblower lawsuit arising from false billing claims. In the qui tam (“whistleblower” lawsuit), four whistleblowers and the Department of Justice accused the Mayo Clinic of knowingly submitting false claims for nonexistent pathology tests from 1999 to 2007. […]
Whistleblowers Awarded $46.5 Million in National Foreclosure Settlement
Six whistleblowers received substantial awards for their part in exposing fraud committed by the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. In a settlement announced by the Justice Department in April 2012, the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders – Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, CitiGroup, and Ally Financial – agreed […]
CFPB Recovers $210 Million in First Enforcement Action
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently announced that Capital One Financial Corp. (“Capital One”) will pay a total of $200 million to settle charges related to deceptive marketing of credit card “add-on” products such as payment protection and credit monitoring. This was the first enforcement action brought by the […]