The Los Angeles City Attorney has filed criminal charges against eight individuals for allegedly importing over 100,000 foreign pharmaceuticals and selling them on street corners, in parks, in front of grocery stores, travel agencies and beauty salons, primarily to Latino customers.

Gloria Garcia, 65; Teresa Cruz, 64, Martha Bueno, 62; Bryan Pineda, 28; Maria Vences-Tinoco, 50; Maria Rosa Portillo, 74; Martha Siguenza, 74; and Helen Portillo, 40, were each charged with selling prescription medications without a license. Each was allegedly selling the illegally imported drugs out of attractive candy-colored displays throughout Los Angeles. Each defendant faces up to one year in jail. Additionally, first time offenders can be fined $5,000 and second time offenders face a $10,000 maximum fine. None of the defendants are licensed or trained medical providers.

Investigations into the suspects for dispensing illegal and dangerous pharmaceuticals led to the seizure of over 100,000 pills, compounds, and injectable medications that could have caused serious harm or death to consumers. The drugs seized included injectable drugs – typically used to treat back pain or bone infections – which cannot be purchased over the counter, require a prescription, and should only be injected by a licensed medical provider.

Also seized were antibiotics – the unsupervised use of which can increase resistance and lower effectiveness – pain medication, injectable contraception, lidocaine, and other potentially dangerous compounds. These foreign-made pharmaceuticals have not been approved for consumption by the general public in the United States.

L.A. County formed the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT) in 1999, after two Latino infants died from taking illegal medications. HALT is the group that made the August arrests. So far this year, it has arrested 34 people in 54 cases, 48 of them involving illegal pharmaceuticals sold to immigrants, said Erick Aguilar, one of the investigators.

Illegal pharmaceuticals are being sold to immigrants in “every rural swap meet you can find,” and the sellers are becoming more sophisticated, Aguilar said. “They’re better at hiding it,” and “they’re more careful who they sell to.”

Many were sheer counterfeits. Others, though legal south of the border, were not approved for sale in the United States. Some had expired. Still others would have been legal if sold by people licensed to do so – but none of the sellers held pharmacist licenses or any other medical credential.

“Counterfeit medicines may contain the wrong ingredients, contain too little, too much or no active ingredient at all – or contain other, potentially life-threatening hidden ingredients,” said Jeremy Kahn, an FDA spokesman.

Between October 2017 and July 2018, FDA officials confiscated nearly 22,000 packages containing illegal pharmaceuticals from international mail facilities, Kahn said. He said authorities routinely impound various opioids as well as dietary supplements laced with erectile dysfunction drugs and other dubious products. They come from India, China and across Europe – “just about everywhere,” Kahn said.

A former vocational nurse working at the California Institution for Men in Chino has been sentenced in a workers’ compensation fraud case in which he falsely claimed an inmate attacked him with a needle, and later collected tens of thousands of dollars in workers’ compensation benefits.

On June 7, 2019, a jury trial was held at the Riverside County Superior Court in Banning, California. Ndiawar Diop, DOB: 7-15-77, was convicted of six felonies – one count each of making a false workers’ compensation claim and attempted perjury as well as four counts of making a false statement in order to receive an insurance benefit.

On Sept. 13, 2019, Diop was sentenced by a Riverside County judge to six years, six months in county jail, five years of which are on mandatory supervision.

The judge also ordered Diop to pay restitution in the amount of $97,164.

In June 2013, Diop, who worked as a vocational nurse for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, reported that he accidentally poked himself with a needle while at work.

However, over time, Diop’s description of what happened changed.

Diop later said he thought it was an intentional act by the inmate to stick him with the needle and, on a later date, changed his story to say it happened when the inmate tried to stab in him the neck with the needle, resulting in the injury to his hand as he tried to shield himself from the attack.

However, that statement was proven false by the evidence presented at the trial.

The case, RIF1705383, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Blaine Hopp of the DA’s Insurance Fraud Team and was investigated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has released its quarterly update on California statewide insurer experience valued as of June 30, 2019.

Highlights of the report include:

— California written premium through the second calendar quarter of 2019 is 7 percent below the same period for 2018, suggesting that the 2019 premium decrease will also be significant. This is the third consecutive year of premium decreases.
— The average charged rate for the first six months of 2019 is 10 percent below that for 2018 and 32 percent below the peak in 2014. The WCIRB recently proposed a further 5% decrease in advisory pure premium rates for January 1, 2020.
— The WCIRB projects the ultimate accident year loss ratio for 2018 to be four points above that for accident year 2017, driven by higher claim severities for 2018 and lower premium rates.
— The 90 percent combined loss and expense ratio projected for accident year 2018 represents the sixth consecutive year of combined ratios below 100 percent. Combined ratios below 100 percent are one indicator of a healthy workers’ compensation system.
— The ratio for the percent of open indemnity claims closed in the next year increased in each of the last six years and in 2019 is the highest ratio since 1999.
— Cumulative trauma (CT) claim rates continue to increase in accident year 2017, and the ratio of CT claims to all indemnity claims has increased by more than 80 percent since accident year 2005.
— The projected total loss and allocated loss adjustment expense claim severity for accident year 2018 is 5 percent higher than that for accident year 2017, following several years of modest declines in claim severities.
— Medical service costs per claim decreased 17% from 2012 to 2015, primarily driven by a 23% decrease in the number of transactions per claim. Overall medical cost levels have been relatively flat since 2015.
— Pharmaceutical costs per claim decreased 80% from 2012 to 2018. These reductions have been driven by SB 863’s independent medical review and independent bill review, reduced utilization of opioids, changes to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates and the new drug formulary.
— The number of liens filed in the first two quarters of 2019 are more than 60% below pre-SB 1160 and AB 1244 levels.

The full report is available in the Research section of the WCIRB website and linked below:

San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott has filed a lawsuit against grocery delivery company Instacart, alleging the tech giant has misclassified its employees as independent contractors.

The suit comes three days after new legislation, called Assembly Bill 5, cleared the California Legislature, spurring panic among gig economy giants such as Uber and Lyft. The bill is now on its way to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has previously pledged his support. Should the bill be signed into law, it would prevent many companies from classifying their workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

According to the report in the San Diego Tribune, Elliott’s lawsuit is asking for Instacart’s workers to receive compensation retroactively, including payment for things like minimum wage, overtime pay, meal breaks and expense reimbursement. The suit also alleges Instacart evaded paying workers compensation and unemployment insurance, along with state and federal payroll taxes.

Instacart did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

San Francisco-based Instacart is a grocery delivery service that operates nationally and has a presence in San Diego. Its app allows customers to place grocery orders online, which are then purchased and delivered by a “shopper” who drives the order directly to their home.

The suit alleges that Instacart shoppers do not qualify as independent contractors under a 2018 California Supreme Court decision (Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court). It’s the Dynamex case that spurred AB 5 to move its way through the state legislature this year, sponsored by San Diego Democrat Lorena Gonzalez.

Procopio law partner Tyler Paetkau, who practices employment law, said AB 5 would change the game entirely for companies hiring contract workers. Employers used to have a lot of wiggle room to classify workers as independent contractors. This new bill now tightens the definition of an independent contractor. The most notable difference is that employers cannot use contractors unless the person’s work is “outside the normal business activities” of the hiring company.

Elliott’s suit alleges Instacart does not meet the criteria outlined in Dynamex, which AB 5 mirrors.

“Shoppers perform work that is directly within the course of Instacart’s business model, including ‘groceries delivered in as little as one hour,’” stated a City Attorney’s Office news release. “Shoppers are essential to providing the core service the company offers.”

Proponents of AB 5 say the legislation will improve labor conditions for gig economy workers, forcing companies to offer benefits and protections that a normal employee would be granted – such as minimum wage, paid sick days and health insurance benefits. Opponents say the bill invokes outdated views of “employment,” hampering the millions of Californians who want flexible work.

Lawsuits seeking retroactive restitution could be a major challenge for companies throughout the state, Paetkau said, especially small businesses that have adopted the gig economy model popularized by Uber and Lyft.

“A lot of these companies are startups,” Paetkau said. “They have some funding but limited resources. The worst thing that can happen to them is a lawsuit or claim. Especially involving multiple workers. This could wipe them out.”

The Orange County Register reports that county officials say they will stand behind their sheriff’s deputies who are injured while trying to help others, even when they’re off duty and out of state. County supervisors voted Sept. 10, to extend workers compensation benefits to sworn employees who were hurt during the 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, and to county law enforcement caught up in future domestic terrorism events who use their training to protect civilians or assist local first responders.

Off-duty officers from several Southern California communities were attending the Las Vegas concert when a gunman fired on the crowd. Some were shot or received other injuries while leading people to safety, helping secure the area and providing others aid.

Orange County rejected workers comp claims filed by four of its deputies who were hurt, because California law at the time specifically referred to peace-keeping activities “anywhere in this state,” but did not mention actions outside the state’s boundaries.

A bill from Assemblyman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, that passed in 2018 clarified the law so that California peace officers injured off duty while responding to out-of-state crimes and life-threatening emergencies can collect public injury benefits. Now, Orange County has enshrined in its own policies that officers in good standing hurt in the Las Vegas shooting or such future incidents are eligible for workers compensation.

The new policy’s cost to county taxpayers is unknown because it will depend on how many claims are filed and what benefits are awarded.

Deputy Mark Seamans, hit by gunfire, was among the Orange County deputies whose claims were initially rejected. As Seamans told a reporter shortly after the incident, he never stopped to worry about his own safety while pulling people out of harm’s way. “The switch turned on, and it became everything we train for,” he said at the time.

The county’s new policy doesn’t guarantee off-duty deputies’ claims will be paid, only that they’ll be considered even if the incident takes place in another state. The policy would not apply to claims of psychological injury or events outside the U.S. On Wednesday, a county spokeswoman said two claims by officers who were shot in Las Vegas are due to be approved.

Since Daly’s bill passed last year, San Bernardino County accepted a claim from one deputy injured at the Route 91 festival, county spokeswoman Felisa Cardona said. California Peace Officers Association spokesman Shaun Rundle said he wasn’t aware of other agencies making policy changes as Orange County did.