New York Paralegal Blog

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the takedown of a highly organized drug distribution organization which spanned from Southern California to western New York. During the investigation, approximately one and a half kilograms of cocaine, more than 650 grams of marijuana, and approximately $200,000 cash were seized. Three separate indictments charge 25 people with crimes including Criminal Possession and/or Sale of Cocaine (class A-I felony), Conspiracy to Possess and Sell Cocaine (class B felony), Conspiracy in the Second Degree (class B felony) and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree (class E felony), Criminal Sale of Marihuana in the Second Degree (class D felony), and Criminal Possession of Marihuana in the Third Degree (class E felony). Today’s indictments are the result of a 19-month, multi-agency investigation dubbed “The City’s Finest,” which was led by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforceme...

The former director of information technology for a non-profit organ and tissue donation center has entered a guilty plea to intruding into her former employer’s computer network. At a hearing before U.S. District Judge David Hittner, Danielle Duann, 51, admitted to illegally accessing the computer network of LifeGift Organ Donation Center and then intentionally deleting organ donation database records, accounting invoice files, database and accounting software applications and various backup files without authorization. LifeGift is the sole provider of organ procurement services for more than 200 hospitals throughout 109 counties in North, Southeast and West Texas. Duann was previously indicted on this charge by a federal grand jury on June 24, 2008. According to the statement of facts in the case, LifeGift terminated Duann from her position as their director of information technology on Nov. 5, 2005, and the organization revoked all of Duann’s previous administrative rights and acces...

The Justice Department announced today it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against Nobel Learning Communities Inc. (Nobel) alleging the company violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding children with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities from its schools and programs. The complaint identifies children with disabilities denied admission to or removed from Nobel schools in several states. Nobel is a network of more than 180 private preschools, elementary schools and secondary schools in fifteen states, operating under various names including Chesterbrook Academies, Evergreen Academies, Bethesda Country Day School and Merryhill Schools. Nobel also provides child care services and summer programs. "All parents want their child to have the opportunity to reach his or her full potential," said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Justice Department will vigorously e...

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his Medicaid Control Fraud Unit (MFCU) recovered over $263 million in damages and restitution from cases of provider fraud across New York State in 2008. According to MFCU’s 2008 Annual Report, which was submitted today to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Unit obtained nearly 150 convictions last year, the highest number in the last five years. The Unit also secured settlements and court orders requiring the payment of $263.5 million in civil damages and criminal restitution, surpassing the $113.8 million achieved in 2007 and $59.3 million in 2006. “2008 marks a truly landmark year for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Through efficient use of our resources and a steadfast commitment to the patients of New York State, we were able to more than double the money recovered in cases of provider fraud and hold accountable individuals and companies that abuse or neglect their patie...

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his office has filed suit against National Home Protection, Inc. (NHP), a New York City-based company, and three principals, Leo Serrur, David Seruya, and Victor Hakim in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan for a deceptive home warranty scheme that defrauded consumers in New York and across the country out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Attorney General also applied for and was granted a temporary restraining order freezing the bank accounts and other assets of the company and principals, and preventing NHP from selling any more of its home warranty plans out of New York pending further order by the Court. “This company denied homeowners’ legitimate claims, deceived consumers with false advertising, and ultimately ripped off customers who paid good money to protect their investment,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “This was an ongoing fraud that systemically cheated consumers across this country.” NHP sells yearly home warra...

Good Morning. I am Michael L. Foreman, Deputy Director of Legal Programs, appearing for Barbara R. Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (“Lawyers' Committee”). In 1963, the Lawyers' Committee was formed at the direction of President John F. Kennedy to focus the efforts of our nation’s bar to advance, through the rule of law, equal justice under the law. Since that time, the Lawyers' Committee has been at the forefront in advancing equality and access in the areas of education, housing, voting rights, community development, and minority business opportunities. Title VII has not had a more active partner in the fight against unlawful discrimination in the workplace than the Lawyers' Committee. We worked tirelessly with a broad coalition of organizations to secure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 which overturned a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that were adverse to certain provisions of Title VII. In our c...

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Wal-Mart and Target, the two largest retail chain stores in the United States; Duane Reade, the largest pharmacy chain in New York City; and Costco Wholesale Corporation, the largest wholesale club operator in the country, have agreed to provide New York customers with prescription medication instructions in their primary language. In addition, A & P, one of the largest supermarkets on the East Coast operating Pathmark, Super Fresh, and Food Emporium among others, also entered into the same agreement with the Attorney General. Under the terms of these agreements, the companies will counsel all pharmacy customers about prescription information in their own language and provide written translations in Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and French. The agreements announced today are the result of an undercover investigation into the policies and procedures of pharmacies, conducted by the Attorney General’s Office, which found tha...

The U.S. Department of Labor today certified for release $100,383,562 in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization incentive funds to the state of Illinois. Illinois qualified for the funds available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) by allowing workers to use their more recent earnings to qualify for benefits. Illinois' approved application will be posted at the department's Employment and Training Administration Web site at: http://www.doleta.gov/recovery. "Illinois recognizes the importance of providing an economic safety net to workers who have entered the workforce recently and lost their jobs through no fault of their own," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "It is the right thing to do for workers and is good for the state's economic recovery." The Illinois Department of Employment Security can use the funds to pay unemployment benefits or, if appropriated by the legislature, for administering its unemployment i...

Kellogg Company, the world’s leading producer of cereal, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that advertising claims touting a breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats as “clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20%” were false and violated federal law. The proposed settlement bars deceptive or misleading cognitive health claims for Kellogg’s breakfast foods and snack foods and bars the company from misrepresenting any tests or studies. According to the FTC’s complaint, Kellogg claimed in a national advertising campaign – including television, print, and Internet advertising, as well as product packaging – that a breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is clinically shown to improve children’s attentiveness by nearly 20 percent. The complaint alleges that, in fact, according to the clinical study referred to in Kellogg’s advertising, only about half the children who ate Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast showed any improvement in attentiveness, and only about...

Two subsidiaries of the Swedish company Trelleborg AB, one based in Virginia and the other in France, have agreed to plead guilty and pay a total of $11 million in criminal fines for their participation in separate conspiracies affecting the sales of marine products sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. A two-count felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., against Virginia Harbor Services Inc., formerly known as Trelleborg Engineered Products Inc. (VHS/TEPI), a manufacturer of foam-filled marine fenders, buoys and plastic marine pilings headquartered in Clearbrook, Va. According to the charges, VHS/TEPI participated in a conspiracy between December 2002 and August 2005 to allocate customers and rig bids for contracts to sell foam-filled marine fenders and buoys, and also participated in a separate conspiracy between December 2002 and May 2003 to allocate customers and rig bids for contracts to sell plastic marine...