Letitia James

Insulin prescription costs are now capped at $35 a month for uninsured New Yorkers.

State Attorney General Letitia James announced the agreement with Eli Lilly and Company and Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC.

An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found that the list prices set by insulin manufacturers for patients resulted in significant out-of-pocket costs for certain insulin users, causing some to ration their insulin or forgo it altogether.

Under the agreements, any uninsured New Yorker who uses Lilly or Sanofi insulin products will not be charged more than $35 for a monthly supply of insulin for the next five years, and both companies also committed to offering free insulin for the neediest patients.

Over the past two decades, the list prices for insulin have increased dramatically. From 2002 to 2013, the average list prices for insulin products from all manufacturers nearly tripled. For a person with Type 1 diabetes, annual spending on insulin averaged $2,864 in 2012, and that spending increased to an average of $5,705 in 2016. These dramatic cost increases were not driven by insulin manufacturing costs, which by one estimate would be no more than $133 per person per year.

More than 10 percent of New Yorkers have diabetes, and it is estimated that 464,000 of them rely on insulin every day. New Yorkers who live in the state’s poorest neighborhoods are 70 percent more likely to have diabetes. In fact, more than 16 percent of New York adults with diabetes have an annual household income of less than $25,000, while only six percent have an annual household income of more than $50,000.

As part of these agreements, Lilly and Sanofi have committed to offering affordable programs for patients and the companies agreed to implement a streamlined process at the pharmacy counter that would allow pharmacies to automatically advise cash-paying consumers of their ability to fill their monthly prescription for $35, before leaving the pharmacy counter.

In addition to the $35 monthly cap for any uninsured New Yorker, Lilly has also agreed to continue working with national relief agencies to identify high-need geographical locations throughout New York and to offer insulin products free of charge, through national relief agencies, to more eligible non-profit clinics in those locations. Those clinics can then offer insulin products for free in those areas that are the most in need. Sanofi has also agreed to offer free insulin to the neediest consumers who meet income thresholds tied to the federal poverty line.

Approximately 4.4 million consumers nationwide will receive checks in the mail from the multistate settlement. New York will receive more than $5.4 million for more than 176,000 New Yorkers.

The settlement applies to certain consumers who paid Intuit to file their federal tax returns through TurboTax for tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018 but were eligible to file for free through the IRS Free File Program.

Consumers eligible for a payment will be notified by email by the settlement fund administrator. These consumers will receive a payment automatically, without needing to file a claim. Payments will be made by check, mailed throughout May 2023.

The amount each consumer receives will be based on the number of tax years for which they qualify. Most consumers are expected to receive between $29 and $30.

Individuals who filed for three consecutive years could get up to $85.

For more information about who is covered by the settlement, and information about the settlement fund, please visit www.AGTurboTaxSettlement.com.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announces settlement with JUUL Labs. (April 12, 2023)

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced a multi-state settlement with vaping company JUUL Labs for $462 million.

In 2019, James sued JUUL for deceptive and misleading marketing, which targeted youth and mislead the safety of the product. JUUL claimed its products were safer than cigarettes.

The lawsuit alleged that the company’s advertising violated New York’s General Business Laws with false advertising, unreasonable interference with public health, and selling tobacco products to minors.

The settlement requires JUUL to secure JUUL products behind retail store counters and verify the age of consumers that directly sell or promote its products online. The agreement is the largest multistate settlement with JUUL

New York State will receive $112.7 million over eight years. James said the first payment of $14 million is due within 90 days.

Jamestown Public Schools is set to receive $74,669; less disbursements and fees; in the settlement per a resolution passed by the Jamestown School Board in March.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said in a statement to WRFA, “I hope this penalty forces them and other companies who may have similar inclinations to reconsider marketing directly to underage students and children so that we can avoid the short-term and long-term negative medical impacts of early smoking and vaping on young lungs.”

New York State Congressional Districts

State Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul are supporting an effort to redraw New York’s Congressional district lines.

Both James and Hochul filed an amicus brief in support of the effort rather than leaving the lines drawn by a court-appointed special master in place between now and the 2030 census.

The state’s Independent Redistricting Commission’s (IRC) maps were rejected by the Legislature, and the Congressional maps drafted afterwards were challenged in the courts, resulting in a special master drawing lines ahead of the 2022 Election.

In the brief filed in Third Division Appellate Court, Attorney General James and Governor Hochul asserted that while the special master’s maps may have been appropriate for the 2022 Election, there is significant time for IRC to generate new maps and follow the process outlined in the New York State Constitution for Congressional maps going forward.

The amicus brief urges the Appellate Division to reverse the lower court order rejecting the voters’ claim and to order IRC to draw and submit a new congressional map as required by the Constitution.

Letitia James

Two conspiracy theorists who tried to suppress Black voters ahead of the 2020 election have lost a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

James filed a lawsuit in federal court against Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman in May 2021 after an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Wohl and Burkman, while hiding behind their organization “Project 1599,” violated state and federal laws by orchestrating robocalls to threaten and harass Black communities through disinformation, including claims that mail-in voters would have their personal information disseminated to law enforcement, debt collectors, and the government.

The Wohl and Burkman robocall campaign reached approximately 5,500 New Yorkers. Damages and relief will be determined at a later date.

In August 2022, Attorney General James announced a settlement with robocalling platform Message Communications for its role in sending out the illegal robocall designed by Wohl and Burkman.

Wohl and Burkman robocalled roughly 85,000 voters across Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio in the summer of 2020.

In Ohio, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court sentenced them in November 2022 to two years of probation, six months of monitoring with a GPS ankle bracelet, $2,500 each in fines and 500 hours of registering voters in Washington, D.C.

State Attorney General Letitia James secured a $523 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries last year after the company was found liable for public nuisance charges.

County Attorney Pat Slagle said New York is receiving an additional $211 million from a $4.3 billion national settlement Teva agreed to in July. He said that carve out had to be approved by local governments by February 1.

Slagle said payments will be received in $50,000 increments over a 13 year period. $374,249 of the funds are unrestricted with $583,555 being designated for treating opioid use disorders, supporting people in treatment and recovery, and other efforts related to the opioid crisis.

Letitia James, Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The withdrawal came in a brief document filed Friday morning with U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks.

Middlebrooks had warned Trump’s legal team the day before that the lawsuit appeared to verge on frivolous.

Trump’s lawsuit against the Attorney General had sought to shield Trump’s revocable trust from James, who has an ongoing $250 million civil suit that alleges fraudulent conduct at the Trump Organization. James has accused Trump and his family members of “grossly” inflating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars and of cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements.
Trump, who has denied the allegations, has called the investigation by James, a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

On Thursday, Middlebrooks ordered Trump and his attorney Alina Habba to pay fines of nearly $1 million after determining that Trump’s 2022 lawsuit against Hillary Clinton was frivolous litigation meant only to “seek revenge.”

Trump had sued Clinton in March 2022, for allegedly “acting in concert” with top FBI leadership to invent what became known as the Russia investigation into interference in the 2016 election. Trump had argued that the Russia probe was “prolonged and exacerbated by the presence of a small faction of Clinton loyalists who were well-positioned within the Department of Justice.” Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit this past September.

In his Thursday opinion, the judge also cautioned Trump’s attorneys that they could face sanctions over their lawsuit against James.

In the opinion, Middlebrooks called Trump “a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.”

Letitia James

State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against ten national gun distributors to demand they stop illegally shipping ghost gun parts into New York.

James is asking a federal court to order these businesses to immediately stop selling, shipping, distributing, or supplying unfinished frames or receivers to any person or entity with a New York address.

Thursday’s action builds on the lawsuit that James filed against these companies in June 2022 and is part of the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) ongoing efforts to stop the flow of illegal and dangerous ghost guns into New York.

James said in a statement that companies that sell ghost gun parts and kits “present a clear danger to all New Yorkers. These deadly weapons are unregistered, untraceable, and do not require any background check to purchase, which means they can easily end up in dangerous hands.”

In the lawsuit filed in June 2022, James said six of the ten defendants were caught shipping one or more unfinished frames or receivers to undercover investigators in New York, and several defendants advertised ghost gun components for sale and shipped their products to individuals who went on to commit crimes involving ghost guns in New York State.

The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

United States Supreme Court Building

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act can remain in effect pending appeal.

The Court upheld a stay that was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Antonyuk v. Nigrelli in December 2022.

State Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement that said, “We have a right to enact commonsense measures to protect our communities, and I am pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to allow New York’s concealed carry gun law to remain in effect. Too many New Yorkers are plagued by gun violence, and we know that basic gun laws help save lives every day. My office will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect New Yorkers and defend our responsible gun laws.”

The Concealed Carry Act took effect in September 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The law strengthens requirements for concealed carry permits, prohibits guns in sensitive places, requires individuals with concealed carry permits to request a property owner’s consent to carry on their premises, enhances safe storage requirements, and requires background checks on all ammunition purchases.

Kathy Hochul takes the oath of office as New York State’s first elected female Governor (January 1, 2023)

Kathy Hochul was inaugurated Sunday as New York State’s first elected female governor.

Hochul took office in August 2021 after then-Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.

She was elected by voters in November, defeating Republican challenger Lee Zeldin.

Hochul said she’d get into policy more in her State of the State address this month, but cited housing affordability and energy affordability among other topics in her inaugural address, “And the gun violence epidemic, my gosh. The loss of lives goes on and on. The rise in hate crimes. What happened here? Especially antisemitism, Asian hate, anti LGBTQ hate and the systemic racism that still persists to this day. Those are the fights we are called to take on. We must.”

Hochul also mentioned the lingering effects of the pandemic as well as women’s rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Tom DiNapoli also took the oath of office on Sunday as New York’s second-longest serving Comptroller of more than 15 years. Letitia James was sworn in a second time as Attorney General and Antonio Delgado was sworn in as the state’s Lieutenant Governor, his first full term.