Lawsuits & Settlements

LOS ANGELES--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today sued Abbott Laboratories and French drug company Fournier for devising “an elaborate scheme” to block less expensive generic versions of TriCor, a drug that controls cholesterol.

“Through an elaborate scheme—involving multiple drug patents, baseless lawsuits, and market manipulation—Abbott and Fournier thwarted competition,” Attorney General Brown said. “These companies made billions of dollars in annual profits, while Californians were burdened with artificially high drug prices,” Brown added.

After the Food and Drug Administration approved TriCor in 1998, Abbott and Fournier immediately devised a complicated strategy to prevent generic companies from entering the market and driving down Tricor prices. Key elements of the company’s scheme included the following:

• First, the company made trivial changes to the formulations of TriCor, for example switching from a capsule to a tablet, and then withdrew the original drug from the market.
• Then, Abbott and Fournier aggressively marketed their slightly altered versions of TriCor—although these drugs did not offer new medicinal benefits.
• Next, Abbott and Fournier deleted references to the original forms of the drug from national drug databases to confuse pharmacies or health plans, consequently making it impossible for a generic version of TriCor to obtain generic status.

At the same time, Fournier got the U.S. Patent Office to issue a series of patents covering the minor variations of TriCor, and then filed meritless patent infringement lawsuits against generic companies that tried to compete.

Abbott and Fournier knew that their patents were unenforceable but the litigation triggered mandatory thirty-month periods in which the Food and Drug Administration could not approve generic versions of TriCor. These delays from litigation gave Abbott and Fournier enough time to deplete the market of the older versions of TriCor so that no generic company could compete.

All of these baseless lawsuits were ultimately terminated or dismissed by Abbott and Fournier after their market-switching schemes were completed.

The attorney general alleges that these practices violate California’s antitrust law as well as the Sherman Act and have caused Californians to pay artificially high prices for TriCor. California and its citizens pay more than $150 million on TriCor per year. Studies show that when generic competition to a branded drug becomes available, the price for the drug decreases between 50 and 80 percent.

The civil complaint, filed today in federal court in Delaware along with twenty three other states, seeks triple the amount of damages incurred by the state’s public health agencies and individual consumers. The reason for seeking these exemplary damages is due to the willful, egregious and repeated nature of these violations.

Abbott Laboratories develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals and health care products and services throughout the United States. The company’s principal place of business is 100 Abbott Park Road in Illinois. Fournier Industrie et Sante is a French corporation headquartered at 42, Rue de Longvic, 21300 Chenove, France. Laboratoires Fournier, S.A., a subsidiary, collaborated with Abbott for regulatory approval, production and sale of TriCor in the United States.

TriCor is a brand-name prescription drug that uses the active ingredient, fenofibrate, to regulate triglyceride and cholesterol levels. TriCor and other fenfibrate drugs lower triglyceride levels, reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. TriCor is generally prescribed as a maintenance drug for long-term cholesterol problems.

Eighteen states joined California today in filing this lawsuit including: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia.

The complaint is attached.

LOS ANGELES--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman today sued the United States Forest Service for adopting “illegal forest management plans” that permit road construction and oil drilling in California’s largest national forests.

“The United States Forest Service adopted illegal forest management plans that threaten California’s pristine national forests with road construction and oil drilling,” Attorney General Brown said. “The Forest Service should scrap these destructive forest plans and protect California’s natural areas as required by law.”

The Forest Service's plans allow road construction on more than 500,000 acres of roadless area within the Angeles, Los Padres, Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forest. California’s lawsuit alleges that the Forest Service's plans ignore California’s moratorium on road construction in pristine areas of the national forests.

The four national forests include over 3.5 million acres of federally-managed public land, from Big Sur to the Mexican border. The forests have great geologic and topographic diversity including chaparral, oak woodlands, savannas, deserts, alpine areas, and specialized habitat niches. The forests provide habitat for 31 threatened and endangered animals and 29 plants as well as 34 animal species and 134 plants recognized as sensitive.

The Los Padres National Forest, which is one of the state’s largest national forests, also provides habitat for the California Condor and is the site of the principal effort to bring this species back from the brink of extinction.

Brown charged the Forest Service with illegally violating the federal National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the agency to develop its forest plans in coordination with state laws and policies. California’s policy is that there should be a moratorium on any plan that could permit construction in roadless areas in national forests.

The attorney general is representing the People of California, the California Resources Agency and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to challenge the forest plans.

In 2005 and 2006, the Forest Service assured the Resources Agency, in writing, that it would not allow road construction on California’s roadless areas. Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman today criticized the Forest Service for not honoring this agreement.

“Time and again we have tried to hold the Forest Service to their word on the roadless policy. They have failed to live up to their promises,” Secretary Chrisman said.

“The Forest Service failed to even acknowledge state policy on roadless areas in national forests in California, let alone attempt to coordinate with those protections,” Brown asserts in the lawsuit.

The Forest Service also ignored public recommendations, including comments from qualified scientists, recommending that one million acres of the forest land be designated as wilderness. Instead the final plans only recommended protecting half that amount, without providing adequate scientific rationale for the reduction.

The plans also fail to properly evaluate the harm to the California Condor and its habitat that will be caused by oil and gas exploration and drilling. Specifically, the plans allow oil drilling on more than 52,000 acres in or adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest—areas which include critical habitat areas for the endangered California Condor.

Los Padres National Forest, which encompasses nearly 1.8 million acres that stretch 220 miles from north to south, is one of the state’s largest national forests. San Bernardino National Forest, which abuts the Inland Empire, is 665,700 acres. Angeles National Forest, near Los Angeles, is 663,000 acres. Cleveland National Forest contains 420,000 acres of natural space in Orange and San Diego Counties. Over twenty million Californians live within one hour’s drive of at least one of these four forests.

California’s lawsuit, filed today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, is attached.

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LOS ANGELES—California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today settled an antitrust lawsuit that charged Barr Pharmaceuticals with taking $20 million for keeping off the market a cheaper, generic version of the oral contraceptive Ovcon.

“Barr illegally kept its generic drug off the market in exchange for $20 million from Warner Chilcott, thereby keeping drug prices higher,” Attorney General Brown said. “Today’s agreement ensures that these pharmaceutical companies will not collude to keep affordable medications away from consumers,” Brown added.

In 2005, California and thirty-three other states and the District of Columbia sued Barr Pharmaceuticals and Warner Chilcott for entering into an illegal arrangement by which Barr agreed not to sell generic Ovcon for five years in exchange for $20 million. The states’ alleged that the agreement violated state and federal antitrust laws and artificially inflated the price of Ovcon.

Non-competition agreements, as well as pharmaceutical industry practices including efforts to steer consumers to more costly medications, have increased the average retail price of prescription medications 8.3% annually, triple the rate of inflation.

In 2003, Warner Chilcott made approximately $61 million from sales of brand name Ovcon. In 2005, the company reported a 16% increase in annual revenue from Ovcon sales.

After the states filed their lawsuit Warner Chilcott voided its agreement with Barr, opening the door to competition between the two companies. Within one month of restoring competition in late 2006, the Ovcon price dropped 18%, from $39 to $32. As of May 2007, Ovcon prices were down to $20, a total drop of nearly 50%.

Under today’s settlement, Barr will not enter into non-competition agreements with companies that sell brand name drugs. In addition, a ten-year consent decree with California requires Barr to provide the state with copies of any future related agreements. Without the consent decree such agreements have traditionally been kept secret between the companies. Barr will also pay California approximately $500,000 in statutory penalties and attorneys fees.

Previously, California reached a similar settlement with Warner Chilcott, which bars the company from entering non-competitive agreements with generic drug manufacturers.

Americans spent $275 billion on prescription drugs in 2006, expenditures which will grow about 8% per year. Between 1994 and 2005, the total volume of drugs prescribed grew 71% according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

The multi-state settlement agreement is attached.

Los Angeles--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Capital Research and Management Company, the investment adviser to the American Funds family of mutual funds, today entered into an agreement to withdraw their three-year-old lawsuits against each other involving disclosure of broker compensation practices, sometimes referred to as “revenue-sharing.”

Revenue-sharing refers to mutual funds paying extra cash to brokers in exchange for having the fund placed on preferred or recommended lists and receiving heightened visibility within the broker’s sales system. In 2005, the attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit alleging that Capital Research violated antifraud provisions of California’s Corporate Securities Law by not adequately disclosing its broker compensation practices.

“This agreement ends all litigation between the attorney general’s office and Capital Research,” Attorney General Brown said.

Under today’s agreement, the attorney general notes that American Funds and other fund families have improved disclosure of their broker compensation practices and have taken other voluntary measures. These developments have resolved the state’s concerns. Among the voluntary measures are the following:

• Capital Research waived 10 percent of its management fees, saving shareholders an aggregate of approximately $1 billion
• Capital Research has improved its corporate governance practices and internal supervision of its sales staff
• Capital Research eliminated the practice of directed brokerage and will add disclosures regarding revenue sharing practices to all its prospectuses.

The agreement notes that American Funds’ investors currently enjoy among the lowest expenses in the mutual fund industry. The agreement notes that investigations by the California attorney general, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators have resulted in positive changes in the mutual fund industry that have benefited shareholders. Some of the improvements include:

• Repeal of the federal rules that permitted funds to utilize directed brokerage
• Adoption of rules that clarify the use of brokerage to pay for research services
• Improved disclosure by fund companies of their revenue-sharing arrangements
• Improved disclosure regarding board approval of investment advisory contracts
• Disclosure of fund expense ratios in advertising.

Capital Research is also promoting use of the Internet for delivering fund prospectuses and annual reports to reduce the use of printed documents, potentially saving shareholders up to $20 million by slashing printing and delivery costs. Capital Research will reimburse the Attorney General’s office for $2.5 million in costs and attorneys’ fees associated with the attorney general’s lawsuit and investigation.

“Neither California taxpayers, nor investors in American Funds, will bear the costs of these lawsuits and investigations,” said Brown.

The agreement to discontinue the litigation is attached.

SAN DIEGO--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a multi-million dollar settlement with Caremark, resolving allegations that the prescription management company tricked doctors into switching
patients to different brand name drugs in exchange for “secret rebates from drug manufacturers.”

“Caremark received secret rebates from drug manufacturers in exchange for convincing doctors to switch patients to different brand name drugs,” Attorney General Brown said. “Under today’s settlement, the company must disclose the payments it receives for recommending certain drugs.”

Caremark provides prescription drug services to approximately 2,000 health care plans nationwide. California alleged that Caremark engaged in deceptive business practices by convincing doctors to switch patients to different brand name drugs in exchange for secret rebates from pharmaceutical companies.

Health plans were financially harmed by these practices and some patients were forced to pay higher co-payments for the new drugs that they received. Under today’s settlement, Caremark must reimburse patients for any out-of-pocket expenses related to drug changes and inform patients if switching drugs will increase co-payments.

Caremark must also inform physicians of the company’s financial incentives for making certain recommendations and must inform physicians if sales presentations are funded by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Caremark is barred from promoting a drug switch if the new drug exceeds the cost of the originally prescribed medication.

Under today’s settlement, Caremark will pay $38.5 million to 29 states for costs of litigation and programs to benefit patients. $22 million of this amount is a cy pres payment which will fund a prescription medication program for low income, disabled or elderly consumers and a program to educate consumers about important differences between similar medications. Caremark will pay up to an additional $2.5 million in reimbursements to patients who paid extra because they were switched from one cholesterol-controlling drug to another.

California will receive approximately $3.4 million for charitable organizations that provide elderly and low income people with free prescription medications.

Maryland and Illinois led the investigation into Caremark’s drug switching practices. Twenty-eight other states participating in today’s settlement include: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

In 2006, Caremark’s net revenues were $36.8 billion, making it one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit management companies. Caremark also administers mail order pharmacies, which sold 516 million prescriptions to patients in 2006.

The complaint and the agreement are available at www.ag.ca.gov/newsalerts

LOS ANGELES—California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today sued Interwall Development Systems, one of Los Angeles’s largest drywall contractors, for employing a “sophisticated and heartless scheme” to cheat hundreds of its employees out of at least $5 million in wages and benefits.

“Interwall employed a sophisticated and heartless scheme, involving multiple businesses, to cheat its employees out of overtime and mandatory break periods,” Attorney General Brown said. “Today’s lawsuit sends a strong message that California will not tolerate companies that rip off their employees.”

Brown’s lawsuit alleges that Interwall denied overtime pay, did not provide itemized wage statements, and did not allow its employees to take breaks during afternoon shifts. The company slashed its labor costs in an effort to underbid competition for at least 150 drywall installation projects in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties. The company maintains offices in Irvine and Laguna Beach.

Investigators found that Interwall employees worked Monday through Saturday, up to twelve hours per day, and received no overtime payments. Interwall also denied rest breaks to employees during their afternoon shifts. Under California law, workers are entitled to ten minute breaks every four hours and overtime pay for working more than eight hours per day or 40 hours per week.

To avoid paying overtime, Interwall set up a complex business operation with affiliate companies that paid employees, at regular pay rates, for the extra hours. In one case, an employee worked 68 hours for Interwall but was paid for 40 hours by Felts Construction Company and 28 hours by Cinco Construction. ANCCA Corporation dba N-U Enterprise was also involved in the various payment schemes.

Workers who labored for the drywall company suffered substantial monetary losses and are entitled to approximately $2.5 million for unpaid overtime and $2.5 million for working through mandatory breaks. The attorney general brings this lawsuit to halt the company’s illegal practices and get restitution for the workers who lost wages. Brown sued Interwall under Business & Professions Code, section 17200, which expressly prohibits unlawful or unfair business practices. Specifically, Attorney General Brown seeks:

• An injunction against Interwall to get the company to stop denying overtime and other benefits
• Restitution payments to the employees who lost thousands of dollars in wages
• Civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200

The attorney general enforces California laws that require fair business practices in order to protect working men and women and ensure a level playing field where all businesses adhere to the same rules of conduct.

In December, Brown sued two janitorial companies, Excell Cleaning & Building Services and MO Restaurant Cleaning Services, for committing flagrant violations of California’s basic wage and hour laws. Brown also sued Brinas Corporation, a Southern California drywall contractor that was paying workers below minimum wage and also denying overtime wages. Brown also sued PacifiStaff, a company that was teaching construction companies how to avoid providing state mandated workers’ compensation benefits.

The Attorney General has other ongoing investigations into employment, payroll and record-keeping practices of various businesses and construction companies across California.

The state’s lawsuit against Interwall is attached.

LOS ANGELES--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today attacked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for betraying its “sacred mission” to protect the environment and called upon Congress to require the agency’s top staff to explain, under oath, their flawed and illegal decision-making process.

“Charged with protecting the environmental trust, the EPA has instead betrayed its sacred mission,” Attorney General Brown told members of the Senator Barbara Boxer’s Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works at a briefing in Los Angeles. “The agency’s top staff should explain, under oath, why they sabotaged the groundbreaking effort by California and fourteen other states to reduce dangerous greenhouse gases emitted by motor vehicles.”

Brown sued the EPA last week after the agency broke forty years of precedent by denying California’s request for a waiver, which would have allowed the state to cut tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2016. It was the first denial since the Clean Air Act was established in 1967.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson’s rejection decision, outlined in a two-page letter, contained no supporting technical or legal analysis. Brown’s lawsuit charged the EPA with not following the criteria for reviewing waiver requests, as set forth in Clean Air Act section 209, and failing to provide any facts to support its decision.

The EPA stated that California failed to demonstrate “compelling and extraordinary conditions,” as required by the Clean Air Act. This not only contradicted forty years of agency practice but it also ignored the dangerous consequences of global warming to the State of California. California’s unique topography and its high human and vehicular population have already caused higher ozone concentrations than other parts of the country. Global warming also threatens California’s coastline, levees, and Sierra mountain snow pack which provides one-third of the state’s drinking water.

For decades, EPA has agreed that California needs its own emissions program to meet these “compelling and extraordinary conditions.” In a 1975 waiver determination, EPA said that the waiver process is meant to ensure “that the Federal government would not second-guess the wisdom of state policy” and “that no ‘Federal bureaucrat’ would be able to tell the people of California what auto emission standards were good for them, as long as they were stricter than Federal standards.”

Administrator Johnson incorrectly asserted that the federal energy bill, which raises gas mileage to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, rendered California’s greenhouse gas emissions standards unnecessary. An analysis by the California Air Resources Board confirms that California’s emissions rules cut twice the level of greenhouse gases compared with federal program. The California program will also result in fuel efficiency—44 miles per gallon by 2020—that is far better than the federal standard.

14 other states, representing 44% of the nation’s population, have adopted California’s regulations: Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Four other states, Utah, Colorado, Illinois and Delaware are in the process of adopting the standards.

The EPA was established in 1970 under President Nixon to set and enforce environmental protection standards, conduct research on pollution, and recommend policies to the President for the protection of the environment. In 2005, President Bush appointed Stephen Johnson as the agency’s 11th administrator.

Under Johnson, the EPA has also failed to set greenhouse gas emissions standards for aircraft and ocean-going vessels, both major worldwide contributors to global warming. The agency has also weakened the Toxic Release Inventory, a program which requires facilities to report annual quantities of toxic chemicals that are emitted, prompting Attorney General Brown to file a lawsuit in November 2007.

For more information on climate disruption please visit: www.ag.ca.gov/globalwarming/

WASHINGTON D.C. — Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., on behalf of the State of California, today sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency for “wrongfully and illegally” blocking the state's landmark tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standards.

Brown filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to challenge the EPA’s denial of California's request to implement its emissions law—which requires a 30 percent reduction in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. California's new standards require federal approval in the form of a waiver from the EPA. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson denied California's request on December 19, 2007 in a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“The denial letter was shocking in its incoherence and utter failure to provide legal justification for the administrator's unprecedented action,” California Attorney General Brown said. “The EPA has done nothing at the national level to curb greenhouse gases and now it has wrongfully and illegally blocked California's landmark tailpipe emissions standards, despite the fact that sixteen states have moved to adopt them.”

Under the Clean Air Act, passed by Congress in 1963, California is expressly allowed to impose environmental regulations that are stricter than federal rules in recognition of the state’s “compelling and extraordinary conditions” which include unique topography, climate, and high number and concentration of vehicles.

The administrator stated in his decision that California did not need its tailpipe emissions standards to meet “compelling and extraordinary conditions,” a finding which reversed decades of agency practice and ignored the dangerous consequences of global warming to the State of California.

Global warming threatens California's Sierra mountain snow pack, which provides the state with one-third of its drinking water. California also has approximately 1,000 miles of coastline and levees that are threatened by rising sea levels.

Section 307 of the Clean Air Act gives California the authority to challenge adverse decisions by filing a petition for review two weeks after a rejection is issued. According to sources from within the EPA--as quoted in several national media accounts--Administrator Johnson rejected the unanimous recommendation of his agency’s legal and technical staff to grant the waiver.

In the 40-year history of the Act, EPA has granted approximately 50 waivers to California for innovations like catalytic converters, exhaust emission standards, and leaded gasoline regulations. Until last month, a waiver request had never been denied. The National Academy of Sciences has reviewed the waiver system and strongly supports maintaining California's role as “a proving ground for new-emission control technologies that benefit California and the rest of the nation.”

Cars generate 20% of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and at least 30% of such emissions in California.

Fifteen other states or state agencies—Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—are joining today's lawsuit as interveners.

“The EPA’s attempt to stop New York and other states from taking on global warming pollution from automobiles is shameful,” said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. “As recognized by the scientific community and most world leaders, global warming will have devastating impacts on our environment, health, and economy if it continues to go unchecked.”

In December, the U.S. District Court in Fresno rejected the auto industry's challenge to California’s emissions law, concluding that both California and the EPA are equally empowered to limit greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. In September, a federal court judge in Vermont also rejected a similar effort, by the same automobile industry group, to block the state from implementing California’s tailpipe emissions law.

EPA’s rejection letter is attached along with the state’s lawsuit challenging the denial.

LOS ANGELES—Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Insurance Commission Steve Poizner today announced a $7.2 million settlement with American Investors Life Insurance Company, Family First Insurance Services, and Family First Advanced Estate Planning, resolving allegations that the companies sold thousands of annuities with exorbitant fees to vulnerable senior citizens.

“These companies tricked senior citizens into buying annuities that would not pay out for years and had substantial early withdrawal fees—investments that made no sense for elderly people,” Attorney General Brown said. “California took action against these companies and today’s settlement marks the end of their unlawful practices,” Brown added.

“I refuse to tolerate insurance fraud in California,” said Commissioner Poizner. “Targeting our state’s vulnerable seniors to make an extra buck is especially egregious. Today’s settlement is a victory for seniors and all California consumers.”

Today’s multi-million dollar settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in 2006 which alleges that the companies tricked senior citizens into buying annuities—long-term financial vehicles with high penalties for early withdrawal. The annuities offered the possibility of future payments, but only after a lengthy surrender penalty period. Such annuities are generally acquired as long-term investments for future retirement income and not considered wise vehicles for seniors’ savings.

Under the scheme exposed by the attorney general and the insurance commissioner, Family First sent sales representatives, who were not authorized to practice law, to senior citizens’ homes to provide legal advice on estate planning. At no time during the initial solicitation or the home visits did Family First disclose that their ultimate goal was to sell annuities. After preparing the living trust documents the agents returned to the seniors’ homes—under the guise of acting as their financial or estate advisors—and induced the seniors to move their liquid assets into annuities.

The representatives did not disclose that seniors would be unable to withdraw more than the specified amounts while waiting for the investment to mature—sometimes up to 15 years—without incurring substantial penalties. The scheme, known as a Living Trust Mill, is a growing threat to senior citizens who are lured by the free seminars and sales agents who pose as financial or legal experts.

The settlement, filed today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, requires American Investors Life Insurance and the Family First companies to pay $1 million in civil penalties and distribute $5.5 million to consumers who purchased the annuities through Family First and incurred surrender penalties. The judgment also requires the companies to pay $700,000 to reimburse the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Insurance for costs incurred during the investigation and prosecution of this case.

The settlement also requires American Investors Life Insurance to waive surrender penalties when consumers present evidence of a significant financial hardship. The company must let consumers redeem the annuities, without surrender charges, in the form of monthly payments. Consumers who have not already received a credit for 55% or more of future surrender charges will have an opportunity to receive the value of their annuities in monthly payments along with a bonus of either 1% or 1.25% of their principal investment.

The judgment forces Family First Insurance Services and Family First Advanced Estate Planning to permanently cease all business operations. The judgment bars American Investors Life Insurance Services from soliciting seniors without revealing that the consumer will be propositioned by an insurance agent. American Investors is no longer permitted to make false or misleading statements about the terms of any annuity or insurance policy and they must disclose all charges that may be incurred when redeeming an annuity. The defendants are also prohibited from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

Scam artists have capitalized on the growing popularity of estate planning and living trusts by establishing schemes, known as Living Trust Mills, which use the estate planning services as a cover to sell annuities. The sales agents lure seniors with free seminars and sometimes pose as estate planners or financial experts to gain trust, allowing them to review personal financial and investment information. Agents running a Living Trust Mill are known to pressure seniors into converting all their investments into annuities by scaring the seniors into believing their original investments are unsafe.

To avoid these scams, consumers should be especially wary if a sales agent exhibits any of the following warning signs:

• The sales agent claims to a trust expert, senior estate planner or paralegal, or to work with an attorney who is an expert in estate planning. These agents are not attorneys and not experts in living trusts. If seniors need assistance with preparing a trust or other estate plan, they should seek out their own attorney whose expertise is in estate planning.
• Offering a free seminar or sales presentation on living trust services.
• Requesting access to personal financial information while setting up or updating an existing living trust. Agents use this ploy to ultimately pitch annuity investments.
• Criticizing existing investments and saying that these investments carry more risk than the annuity.
• Not discussing the drawbacks of a particular investment option.

Consumers who believe they been victimized by Family First, another Living Trust Mill or by annuity fraud, should report the crime to their local district attorney or the Department of Insurance at 1-800-927-HELP or visiting www.insurance.ca.gov. They also may file a complaint at the Attorney General's Web site, http://www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/mailform.htm.

LOS ANGELES—California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet today sued two janitorial companies for exploiting their employees and committing “flagrant violations” of California’s basic wage and hour laws. The two offices have joined forces to collect these unpaid wages, thereby both helping the workers and sending a strong message that California’s labor laws must be obeyed.

“These janitors toiled for long, hard hours and their paltry compensation was far below the legal minimum,” Attorney General Brown said. “Such flagrant violations of basic labor laws will not be tolerated,” Brown added.

California alleges that the janitorial companies, Excell Cleaning & Building Services and MO Restaurant Cleaning Services, paid below minimum wage, did not pay overtime, denied rest and meal breaks and did not provide itemized wage statements. Both companies conducted business in Counties including Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange. MO Restaurant Cleaning is currently suspended by the Franchise Tax Board and is not authorized to do business in California. Excell employs approximately 300 janitors to clean California chain restaurants and bars.

During an investigation by the Employment Development Department and the Labor Commissioner, officials interviewed approximately twenty Excell employees and found that company’s janitors were working 8 ½ to 10 hour night-shifts without breaks, seven days per week, for a flat sum of $50 per day. Investigators determined that the company owed these workers approximately $585,000 in overtime, minimum wage and compensation for denied rest breaks.

Investigators also discovered that Excell was misclassifying its janitorial workers as “independent contractors,” rather than employees, to avoid $247,000 in payroll tax and mandatory social security and Medical contributions.

The janitors began work between 11:30 p.m. and midnight and were required to work all night until 8:30 a.m. or longer. They were paid a flat rate of $50 regardless of how many hours were actually worked. Some janitors were paid with checks that bounced.

As a result of this payment scheme, janitors were given less than the legal minimum wage and did not get mandatory overtime, including double-time pay. Workers were also not allowed to take rest breaks and meal periods as required by California law.

The labor commissioner and the attorney general bring this lawsuit to recover unpaid wages, get the companies to stop their unlawful practices and get them to pay restitution to the exploited workers. Some of the penalties and denied payments include:

• Failure to pay in excess of $700,000 in wages
• Failure to pay at least $500,000 in minimum wages
• Penalties of at least $100,000 for violating minimum wage laws
• A penalty of at least $100,000 for denying up to $50,000 in overtime including double-time
• Penalties and restitution for denying payment upon termination
• At least $300,000 in penalties for not providing itemized wage statements
• Penalties and back wages for denying meal and rest breaks
• Penalties and back wages for writing paychecks with insufficient funds

In addition to the penalties and restitution for these labor violations, California seeks penalties and restitution for violations of Business and Professions Code 17200 which bars companies from engaging in unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business practices. Courts assess a civil penalty of $2,500 for each violation proved at trial.

The attorney general enforces California laws that require fair business practices in order to protect working men and women and ensure a level playing field where all businesses adhere to the same rules of conduct.

Last month, Attorney General Brown filed an unfair competition lawsuit against Brinas Corporation, a drywall contractor in Los Angeles which was fueling the underground economy by paying workers below minimum wage and off the books. In November, Brown also sued PacifiStaff, a Los Angeles-based company, for teaching construction companies how to avoid providing state mandated workers’ compensation benefits that protect employees who are injured on the job.

Excell is a Delaware corporation with its corporate office located in Houston Texas. The company is registered with the California Secretary of State and its California business address is in Santa Ana. Its CEO is Essam Omar. MO Restaurant, suspended by the Franchise Tax Board in April 2007, has the same Houston address as Excell. In March, Excell agreed to pay $278,483 in back wages to 166 janitors in Houston after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found that the company failed to pay overtime, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, led by Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet, is authorized to enforce the California Labor Code. The commissioner adjudicates wage claims, investigates discrimination and public works complaints, and enforces state labor law and Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders.

Janitorial workers perform heavy cleaning duties such as washing walls and glass, cleaning floors, shampooing carpets and emptying trash and rubbish containers. Janitors may perform routine maintenance work and tend to furnaces and boilers. According to the California Employment Development Department, there were approximately 229,900 janitors and cleaners employed in California in 2004.

The state’s lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court is attached.