Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that John H. Fuson has joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office as a partner. Fuson served as associate chief counsel at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2007, where he worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, bringing enforcement actions on behalf of the FDA. He will be working with the firm’s Health Care, Product Risk Management, White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement and Intellectual Property groups.
“John brings critical FDA credentials and knowledge, as well as on the ground experience with FDA enforcement policies and practices,” said Crowell & Moring Managing Partner, Ellen M. Dwyer. “His experience is a terrific complement to our team and an asset our clients will value as the firm expands its reach in the life sciences and food industries.”
Fuson comes to the firm on the heels of the arrival of four intellectual property litigators who practice in the generic pharmaceutical patent arena; four new attorneys in the firm’s Health Care Group; a seven-lawyer healthcare litigation team in California who joined last year; and a partner in Los Angeles who was coordinator of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fuson has extensive experience handling both enforcement and defense actions on behalf of the FDA. He handled all types of major FDA enforcement actions including seizure and injunction actions, pursuit of civil money penalties, and contempt cases. He also counseled the agency on enforcement strategy for device, drug, and food manufacturers.
At the FDA, Fuson oversaw numerous matters involving medical devices, including an action for civil money penalties against a manufacturer and its CEO for unlawful distribution of unapproved devices, and injunction actions against various device manufacturers for failure to comply with quality system regulations. In the drug arena, he oversaw injunction actions to prevent the manufacture of unapproved new drugs, and actions against companies that failed to comply with good manufacturing practice regulations. He also defended law suits challenging the scope of warning labels for a class of drugs and the approval of generic drugs under the Hatch-Waxman Act.
In the food sector, he oversaw the seizure of contaminated cheese linked to an e. coli outbreak and a subsequent injunction against the manufacturer, an injunction against a produce grower for failure to control harmful bacteria in its manufacturing facility, and injunction actions against seafood distributors for failure to implement appropriate food safety plans. Fuson also worked with agency experts to develop an enforcement strategy against a beverage manufacturer that failed to control for lead and other unlawful food additives in its products, and assisted in defense of a Federal Tort Claims Act case brought by tomato growers after the agency cited tomatoes as a potential source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak.
“Crowell & Moring has a premier regulatory and litigation practice. I look forward to adding to that practice by drawing on my experience at the FDA to assist clients in successfully navigating their regulatory obligations and defending them when necessary,” said Fuson. “The FDA regulates over $1 trillion of the U.S. economy — about 25% of consumer spending — and our ability to provide comprehensive risk management counsel and knowledgeable representation in investigations and litigation is essential to our clients.”
In addition to practicing law, Fuson serves as board president for Every Child Is My Child, a non-profit organization that promotes the education and welfare of children and youth in developing countries.
Fuson received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.A. from Grinnell College. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon, federal appeals judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 2001 to 2007, he was in the Litigation Group at Covington & Burling LLP.
