A U.S. district court ruled against specialty pharmaceutical company Santarus Inc in its patent suit against Par Pharmaceuticals, sending Santarus shares tumbling 48 percent after the bell.

The suit filed by Santarus and co-plaintiff University of Missouri relates to Par's application to market a generic version of Santarus' heartburn drug, Zegerid.

The court ruled that the patents-in-suit are invalid due to obviousness. It also concluded that certain asserted claims are invalid for lack of written description.

The case is Santarus Inc et al v. Par Pharmaceutical Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware. No. 07-551.

Washington, D.C. & Albany, NY – Tully Rinckey PLLC is pleased to announce the addition of attorney Brandy Hood as an associate in its Washington, D.C. law office. Ms. Hood joins the firm’s federal sector labor and employment law practice.

Ms. Hood will provide representation to federal employees in a wide range of employment and labor issues including discrimination, sexual harassment, equal pay, adverse action, and Title VII claims. She has previous experience in immigration, bankruptcy, civil litigation, and business transactions.

Prior to joining Tully Rinckey PLLC, Ms. Hood was a Judicial Extern for Honorable Lance Africk at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Frederick H. Wicker at the Louisiana Fifth Circuit of Appeal. 

Ms. Hood earned her Juris Doctorate at Tulane University Law School, graduating cum laude and earning the David L. Herman Award for her high professional standards in law. In addition to her law degree, Ms. Hood holds a B.A. degree from The George Washington University.

She is admitted to practice in New York and her District of Columbia admission is pending.

For more information about Brandy Hood’s addition to Tully Rinckey PLLC or the firm’s federal labor and employment law practice, please contact Jessica Brociek at 202-787-1900 or via email at jbrociek@tullylegal.com.

A sheriff's deputy in Washington state is suing Burger King and a franchise operator over a Whopper he says a worker spit on.

Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Edward Bylsma (BILZ-muh) says in the lawsuit that he stopped for a meal at a Vancouver, Wash., Burger King early one morning in March 2009 and got an "uneasy feeling" about two of its workers.

When he checked his hamburger, the suit says, he found a big gob of spit. DNA testing matched the saliva to one of the workers, who eventually pleaded guilty to assault.

The federal court suit filed Tuesday in Portland seeks at least $75,000 and names Burger King Corp. and franchise operator Kaizen Restaurants in Beaverton.

Burger King and Kaizen said in a statement Wednesday they have "zero tolerance" for the workers' actions, and that both employees have been fired.

Susan Merrill, FINRA's former head of enforcement, has landed a new job as a partner at the New York office of the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP. Susan Merrill, the former head of enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ( FINRA ), has landed a new job as a partner at the New York office of the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP.

In March, FINRA announced that Merrill was stepping down at an undetermined date to return to private practice. The agency has yet to name her replacement.

At Bingham, Merrill will join the firm's broker-dealer group and will lead its enforcement practice and advise financial industry clients on regulatory and securities enforcement issues.

A Dutch appeals court has acquitted a nurse who was once sentenced to life in prison for on charges of killing several patients, and prosecutors have apologized.

Lucy de Berk, now 49, served six and a half years in prison before an extraordinary review of her conviction — which had been upheld by the country's Supreme Court — led to a retrial. A key finding was that a statistician who testified the chances of her innocence were one in 342 million had gravely miscalculated.

The country's Attorney General Harm Brouwers said Wednesday he wishes to restore De Berk's reputation. He said the state is negotiating a financial settlement and in the future will not be so quick to rely on the opinions of outside experts.

Little more than a week after the disaster, competition among lawyers to represent the families of 29 men killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster has begun.

Massey Energy, the mine's owner, has deep pockets. Lawyers who represent the families could make millions in fees if they can prove company management showed a conscious and deliberate disregard for safety.

Massey has repeatedly denied all such accusations.

At least one well-known local lawyer questioned whether it's proper to seek clients so soon after the tragedy and said he could not bring himself to do it.

Law firms take so-called wrongful death cases for free. Losers earn nothing. Winners typically receive one-third of the amount awarded by the court.

On Tuesday, before all of the miners who died in the blast were buried, Underwood Law Offices, headquartered in Huntington, ran an advertisement in the Charleston newspapers and papers in the coalfields urging families of the miners to call the firm.

In addition, the jury ruled in Perrigo’s favor on its false advertising counterclaim against Rexall Sundown under Section 43 of the Lanham Act based on a statement used by Rexall Sundown on packaging from 2006 to 2008. The jury determined that the Rexall Sundown statement was false and misleading and awarded Perrigo damages.

Perrigo’s Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa stated, “This verdict is an important victory for store brands, US retailers and consumers. The jury verdict confirms that statements on our wholesalers’ and retailers’ packaging, inviting consumers to compare store brand products to the higher priced national brand products are fair and legal. This kind of statement helps consumers to identify store brand products they want and helps them save as they choose the affordable, high-quality store brand option. We are gratified with this victory as another accomplishment in making quality healthcare more affordable to the US consumer.”

Perrigo was represented by Paul W. Garrity, Robert S. Friedman and Mark McGrath of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP and John E. Villafranco, Michael C. Lynch, August Horvath, Matthew Marcotte and Joel Hankin of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

Perrigo Company is a leading global healthcare supplier that develops, manufactures and distributes OTC and generic prescription (Rx) pharmaceuticals, nutritional products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and pharmaceutical and medical diagnostic products. The Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of OTC pharmaceutical products for the store brand market. The Company’s primary markets and locations of manufacturing and logistics operations are the United States, Australia, Israel, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Visit Perrigo on the Internet (http://www.perrigo.com).

Note: Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. These statements relate to future events or the Company’s future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the Company or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or other comparable terminology. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended June 27, 2009, as well as the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.