Hawaii
Court orders drug companies to pay $916 million in Plavix blood thinner lawsuit
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii court has ordered the manufacturers and distributors of the blood thinner Plavix to pay the state a combined $916 million after finding the companies failed to disclose the efficacy and safety of the medication, the state attorney general said Tuesday.
The judgement was issued against Bristol Myers Squibb Company and three U.S.-based subsidiaries of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi.
Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi said in a joint statement they disagreed with the penalty and plan to appeal.
First Circuit Court Judge James Ashford found that there was a risk that about 30% of patients, particularly non-Caucasians, might have a “diminished response” to Plavix but the companies didn’t update their label, Attorney General Anne Lopez said.
“As Judge Ashford found following a trial, these pharmaceutical defendants acted in bad faith and marketed a product that could potentially have devastating effects on Hawaii patients, when they knew that the medicine would lack efficacy for a substantial portion of the population,” Lopez said in a statement.
Hawaii filed the lawsuit in 2014, saying more than 1 million Plavix prescriptions had been issued in the islands since 1998 when the drug was first marketed.
Hawaii was the fifth state to file a lawsuit claiming unfair and deceptive marketing of Plavix, after Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and California.
The companies, in an emailed statement, said the overwhelming body of scientific evidence demonstrates that Plavix is safe and effective regardless of a patient’s race and genetics. It called the penalties “unwarranted and out of proportion.”
It said Hawaii’s case was the last remaining legal case and was a “clear outlier” given how the companies successfully defended themselves against Plavix litigation in other states.
“Plavix has helped millions of patients with cardiovascular disease around the world for more than 20 years, is endorsed as a first-line therapy by leading treatment guidelines across the globe and remains the standard of care,” the companies said.
New York
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of 2003 sexual assault in lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — A former model accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the latest in a series of allegations against the embattled hip-hop mogul.
Crystal McKinney said she was a successful 22-year-old model when she met Combs at a restaurant during Men’s Fashion Week in Manhattan. Combs invited her to his recording studio later that night, according to the federal complaint filed in New York City.
The lawsuit alleges that McKinney arrived to find Combs drinking and smoking joints with several other men. She smoked some marijuana, which she “later came to understand” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit says. She felt as though she was floating. Combs led her to the bathroom, where the sexual assault took place, according to the lawsuit.
Combs led her back to the studio and she lost consciousness, the lawsuit says. She later awakened in a taxi and realized that she had been sexually assaulted, according to the lawsuit.
Combs’ representatives did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as McKinney has done.
The lawsuit was filed days after CNN aired security video that shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday released a video admitting he attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”
Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating because of the statute of limitations.
A lawsuit filed by Cassie in November alleging beatings and abuse was settled a day after it was filed. But it spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
The claim on Tuesday was filed under a New York City law that allows accusers to file civil litigation during a limited window even if the events allegedly happened long ago.
North Carolina
Confederate monument to ‘faithful slaves’ must be removed, lawsuit says
COLUMBIA, N.C. (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks the removal of a Confederate monument marked as “in appreciation of our faithful slaves” from outside of a North Carolina county courthouse.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County, a civic group focused on issues facing local Black residents, and several of its members filed the lawsuit against the county’s commissioners. The legal complaint argues that the monument constitutes racially discriminatory government speech in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Tyrrell County includes a few thousand residents in eastern North Carolina. The monument, which was erected on the courthouse grounds in 1902, features a Confederate soldier standing atop a pedestal, with one of the markings below mentioning “faithful slaves.” The lawsuit argues that the monument conveys a racist and offensive message that Black people who were enslaved in the county preferred slavery to freedom.
“The point of putting such a monument near the door of the Tyrrell County Courthouse was to remind Black people that the county’s institutions saw their rightful place as one of subservience and obedience, and to suggest to them that they could not and would not get justice in the courts,” the lawsuit argues.
The Associated Press contacted the Tyrrell County manager via email requesting a comment on the lawsuit.
North Carolina legislators enacted a law in 2015 that limits when an “object of remembrance” such as a military monument can be relocated. Still, the lawsuit says more than a dozen Confederate monuments have been taken down in North Carolina in the past five years, many due to votes by local officials.
Others were removed by force. In 2018, protesters tore down a Confederate statue known as “Silent Sam” at the University of North Carolina campus at Chapel Hill. Statues of soldiers from the North Carolina Confederate Monument on the old Capitol grounds in Raleigh came down in June 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper, citing public safety, directed that the remainder of the monument and two others on Capitol grounds be removed.
Confederate monuments in North Carolina, as elsewhere nationwide, were a frequent focal point for racial inequality protests in the late 2010s, and particularly in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County wrote that they have fought for the courthouse monument’s removal for years, from testifying at county commission meetings to advertising on billboards.
North Carolina
Court throws out conviction of man with guns inside car on campus
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man living in his car was wrongfully convicted of having a semiautomatic weapon when he parked outside a university hospital and sought emergency medical care, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
An Orange County jury in 2022 found Joseph John Radomski III guilty of firearm possession near the hospital on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. A police officer had spoken to him and recovered several guns from inside his car. Radomski received probation and a suspended sentence.
The intermediate-level state Court of Appeals panel determined that under Radomski’s circumstances the law that makes it a low-grade felony to possess a firearm on “any kind of educational property” was unconstitutionally applied to him by restricting his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The ruling doesn’t completely strike down the law, which is designed to protect the public from potential gun violence in sensitive areas like schools.
In this case, state attorneys defending the prosecution failed to demonstrate that regulating Radomski’s firearm possession “is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Court of Appeals Judge Hunter Murphy wrote in the prevailing opinion that vacated the conviction and dismissed the case.
The evidence shows “everything in the world he owns, including his firearm, was in his car; and that he drove his car to UNC Hospital to seek emergency medical attention,” Court of Appeals Chief Judge Chris Dillon wrote while agreeing with Hunter on the result in a separate opinion. “There was no evidence that Defendant had the opportunity or means to store his firearm before proceeding to the hospital.”
Radomski, 42, of Yanceyville, had come to the hospital in June 2021 for treatment of a kidney condition and parked his vehicle, with all of his personal belongings, in the back cargo area.
Radomski parked in an open-air lot near a health building. While the lot is patrolled by UNC Hospital police, a UNC-Chapel Hill police officer was asked by the hospital to investigate the vehicle, which had neither a license plate nor insurance. The officer questioned Radomski, who ultimately acknowledged firearms inside. Six long guns, including semiautomatic rifles and a shotgun, as well as ammunition, were recovered. He was indicted on one count a few months later.
The parking lot is in the heart of the campus close to the football stadium, but it’s also situated near the emergency room entrance and another health care building. Murphy wrote that Radomski’s attorney argued successfully that the parking lot is not educational in nature but rather provides access to health care facilities. And just because areas around it mention UNC or use the school’s iconic blue color doesn’t mean the lot fits the “educational property” definition, Murphy wrote.
There was no immediate comment Tuesday from the state Attorney General’s office on the court’s decision. A further appeal can be sought.
Murphy and Judge Jeff Carpenter, who also heard the case, agreed that even setting aside the constitutional concerns in the case, the prosecutor failed to present substantial evidence that Radomski knew he was on a campus. The officer’s testimony indicated Radomski said several times he was unaware that he was on an educational property. But Dillon disagreed, writing there was evidence that Radomski would have passed signs showing he was on the campus.
Court orders drug companies to pay $916 million in Plavix blood thinner lawsuit
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii court has ordered the manufacturers and distributors of the blood thinner Plavix to pay the state a combined $916 million after finding the companies failed to disclose the efficacy and safety of the medication, the state attorney general said Tuesday.
The judgement was issued against Bristol Myers Squibb Company and three U.S.-based subsidiaries of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi.
Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi said in a joint statement they disagreed with the penalty and plan to appeal.
First Circuit Court Judge James Ashford found that there was a risk that about 30% of patients, particularly non-Caucasians, might have a “diminished response” to Plavix but the companies didn’t update their label, Attorney General Anne Lopez said.
“As Judge Ashford found following a trial, these pharmaceutical defendants acted in bad faith and marketed a product that could potentially have devastating effects on Hawaii patients, when they knew that the medicine would lack efficacy for a substantial portion of the population,” Lopez said in a statement.
Hawaii filed the lawsuit in 2014, saying more than 1 million Plavix prescriptions had been issued in the islands since 1998 when the drug was first marketed.
Hawaii was the fifth state to file a lawsuit claiming unfair and deceptive marketing of Plavix, after Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and California.
The companies, in an emailed statement, said the overwhelming body of scientific evidence demonstrates that Plavix is safe and effective regardless of a patient’s race and genetics. It called the penalties “unwarranted and out of proportion.”
It said Hawaii’s case was the last remaining legal case and was a “clear outlier” given how the companies successfully defended themselves against Plavix litigation in other states.
“Plavix has helped millions of patients with cardiovascular disease around the world for more than 20 years, is endorsed as a first-line therapy by leading treatment guidelines across the globe and remains the standard of care,” the companies said.
New York
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of 2003 sexual assault in lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — A former model accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the latest in a series of allegations against the embattled hip-hop mogul.
Crystal McKinney said she was a successful 22-year-old model when she met Combs at a restaurant during Men’s Fashion Week in Manhattan. Combs invited her to his recording studio later that night, according to the federal complaint filed in New York City.
The lawsuit alleges that McKinney arrived to find Combs drinking and smoking joints with several other men. She smoked some marijuana, which she “later came to understand” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit says. She felt as though she was floating. Combs led her to the bathroom, where the sexual assault took place, according to the lawsuit.
Combs led her back to the studio and she lost consciousness, the lawsuit says. She later awakened in a taxi and realized that she had been sexually assaulted, according to the lawsuit.
Combs’ representatives did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as McKinney has done.
The lawsuit was filed days after CNN aired security video that shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday released a video admitting he attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”
Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating because of the statute of limitations.
A lawsuit filed by Cassie in November alleging beatings and abuse was settled a day after it was filed. But it spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
The claim on Tuesday was filed under a New York City law that allows accusers to file civil litigation during a limited window even if the events allegedly happened long ago.
North Carolina
Confederate monument to ‘faithful slaves’ must be removed, lawsuit says
COLUMBIA, N.C. (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks the removal of a Confederate monument marked as “in appreciation of our faithful slaves” from outside of a North Carolina county courthouse.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County, a civic group focused on issues facing local Black residents, and several of its members filed the lawsuit against the county’s commissioners. The legal complaint argues that the monument constitutes racially discriminatory government speech in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Tyrrell County includes a few thousand residents in eastern North Carolina. The monument, which was erected on the courthouse grounds in 1902, features a Confederate soldier standing atop a pedestal, with one of the markings below mentioning “faithful slaves.” The lawsuit argues that the monument conveys a racist and offensive message that Black people who were enslaved in the county preferred slavery to freedom.
“The point of putting such a monument near the door of the Tyrrell County Courthouse was to remind Black people that the county’s institutions saw their rightful place as one of subservience and obedience, and to suggest to them that they could not and would not get justice in the courts,” the lawsuit argues.
The Associated Press contacted the Tyrrell County manager via email requesting a comment on the lawsuit.
North Carolina legislators enacted a law in 2015 that limits when an “object of remembrance” such as a military monument can be relocated. Still, the lawsuit says more than a dozen Confederate monuments have been taken down in North Carolina in the past five years, many due to votes by local officials.
Others were removed by force. In 2018, protesters tore down a Confederate statue known as “Silent Sam” at the University of North Carolina campus at Chapel Hill. Statues of soldiers from the North Carolina Confederate Monument on the old Capitol grounds in Raleigh came down in June 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper, citing public safety, directed that the remainder of the monument and two others on Capitol grounds be removed.
Confederate monuments in North Carolina, as elsewhere nationwide, were a frequent focal point for racial inequality protests in the late 2010s, and particularly in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County wrote that they have fought for the courthouse monument’s removal for years, from testifying at county commission meetings to advertising on billboards.
North Carolina
Court throws out conviction of man with guns inside car on campus
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man living in his car was wrongfully convicted of having a semiautomatic weapon when he parked outside a university hospital and sought emergency medical care, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
An Orange County jury in 2022 found Joseph John Radomski III guilty of firearm possession near the hospital on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. A police officer had spoken to him and recovered several guns from inside his car. Radomski received probation and a suspended sentence.
The intermediate-level state Court of Appeals panel determined that under Radomski’s circumstances the law that makes it a low-grade felony to possess a firearm on “any kind of educational property” was unconstitutionally applied to him by restricting his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The ruling doesn’t completely strike down the law, which is designed to protect the public from potential gun violence in sensitive areas like schools.
In this case, state attorneys defending the prosecution failed to demonstrate that regulating Radomski’s firearm possession “is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Court of Appeals Judge Hunter Murphy wrote in the prevailing opinion that vacated the conviction and dismissed the case.
The evidence shows “everything in the world he owns, including his firearm, was in his car; and that he drove his car to UNC Hospital to seek emergency medical attention,” Court of Appeals Chief Judge Chris Dillon wrote while agreeing with Hunter on the result in a separate opinion. “There was no evidence that Defendant had the opportunity or means to store his firearm before proceeding to the hospital.”
Radomski, 42, of Yanceyville, had come to the hospital in June 2021 for treatment of a kidney condition and parked his vehicle, with all of his personal belongings, in the back cargo area.
Radomski parked in an open-air lot near a health building. While the lot is patrolled by UNC Hospital police, a UNC-Chapel Hill police officer was asked by the hospital to investigate the vehicle, which had neither a license plate nor insurance. The officer questioned Radomski, who ultimately acknowledged firearms inside. Six long guns, including semiautomatic rifles and a shotgun, as well as ammunition, were recovered. He was indicted on one count a few months later.
The parking lot is in the heart of the campus close to the football stadium, but it’s also situated near the emergency room entrance and another health care building. Murphy wrote that Radomski’s attorney argued successfully that the parking lot is not educational in nature but rather provides access to health care facilities. And just because areas around it mention UNC or use the school’s iconic blue color doesn’t mean the lot fits the “educational property” definition, Murphy wrote.
There was no immediate comment Tuesday from the state Attorney General’s office on the court’s decision. A further appeal can be sought.
Murphy and Judge Jeff Carpenter, who also heard the case, agreed that even setting aside the constitutional concerns in the case, the prosecutor failed to present substantial evidence that Radomski knew he was on a campus. The officer’s testimony indicated Radomski said several times he was unaware that he was on an educational property. But Dillon disagreed, writing there was evidence that Radomski would have passed signs showing he was on the campus.
