Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, March 26, 2018
Vol. 105, No. 091 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Fidelity expands title industry dominance The $1.2M acquisition of Houston company could take nine months. Fidelity National Financial Inc. last week announced an acquisition that will expand its dominance of the title insurance industry, but also face intense regulatory scrutiny. The $1.2 billion agreement to buy Houston-based Stewart Information Services Corp. includes provisions that could reduce the price based on divestitures needed to gain antitrust approval. Piper Jaffray analyst Jason Deleeuw said in a research note that Jacksonville-based Foley Fidelity had about 32 percent of U.S. title insurance premiums in 2017, and Stewart accounted for another 10 percent. Fidelity reported total revenue of $7.7 billion last year, while Stewart had nearly $2 billion. In a conference call with analysts to discuss the merger, Fidelity Chairman Bill Foley said he expects the regulatory approval process to take nine months to a year before the merger can be completed. The agreement calls for Fidelity
Photo by Max Marbut
Jacksonville Jaguars Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh, left, and Jacksonville Bar Association President-elect Katie Dearing.
From Harvard to the NFL Megha Parekh beginning her sixth season with the Jaguars. By Max Marbut Associate Editor You won’t find many Harvard University alumna on the field in the NFL, but that didn’t hinder Megha Parekh from joining the Jacksonville Jaguars’ front office.
Parekh, 32, joined the team in 2013 as vice president and general counsel and three years later was promoted to senior vice president and chief legal officer. As keynote speaker, she told members and guests of The Jacksonville Bar Association on Wednesday how she joined the league. She said she had been around sports most of her life, including tutoring athletes at her public high school “to keep them on the team” and working for the
Boston Red Sox while at Harvard Law School. One of the coaches encouraged her to apply to Harvard, where she received an undergraduate degree and then attended the university’s law school, where she graduated in 2009. While working at the Proskauer Rose law firm’s New York City office on a January afternoon in 2013, she received a text Bar
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City suing defendants who would rather stay out of court More than $1.2B in settlements reached since 2007. By Max Marbut Associate Editor The defendants named in the City of Jacksonville’s opioid lawsuit are well-versed in the litigation process, particularly when it comes to settling matters instead
of appearing in court. Jacksonville sued opioid manufacturers, pharmaceutical distribution and sales companies and former executives of the companies. Since 2007, the defendants have agreed to plea agreements for similar opioid-related damage claims and criminal charges brought by numerous jurisdictions totaling more than $1.2 billion. Those figures are included in
the 144-page complaint for damages and injunctive relief filed in the 4th Judicial Circuit by the city against Perdue Pharma LLP and 24 other defendants. The complaint alleges that the defendants engaged in a systematic plan to deceive doctors and patients about the products’ efficacy in the management of chronic pain and the addictive nature of their products. Perdue leads the list with the earliest – and largest – settlement
cited in the complaint. In 2007, the company and three of its top executives were indicted in federal court in Virginia and pled guilty to fraud in promoting OxyContin as an appropriate and nonaddictive treatment for chronic pain that was less subject to abuse than other pain medications. Under the plea agreement, Perdue agreed to pay $600 million in criminal and civil penalties. In addition, the company’s chief
executive officer, general counsel and chief medical officer pled guilty and agreed to pay a total of $34.5 million in penalties. Defendant Cephalon was charged by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with selling its product, Actiq, for uses other than those approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Actiq is a fentanyl drug in the Opioid
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The Marbut Report: Gunster partner sets $1M goal. Lacing them up for 'Freed to Run 2.0.' Public
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