Pharmacia Fraud Case Back On Track -- Bad News For Ex-CEO Hassan

The 2000-to-2003-era securities fraud cases against Ex-CEO (of both Pharmacia, and later, Schering-Plough) Fred Hassan (and others), for conduct while at Pharmacia, were just re-ignited yesterday, given the Supremes' decision in Reynolds v. Merck.

The very able federal District Court Judge Anne Thompson had previously stayed these cases, pending a decision in Reynolds. The Pharmacia case had presented the same statute of limitations issue then under appellate review, in Reynolds. [Click to enlarge image, at right.] With a decision in favor of the plaintiffs in Reynolds now secured, it is likely that Fred Hassan and Carrie Cox will need to defend these Pharmacia era cases, as well.

We shall see, but this is not the way Celgene, Cardinal Healthcare, Time Warner and Bausch & Lomb really want their directors' names being publicized, I bet.