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Product Liability
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May 15, 2013
First Responders Sue Conrail In Pa. Over NJ Derailment
The first responders who initiated the emergency cleanup of a November train derailment and resulting vinyl chloride spill in Paulsboro, N.J., sued Consolidated Rail Corp. and two other railroad companies in Pennsylvania state court Monday over their exposure to hazardous chemicals from the incident.
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May 15, 2013
Novartis Wins Jury Verdict Over Zometa's Bone Death Risk
A New Jersey jury on Wednesday returned with a verdict for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. in centralized litigation over its bone-strengthening drug Zometa, finding after a 13-day trial that the company did not fail to provide an adequate warning about dead jaw bone risks.
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May 14, 2013
Suit Over Novartis Drug’s Bone Death Risk Heads To Jury
After 11 days of testimony from some 20 witnesses, jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the New Jersey mass tort lawsuit of a woman suing Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. for allegedly minimizing the risks of bone death in the jaw from its bone-strengthening drug Zometa.
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May 14, 2013
6th Circ. Won't Revive Plane Crash Suit Against Textron Unit
The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday refused to let two seriously injured plane crash victims pursue defective engine claims against a Textron Systems Corp. subsidiary, ruling that an 18-year limitations period bans the suit because the engine was built in 1978.
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May 14, 2013
Chevron Brass Must Testify In RICO Suit Over $19B Judgment
The New York federal judge overseeing a racketeering suit related to a $19.2 billion Ecuadorean pollution judgment against Chevron Corp. on Tuesday upheld a magistrate's ruling that the company’s CEO and general counsel must give depositions, saying there was no legal reason to overturn the decision.
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May 14, 2013
5th Circ. Upholds Dismissal Of Katrina Emissions Suit
The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing Shell Oil Co. and other companies of strengthening Hurricane Katrina and causing property damage through their greenhouse gas emissions, ruling the allegations had already been decided.
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May 14, 2013
FDA Approves Lower Doses For Sleep Aids
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had approved labeling changes recommending lower doses for sleep aids containing zolpidem, such as Sanofi SA's Ambien, which can stay in a patient's bloodstream at high levels into the next day, making it dangerous to drive.
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May 14, 2013
Bankrupt Electric Car Co. Aims To Recall Sedan Airbags
Bankrupt Coda Holdings Inc. asked for court permission Monday to recall airbags in its flagship sedan, saying the move is strictly voluntary but prudent in order to protect the failed electric carmaker’s brand.
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May 14, 2013
Sears Says High Court’s Comcast Ruling Dooms Washer Class
Sears Roebuck & Co. told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that its recent Comcast Corp. v. Behrend decision should wipe out a Seventh Circuit ruling in support of class certification in a washing machine defect action.
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May 14, 2013
Fixodent Caused Neurological Harm, Pa. Superior Court Hears
The attorney for a Pennsylvania man hobbled by severe neurological damage asked the state’s Superior Court to reinstate his suit against Rite Aid Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co., in which he alleged that zinc in Fixodent caused his condition.
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May 14, 2013
$250M Toyota Defect Deal Falls Short, Class Members Say
Several class members on Monday objected to Toyota Motor Corp.'s proposed $250 million settlement that would compensate consumers for the loss in vehicle value allegedly caused by an acceleration defect, saying the deal interferes with other litigation and doesn't adequately compensate certain class members.
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May 14, 2013
Genzyme Investors Urge 1st Circ. To Revive Fraud Action
A group of Genzyme Corp. investors on Monday urged the First Circuit to revive a putative consolidated class action accusing the company of lying about contamination at a key production plant, arguing a federal judge had wrongly ignored discounted evidence backing their securities fraud claims.
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May 14, 2013
ExxonMobil Fights $1.7M Oil Pipeline Spill Penalty
ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., an ExxonMobil Corp. unit, says it took proper precautions ahead of a 2011 pipeline failure that dumped more than 60,000 gallons of oil into Montana's Yellowstone River and claims the $1.7 million fine imposed by regulators is excessive, according to a document recently posted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
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May 14, 2013
Pain Patch Maker Wins Coverage Of False Ad Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Friday ruled Great American E&S Insurance Co. must defend JAR Laboratories LLC in a false advertising suit over its over-the-counter pain relief patch LidoPatch.
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May 14, 2013
Shook Hardy Lands Stradley Ronon Life Sciences Whiz
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP has hired the former head of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP’s life sciences regulatory and compliance practice group who specializes in food and drug oversight and product liability to join its Philadelphia office as a partner, the firm announced Monday.
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May 14, 2013
Mintz Levin Adds CPSC Chief Of Staff To Product Safety Group
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC said Monday that Matthew Howsare, chief of staff and chief counsel to the chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, will join the firm’s consumer product safety practice in its Washington office later this month.
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May 13, 2013
Judge Tosses Atty Dispute Over Bayer MDL Settlement Fund
A Missouri federal judge on Monday dismissed a dispute between several groups of plaintiffs' attorneys over payments into a common benefit fund in a multidistrict litigation related to crop contamination by Bayer AG's genetically modified rice, ruling the court lacked jurisdiction over the suit.
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May 13, 2013
NHL's Rough-And-Tumble History Will Color Concussion Suits
A Friday lawsuit accusing the National Hockey League of failing to warn deceased player Derek Boogaard about the long-term health risks of head injuries could kick off a torrent of litigation against the NHL, but attorneys say that hockey’s lack of involvement in concussion research and its tolerance for fighting could prove to be game-changers for the league.
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May 13, 2013
Texas Judge Punts On Cement-Dust Coverage Suit
A Texas federal judge has declined to rule on an effort by Continental Insurance Co. to dodge payment of legal fees incurred by cement manufacturing companies fighting more than four dozen pollution lawsuits, finding that the dispute should be considered in California.
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May 13, 2013
NY Fraud Threat Could Prompt Action On Smartphone Theft
New York's attorney general suggested Monday he could use a consumer fraud statute to hold Apple Inc. and other smartphone markers liable for promises they make about the security of the oft-stolen devices, a move legal experts say could force changes in the industry despite the difficulty of proving such a theory.
Expert Analysis
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What Food Cos. Can Learn From Horses And Peanuts
As of late, two big stories have made headlines in the food industry: the horse meat scandal in Europe and the indictment against the Peanut Corp. of America on a salmonella outbreak. Both cases warrant close examination to understand how quickly a company can become ensnared in a public relations nightmare and how to handle an investigation once it starts, say attorneys with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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NY's New Test For Unifying Disparate Claimants' Injuries
In Nesmith et al. v. Allstate Insurance Co., the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division held that Allstate was liable for only a single occurrence limit for separate claims of exposure to lead paint. This decision seems to signal that the New York Appellate Division may now be more open to using the temporally "close enough" test to unify disparate claimants’ injuries in various toxic tort contexts, say attorneys with Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
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Supreme Court Tames Class Action Frankenstein's Monster
The unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles will be praised by class action defense counsel as comporting with the congressional intent of the Class Action Fairness Act and ramifying the pleading strategies used by putative class representatives to maximize the litigation leverage of the "Frankenstein's monster" created by class actions, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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Ill. Keeps It Plain In Absolute Pollution Exclusions
In Village of Crestwood v. Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co., the Illinois Court of Appeals found that the insurers had no duty to defend or indemnify the village against claims alleging that the village had mixed polluted water into tap water. This decision continues the trend of Illinois courts’ enforcement of the absolute pollution exclusion, confirming their strict commitment to enforce only the plain language of the exclusion, say attorneys with Troutman Sanders LLP.
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Ins And Outs Of Nonparty Discovery In Texas Arbitration
Given the strong public policy considerations against nonparty discovery in arbitration proceedings, considerations that have split the federal court system over whether it is ever allowable, Texas courts should be particularly mindful of protecting nonparties when someone is trying to compel them to participate in a private proceeding to which they never agreed, says Adam Schramek of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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7 Reasons To Do Pro Bono Work
Research shows that helping others and cultivating social relationships makes us happier and that generous people live longer, healthier lives. These are just a few of the countless reasons to create time in our busy schedules to do pro bono and charitable work this year, says Anne Brafford of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
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Keep Watch Of French Authority's Pharma Sector Inquiry
On Feb. 25, 2013, the French Competition Authority announced the launch of a sector inquiry in the pharmaceutical sector to evaluate competition intensity, identify potential issues and make recommendations to improve the market. In recent years, the authority has been very active on this front, leaving a strong impact on enforcement actions, companies and manufacturers, say attorneys with Mayer Brown LLP.
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Avoid The Top 10 Pitfalls In A Jury Charge Conference
It can be a challenge even for experienced trial lawyers to keep one eye on the present trial and one eye on the future appellate record, as the charge conference requires. But being aware of the major pitfalls of the conference, and how to avoid them, will pay big dividends later, say Dawn Solowey and Lynn Kappelman of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
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And Now A Word From The Panel ...
One of the most fascinating facets of watching the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is trying to guess not simply whether an MDL will be created, but where it will be located. Take, for example, In re Mirena IUD Products Liability and Marketing Litigation, slated to be heard at the March 21 hearing, says Alan Rothman of Kaye Scholer LLP.
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Current Trends In FDA's Good Manufacturing Enforcement
An analysis of recent warning letters and inspectional observation data reveals that most products that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration alleges are "adulterated" actually work as intended, and most warning letters are not reactions to product failures. Rather, the bulk of the warnings reflect the FDA’s increasing focus on the processes and procedures intended to prevent defects, says Jonathan Berman of Jones Day.