Daily Business Report-June 5, 2019

The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, relies on a state consumer protection statute that is among the nation’s strongest, and the state’s public nuisance law.

California takes aim at opioid maker Purdue Pharma

Dan Morain | CALmatters

Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday sued Purdue Pharma, accusing it of violating California’s consumer protection law by deceptively marketing the drug OxyContin and sparking the national opioid crisis.

• Also targeted: Richard Sackler, a Texas resident and former president of the privately held Connecticut-based drug company. The Sackler family “pocketed more than $4 billion from the opioid crisis,” the suit says. 

The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, relies on a state consumer protection statute that is among the nation’s strongest, and the state’s public nuisance law.

The suit: “Purdue’s deceptive marketing of its blockbuster drug, OxyContin, sparked the beginning of the national crisis we face today.”

Between 2008 and 2017, the suit says:

• . 14,500 Californians diedbecause of prescription opioid drug overdoses.
• . 80,000 Californians were treated at hospital emergency rooms for opioid overdoses.

Purdue “vigorously denies the allegations,” contends state attorneys general “invented stunningly overbroad legal theories,” and says OxyContin represents less than 2 percent of opioid prescriptions.

• With California’s filing, at least 47 states plus the District of Columbia have sued Purdue. The states’ action are reminiscent of suits against the tobacco industry in the 1990s. Those cases led to a $200 billion-plus settlement.

Money matters: Purdue has not been a major California campaign donor, with one exception. In 2016, it contributed $1.6 million, much of it to Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which led a successful campaign to kill an initiative to restrict drug prices.

A tax on opioid sales to pay for drug treatment awaits a vote.

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Drug addiction treatment tax

Purdue Pharma, producer of the opioid OxyContin, is lobbying on only one bill in California: legislation that would impose a tax on opioid sales to pay for drug treatment, Purdue’s latest lobbying disclosure shows.

• Drug companies would pay the tax basedon their share of sales. The bill is intended to generate $50 million annually.
• The measure is a rare tax hike backed by a Republican.Its authors are Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat, and Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican who represents Butte County.

Gallagher explained his support earlier this year:

• Right now, everyone who pays taxesis paying for opioid addiction treatment.
• He believes those who are responsible for it—drug makers—should pay.

A vote is pending on the Assembly floor. Under California law, tax increases require a two-thirds vote for passage in each house. Whether a two-thirds margin exists in either house remains to be determined.

Money matters:

• Purdue is among the individual companiesweighing in on the bill, reporting spending $14,000 to lobbying the measure in the first quarter of 2019.
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America,a trade group of drug companies, leads the opposition, having spent $204,000 on lobbying on that measure and others in the first quarter of 2019.
• PhRMA is capable of spending huge sumson California campaigns, as it proved in 2016 when it shelled out $110 million to defeat an initiative to regulate drug prices.

— Dan Morain, CALmatters

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California beats Texas in

new ranking of state economies

Times of San Diego

California beats business arch-rival Texas by a wide margin in a new raking of state economies. Buoyed by high marks for innovation and overall economic activity, the Golden State ranked 4th nationally in the report released Monday by WalletHub. 

Washington state was first on the list, followed by Utah and Massachusetts. Texas, which has bought television ads to try to attract California companies, was a distant 12th.

“U.S. economic growth depends heavily on the performance of individual states,” said WalletHub. “But some contribute more than others. California, for instance, blossomed in 2017 as the fifth largest economy in the world, boasting a GDP larger than that of countries like the U.K., France and India.”

California is often criticized for high taxes, but that doesn’t seem to be harming its economy, according to the report. “Tax rates are not the only thing firms consider when making decisions about where to go or entrepreneurs are making decisions about where to start a company,” noted John L. Campbell, a professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. “Other things include, for instance: quality of the labor force, infrastructure, housing availability for prospective employees, cultural amenities,…the quality of the school system, potential for public-private partnerships, etc.”

WalletHub, a Washington, DC-based financial services company, used 28 metrics to compare states across three dimensions: economic activity, economic health and innovation potential.

California ranked third in both economic activity and innovation potential and 35th in economic heath.

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Brown and Caldwell opens new San Diego office

Brown and Caldwell, an environmental engineering and construction firm, has opened a new office in Downtown San Diego to better serve municipal, federal, and private sector water and wastewater clients in the San Diego area. The new office is located at 450 B Street.

“Our new office reflects our continued commitment to serving and supporting the greater San Diego metro area. By moving our nearly 50-person operation to this iconic location in the heart of San Diego, we’ll be in a greater position to serve our clients and positively impact communities throughout San Diego County,” said Brown and Caldwell’s San Diego Leader J.P. Semper.

Brown and Caldwell’s history in the area dates back nearly 70 years, including co-authoring San Diego’s first plan for a centralized wastewater system to safely treat and dispose of wastewater via one centrally-located treatment plant and outfall (i.e., the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and Ocean Outfall). The 1952 report, titled “Report on the Collection, Treatment, and Disposal of the Sewage in San Diego County, California,” served to address San Diego’s most significant environmental and sanitary obstacle of the time.

The firm currently serves as a key member of the program management team delivering Pure Water San Diego, a phased, multi-year program that will provide one-third of San Diego’s water supply locally by 2035.

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County online auction to feature 313 properties

Bidders who did not get to buy property in San Diego County’s April online auction will now get a second chance.San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister opened bidder registration for the 2019 online reoffer property tax auction, featuring 313 properties.

“We want to give prospective buyers another shot at buying a piece of beautiful San Diego County,” said McAllister. “Most of the available properties are timeshares – all starting at $100 – so we want to encourage people across the country to take advantage of these great deals.”

Those who wish to participate must register as a bidder by July 3. To sign up, go to the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s (TTC) tax sale website sdttc.mytaxsale.com and submit a refundable $1,000 deposit, plus a non-refundable $35 processing fee.

The online auction will take place from July 12 to 17, and it will include 258 timeshares, 20 improved properties (homes or businesses), and 35 unimproved properties (land).

The properties were left over from the TTC’s initial auction in April, during which buyers purchased 286 parcels for a total of $2,630,200.

California law states that if owners do not pay their property taxes for five years or more, the county can auction off the properties to recover the back taxes. Current owners of the parcels have until 5 p.m. on July 11 to pay the defaulted taxes and fees to avoid a sale.

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San Diego History Center takes lead

in Serra Museum restoration

Exterior renovations have started on the iconic Junípero Serra Museum’s west facade. This project, while the responsibility of the City of San Diego, is being undertaken by the San Diego History Center to preserve the historic fabric of the building’s exterior and to return the Mission Revival architecture to its original brilliance. The total project cost is $300,000 and thanks to the support of several donors and the Board of Trustees a portion of these funds have been raised to allow this project to begin.

Inside the Serra Museum lots of work has been underway in advance of the installation of new exhibits. This includes new paint, new electrical and restoration of the original 1928 light sconces  by Gibson Lighting, one of the nation’s most recognized historic lighting firms located in Chula Vista.

Work is also underway on key elements of the exhibition, that tell the story of earliest history of San Diego– of the Kumeyaay, the people that lived along the river’s edge since time immemorial, as well as the stories of people that came to settle the area, and changed or manipulated the river in order to adapt to San Diego’s arid climate. It also focuses on the Presidio as the site of San Diego’s original European settlement, one that was an active military garrison from 1769 to 1835, when it was finally abandoned.

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Personnel Announcements

Melissa Enderby joins Cavignac & Associates

Melissa Enderby has been hired by Cavignac & Associatesas an account manager within the firm’s Small Business Unit. With nearly seven years of experience in the insurance field, Enderby serves as the clients’ main contact at the agency and ensures all their service needs are met.  Her scope of responsibilities includes completing requests for proposals, preparing presentations and proposals, planning and conducting open enrollment meetings, submitting applications and forms to insurance carriers, managing claims, and auditing enrollments after their effective dates.

Prior to joining Cavignac & Associates, Enderby served as an account manager for Benefit Pro Insurance in San Diego, where she assisted with renewals, marketing and open enrollments and helped clients with claims and access to care.  Previous career experience includes having served as an account manager for IOA Insurance Services in San Diego, where she maintained a book of business for five producers that grew by $750,000 in one year. She also served as an account manager for Gallagher in San Diego, and as a customer service representative for Barney & Barney, also in San Diego.

Enderby attended Grossmont College where she received her Associate of Science degree in culinary arts. She holds a California Life & Health license.

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Jasmine Wang joins J. Walcher Communications

J. Walcher Communications(JWC), a San Diego-based public relations and marketing agency, has announced the addition of Jasmine Wang as account coordinator. Wang will assiston hospitality, retail, nonprofit and professional service clients, providing media relations, social media, event coordination, project management, digital and marketing strategies.

Wang has a background in marketing and communications garnered from her previous role as communications manager at Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft charity. In this role, she was responsible for media relations and content creation for strategic public relations and marketing campaigns as well as the nonprofit’s social media channels.

Prior to Smile Train, Wang served as an intern at the Barclays Center, a concert and sports arena in Brooklyn, N.Y. where she worked in the programming department and was responsible for researching bookings for the stadium, creating contracts for events and providing information and tours for potential clients.

Wang holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in film art from Boston College. Wang is currently a member of the Asian Business Association of San Diego.

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Robert Peay new chief financial officer for Cali

Cali, the direct-to-consumer and omni-channel leader in flooring and decking, has hired Robert Peay as its new chief financial officer. Peay hails from Park City, Utah where he most recently served as CFO of Skullcandy. While there he directed the transition of the international lifestyle audio brand, from a public to a private entity.

Peay joins the Cali team at a time of fast-moving channel expansion and product diversification. The eco-conscious manufacturer has increased focus on building out services for dealer and retail partners by developing new collections, fine-tuning supply chains, and creating custom sales programs with accompanying marketing support.

Before working at Skullcandy, Peay served as VP of finance for Probar, a manufacturer of plant-based energy bars, CFO of Goal Zero, a provider of portable solar power systems, and CFO of Black Diamond, a designer and manufacturer of outdoor performance gear.

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Wilson Turner Kosmo adds 3 associates:

Jennifer Arnold, Valerie Phan and Melissa Rose

The San Diego‐based firm of Wilson Turner Kosmo, one the largest certified women‐owned law firms in California, has added to its roster of business litigants with the hiring of associates Jennifer Arnold, Valerie Phan and Melissa Rose.

A member of the firm’s Business Litigation practice group, Arnold represents entities, executives and employees in a myriad of business litigation, including pre‐litigation disputes, litigation, trial and appeal.Prior to joining WTK, Arnold served as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice representing defendants in inverse condemnation, medical negligence and civil rights claims. She worked as a law clerk to Magistrate Judge Mitchell Dembin, gaining experience in consumer class actions as well as business and intellectual property disputes.

Phan, a member of the firm’s Business, Class Action and Employment Law practice groups, defends businesses against class actions and individual lawsuits involving consumer protection, wage and hour, wrongful termination, harassment and ADA

accessibility violations. She is a former judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez and judicial extern to U.S. District Court Judge M. James Lorenz. Phan is currently an adjunct professor at the USD School of Law.

Rose is a member of the firm’s Product Liability and Warranty practice groups. She represents manufacturers and companies in breach of warranty, product liability, personal injury and wrongful death claims. Before joining WTK, Rose was an associate at an insurance defense firm defending businesses against employee disputes and personal injury, premises liability and construction defect lawsuits. During law school, she was the research editor of the San Diego Law Review and had an externship with Justice Judith McConnell in California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal.

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Jessica Lujan joins Higgs Fletcher & Mack

Attorney Jessica Lujan has joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack as an associate in the firm’s Business Litigation and Tort Practice Groups. Lujan, who also has experience handling personal injury matters, most recently served as a deputy city attorney for the city of Escondido, where she oversaw cases from inception to completion and gained extensive experience with law and motion matters. While in law school, Lujan interned at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office and later worked as a Post-Bar Law Clerk at the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. Lujan received one of Higgs Fletcher & Mack’s Diversity Scholarships while attending law school at the University of San Diego School of Law, in recognition of Lujan’s ethical and civic leadership and her dedication to providing services to underrepresented groups in the community.

Lujan earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame prior to earning her law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.  While in law school, Lujan received the CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law and served as a teacher’s assistant for Torts and Constitutional Law. In addition, Lujan served as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Maria Salas-Mendoza for Texas District Court 120. Lujan is fluent in both French and Spanish..