Allergan has agreed to pay $600 million in criminal and civil penalties and plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of "misbranding" its drug Botox as part of a global settlement with the federal government over off-label uses of the drug. As part of the plea deal, Allergan agreed to drop its First Amendment legal action against the government, which critics said threatened the entire federal regulation of pharmaceuticals. More

Patent practitioners say the Federal Circuit's decision that whistleblowers have standing to sue companies that falsely label their products as covered by patents probably won't save cases filed based on the bare fact that products contain false markings. The unanimous panel ruling, which reversed a New York federal court decision, directs the lower court to consider whether the complaint failed to allege an intent to deceive with enough specificity to meet the pleading requirements for fraud. More

Lawyers representing most of the more than 10,000 plaintiffs suing New York City and its contractors for illnesses resulting from the response and cleanup after the 9/11 terror attacks have patched up their differences over sharing costs. Plaintiffs firms Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo and Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern were set to square off at a hearing Wednesday, but instead submitted a stipulation to the federal judge presiding over a still-to-be-finalized $712.5 million settlement in the cases. More

Attorney Robert J. Ambrogi heard that blogs are dead in the legal profession. Indeed, he declares legal blogging alive, well and thriving. Since the future is foretold by the new, Ambrogi highlights recently launched blogs, all of which show continuing vitality in the blawgosphere. More

A new legal effort to force California's governor and attorney general to defend Proposition 8 in court may have some political potency, but is unlikely to win in court, legal observers say. The Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative group that has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with a state appeals court to force the governor and AG to defend the statute, is up against issues of executive branch discretion and separation of powers, said one law professor. He called the effort "a long shot." More

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that an anti-competitive agreement between two companies to restrict the availability of one of their patents in favor of two others is not misuse of the favored patents. Applying the patent misuse doctrine narrowly, the court determined that the patents at issue are enforceable. The case involves the technology for recordable compact discs and rewritable compact discs. More

A Texas appeals court has sided with the state office of the attorney general, ruling that a same-sex couple cannot get divorced in Texas. The panel said the trial court erred in holding that Texas law violates the Equal Protection Clause, and found that state law "recognizes that only opposite-sex couples are naturally capable of producing children," and gives them the option of legal formalization "with the legitimate legislative goal of encouraging such formalization and thereby promoting the well being of children." More

A teleconference company is off the hook, at least for now, from paying the legal fees of a former chief executive who was sent to prison for securities fraud. The 10th Circuit has ruled that a trial judge erred in granting a preliminary injunction in favor of ClearOne's former CEO who had an agreement with the company to pay her legal fees. The panel found that the agreement did not create an unconditional obligation to cover her fees and permitted the company to assert its own financial problems to avoid payment. More

A California appeals court has sided with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy in a dispute over a novel contingency fee deal that called for more legal fees than the amount of money the client recovered. Upholding an arbitration award for the firm of $7.5 million, the court rejected arguments that the award -- based on a contingency fee of 16 percent of the client's estimated damages -- was unconscionable. A lawyer for the Cotchett firm's former client said the case "cries out" for California Supreme Court review. More

Citing multiple trial errors, a New Jersey appeals court has reversed an $18.9 million verdict against an obstetrician whose delay in ordering a Caesarean delivery a jury found to have caused cerebral palsy in the child. The panel found that the trial judge failed to limit the testimony of a labor-and-delivery nurse, to issue the jury a contemporaneous limiting instruction on the nurse's testimony and to allow the defendant to admit into evidence a report that had exculpatory value for the obstetrician. More

Law school may cost a pretty penny, but anyone interested in the legal side of health care reform can get a deal from the University of Iowa College of Law. The school is offering its new course on health care reform law to the public for free via the university's Internet-based distance learning system. "I think we're the only ones doing this," said law professor Sheldon Kurtz, who conceived of the course with a colleague. "We believe we have an outreach mission that involves informing the public about policy issues." More

In her former law practice, consultant Debra Bruce had a habit of waking up in the middle of the night with thoughts of work, which she didn't mind, unless she couldn't get back to sleep for hours. For others with the same habit, she has some tips to help them get back to sleep quickly. More

Check out some of the latest posts on the lawjobs.com blog, The Careerist. Checklist for Summer's End: How to maximize what remains of the season Plus Big Bucks for Big Law in Big Divorces And A Closet of One's Own: Regarding Ken Mehlman More