Good morning. Welcome back to The Daily Docket, your new go-to morning newsletter from Westlaw Today for the latest on courts, lawyers and the legal profession. Teva is facing an indictment, Black ex-players feel cheated in the NFL's concussion settlement, Pennsylvania bar examiners are dissing on diploma privilege and Alaska's now-former AG was caught sending a lot of texts to a junior state employee. Let's go!

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DOJ charges Teva in generic drug price-fixing probe

The U.S. Department of Justice's years-long probe into allegations that generic drugmakers conspired to fix prices for medications led Tuesday to charges against the industry's biggest generic manufacturer: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

An indictment filed in federal court in Philadelphia alleged Teva's U.S. arm conspired with rivals Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, Taro Pharmaceuticals and Novartis' Sandoz unit to boost prices for treatments for ailments including heart disease, arthritis and seizures. Prosecutors said consumers were overcharged by more than $350 million.

Glenmark is facing related charges, while five other companies including Taro, Apotex and Sandoz have agreed to pay more than $426 million in criminal penalties. Unlike those five, Teva refused to agree to a settlement that would have required it to pay a criminal penalty and admit wrongdoing, Reuters reported.

Teva said based on an internal review of the claims, it had concluded it did not engage in price fixing. Its lawyers could not be identified, but it has been represented by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in related antitrust litigation by state attorneys general and private plaintiffs.

NFL discriminates against Black ex-players in concussion settlement: lawsuit

The NFL's landmark settlement resolving claims by retired football players suffering concussion-related injuries has an "unacceptable flaw," according to a lawsuit: It discriminates against Black players.

Two NFL retirees, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, in a proposed class action filed on Tuesday in Philadelphia federal court alleged the league's process for evaluating head-injury claims uses a formula that made it less likely Black ex-players would receive settlement payouts. They said it did so through "race-norming," or manipulating test scores in a way that assumed Black ex-players began with worse cognitive functioning than white ex-players.

"We think it's pretty clear that nothing in the settlement agreement requires the use of race-norming," said Cy Smith, a Zuckerman Spaeder lawyer who filed the lawsuit, which seeks to end that practice.

The NFL called the lawsuit "misguided." It said the settlement, which is uncapped and has already paid out $700 million-plus to retired players, always contemplated using "recognized statistical techniques" to account for demographic differences such as age, education and race.

Pennsylvania bar examiners fight diploma privilege demands

Should Pennsylvania join four other states in temporarily granting recent law school graduates diploma privilege instead of forcing them to take a bar exam during the COVID-19 pandemic? No, state bar examiners told the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The Pennsylvania Board of Examiners defended its decision to proceed with the already-delayed Oct. 5-7 test now being held online in response to a group of applicants who argue requiring the exam in these circumstances violates their rights under the state's constitution to pursue their chosen occupation.

Applicants represented by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Michael Engle and Temple University law professor Louis Natali last week asked the state’s top court to abandon the test and grant licenses to law school graduates set to take it. They cited the risks of cyberattacks, which occurred in Michigan when examiners used the same software provider for its July virtual test.

The board acknowledged a remote exam "is far from perfect” but said it could not adequately ensure minimal standards for licensed lawyers without it. Engle countered that nothing in the board’s filing establishes an “untested” online bar exam could properly evaluate who deserves a license.

Coming up today

The 11th Circuit, in a case involving involving Alabama nursing home Ridgewood Health Care Center, will consider whether to undo a National Labor Relations Board ruling that made it easier for "successor" employers to alter working conditions without bargaining with unions after they have acquired other companies..
The NAACP will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, to allow it to intervene in Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 case to ensure some proceeds from a proposed settlement of opioid-related litigation are earmarked for communities of color. A Purdue lawyer, Davis Polk's James McClammy, in a filing says it welcomes the NAACP's advice.
California bail surety companies and agents will urge U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Oakland to dismiss a lawsuit alleging they conspired to fix bail bond prices. Lieff Cabraser's Dean Harvey represents the plaintiffs.

"This, however, amounts to arguing that a fraudulent state of mind does not exist until it is discovered. While this suggestion might succeed in a quantum physics lab, it does not succeed before a court of law."

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan in rejecting arguments by South African energy company Sasol Ltd that investors could not establish its executives committed fraud regarding the true cost of a Louisiana project before a 2019 internal review was conducted. (Reuters)

Alaska AG resigns over ‘uncomfortable’ texts to junior state employee

Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, a Republican, resigned on Tuesday after details about 558 text messages he sent in about one month to a younger female state employee emerged that he acknowledged placed her in an “uncomfortable position.”

That's a lot of texts.

The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica just prior to the resignation published a story detailing the texts, in which Clarkson asked the woman to come to his house at least 18 times. He often included a kiss emoji. "So what are you doing sweet lady?" one read.

He was initially placed on a month-long administrative leave of absence without pay, the outlets reported. In a statement to a blog called Must Read Alaska, Clarkson apologized for "unintentionally" placing the woman "in an uncomfortable environment in her workplace."

Industry buzz

Google promoted its lead products and commercial lawyer Halimah DeLaine Prado to general counsel. (Reuters)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis paid Washington law firm Cooper & Kirk $250,000 for a year of work defending the state's law barring convicted felons from voting before they have paid off all court fees, fines and restitution to victims. (Tampa Bay Times)
Big Law rolls back pay cuts, lateral moves from Fox Rothschild, Greenberg Traurig, Mintz Levin and more in Career Tracker. (Reuters)
Winston & Strawn launched a new global privacy and data security practice group. (Reuters)
With in-office plans still uncertain, law firms are grappling with how to properly train and communicate company culture when on-boarding first-year associates. (The American Lawyer)
Joseph Matal, the former acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, joined Haynes and Boone in Washington. (Reuters)

In the courts

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan sided with prosecutors, rejecting Ghislaine Maxwell’s request to be moved into general population at the jail where she’s awaiting trial on charges she aided the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls. (Reuters)
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips in Richmond, Virginia, signed off on J.Crew’s reorganization plan following a settlement with a group of junior creditors. J.Crew is repped by Weil Gotshal & Manges. (Reuters)
Seven asylum seekers filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court challenging the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy. They’re represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union. (Reuters)
U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno ruled that the city of Philadelphia can clear three homeless encampments in the city, but occupants must be given 72 hours to leave and all their property must be stored and returned to its owners. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
The 3rd Circuit said U.S. District Judge John Jones "turned due process on its head" and tossed his ruling ordering two Pennsylvania prisons to release 22 immigrant detainees amid the pandemic without first allowing the government to explain how it was protecting them. (Reuters)
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Sepehr Sarshar, the former chief executive of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, with illegally tipping friends and family as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd prepared to buy his company in a $3.5 billion transaction. Michael Attanasio and William Schwartz of Cooley represent him. (Reuters)

Columnist spotlight: Amazon backs proposed California product liability law for online sellers (with conditions)

Amazon’s spent years warding off product liability suits by consumers who used its website to buy merchandise from third-party vendors, so it’s a big deal that the online retailer has thrown its support behind a proposed law that would resolve any uncertainty in favor of consumers, Alison Frankel writes. What’s the catch? Amazon has one condition. It says it will back the bill as long as other online retailers can’t evade the law based on how they earn revenue for selling products from outside vendors.

Lawyer speak: Compensation and human capital management in the COVID-19 era

The pandemic has placed employee-employer relations in the spotlight. In a recent article, Freshfields attorneys Maj Vaseghi, Lori Goodman and Thomas Lair discuss guidance on compensation, employee health and safety and redefining corporate culture amid COVID-19 -- and the implications for the 2021 proxy season.

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