Class Action

Expert Analysis

• Are Opioids The New Tobacco?

  

  Is the rising spate of opioid litigation comparable to the litigation that led to the mega-billion dollar settlement with Big Tobacco? According to ex-trial lawyer Richard Scruggs, who helped engineer the $248 billion tobacco settlement in the 1990s, the answer is "sort of."

• How To Stay Protected When Using Biometrics Post-Spokeo

  

  Recently, a wave of lawsuits has accused companies of violating biometric privacy laws. But the two-part test established by the Ninth Circuit in Robins v. Spokeo creates another hurdle for plaintiffs seeking to file these types of lawsuits, say Benjamin Byer and John Parsi of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

• A Guide To The Executive Branch Official Nomination Process

  

  Although the Trump administration has completed the vetting and confirmation of a cabinet and White House staff, thousands of senior positions remain unfilled throughout the executive branch. More than ever, people selected for those posts find themselves under close scrutiny, say Adam Raviv and Reginald Brown of WilmerHale.

• The Equifax Data Breach And Its Impact On Businesses

  

  The Equifax breach could trigger a shift in data breach class actions from potential harm to consumers to potential harm to businesses, says Eduard Goodman, chief privacy officer at CyberScout LLC.

• What Beer Marketers Should Know About State False Ad Laws

  

  Recently, several class actions have sprung up alleging consumers were deceived as to where beer they purchased was produced. These complaints are uniformly met with a motion to dismiss, and in the opinions there are branding insights that all marketers, not just beer makers, can use, says Christian Foote of Carr McClellan PC.

• Takeaways From FTC's Settlement With Lenovo

  

  The Federal Trade Commission's recent settlement with Lenovo over allegedly preloaded adware on its laptops reinforces a growing trend of courts and regulatory authorities imputing liability to companies for the acts and omissions of its third-party vendors, say Tracy Lechner and Esteban Morin of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP.

• When Plaintiffs Sue Over Products They Did Not Purchase

  

  The Northern District of Illinois has recently allowed plaintiffs to allege standing for products they did not purchase in two different cases. But the key common element is that the products the plaintiffs did purchase and those they did not were substantially similar, says Francis Citera of Greenberg Traurig LLP.

• Charting A Course To Business Judgment Review

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision to dismiss a shareholder suit challenging the sale of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia confirms that there is a path to business judgment rule review, at the pleading stage, of third-party mergers of controlled companies where disparate consideration creates a conflict for the controlling stockholder, say Stacy Nettleton and Christie Di Guglielmo of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.

• Supreme Court Applied 'Settled Principles' In BMS Ruling

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court has been characterized by some in the defense bar as portending a sea change in specific personal jurisdiction. But the case did not move the legal needle as far as the defense bar had hoped, say Leslie Brueckner of Public Justice and Andre Mura of Gibbs Law Group LLP.

• What To Expect From CFPB As Leadership Remains Uncertain

  

  Before the installation of new leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, much activity will ensue that will have major impact on the financial industry and will be challenging to reverse, says Quyen Truong, partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP and former deputy general counsel of the CFPB.