Consumer Fraud Legal News Articles & Interviews

Santa Clara, CA “The FDA has clamped down on a few e-cigarette companies that have behaved very irresponsibly, but the big boys, the multinational tobacco companies, are taking over the e-cigarette business,” says Dr. Stanton Glantz, a globally recognized expert on e-cigarettes and anti-smoking activist since the 1970s.

Santa Clara, CA A federal court last week slammed the EPA for approving dicamba-based weed-killing products sold by agricultural giants Bayer AG, BASF and Corteva Agriscience, now making it illegal for farmers to use dicamba herbicides. The EPA also sided with Monsanto and its Roundup weedkiller, which has tragically resulted in more than 125,000 Monsanto cancer lawsuits.

Santa Clara, CA Back in 2017, a law was passed to protect Californians against surprise medical bills for non-emergency care. Before that, AB1611 was proposed: it was supposed to protect against emergency room overcharges but California consumers are still getting gouged by out-of-network providers.

Ottawa, ON Some people opposed to vaping would say that former Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose has put profit over people, specifically Juul e-cigarettes over teenage health.

San Francisco, CA Last year Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital reduced a patient’s emergency room charges from $20,243 bill down to $200—after the patient, Nina Dang, contacted the media. She broke her arm on the pavement in a bike accident. Can’t reach the media? Of course lawyers experienced with negotiating ER overcharges can also substantially reduce hospital costs, both for insured and uninsured patients. “It’s frustrating that I have to hire a lawyer, but so far it’s been worth it,” said another ER patient, Alexa Sulvetta.

Santa Clara, CA Vaping and e-cigarette companies are using the corona virus crisis as a sales tool, despite warnings from health officials that vape and e-cigarette users might be at a higher risk for complications from COVID-19. And an attorney general accuses the FDA of vape fear mongering.

Santa Clara, CA Almost one-third of Americans with health insurance who wind up in an emergency room find out after the fact that their health plan doesn’t cover as much as they thought. Given that there are about 140 million ER visits each year, and “surprise” emergency room charges are so frequent that 59 percent of Americans have been contacted by a debt collector and 16 percent of Americans’ credit reports include medical debt due to overdue medical bills, it’s not such as surprise that this debt totals about $81 billion.

Santa Clara, CA Despite the $2 trillion coronavirus aid package that includes over $100 billion for hospitals and medical needs, and despite a law signed by President Trump on March 18 that supposedly allows Americans to be tested for coronavirus free of charge, some patients now face emergency room overcharges. While the tests may be free, both insured and uninsured patients are still charged the ER visit to get the test.  And keep in mind that insured patients visiting an emergency room during this crisis could face huge ER costs.

Santa Clara, CA Coronavirus and e-cigarette use have one thing in common: they harm the lungs. And as of March 2020, hundreds of Juul e-cigarette lawsuits have been combined in a California federal court, with many more complaints expected.

Washington, DC Effective February 6, a change in FDA policy banned sales of fruit, mint and dessert-flavored vape pods that were reportedly intended to attract teens. The effectiveness of this ban in protecting young consumers from e-cigarette health hazards remains in doubt, however. The ban does not affect menthol or tobacco-flavored pods, open-tank systems and thousands of flavored e-liquids not in pod form, including a disposable brand called Puff Bar that comes in flavors such as strawberry, cool mint and mango.