May 2009 Archives

Loretta King, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, announced today that Special Litigation Counsel Kristy Parker, a senior attorney in the Division's Criminal Section, has been selected to receive the 2009 Top Prosecutor Award from the Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE).

Parker was selected for her role as the lead prosecutor in the successful 2008 case of United States v. Sydnor, et al., which resulted in the federal conviction of three Kentucky jailers who retaliated against an 18-year-old traffic offender by arranging to have him locked in a jail cell with violent inmates, who in turn brutally assaulted and raped the teenaged victim.

"Kristy Parker represents the tenacious spirit and extraordinary commitment of the many fine career attorneys who serve the public interest at the Justice Department. Her tireless and extraordinary litigative ability vindicated the civil rights of the victim," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division. "We thank the Women in Federal Law Enforcement for recognizing her for this distinguished honor."

"I congratulate Ms. Parker for receiving this high honor. Her unwavering dedication made certain that the officers who trampled on the dignity and rights of a powerless teenager were brought to justice," said Mark Kappelhoff, Chief of the Division's Criminal Section.

The victim was arrested on Valentine's Day, 2003, and taken to the Grant County, Ky., Detention Center. A sergeant and several officers teased the teenager at the jail and after announcing he needed to be "taught a lesson," visited a jail cell filled with hardened criminals and told them that they would be bringing down a young man who needed to be "messed" with. The officers then escorted him down a hallway lined with cells filled with hardcore criminals, as inmates yelled, "Fresh Meat!"; "Give him to me!" and "Happy Valentine's Day!" The officers pushed the boy into the cell, slammed the door shut and left him without looking back. In the next hours the boy was viciously raped by an inmate and abused by others.

During the investigation and trial, Parker and another lawyer under her supervision won over reluctant law enforcement witnesses and made a powerful presentation of the evidence. Parker delivered arguments that educated and moved a jury initially reluctant to convict law enforcement officers. The jury convicted the defendants on all counts. They received lengthy prison sentences.

This is the third consecutive year in which WIFLE selected an attorney from the Civil Rights Division's Criminal Section as its top prosecutor. Last year, Deputy Chief Paige Fitzgerald received the award for her successful cold case prosecution of James Ford Seale, a former Ku Klux Klansman, for the racially-motivated murders of two young black men killed in Mississippi more than 40 years earlier. Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein was named WIFLE's top prosecutor in 2007 for her role in the case of United States v. Saldana, et al., a prosecution marking the first -- and to date, the only -- use of federal criminal civil rights statutes to prosecute violent hate crimes carried out by members of a traditional street gang.

Parker has served the Justice Department for a decade and has been a trial attorney in the Criminal Section for six years. She will be presented the Top Prosecutor Award at a banquet ceremony honoring WIFLE award recipients on June 17, 2009, in Tucson, Ariz.

The mother of a 12-year-old autistic boy who died while in the care of a psychiatrist at a group home has filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit claiming overmedication and improper care led to the boy's death.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade circuit court Tuesday by the boy's mother, Martha Quesada. In it, she alleges Denis Maltez died in 2007 after receiving an overdose of anti-psychotic drugs.

"This is a clear case of a 12-year-child who perished because he was given a lethal combination of off-label, dangerous, anti-psychotic drugs to control his behavior without appropriate consent, administration and supervision," said Howard Talenfeld, Quesada's attorney and partner with Fort Lauderdale law firm, Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A., in Fort Lauderdale. Partner Maria Abate is co-counsel on the case.

"Tragically, this case is one of many cases where foster children and developmentally disabled children are given powerful drug to control their behavior instead of utilizing appropriate behavioral interventions," Talenfeld said. "This is an important first step in seeking remedy for Ms. Quesada's loss, and raising awareness of the cavalier prescription, administration of medications to control behavior with little regard for possible counter-indications or devastating results."

At the time of his death on May 23, 2007, Denis was under the care of psychiatrist, Dr. Steven L. Kaplan, at the former Rainbow Ranch group home, owned and operated by David Glatt. Both are named in the lawsuit.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner found that Denis died of Central Serotonergic Syndrome. This resulted from "the co-administration of multiple psychotropic medications with no monitoring or supervision," the lawsuit claims. The drugs stimulated overproduction of serotonin - a naturally occurring chemical that help regulate a person's mood. This proved lethal, the suit claims. Denis, who had severe autism, died in a van after being restrained by group home staff.

The lawsuit claims Glatt replaced Denis's regular visits to Jackson Memorial Hospital with on-site care by Dr. Kaplan without Quesada's consent. During Denis's time at the facility, Kaplan only visited him twice. Kaplan prescribed a regimen of medications described "as chemical restraints to control Denis's behavior." Those included Depakote, an anti-seizure drug used for mood-stabilization; the tranquilizer Clonazepam; and anti-psychotics, Seroquel and Zyprexa. Several of the drugs lack Food and Drug Administration approval for use on children. They also warn of possible side-effects.

Quesada's lawsuit comes a month after the death of Gabriel Myers. The 7-year-old foster child had been prescribed a variety of mental health drugs, and later hanged himself. The use of psychiatric medications on Florida foster children now is being studied by the state Department of Children and Families.

SOURCE Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) in the patent infringement lawsuit filed by P&G against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. The positive ruling protects P&G's rights in the U.S. to exclusively market the osteoporosis therapy Actonel(R) (risedronate sodium) tablets. Actonel is commercialized through a collaboration between Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and sanofi-aventis.

On August 13, 2004, P&G filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva to enforce P&G's U.S. composition of matter patent for risedronate, the active ingredient in Actonel. Teva sought to market a generic version of Actonel in the United States under the assertion that the Actonel patent was not valid due to obviousness of the invention. On February 28, 2008, the Court ruled in favor of P&G, expressly rejecting Teva's validity challenge. Shortly afterwards, Teva filed an appeal of the decision. Oral arguments for the appeal were heard in December, 2008.

"We are very pleased and not surprised that the Court recognized and acknowledged the uniqueness of the risedronate molecule," said Tom Finn, P&G President, Global Health Care. "P&G pioneered the use of bisphosphonates in humans almost 30 years ago. We specifically selected Actonel for development versus a stable of many other bisphosphonates because our extensive R&D efforts suggested Actonel had many important, distinguishing characteristics including its potency and favorable safety profile. We will continue to invest in Actonel and continue to pursue development of future Actonel initiatives in the years to come."

The Actonel patent life extends through June 2014, including a pediatric extension, which was granted last month. Actonel was approved in 2000 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Actonel is the only oral monthly postmenopausal osteoporosis therapy approved to reduce the risk of both spine and non-spine fractures (non-spine fractures were measured as a group, not separately).

SOURCE The Procter & Gamble Company

On October 26th, 2007, a three member American Arbitration Association panel unanimously found the Pennsbury School District liable for wrongfully terminating and breaching its contract with Milestone Construction Management, Inc. and wrongfully withholding payments to Milestone in bad faith. The Bucks County, Pennsylvanian school district was ordered to pay over $1,000,000.00 in damages to Milestone and to Milestone's bonding company. In addition, the panel ordered the school district to indemnify Milestone in an amount not to exceed $333,352.39 for payments made by the bonding company to several of Milestone's subcontractors and suppliers. On December 30, 2008, the court granted Milestone Construction Management's Motion to Compel Pennsbury School District to proceed back to arbitration to finalize the claim of indemnity based on the amount Milestone Construction was required to pay Centennial Insurance Company under the indemnity agreement.

The Arbitrators' decision was handed down after more than thirty days of testimony involving dozens of witnesses.

The school district contracted with Milestone in the Spring of 2003 to perform the general construction for additions and alterations to Manor Elementary School, located in Levittown, PA. Despite significant problems with the plans and specifications that had been prepared by the Architect, Daley and Jalboot, and delays in obtaining required permits, the school was open and ready for the start of the 2003-2004 school year.

Milestone is represented by Bruce L. Phillips, esquire, of Venzie, Phillips and Warshawer, in Philadelphia.

Milestone Construction Management, founded in 1999 by Rocco Cavallo, is a full service construction management firm, providing a wide range of preconstruction and construction services throughout the Delaware Valley.

SOURCE Milestone Construction Management