Product Liability

  • August 12, 2024

    Gun Rights Group Drops Suit Challenging Colo. Magazine Ban

    A Colorado federal judge dismissed a gun rights group's lawsuit challenging a state ban on "large capacity" magazines after the parties agreed to walk away from the suit on Monday.

  • August 12, 2024

    Navy Federal, Recording Software Co. Want Privacy Suit Nixed

    Navy Federal Credit Union customers can't bring an invasion of privacy class action over the credit union's use of artificial intelligence software to analyze and record customer calls, in part because its recording practices were appropriately disclosed, the nation's largest credit union has argued.

  • August 12, 2024

    Deadline Passes For Camp Lejeune Claims

    The deadline for U.S. Marine Corps servicemembers and their families to file administrative claims with the federal government over illnesses contracted by contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune passed on Saturday, with more than 320,000 claims that have been filed with the U.S. Navy.

  • August 12, 2024

    The Biggest Telecom Developments Of 2024: Midyear Report

    The first half of 2024 saw sweeping change in the telecom sphere as the Federal Communications Commission's Democratic majority pushed through controversial net neutrality rules and confronted challenges on artificial intelligence, national security and more, but also faces the prospect of new headwinds as the nation's top court pared back powers of federal agencies.

  • August 12, 2024

    Norfolk Southern Says Cuts To Investors' Suit Aren't Enough

    Norfolk Southern Corp. told a New York federal court on Friday that a magistrate judge's recommendations to trim an investor proposed class action over losses stemming from the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, derailment didn't go far enough, and urged the court to dismiss the entire complaint.

  • August 12, 2024

    Paragard IUD Makers Gearing Up For Defect Dismissal Bid

    Teva Pharmaceuticals and The Cooper Cos. have five days to reach out to plaintiffs who may be included in a motion to dismiss the sprawling litigation over alleged defects in the Paragard IUD, a Georgia federal judge said Monday.

  • August 12, 2024

    Microplastics False Ad Complaint 'Doesn't Hold Water'

    An Illinois federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging that BlueTriton Brands Inc. doesn't tell consumers that its Ice Mountain spring water contains microplastics, saying no reasonable consumer would believe "100% natural spring water" is a guarantee down to the molecular level.

  • August 12, 2024

    Rising Star: Barnes & Thornburg's Erin Pauley

    Erin Pauley of Barnes & Thornburg LLP has represented clients such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and national food and drug retailers against personal injury and product liability cases throughout the country, earning her a spot among the product liability practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 12, 2024

    Oil Cos. Get Go-Ahead On $3.5M La. Contamination Settlement

    A Louisiana federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $3.5 million settlement to resolve residents' claims against Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. over alleged contamination from creosoting facilities, over the objection of co-defendants BNSF and International Paper.

  • August 12, 2024

    Big Tobacco To Pay $600M In 'Historic' Mass. Deal

    Philip Morris Inc. and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. will pay nine-figure sums as part of a $600 million settlement between Massachusetts and major tobacco companies that resolves yearslong disputes about how much the cigarette makers owe, the state attorney general announced Monday.

  • August 09, 2024

    Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Complain They Can't Get Gov't Docs

    Veterans and family members who claim they were injured due to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune say the government has refused to hand over "troves of discoverable documents" and are urging a federal court to force the government to comply.

  • August 09, 2024

    Tesla Sued Over Gigafactory Worker's Electrocution Death

    The widow of an electrician who was fatally electrocuted this month while working at Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, has filed a wrongful death suit in Texas state court, claiming the company negligently allowed a dangerous condition to exist at the automaker's global headquarters.

  • August 09, 2024

    FDA Rejects Latest Effort To Treat PTSD With MDMA

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected a new drug application to treat post-traumatic stress disorder with the psychedelic drug MDMA, an entactogen also known as ecstasy or molly, the company that backed the effort announced Friday.

  • August 09, 2024

    Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines Families Float April Trial Lineup

    Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash victims' families told an Illinois federal judge Friday that they're prepping the next six cases for an April trial, but disagreed over whether a Canadian resident who lost five family members in the crash should be slotted in for a standalone trial in March.

  • August 09, 2024

    Meta Urges Justices To Ax Investors' Risk Disclosure Suit

    Meta Platforms Inc. filed its opening brief Friday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that kept alive a class action stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data abuse scandal, arguing that decision would create unnecessary disclosure obligations and encourage "fraud by hindsight" lawsuits.

  • August 09, 2024

    Retailer Can't Pass Buck To Pool Maker In Child Drowning Suit

    A Missouri federal judge trimmed the bulk of a couple's claims against the retailer that sold the pool in which their two-year-old daughter drowned, but ruled that the retailer couldn't escape strict liability claims under the state's "innocent seller" statute.

  • August 09, 2024

    Full 2nd Circ. Axes Producer's Bid To Revive Blacklisting Suit

    The Second Circuit won't take a second whack at its ruling that a stage workers union can't be held liable under antitrust laws for discouraging members from working with a Broadway producer following complaints about unpaid wages.

  • August 09, 2024

    Rising Star: Seeger Weiss' Caleb Seeley

    Caleb Seeley of Seeger Weiss LLP has advocated for plaintiffs facing the often life-altering effects of lapses in products used by millions of consumers, including in what is thought to be the largest mass tort in American history, earning him a spot among the product liability law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 09, 2024

    Ex-Mayer Brown Product Liability Atty Joins King & Spalding

    King & Spalding LLP has hired a former Mayer Brown LLP partner for its product liability and mass torts practice group in New York.

  • August 08, 2024

    Ga. Mom Cuts Game Maker From Video Game Addiction Suit

    A Georgia mother suing various gaming companies alleging that they caused her teenager's mental disorders with their addictive designs and in-game purchases now seeks to drop claims she made against the maker of Fortnite.

  • August 08, 2024

    Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Judge Flags Pretrial 'Difficulties'

    A federal judge presiding over injury suits stemming from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune urged the federal government and plaintiffs' lawyers Thursday to resolve "ongoing difficulties" such as fact disputes ahead of bench trials, calling the parties' stipulations since the last status conference "less than robust."

  • August 08, 2024

    Ford Hid High Warranty Costs From Investors, Suit Says

    A Ford Motor Co. investor launched a putative securities fraud class action Thursday alleging the automaker hid quality issues dating back to 2022, only disclosing the higher-than-expected warranty costs in its recently released second quarter 2024 financial results.

  • August 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Negligence Claims In Uber Sex Assault Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a woman's negligence claim against Uber Technologies Inc. over her sexual assault by a suspended driver, saying the company had a duty of care because it contributed to the situation that led to her being assaulted.

  • August 08, 2024

    J&J Settles Suit Alleging Sunscreen With Benzene Killed Boy

    Johnson & Johnson has reached an agreement to end a personal injury suit by a father who claimed his 14-year-old son died from leukemia after prolonged exposure to its benzene-tainted sunscreen products, according to a settlement notice filed in North Carolina federal court Thursday.

  • August 08, 2024

    Delta's Boies Attys Slam CrowdStrike's 'Blame The Victim' Ploy

    Delta Air Lines' attorneys at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP on Thursday blasted CrowdStrike's "blame the victim" defense over last month's catastrophic global IT outage, and pledged to haul both the cybersecurity firm and Microsoft to court to recoup what Delta estimates to be over $500 million in revenue losses.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • 5th Circ. Clarifies What Is And Isn't A 'New Use' Of PFAS

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    The Fifth Circuit's March 21 decision in Inhance Technologies v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, preventing the EPA from regulating existing uses of PFAS under "significant new use" provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act, provides industry with much-needed clarity, say Joseph Schaeffer and Sloane Wildman at Babst Calland.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown

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    While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • California Shows A Viable Way Forward For PFAS Testing

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no good way of testing for the presence of specific per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in food packaging — but a widely available test for a range of fluorine compounds that's now being used in California may offer a good solution, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent

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    Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

  • Take AG James' Suit Over Enviro Claims As A Warning

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    New York Attorney General Letitia James' recent suit against JBS USA Food Co. over allegedly misleading claims about its goal to reach net zero by 2040 indicates that challenges to green claims are likely to continue, and that companies should think twice about ignoring National Advertising Division recommendations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • SC Ruling Reinforces All Sums Coverage Trend

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    A South Carolina state court's recent ruling in Covil v. Pennsylvania National is the latest in a series of decisions, dating back to the 2016 New York Court of Appeals ruling in Viking Pump, that reject insurers' pro rata allocation argument, further supporting that all sums coverage is required whenever a loss could be covered under a policy in any other year, say Raymond Mascia and Thomas Dupont at Anderson Kill.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: Benefits Of MDL Transfers

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    A recent order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation highlights a critical part of the panel's work — moving cases into an existing MDL — and serves as a reminder that common arguments against such transfers don't outweigh the benefits of coordinating discovery and utilizing lead counsel, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

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