Allergan Name Game; Basombrio Gets Big Case; New Year x 3

Don’t know if this is a case of imprecise phrasing or a clue worth considering when it comes to the fate of the 67-year-old Allergan brand. Actavis PLC’s plan to integrate the Irvine-based drugmaker’s operations is expected to gather speed after meetings of shareholders of both companies on March 10, when votes on the pending $69.9 billion acquisition of Allergan are slated. Actavis recently made it clear it will waste no time in “the rollout of our combined Company name” once the deal is officially done. Does that mean some part of each company’s name will be combined into a new moniker? Or is Actavis implying it will pick a completely different name for the combined company? … Juan Basombrio’s briefcase will carry plenty of weight when the partner at Dorsey & Whitney’s office in Costa Mesa goes to the U.S. Supreme Court to represent a railway in Austria in a case that could have ramifications for anyone who sells anything across any borders through any channel. The high court will review a ruling that held the railway can be sued here for an injury sustained by a passenger on one of its lines over there. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined the overseas business was liable here because the Los Angeles woman who was injured purchased her ticket via a website owned by a U.S.-based company. Keep an eye on OBB Personenverkehr AG vs. Sachs, as well as Basombrio, a veteran litigator … The World Affairs Council of Orange County will host one of a couple of events that highlight a very tangible benefit of the oft-overlooked ethnic diversity in these parts, where we get three times the fun on New Year celebrations. The standard party night of Jan. 1 has come and gone, but the Lunar New Year celebrated by many in various Asian-American communities starts on Thursday with festivities that run for about a week. The World Affairs Council will look to make some hay while the moon shines with a Feb. 25 meeting featuring a “special cultural performance” by students of the Irvine Chinese School to complement dinner and a panel discussion among consular officials from Japan and the Philippines and two USC academics. The subject is trade in the Asia Pacific region; visit worldaffairscouncil.org for more information … Members of the local Iranian-American community will mark Nowruz—New Year in their Persian culture—with help from the Irvine Barclay Theatre and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. The star of the show will be Grammy-nominated Ghazal, “a music ensemble that beautifully combines the classical music of Persia and India.” You know there’s been a significant demographic shift when that’s on the schedule for March 17, also known as St. Patrick’s Day. Nowruz actually arrives here on March 20. Visit thebarclay.org for more information on the show … Kudos to Huntington Beach-based Assemblyman Travis Allen, who now has a “Legislator of the Year” award from the Republican Party of Orange County to go with his white-collar sartorial style and blue-collar work ethic … And to Monica Amesquita, the ever-pleasant person in the booth at the Hotel Irvine since 2004. She’s stayed on the job through three vendors of parking lot services, one name change for the formerly Hyatt-flagged property, and a recent makeover of the place under Irvine Company management—and the Insider has yet to get anything but a smile from her.