A lot has happened since 1994 when the FDA decided to let “their hair down” and deregulate the Herbal Supplement Industry at the pleas of “naturalists” who demanded that the government and pharmaceutical industry were in a conspiracy to keep these less costly “natural products” out of the hands of the consumer.

As herbal supplements became the new “drug of choice”, offering lower costs and “safe” natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals demand skyrocketed and the industry became rife with opportunities for profit and exploitation. It is clear that, as with other industries, recognizing the problems with allowing an industry to “self regulate” might be equated to letting the fox in the henhouse and being surprised when the chickens are gone. According to a new report filed by Global Industry Analysts Inc.

(more…)

On a recent trip to the supermarket I noticed that the price of bananas is over 50¢ a pound, and in my home that’s a serious expense. Unlike the cause for the drastic increase in food goods related to higher fuel costs and a depletion of food storage reserves through out the world, the high cost of bananas can be attributed to more to the dubious activities of the largest producer of bananas in the world, Chiquita Brands International.

The activities on the part of Chiquita read like a Hollywood drama. Chiquita has pled guilty to   criminal activities during the past 20 years, including monetary support paid to a known terrorist organization. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17615143/).

Chiquita Brands began in 1997, through a subsidiary known as Banadex, making payment to the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (“AUC”). The AUC was and is a dangerous terrorist organization that was created in order to combat other guerilla groups in the country of Colombia. The AUC however was reportedly not limited in its activities to that purpose. Allegedly they engaged in kidnapping and the murder of innocent civilians, as well as drug traffickers. The AUC has been a named terrorist organization every year by the United States since 2001. Most recently Chiquita Banana paid a $25 million dollar federal criminal fine for its activities in Colombia (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5721/is_200705/ai_n23755882)

No wonder bananas are over 50¢ a pound! American corporations should be good corporate citizens, whether they are in Colombia or in the United States and act in an ethical and humanitarian fashion.

http://www.chiquitalawsuit.com/

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

The St Petersburg Times published an article today with a very well written and poignant story about a victim of Big Tobacco.

The story was about the progressive illness and death of a popular area TV personality, John Eastman. He was known as the dean of Tampa Bay talk radio. It is a story that is unfortunately very typical of many smoking victims. Mr. Eastman began smoking at the age of 12 because everyone his age was smoking; it was the cool thing to do. His addiction developed into a four pack a day habit and he believed those ads that told him smoking was “good” for his throat: “Philip Morris’ superiority for the nose and throat is RECOGNIZED by eminent medical authorities; no other cigarette can make that statement” (quoted from Philip Morris ad” . His career ended when those very cigarettes that Big Tobacco promised were good for his throat, took his professional voice away.

Our thoughts go out to Mr. Eastman’s sons for the untimely loss of their father at the hands of Big Tobacco.

I want to add, however, some information not mentioned in the article. This is information about the attorney who fought many years to achieve justice for Mr. Eastman. That attorney was Howard Acosta; he faced the “scorched earth” tactics employed by Big Tobacco’s lawyers and he won justice for his client. When most attorneys would not or could not take on the juggernaut of Big Tobacco’s well funded defense lawyers, Howard Acosta beat them back and gave his client some amount of comfort in his last days.

Howard Acosta has been practicing law and defending the rights of injured victims for 29 years. He has not stood on the sidelines of difficult fights; he has entered the fray against very formidable adversaries. Big Tobacco has been known to spend millions of dollars on just one plaintiff’s lawsuit in an effort at grinding the plaintiff or his attorney into submission. This is not litigation for the faint hearted.

(more…)

One of the issues that all Americans, and particularly lawyers, should consider in making their presidential pick is which candidate will best serve the interest of “justice for all.”   Recently, while the talking heads continued to focus on the meaning of the word “bitter,” or the sound bites from a retired minister, a little-covered story gave us some real insight into how the three remaining Presidential candidates view our civil justice system.

(more…)

I think we can all agree that the 2008 race for the White House has received more media coverage than any election in history. I have certainly watched and read more campaign speeches than ever before. One thing that has struck me, however, is the Democratic candidates’ reluctance to discuss their law degrees. Sen. Obama occasionally mentions that he was a community organizer or that he taught Constitutional Law. But I have never seen him even mention that he graduated from Harvard Law School, much less that he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review, a phenomenal accomplishment. And I have not seen Sen. Clinton discuss that she graduated from Yale Law School.

(more…)

We have left the age of “document management” in litigation. The forms that information takes are no longer limited to paper or to the physical world. Rather, information now occupies digital repositories of varying forms and types. We are now faced with obtaining and managing “knowledge”, rather than “documents”; information of all kinds, of varying forms, and stored on a wide array of devices.

(more…)

As an attorney, I am accustomed to cautionary tales after the fact, in the wake of tragedies that might have been avoided. If only someone had known, I think. If only someone had behaved differently, I say. What follows is a short story that can, and does, happen to anyone, any day. It’s a cautionary tale before the fact, with a happy ending that nonetheless serves as a lesson about attention and responsibility on the road.

Last month I awoke with severe pain radiating down my back, legs and thighs, so excruciating that I couldn’t walk. In handling my share of medical-related lawsuits, I have gained just enough knowledge to scare the heck out of myself – but not enough for any kind of accurate diagnosis. So I turned to the Internet. Morning sciatica, I read. Nice to know, but not much comfort as the next few sunrises brought debilitating pain that abated only slightly as the days wore on.

(more…)