NAAG Endorses Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2021

We support H.R. 4193, and S. 2827, the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2021.

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NAAG Supports Senate Hearings on Social Media and Mental Health

As enforcers of our jurisdictions’ consumer protection laws, we find it deeply troubling that Facebook and other social media platforms seek to increase user engagement by conscripting our nation’s youth despite known harms to children and adolescents.

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Attorneys General Urge FCC to Accelerate Deadline for STIR/SHAKEN Adoption

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) today urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fight back against the scourge of illegal robocalls by moving up the deadline for smaller telephone companies to implement caller ID technology. Under the TRACED Act, which became law in 2019, phone companies are required to implement STIR/SHAKEN technology on…

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Colorado et al. v. Google, No. 1:30-cv-03715 (D.D.C. Dec. 17, 2020)

Thirty-eight states sued Google, alleging that Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines and related general search advertising markets through a series of anticompetitive contracts and conduct, hurting both consumers and advertisers. Consumers are denied the benefits of competition, including the possibility of higher quality services and better privacy protections. Advertisers are…

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NAAG Endorses State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2021

State attorneys general around the country are actively pursuing significant antitrust enforcement actions on behalf of consumers in their respective states.

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NAAG Endorses Fraud and Scam Reduction Act

H.R. 1215 provides much needed education and training for the employees most likely to be able to detect and report elder fraud and scams. The bill also provides a mechanism for vigorous monitoring of elder fraud, provides information on such schemes to the public, and coordinates reporting with law enforcement authorities. For these reasons, we strongly urge the Senate to take action and pass H.R. 1215.

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NAAG Endorses Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues (SOFA) Act

States and localities are on the front line of this crisis and are a large part of winning the battle from both a law enforcement and public health perspective.

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New York et al. v. Cephalon, No. 2:16-cv-04234 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 4, 2016)

In May 2015, the FTC settled a “pay-for-delay” suit against Cephalon for injunctive relief and $1.2 billion, which was paid into an escrow account. The FTC settlement allowed for those escrow funds to be distributed for settlement of certain related cases and government investigations. In August 2016, forty-eight states filed suit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Cephalon alleging anticompetitive conduct by Cephalon to protect the profits it earned from having a patent-protected monopoly on the sale of its landmark drug, Provigil. According to the complaint, Cephalon’s conduct delayed generic versions of Provigil from entering the market for several years. The complaint alleged that as patent and regulatory barriers that prevented generic competition to Provigil neared expiration, Cephalon intentionally defrauded the Patent and Trademark Office to secure an additional patent, which a court subsequently deemed invalid and unenforceable. Before it was declared invalid, Cephalon was able to use the patent to delay generic competition for nearly six additional years by filing patent infringement lawsuits. Cephalon settled those lawsuits by paying competitors to delay sale of their generic versions of Provigil until at least April 2012. Consumers, states, and others paid millions more for Provigil than they would have had generic versions of the drug launched by early 2006, as expected. A settlement was filed with the complaint, which includes $35 million for distribution to consumers who bought Provigil.

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Maryland et al. v. Perrigo Company, No. 1:04CV01398 (D.D.C. Aug. 17, 2004)

The FTC and states alleged that the companies had entered into a “pay-for-delay” arrangement, whereby Perrigo paid Alpharma to withdraw its generic version from the market for Children’t ibuprofen.According to the complaint, in June 1998, Perrigo and Alpharma signed an agreement allocating to Perrigo the sale of OTC children’s liquid ibuprofen for seven years. In exchange for agreeing not to compete, Alpharma received an up-front payment and a royalty on Perrigo’s sales of children’s liquid ibuprofen. The FTC received $6.25 million to compensate injured consumers. The states received $1.5 million in lieu of civil penalties. the parties were enjoined from future agreements.

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United States and Plaintiff States v. JBS S.A., No. 08CV5992 (N.D. Ill. 2009)

JBS, headquartered in Brazil, sought to acquire National Beef Packing, Inc., headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The U.S. Department of Justice and 13 states sued to block the transaction, which, according to the complaint, would substantially restructure the beef packing industry, eliminating a competitively significant packer and placing more than 80 percent of domestic fed cattle packing capacity in the hands of three firms: JBS, Tyson Foods Inc., and Cargill Inc. The complaint alleged that the acquisition would lessen competition among packers in the production and sale of USDA-graded boxed beef nationwide and would lessen competition among packers for the purchase of fed cattle ? cattle ready for slaughter ? in the High Plains, centered in Colorado, western Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, and the Southwest. In February 2009, the parties announced that they were abandoning the transaction.

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