The broad scope of the federal racketeering laws (RICO), along with evidentiary exceptions such as allowing otherwise impermissible hearsay from co-conspirators, are just some of the reasons the crime of racketeering conspiracy is known as “the prosecutor’s best friend.” A federal jury on Thursday found the top executives of Insys Therapeutics, a company that sold a fentanyl-based painkiller, guilty of racketeering charges in a rare criminal prosecution that blamed corporate officials for contributing to the nation’s opioid epidemic. Read about it here: NYTimes: Top Executives of Insys, an Opioid Company, Are Found Guilty of Racketeering
Brandon Minde is the head of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski’s criminal law department, is a former prosecutor, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney. He has represented clients in several major, federal racketeering trials.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that Brandon D. Minde, a trial partner and faculty member of the Practising Law Institute (PLI), will be presenting on New Jersey criminal trial preparation during the PLI’s New Jersey Basic CLE Marathon 2019 on Friday, May 3, 2019.
This one-day program is designed to help newly admitted attorneys fulfill the New Jersey newly admitted CLE requirements, but will benefit both experienced and newly admitted attorneys. The program will include New Jersey-specific instruction about subject areas required by the Supreme Court of New Jersey Board on Continuing Legal Education (BCLE) for newly admitted lawyers licensed in New Jersey. Mr. Minde’s criminal trial preparation segment will feature discussion on arrest, indictment and arraignment; discovery; status conferences, pre-trial conferences and pre-trial hearings; plea negotiations and agreements; trial – presentment of evidence and witnesses; post-trial motions; and recent developments.
Mr. Minde is the head of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski’s criminal law department, is a former Essex County Assistant Prosecutor, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney.
To register: https://www.pli.edu/programs/new-jersey-basic-cle-marathon?t=live&p=251592
Trial partner Brandon Minde successfully defended two psychiatrists in a Union County Superior Court action brought by a former school teacher seeking damages for an involuntarily psychiatric commitment resulting from alarming comments at a staff meeting to assess teen suicide and safety.
Mr. Minde proved that actions taken by the physicians were protected by NJSA: 30:4-27.7, which provides statutory immunity to healthcare professionals when making decisions regarding involuntary confinements necessary to protect an individual and/or safeguard the public.
The case was tried over two weeks before Judge Mega resulting in a defense verdict.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C., is pleased to announce that Brandon D. Minde has been certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney.
Brandon is a partner with the firm and leads the firm’s criminal defense practice.
Attorneys may be designated by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as “certified attorneys” if they: are able to demonstrate sufficient levels of experience, education, knowledge and skill in a specific area of law or practice; have passed a rigorous examination; and have been recognized by their peers as having sufficient skills and reputation in the designated specialty.
The firm congratulates Brandon on this achievement.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski is proud to announce that partners of the firm – Louis John Dughi, Jr. and Craig A. Domalewski – have been named by New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine as among the top attorneys in New Jersey for 2019. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers to receive this honor.
In addition, the firm is also proud to announce that Cyndee L. Allert, Brandon D. Minde and Jennifer L. Young were named to the 2019 New Jersey Rising Stars list. Each year, this designation is given to less than 2.5 percent of New Jersey attorneys recognized as the top up-and-coming attorneys who are 40 years old or younger, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less.
Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit SuperLawyers.com.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that Louis John Dughi, Jr., Craig A. Domalewski, Mary Elizabeth Gazi, and Brandon D. Minde will be presenting an online seminar on New Jersey trial preparation on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00pm EST (estimated duration: 75 minutes).
A trial is the culmination of the preparation of the case – preparation that has been designed from the start of discovery to develop the facts and evidence to win at trial. The trial attorney must start at the end (what needs to be proven at trial) to identify the elements of each claim and defense and then design a Blueprint of how he or she will develop and establish the facts and evidence to support the claims and defenses of the case. Like any building process, there are multiple stages to design, assess and redesign the Blueprint and strategies. The final Blueprint is a trial notebook that defines trial themes and organizes the presentation of the facts and evidence by witness to prove the facts needed to win. An effective trial book keeps the trial attorney focused and instills confidence that he or she is prepared and ready.
In this program, partners at Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C., a premier New Jersey boutique law firm with extensive litigation and trial experience, will help the practitioner learn to develop a Blueprint as it pertains to written discovery, fact deposition and expert discovery, dispositive and pre-trial motions, rules of evidence, trial issues and more when litigating New Jersey cases and getting those cases ready for trial.
Learning Objectives:
This webcast will stream live on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00pm EST (estimated duration: 75 minutes) and will be taught by Louis John Dughi, Jr., Craig A. Domalewski, Mary Elizabeth Gazi, and Brandon D. Minde. To register for the webcast, click on the link listed below.
Accreditation:
To register:
On October 25th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a proposal to implement an international drug Pricing Index Model that would slash Medicare Part B reimbursement to physicians and hospital outpatient departments and interpose a new middleman into the drug supply chain. In an article published by Law 360 on November 1st, Justin Linder describes how the proposal is likely to harm patients and providers while doing very little to move the needle on drug prices.
Read the full article: CMS Drug Price Proposal Would Harm Patients, Providers
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that Craig A. Domalewski has been selected for inclusion in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.
About Best Lawyers®
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. A listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For more than three decades, Best Lawyers lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.
Justin C. Linder to Present on 340B Drug Discount Program Changes and Status at 2018 American Health Lawyers Association Fraud & Compliance Forum in Baltimore on September 27th
2018 has ushered in significant changes to the 340B drug discount program, with a nearly 30% reduction in Medicare reimbursement for most 340B hospitals accompanied by the proliferation of compliance audits by the Health Resources and Services Administration and its contractors. Additionally, the program has become the subject of sustained scrutiny from Congress and the Government Accountability Office, among others, as industry stakeholders and politicians contend that the program is overbroad and insufficiently regulated.
To provide valuable perspective on these ongoing developments, Justin Linder, head of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice, will be moderating a panel at the upcoming American Health Lawyers Association Fraud & Compliance Forum in Baltimore, MD on September 27, from 3:15-4:15 pm, with Cindy Bartlett and Moira Gibbons, respectively, the CCOs for Bon Secours Health System and St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson, New Jersey.
We invite you to attend what promises to be an informative session, and hope to see you in Baltimore! For your reference, a brief description of the program is provided below.
2018 Fraud & Compliance Forum, Renaissance Harborplace Hotel, Baltimore, MD (Sept. 26-28)
340B’s Tumultuous Year: Program Status and Trends in Auditing, Compliance and Reimbursement
Scheduled: Thursday, September 27 from 3:15-4:15 pm
The 340B program has drawn recent attention from CMS, on Capitol Hill and in the courts. In the wake of a Medicare reimbursement reduction for certain 340B entities, an uptick in HRSA audits, the introduction of new coding modifiers and calls for far-ranging program revisions by some in Congress and the pharmaceutical industry, the panel will reflect on the status of the program, the impact of reimbursement changes, and trends in compliance and auditing. The session will focus on the following topics, among others:
