On February 4, the US House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy under the Committee on Oversight and Reform published an alarming report that some of the nation’s most popular baby food brands contain unusually high amounts of toxic metals –arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury – which exceed even the companies’ own internal standards.

These metals are found naturally in the soil, and as a result, end up in our produce because they absorb them in the soil as they grow. According to the report, even low levels of metal exposure can cause serious and often irreversible damage to infants, such as stunts to brain development and elevated risks of cancer.

Despite the harm that could be caused by toxic metals, they are virtually unregulated in baby foods. In fact, the only regulation setting a standard is for infant rice cereal – setting a maximum of 100-ppb (parts per billion) of inorganic arsenic. For comparison, the FDA standard for lead in bottled water is 5-ppb. The non-profit Healthy Babies Bright Futures, which issued a report in 2019 finding 95 percent of baby foods tested contained these toxic chemicals, supports regulations establishing limits closer to 3-ppb inorganic arsenic and 1-ppb lead.

Without regulations establishing the limits of toxic metals in baby food, manufacturers have been left to self-regulation. Unfortunately, according to the report, many aren’t testing for toxic metals, and those that do are selling products that exceed their own internal standards. Indeed, the test results of baby foods and their ingredients eclipse their company’s standards for many products sold to unsuspecting parents: including results up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, up to 69 times the cadmium level, and up to 5 times the mercury level of those companies’ internal “limits.”

Some of the recommendations the House report has sent to the FDA include:

• Mandatory testing on finished baby food products
• Required disclosure of metal contents on baby food labels
• Maximum levels set for toxic heavy metals permitted in baby foods
• Recommendations so that parents and manufacturers receive information needed to make this safer.

The report also calls on manufacturers to voluntarily find substitutes for ingredients that are high in toxic heavy metals or phase out products that do.

“Baby food manufacturers hold a special position of public trust. Consumers believe that they would not sell products that are unsafe. Consumers also believe that the federal government would not knowingly permit the sale of unsafe baby food,” the report states.

The presence of lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium in the food we feed our children can be scary and shocking. FDPK’s consumer protection lawyers have experience in making sure manufacturers making untruthful or misleading claims are held accountable.

Let us know at [email protected] if you want to find out if any of the products you use that claim to be “non-toxic” really are.  It could be a food, household cleaner or any other product you use.

Posted by Erin Holliday.

Unnecessary Insurance – Has your mortgage company purchased insurance on your home?

If so, you may have paid for unnecessary insurance and may be entitled to a refund.  We are investigating whether mortgage lenders are forcing unnecessary insurance on homeowner borrowers.

In 2011, our firm recovered $86 million in benefits for more than 400,000 California homeowners in a Bay Area class action against an insurer for mortgage lenders accused of providing unnecessary insurance.  The insurer in that case insured homes with mortgages from more than 40 different lenders, including Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citibank.

Click here to review documents from that case:

Wahl v. ASIC Class Certification Order

Wahl v. ASIC Final Order and Judgment

Bank of America, SunTrust and many other lenders have also been accused of similar practices, involving alleged placing of unnecessary insurance.

Please contact us if your lender obtained insurance on your home at any time in 2014 or 2015.  You may have paid for unnecessary insurance and may be able to participate in a potential class action lawsuit. If you would like to talk to an attorney regarding unnecessary insurance, please contact  us at 1-888-355-1735 or email to [email protected].  We will be happy to answer your questions.

Congress passed two major laws that include major protections for whistleblowers:
 

In 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act, which protects whistleblowers who report securities laws violations.

In July 2010, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”).

 
Dodd-Frank amended SOX in several respects, significantly enhancing the protections available to whistleblowers in the financial services industry.
 
Dodd-Frank, which applies to both public and privately held companies, states that an employer cannot retaliate against an employee for revealing any information that is protected or required under SOX; the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and any other law, rule or regulation subject to the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
Dodd-Frank also protects employees who report truthful information relating to federal crimes.  An employee who wins their case may receive up twice the amount of wages they lost due to retaliation, as well as attorneys’ fees.   Dodd-Frank also allows for a whistleblower to receive cash awards of 10% to 30% of amounts that the SEC recovers based on the whistleblower’s report.
 
There are many important considerations in any whistleblower case.  We can assist you to make decisions and help you through this technical and complex area of the law.
 
If you have questions about your rights under the Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Laws or SOX/Dodd-Frank, please call us at 412.281.8400 or use our contact form.

Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC fights for the rights of people who “blow the whistle” on illegal conduct at work and then are fired or otherwise retaliated against.

Employees are often in the best position to witness and report unsafe or unlawful conduct in the workplace.  Federal and state laws often protect whistleblowers and encourage them to report wrongdoing.

Not all whistleblowing employees are protected, so it is very important to seek advice from an attorney before you tell a supervisor or government agency about:

(1) a violation of a law or regulation;

(2) a danger to public health or safety;

(3) an abuse of authority;

(4) gross mismanagement; or

(5) a serious waste of funds.

 
You do not have to be absolutely certain about the misconduct in order to be protected from retaliation but you do need to have a good-faith, reasonable belief about what you are reporting.  There may be time limits on when and how to bring your claims, so it is best to promptly seek legal assistance.

If your employer takes action against you for blowing the whistle, you may be able to recover back pay for wages and benefits lost due to retaliation, as well as other types of damages to compensate you.  In some cases, whistleblower protection laws also provide for punitive or exemplary damages, which are intended to punish the wrongdoer and to keep others from similar misconduct.  Most whistleblower protection laws allow for the employee who reports the wrongdoing to recover litigation costs, including attorneys’ fees.

There are many important things to consider in any whistleblower case.  We can help you to make decisions about what you should do.

If you have questions about your rights under the Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Laws, please call us at 412.281.8400 or use our contact form.

Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC represents individuals in lawsuits under the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), in what are sometimes called  “qui tam” cases.

If you know that your employer is cheating the federal government (and in some instances cheating  state or local governments) or misusing government funds, you may be able to sue on the government’s behalf under the FCA.  (This is why such cases are also called “qui tam” actions, an abbreviation for a Latin phrase meaning, “[he] who sues in this matter for the king as [well as] for himself.”)

The FCA applies to many different types of fraud against the government.  Conduct that violates the FCA may include:

• billing the government at inflated prices;
• seeking payment for goods or services that were not actually provided
• bribing someone in order to obtain a government contract;
• using federal grant money for personal benefit; and
• overbilling Medicare or Medicaid.

A significant reward is  available to the persons (not the lawyers)  who bring qui tam cases. This reward could be a percentage of the money recovered for the government.  Millions of dollars have been awarded to people who have stepped forward to bring successful FCA suits.

The law provides protection for those that speak up.   If an employer punishes or fires an employee for reporting the employer’s wrongdoing under the FCA, the employer may have to pay damages to the employee and/or give the employee’s job back.  The employer may also have to pay for the employee’s lawyer.

There are many important things to know in any FCA case.  We can help you to make decisions and guide you through this technical and complex area of the law.
If you have questions about your rights under the FCA or Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Laws, please call us at 412.281.8400 or use our contact form.