Attorney Publications

IN RECENT YEARS, A NEW STANDARD appears to have emerged regarding class certification. Courts have largely dismissed the notion—originally derived from Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin—that they cannot resolve issues relevant to the merits in deciding whether to certify a class. How far they may delve into the merits, however, has remained somewhat of a mystery.

The False Claims Act (“FCA”) clearly provides that once a qui tam action is filed, a relator may dismiss an action only if the court and the Attorney General give written consent. The statute does not, however, address whether the relator’s release of qui tam claims, executed before the filing of a complaint, is enforceable.

Butt out is the message from four of the five largest cigarette manufacturers who have filed suit in a Washington, D.C., federal court challenging new FDA regulations that require them to print nine graphic images on their cigarette packaging. Under the FDA rule, the images must be printed in color and displayed on the top 50 percent of the both the front and back panels of every pack. Grim news has to cover the top 20 percent of all printed cigarette advertising. In addition, the FDA says, every pack of cigarettes must contain the words "QUIT-NOW." And there is an 800 quit smoking hotline number that has to be there too.

The False Claims Act (FCA) is designed to protect the federal treasury and to deter fraud committed against the government. The FCA places power within the hands of private citizens, allowing them to become “private attorney generals,” and, with the assistance of an attorney paid on a contingent fee basis, challenge government payments on behalf of the government. The citizens who bring a case on behalf of the government (“whistleblowers”) can be employees, former employees, and/or competitors...

Despite thousands of recent print, broadcast and Internet reports about WikiLeaks, the renegade Web site's alleged whistleblowing activities and certain documents it has "published," qui tam remains the first name in whistleblower; "journalist" remains...

Eric L. Cramer was a contributor to "Assessing Market Power in the Prescription Pharmaceutical Industry," a chapter in the ABA's Pharmaceutical Industry Handbook (July 2009).

This paper argues that microfinance initiatives are an attractive aid mechanism to promote gender equality in Muslim countries because such initiatives both alleviate poverty and provide women with economic empowerment without violating Muslim customary...

Submitted for the 11th Annual NERA Finance, Law & Economics Securities Litigation Seminar, Aspen Colo. (July 7, 2008).