Generic drug maker Ranbaxy will pay Tennessee more than $5.5 million as part of a $500 million agreement resolving claims the company sold inferior drugs and made false statements about how the drugs were made, Attorney General Bob Cooper announced today.

Tennessee joined with other states and the federal government in what the Justice Department called the largest settlement in history regarding questionable drug operations involving a generic manufacturer. The investigation resulted from a qui tam action filed in Maryland under the federal False Claims Act and various state false claims statutes. The whistleblower's complaint alleged that Ranbaxy knowingly manufactured, distributed and sold generic pharmaceutical products – whose strength, purity and/or quality fell below the standards required by the FDA. The products at issue consisted of 26 generic pharmaceutical products manufactured at its facilities in Paonta Sahib and Dewas, India at various times between April 1, 2003 and September 16, 2010...read the Ranbaxy release.

National Health Investors, Inc., (NYSE:NHI), National HealthCare Corporation (NYSE MKT: NHC, NHC.PRA), the court-appointed Receiver for two Tennessee nonprofits, SeniorTrust of Florida, Inc., ("SeniorTrust") and ElderTrust of Florida, Inc., ("ElderTrust), and the Tennessee Attorney General announced today that they have agreed to resolve a long-standing dispute that has been the subject of litigation. The resolution of the litigation, together with the Receiver's sale of 14 nursing homes and liquidation of the nonprofits' assets, will ultimately result in approximately $40M for charitable purposes in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Attorney General had previously asked the Davidson County Chancery Court to place both of these nonprofits in receivership. The Receiver subsequently filed suit against National Health Investors, Inc. ("NHI") and National HealthCare Corporation ("NHC")...read the SeniorTrust/ElderTrust release.

If you bought a device from a Tennessee firm marketing a product claiming to treat or cure serious medical conditions such as Fungal Meningitis and Lyme disease, you may be eligible for a refund, Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper and Gary Cordell, Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, announced today.

Davidson County Court Judge Hamilton Gayden has approved an agreement between the State of Tennessee and Thomas Michael Haarlander of Nashville, Tennessee. Haarlander was doing business as The Avalon Effect, Inc. in Franklin. The settlement requires the defendants to stop making misleading marketing claims about a medical device called the Quantum Series Wellness Pack, and requires the defendants to place $50,000 in an escrow fund to refund consumers who bought the product...read the Avalon Effect release.

A Brentwood man has been ordered to pay restitution, perform community service, and serve six years probation after pleading guilty to bilking a retiree out of thousands of dollars in phony investment schemes.

Glen Verner pled guilty in Davidson County Criminal Court on Thursday, March 21, to two counts of theft. He paid the victim $85,000 in restitution at the time of the plea and must perform 200 hours of community service while on probation. The plea also forbids Verner from selling stocks, bonds, notes, or securities of any kind and from working in the financial services or insurance business...read the Verner release.

Google will pay Tennessee and 36 other states $7 million and revamp its consumer privacy practices as a result of an agreement filed today, Attorney General Bob Cooper has announced. Tennessee's share is estimated at $133,528 as part of the agreement stemming from privacy complaints regarding Google's collection of data from unsecured wireless networks nationwide while taking photographs for its Street View service between 2008 and March 2010.

The agreement now bans unauthorized data collection and requires Google train its employees on privacy and launch a nationwide campaign to educate consumers on how to protect their information...read the Google release.