Areas of Expertise The firm?s cases extend far beyond insurance matters to encompass many areas of consumer fraud and product liability. Central to the firm?s practice is the belief that even relatively small consumer frauds ? in which an individual?s damages are a few hundred dollars or less ? can be effectively remedied through class-action litigation. In 1998, James, Hoyer grew substantially when it merged with a group of lawyers experienced in representing insurance companies. These lawyers, Terry Smiljanich and John Yanchunis, now practice exclusively on behalf of the victims of fraud but with the keen insight gained from their experience and knowledge of the insurance industry. In June 2000, James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich, P.A. along with its co-counsel negotiated a $215-million class-action settlement with insurer American General Corp., on behalf of thousands of African-American customers who were systematically overcharged for small burial policies on the basis of race. The firm also sued the Carson hair-care products conglomerate on behalf of African-American women whose hair fell out after using a relaxer. James, Hoyer also has substantial experience representing whistleblowers who have disclosed fraud and seek the return of misappropriated government funds. In such actions, also called qui tam?s or False Claims Act cases, the whistleblower is eligible to receive a portion of the amount recovered. The firm represented the first whistleblowers in the Columbia/HCA Medicare fraud case, which gained national attention and involved the misappropriation of nearly two billion in taxpayer dollars. The firm also exposed widespread fraud involving government-insured prescriptions at two of the nation?s largest drugstore chains, Walgreens and Eckerd. Critical to the firm?s success is its reliance on experienced investigators ? veteran FBI agents and investigative journalists from print and television ? who document fraud. Our attorney/investigator ratio is u...