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Product Liability
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April 17, 2024
FDA's Foot-Dragging On Menthol Ban Sparks Frustration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's yearslong delay to ban menthol has left public health groups frustrated over why the agency has failed to act on what the groups see as an obvious way to improve public health and prevent needless deaths, prompting a second lawsuit over taking menthol off store shelves.
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April 17, 2024
FDA Denies Marketing For 65 MNGO Disposable E-Cigarettes
The latest action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on e-cigarettes was to tell a Chinese company to take its range of 65 e-cigarette products in a variety of flavors from menthol to pink lemonade and watermelon off the market.
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April 17, 2024
FDA Tells Justices It Has A Better Vape Case In Mind
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has told the U.S. Supreme Court that if it wants to address the agency's decision not to approve applications for flavored e-cigarettes, there is a better case in the pipeline than the appeal lodged by Lotus Vaping Technologies that the justices should choose instead.
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April 17, 2024
Reps. Want To Exempt Water Utilities From PFAS Liability
A bipartisan duo of congressional lawmakers is pushing a bill that would exempt some public water systems, municipalities and other entities from liability for violations of federal "forever chemical" regulations.
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April 17, 2024
Contractor Blamed For $4.4M Damage To Wind Turbine
A Massachusetts company under contract to maintain wind turbines at a wastewater treatment facility in Boston Harbor failed to property shut down one of them after a mechanical problem, leading to further "catastrophic" damage that will cost nearly $4.4 million to address, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.
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April 17, 2024
Feds, Tribe Say Settlement Talks Failed In Water Pipeline Row
The Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked a New York federal court to opt out of mediation talks after the tribe said the agency refused its settlement offer in litigation challenging a right-of-way permit for a wastewater pipeline.
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April 16, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Won't Rehear Case Over Agency Protections
A divided Fifth Circuit on Tuesday denied en banc rehearing of a panel decision that likely sets up a U.S. Supreme Court challenge of long-standing limits to the president's power to fire executive branch subordinates.
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April 16, 2024
Cooperation Helped Cable Co. Avoid Prosecution, Feds Say
The U.S. Department of Justice's fraud section has indicated it won't prosecute Proterial Cable America for allegedly fraudulently misrepresenting the safety standards compliance of its motorcycle brake hose assemblies because of the company's timely self-disclosure, cooperation and remediation, among other things.
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April 16, 2024
Cashed Check Kills VW Emissions Deal Appeal, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday threw out an attempt to unravel an $80 million deal resolving consolidated consumer litigation alleging Volkswagen and Porsche manipulated emissions and fuel-economy tests for nearly 500,000 gas-powered vehicles, saying the objector has already cashed his portion of the settlement.
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April 16, 2024
'Wide As The Ocean': Apple Judge Pans Investor Deal Release
A California federal judge declined Monday to preliminarily approve Apple's nonmonetary settlement in a derivative-shareholder suit over claims it secretly slowed iPhones, criticizing the deal's release of claims that "relate" to the case as overbroad and noting that, "in practice, lawyers argue that 'relate' is as wide as the ocean."
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April 16, 2024
Mercedes Rusty Subframe Suit Is Too Vague, Judge Is Told
Mercedes-Benz argued in court Tuesday that a proposed class action over a claimed subframe defect should be dismissed as an improper shotgun pleading as it directs allegations at "Mercedes" without specifying whether the German parent company or its Atlanta subsidiary are supposedly to blame.
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April 16, 2024
Feds, PPG Reach $22.8M Deal To Clean Up NJ Superfund Site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a settlement with PPG Industries Inc. on Tuesday under which the company has agreed to cough up more than $22.8 million to cover the estimated future cleanup costs and maintenance at the Riverside Industrial Park Superfund Site in Newark, New Jersey.
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April 16, 2024
Absent Proof Of Direct Effect, Pa. Sen. Loses Wastewater Row
A Pennsylvania state senator lacks individual standing to stop the state Department of Environmental Protection from allowing wastewater discharges into a tributary of the Susquehanna River because she hasn't given enough evidence that potential pollution would directly affect her, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
Colo. Shooting Case Could Return To State Court, Judge Hints
A federal judge in Connecticut hinted Tuesday that he might send cases by Colorado mass shooting victims against gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. back to state court, noting that only rarely may district court judges hear core state law claims when federal law provides an ingredient in the analysis.
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April 16, 2024
Appeals Court Won't Block 3M 'Fishing Expedition' Deposition
A state appeals court on Tuesday declined to halt a presuit deposition requested by 3M Co. against a Texas attorney to investigate claims that the lawyer was aware of false statements his co-counsel made in a coal-related lung disease suit out of Kentucky.
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April 16, 2024
Zuckerberg Dodges Liability In Meta Addiction MDL, For Now
A California federal judge has tossed certain fraud-by-omission claims seeking to hold Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable in sprawling multidistrict litigation over social media platforms' allegedly addictive design, but she allowed the plaintiffs to amend their allegations to assert a new theory of corporate officer liability against Zuckerberg.
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April 16, 2024
Sikorsky Calls Chopper Crash Suit 'Beyond' US Court's Power
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is pushing a Pennsylvania federal judge to toss liability claims brought by the families of six Canadian military personnel who died in one of its helicopters, arguing that the witnesses and evidence for the case are in Canada, "beyond the compulsory process of this court."
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April 16, 2024
DOL Finalizes Rule To Curb Miners' Exposure To Silica Dust
A U.S. Department of Labor agency released final regulations Tuesday that tighten limits on miners' exposure to workplace silica dust, a toxic substance that increases the risk of death and chronic health conditions.
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April 15, 2024
EPA Says Legacy Asbestos Poses Unreasonable Risk
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on Monday its long-awaited draft for the second part of its asbestos risk evaluation, which determined handling asbestos associated with legacy uses presents undue human health risks.
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April 15, 2024
Calif. Cannabis Co. Stiiizy Sued Over Delta-8 Products
California cannabis giant Stiiizy has been accused of selling products which were touted as federally compliant hemp wares but purportedly had high enough levels of psychoactive THC to qualify as marijuana products, according to a proposed class action in Illinois federal court.
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April 15, 2024
Feds Call Off $5.7M Bid To Recoup Costs For Damaged V-22
The federal government agreed to drop its $5.7 million lawsuit against the city of San Diego and the commercial aviation companies that operated the aircraft that rammed into a parked Marine Corps tiltrotor transport in 2020, according to a Monday court filing.
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April 15, 2024
Shopper Says ConAgra Beans Poisoned Her With Ammonia
A Colorado woman is suing ConAgra over alleged ammonia contamination in one of its refried bean products, claiming in a lawsuit removed to Colorado federal court Monday that one bite resulted in cuts, blisters and bleeding in her mouth and throat.
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April 15, 2024
Panera Hit With False Ad Suit Over 'Sprouted Grain' Bagel
A customer hit Panera LLC with a proposed class action accusing the restaurant chain of falsely marketing its bagels as made with sprouted grains despite the main ingredient being less healthy non-sprouted grains, according to a suit removed to California federal court Friday.
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April 15, 2024
Baltimore Taps DiCello Levitt, Saltz Mongeluzzi For Key Bridge
The city of Baltimore announced Monday it has hired DiCello Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky PC as it plans legal action against those responsible for a container ship destroying the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, the same day FBI agents boarded the ship as part of a criminal investigation.
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April 15, 2024
Boeing Says Virgin Can't Use Another Court To Avoid IP Suit
Boeing has urged the Virginia federal judge overseeing its breach of contract and trade secrets dispute with Virgin Galactic to block Virgin from moving forward with a "copycat" lawsuit in California, saying Virgin is wrongly trying to avoid the original lawsuit.
Expert Analysis
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How To Advertise Carbon Reductions Under New Calif. Law
As more companies advertise their efforts to reach the status of carbon neutral or net zero, California's recently enacted Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act aims to force companies to more clearly disclose the basis for such claims — and there's not a lot of time to comply, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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Calif. Right To Repair Law Highlights A Growing Movement
New legislation in California is a comprehensive victory for the "right to repair" movement — signaling that this push for legal reform represents a multifaceted challenge to the status quo not only on the consumer rights front, but also in the fields of copyright, software, antitrust and warranty law, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane Meadows.
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Teach Your Witness About 'Good' And 'Bad' Testimony Words
To ensure honest and accurate testimony in trials and depositions, attorneys must take care to educate their witnesses about the problematic words opposing counsel may use, such as “always” and “must,” and the effective words they can use in response, like “potentially” and “depends,” say Steve Wood and Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.
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Balancing Justice And Accountability In Opioid Bankruptcies
As Rite Aid joins other pharmaceutical companies in pursuing bankruptcy following the onslaught of state and federal litigation related to the opioid epidemic, courts and the country will have to reconcile the ideals of economic justice and accountability against the U.S. Constitution’s promise of a fresh start through bankruptcy, says Monique Hayes at DGIM Law.
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Opinion
Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.
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Lessons From Verizon's Cybersecurity FCA Self-Disclosure
A Verizon unit’s recent agreement to settle allegations of cyber-related False Claims Act violations illustrates the interplay between the government's prioritization of cybersecurity enforcement and the potential benefits of voluntarily disclosing cybersecurity failures, says Denise Barnes at Honigman.
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EPA's Final PFAS Rule Greatly Expands Cos.' Reporting Duties
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently released final regulation requiring reporting by entities that have manufactured or imported products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances will require considerable time and attention from affected companies — including many that have not previously faced such obligations, say Lawrence Culleen and Judah Prero at Arnold & Porter.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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New Calif. Hemp, CBD Rules Affect Nationwide Compliance
Because of its huge market share, it is imperative that operators in every state understand the nuances of California's hemp and CBD regulatory regime, including policies refined over the past year and pending legislation that would allow cannabis licensees to sell, manufacture and distribute hemp and CBD products, say Alexis Lazzeri and Meital Manzuri at Manzuri Law.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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Opinion
Science On Human Health Effects Of PFAS Is Still Inconsistent
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have soared to the top of environmental regulatory agendas, and dominated environmental news headlines — but scientific research into causal relationships between PFAS exposure and adverse human health effects is still unclear and inconsistent, say Jeffrey Dintzer and Samantha Van Winter at Alston & Bird.
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Navigating Over-The-Counter Product Ads After FTC Warning
Attorneys at Hunton examine advertising substantiation requirements under both the Federal Trade Commission Act and Lanham Act, following recent FTC letters informing hundreds of companies that over-the-counter product marketing claims must be corroborated by scientific evidence.
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AGs' Distaste For Food Bill May Signal Other State Issues
States' recent opposition to a proposed federal law that would block them from regulating out-of-state agricultural production could affect issues beyond this narrow debate, such as the balance of state and federal regulatory power, reproductive rights post-Dobbs, and energy production and water use, say Christopher Allen and Stephen Cobb at Cozen O'Connor.