A Medical Device Daily

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 13, 2009, reported that it entered final judgments, by consent, against defendants University Lab Technologies (ULT; Boca Raton Florida) and George Theodoropoulos, a/k/a George Theodore. The final judgment against Theodore further orders: a 10-year officer-and-director bar; a penny stock bar; disgorgement of $422,577.93, representing his gains as a result of the conduct alleged in the complaint; prejudgment interest on disgorgement of $36,407.71; and a civil penalty of $60,000.

The SEC dismissed its claims for disgorgement and a civil penalty against ULT, which is now in receivership, has ceased business operations, and has no assets.

The SEC's complaint filed on Sept. 14, 2007, alleged that ULT and Theodore were violating the federal securities laws by engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities and misrepresenting the use of sales proceeds. From December 2006 through May 2007, the complaint alleged ULT and Theodore raised more than $1 million from nearly 46 investors nationwide and in Canada by offering and selling unregistered units of ULT stock. On September 12, 2007 the court entered an order freezing ULT's and Theodore's assets and approving a receiver over ULT.

In other legalities, Kiesel Boucher Larson has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of a statewide coalition of emergency room physicians against the State of California Department of Health Care Services alleging that a flawed financial structure for the state's emergency departments is putting the entire system at risk of collapse.

"This lawsuit should serve as a wake-up call to all Californians that their access to emergency care – our safety net – is in jeopardy," said Raymond Boucher of Kiesel Boucher Larson, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

Californians rank last in both emergency room access and emergency departments per capita. Despite considerable population growth, 85 hospitals and 55 emergency rooms have closed over the past ten years making California first in the nation in emergency department closures. Nearly two dozen hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties alone are in dire financial straits and in danger of filing bankruptcy or closure. These facilities represent 15% of the total hospital beds in the region.

"Emergency room physicians subsidized California with more than $100 million in services provided to Medi-Cal patients in 2007 alone. Over the past decade the cost of providing emergency room treatment has nearly doubled while the patient load has increased by more than 28%. Yet, during this period, Medi-Cal reimbursements have remained largely stagnant," Boucher said.

"In simplest terms, The State has shifted the cost of providing emergency room care from the state to the physicians. This unfair, unjust and illegal action has placed our emergency room system into a state of crisis," said Boucher. "Physicians, required by state and federal law to provide emergency room services, receive reimbursement from the state at rates that are significantly below the cost of care. Emergency room doctors are the only doctors who are required by the state to lose money."

The suit, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, claims: 1) Violations of the Equal Protection Clause; 2) Unlawful Taking of Property for Public Use; 3) Violations of both the Federal Social Security Act and California's Medicaid Act; and 4) Unjust enrichment.