ma Supreme Court on Friday threw out jury decisions awarding the state more than $274 million from three pharmaceutical companies, ruling they did not defraud the state in pricing Medicaid prescription drugs.

The court overturned jury verdicts against the drug companies AstraZeneca, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, accused by the state of fraudulently manipulating prices of drugs for Medicaid recipients.

The court ruled 8-1 that the state did not have to rely on the drug companies' information in deciding what prices to pay pharmacists for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. The justices said state officials could have done their own research and determined the correct price.

The court ruled the state is continuing to rely on the same formulas established by the drug companies to set prices.

"The state has never altered its course of conduct since taking issue with the reporting methods," said the majority ruling written by Justice Tom Woodall.

Justice Tom Parker cast the lone dissent, saying there was no evidence the drug manufacturers made available to the state the confidential details they used in determining price information.

More than 70 lawsuits were filed in 2005 by the state against drug companies. The state has settled its lawsuits against 16 of the drug manufacturers for more than $124 million.

The Web site, tire-defect-law, includes sections on tire anatomy, tire tread separation, aged tires, valve stem defects, Load Range E tires, tire informational markings and tire recalls. It also includes a list of tire-related cases Greene Broillet & Wheeler either won in court or for which it negotiated settlements.

Greene Broillet & Wheeler claims to have conducted successful product liability litigations against most major tire makers. Christine D. Spagnoli, a partner in the firm, is plaintiffs’ liaison counsel for all product liability suits against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in California, according to a press release.

“Unfortunately, tire manufacturers and sellers don’t provide adequate warning or instruction to protect consumers and warn them of tire-related dangers,” Ms. Spagnoli said, explaining why the firm decided to establish a tire defects Web site.

The AlabaThe violent North Carolina criminals set to be freed later this month because of a court ruling and good conduct credits have racked up more than 250 infractions in prison for offenses such as fighting, weapon possession and theft.

Department of Correction records reviewed Friday by The Associated Press show the violations go as far back as the 1970s but also appear as recently as 2008, raising questions about whether the prisoners are reformed. Each one of the 20 inmates has at least two infractions, and combined they have a total of 256.

They have repeatedly been denied parole.

The inmates are scheduled to be released Oct. 29 after state courts sided with one of the inmates, double murderer Bobby Bowden, that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as only 80 years. The state's Fair Sentencing Act in 1981 included a retroactive provision essentially cutting all those sentences in half, and good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete.

Bowden had argued before the Court of Appeals in 2008 that he had accumulated 210 days of good conduct credit, 753 days of meritorious credit, and 1,537 days of gain time credit. But the 60-year-old has also racked up 17 infractions in prison, including two for weapon possession, one for damaging property and several for disobeying orders.

O.J. Simpson's convicted co-defendant got a fair trial and wasn't a victim of "spillover prejudice" as he alleges in his appeal, a prosecutor told the Nevada Supreme Court on Friday.

"A defendant 'is not entitled to a perfect trial, but only a fair trial,'" wrote Clark County District Attorney David Roger, citing state and federal case law supporting his position that Clarence "C.J." Stewart should remain in prison for his role in a September 2007 armed hotel room heist.

Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Bryson still has a chance to answer the district attorney's 46-page response to Stewart's initial request for the court to overturn Stewart's conviction.

The former Simpson golfing buddy claims he should have been tried separately from the former NFL football star, whose acquittal in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles was dubbed the "trial of the century."

Stewart also maintains that evidence was improperly used against him, and that the jury foreman hid a bias toward Simpson until after the pair were convicted and sentenced.

Somerset County Business Partnership, in conjunction with the township-based Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus law firm, will present a seminar, "An Overview of Issues in Designing and Building Green,'' at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The morning-long forum will take place at the offices of Norris, McLaughlin & aMarcus, 721 Route 202/206.

The seminar will provide an overview of the emerging and evolving field of green building, addressing such issues as how and why to build green, available incentives, lending opportunities and legal issues in design and construction.

Noted experts in the field of green building, real estate finance and insurance will participate, including Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula, deputy speaker of the State Assembly; Edward Hogan, Chris Stevenson, Jesse Nash, Charles Miller, Melinda Fellner Bramwit and Frank Araps of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus; Michael Kerwin, LEED-certified president/CEO of Somerset County Business Partnership; William Amann, LEED-certified chairman of the state chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, William Lashbrook of PNC Real Estate Finance, and Raymond Pavese of Pavese-McCormick Insurance Agency.

Registration and networking will begin at 8:30 a.m. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations at 11:30 a.m. The program will end at noon.

The seminar is free of charge but registration is requested by contacting Cassie Coldreck at 908-722-0755 or ccoldreck@nmmlaw.com.

The Milwaukee and Madison law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC said Wednesday that it has hired Paul Eberle to become the chief executive of the firm.

Eberle becomes one of the first nonlawyers to serve as chief executive of a major law firm, Whyte Hirschboeck said.

Eberle will work through the end of October alongside Mark Miller, the firm’s current CEO, who announced his departure earlier this year after eight years of leading Whyte Hirschboeck. Eberle will begin his new position on Nov. 1.

Bruce Arnold, a managing director at Whte Hirschboeck’s Milwaukee office, said the hiring of Eberle will allow attorneys to focus on providing legal services, enabling the firm to better serve clients around the state. The law firm has more than 150 attorneys and paralegals practicing more than 40 areas of law.

Eberle is a founder and past president of hardware, software, services and leasing firm, Capital Data Inc. in Milwaukee and has served as a managing member at Capital Properties of Wisconsin, a private equity firm involved in real estate investment and management. He also is a founding shareholder of Green Bay-based Lasernet Inc., a print, mail and electronic data services company.

San Francisco officials say cigarette maker Philip Morris has dropped its lawsuit challenging the city's prohibition on tobacco sales at pharmacies.

The announcement Thursday by the city attorney's office follows a federal appeals court ruling denying the company's request for an injunction that would have kept the city from enforcing the year-old law.

City officials say the ban makes sense when tobacco products are unhealthy and drugstores are supposed to promote health.

The city still is defending the law in a separate lawsuit brought by the Walgreens drugstore chain. A Superior Court judge dismissed that case, which is now on appeal.