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It might be snowing this week, but it's already looking like it could be a bit hot around the collar for United Drug boss Liam FitzGerald this summer.
A US court has just thrown out a motion by United Drug's subsidiary Sharp Corporation to dismiss an action brought against it by a company controlled by US investment group Blackstone.
The case arose from comments made by Mr FitzGerald on a conference call with investors in November 2011. He said during the call that Blackstone had put the pharmaceutical packaging unit of a firm called Catalent up for sale.
The United Drug chief said the Catalent unit had been underperforming. Catalent sued Sharp and United Drug saying the comments had "disparaged" its business and that Mr FitzGerald had revealed privileged information.
A US judge, Katherine Forrest, has now instructed that the courtroom showdown should commence on July 29.
She's unlikely to be fazed by the detailed arguments behind the trial. Now 48, she was once named by the Global Competition Review as one of the '40 under 40' lawyers to watch.
It named her as one of the top competition practitioners or economists worldwide. She was appointed to the district court by US President Barack Obama in 2011.
Prior to that, she was a deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division at the Department of Justice. All rise.
Irish Independent
