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Product Liability
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March 16, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Gov't Jawboning & Retaliatory Arrests
The U.S. Supreme Court has a packed oral arguments calendar this week that includes disputes over the Biden administration's work with social media companies to combat misinformation, the appropriate evidence standard for bringing retaliatory arrest claims and whether the federal government can object to a consent decree entered into by three states.
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March 15, 2024
Awning Maker Can't Shade Itself From CPSC Defect Lawsuit
Awning maker SunSetter can't evade claims it concealed an allegedly deadly defect by arguing that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is unconstitutional, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled, leaning on a Fifth Circuit ruling that may not be long for this world.
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March 15, 2024
Chiquita MDL Experts Aren't Reliable, Parties Say
A Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation against Chiquita Brands weighed arguments Friday on what evidence should be excluded in two upcoming bellwether trials, with each side insisting the other's experts should be disqualified from testifying about claims that the company funded a deadly right-wing Colombian paramilitary group.
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March 15, 2024
Aircraft Co. Says Charter Co. Shifting Blame For Fatal Crash
A Washington judge has consolidated five lawsuits linked to a 2022 seaplane accident that killed 10 people, rejecting opposition from De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd., which said a co-defendant flight company is trying to pin the blame on the plane manufacturer.
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March 15, 2024
Boeing Supplier Sued Over 737 Max Door Plug's Missing Bolts
A new lawsuit in Washington state court over a Boeing 737 blowout that endangered an Alaska Airlines flight takes aim at Spirit AeroSystems, the manufacturer of the door plug that ruptured from the fuselage, for allegedly not installing necessary bolts and fittings.
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March 15, 2024
Enfamil Maker Hit With $60M Jury Verdict In Infant Death Suit
An Illinois jury has awarded $60 million to the mother of an infant who died after using Mead Johnson's Enfamil formula, a loss for the company in the first of hundreds of suits to go to trial alleging certain cow's milk-based formulas cause a fatal illness in premature infants.
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March 15, 2024
SEC, VW Reach $48.7M Deal To End 'Clean Diesel' Fraud Suit
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Volkswagen Group of America Finance told a California federal court on Friday that they have reached a $48.7 million settlement to end claims that the automaker defrauded U.S. investors in its scheme to cheat emissions standards in its vehicles.
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March 15, 2024
Conservative Law Group Asks Justices To Hear FDA Vape Suit
A free-market advocacy group and a vape industry association are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to upend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision denying a manufacturer permission to sell flavored vapes, arguing that the FDA is "moving the goalposts" when it comes to what kind of data is needed when applying.
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March 15, 2024
Dykema Hires MehaffyWeber Shareholder In Houston
Dykema Gossett PLLC has added a product liability attorney from MehaffyWeber who spent almost six years with the firm working on toxic torts, commercial litigation and a range of other liability issues, Dykema announced Thursday.
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March 14, 2024
DOJ, FTC Tell Copyright Office To Expand Right To Repair
Federal law enforcement and trade officials said Thursday that the U.S. Copyright Office should not only retain a policy that gives consumers more leeway to fix things like cars, it should also expand those protections to things like industrial equipment.
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March 14, 2024
PE Firm Riverspan Agrees To Pay $32M For Barretts' Assets
Barretts Minerals Inc. told a Texas bankruptcy court Thursday that a unit of private equity firm Riverspan Partners had won an auction for its assets with a $32 million cash offer, money that the talc-mining company intends to use to fund a settlement trust for alleged victims of asbestos exposure.
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March 14, 2024
FTC Says Consolidation Endangering Infant-Formula Market
The Federal Trade Commission has found the country's small number of baby formula manufacturers and the effects of a federal nutrition program contributed to shortages in 2022 and are still making the supply chain vulnerable to disruption.
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March 14, 2024
Norfolk Southern Must Face Most Derailment Suit Claims
Norfolk Southern must face the bulk of the claims in consolidated suits brought over a train derailment and subsequent chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, a federal judge ruled in a spate of opinions that also kept intact most of the rail giant's third-party claims against a chemical company and two railcar leasing firms.
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March 14, 2024
Mont. Youths Urge State High Court To Uphold Climate Ruling
A group of youth plaintiffs on Wednesday urged the Montana Supreme Court to uphold a state court's ruling that invalidated laws barring the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in permitting decisions.
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March 14, 2024
Ford Slammed For Bid To 'Sidestep' Faulty Axle-Bolt Suit
Two Washington SUV owners suing Ford for allegedly slacking on safety in newer Explorer models have accused the vehicle maker of trying to "sidestep liability" in their proposed class action by pointing to two recalls that didn't address the design flaw at issue.
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March 14, 2024
Fla. High Court Denies Atty Reinstatement After Bar Objection
Florida's high court on Thursday denied the reinstatement of a Jacksonville-area attorney who was suspended after filing numerous unauthorized tobacco-related claims, saying he failed to produce "clear and convincing evidence" that he was rehabilitated after selling his firm to a longtime acquaintance under whom he was to be supervised.
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March 14, 2024
Sidley Product Liability Ace Jumps To Shook Hardy In LA
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP has brought on a longtime Sidley Austin LLP partner and practice co-chair with expertise in large, high-stakes class action litigation and product liability around pharmaceuticals, medical devices and more to its product liability practice group in Los Angeles.
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March 14, 2024
NJ Law Firm Avoids Malpractice Suit Over Texas Kratom Death
A Lone Star State appeals court let the New Jersey-based Oshman Firm LLC off the hook on jurisdictional grounds Thursday in a malpractice lawsuit filed by a Texas father who faulted the firm for not filing a wrongful death lawsuit before the statute of limitations expired.
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March 14, 2024
In 3rd Win, Sig Sauer Beats ICE Agent's Defective-Gun Suit
Sig Sauer has defeated a third product liability lawsuit from a user who claimed its P320 pistol spontaneously discharged, injuring him without the trigger being touched, convincing another federal judge that the plaintiff's expert witness testimony should be disqualified.
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March 14, 2024
Feds Seek 20 Mos. For Aegerion Fraud 'Puppet Master'
A pharmaceutical sales representative who gloated about being a "puppet master" for false insurance claims for Aegerion's cholesterol drug should serve 20 months in prison, the U.S. government has told a Boston federal judge.
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March 14, 2024
Whirlpool Can't Toss Defect Suit Over Ice Buildup In Fridges
A California federal judge has declined to throw out a putative class action claiming Whirlpool hid a defect in its refrigerators that led to cooling failures due to frost buildup, finding the suit sufficiently alleged Whirlpool knew of the problem since it issued technical service pointers noting customers could possibly experience buildup.
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March 14, 2024
EPA Slashes Ethylene Oxide Emissions Levels For Sterilizers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized new Clean Air Act standards that it said will reduce emissions of ethylene oxide from commercial sterilization facilities by 90%, an action the agency said is necessary to help reduce the impact of the carcinogen on communities.
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March 13, 2024
Netflix Doesn't Want 'Hatchet Wielding' Killer In Suit Either
While Netflix disputes that it defamed a Kentucky man for his appearance in its true-crime documentary titled "The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker," the streaming giant does agree with the plaintiff in the case that the real hatchet-wielding hitchhiker doesn't belong in the lawsuit.
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March 13, 2024
EPA Designates First Navajo Nation Superfund Site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District in northeastern Arizona to its National Priorities List, with the district's uranium mining waste piles marking the first designated Superfund site on the Navajo Nation.
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March 13, 2024
Mich. Justice Torn Over 'Unfairness' Of Law In Treadmill Suit
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday seemed sympathetic to the plight of a woman who was injured when she fell off a treadmill because federal court proceedings affected her ability to timely bring state claims but said he didn't think the state's top court could tackle the likely legislative issue.
Expert Analysis
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Aviation Watch: Osprey Aircraft May Face Tort Claims
A recent U.S. Marine Corps Command report found that the cause of a 2022 Osprey crash was a problem known to the manufacturer and the military for over 10 years — and the aircraft may now be on its way to a day of reckoning in the tort liability arena, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
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FTC's 'Made in USA' Enforcement Goes Beyond Labeling Rule
The Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement action against a group of businesses for falsely claiming that clothing was made domestically demonstrates that even where the agency's "Made in USA" labeling rule is not violated, other kinds of improper claims about products' origins can get companies in trouble, say Wrede Smith and Kali Yallourakis at McGuireWoods.
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Opinion
3 Ways Justices' Disclosure Defenses Miss The Ethical Point
The rule-bound interpretation of financial disclosures preferred by U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — demonstrated in their respective statements defending their failure to disclose gifts from billionaires — show that they do not understand the ethical aspects of the public's concern, says Jim Moliterno at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
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Cannabis Plain Packaging Rules: Examples And Opportunities
States that have legalized adult-use cannabis in recent years have adopted stringent requirements for product packaging and labeling in an effort to protect minors, and these rules may provide a vehicle for compromise between proponents and opponents of legalization, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Ohio Rulings Are Cautionary Tales For Attorneys In Crisis
Two recent decisions from Ohio state courts provide a sobering reminder that a counsel’s personal emergencies will not always suffice to alter court deadlines or excuse procedural missteps, and that prompt communication and documentation are crucial in the Buckeye State and beyond, says L. Bradfield Hughes at Porter Wright.
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EPA Focus On Lead Could Heighten Private Litigation Risk
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues a series of initiatives aimed at reducing lead exposure, including last month's proposal to strengthen removal requirements for lead-based paint, the risks of private suits from citizens groups over lead contamination grow, say Jonathan Brightbill and Madalyn Brown Feiger at Winston & Strawn.
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Caregiver Flexibility Is Crucial For Atty Engagement, Retention
As the battle for top talent continues post-pandemic, many firms are attempting to attract employees with progressive hybrid working environments — and supporting caregivers before, during and after an extended leave is a critically important way to retain top talent, says Manar Morales at The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.
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Can Class Actions Guide AI Risk Mitigation Efforts?
The speed at which artificial intelligence is developing will likely outpace the legislative response, and two recently filed class actions naming OpenAI as a defendant raise the question of whether existing laws may be used to place some meaningful guardrails on the development of AI, says Thomas Carey at Sunstein.
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MoCRA Will Give Cosmetics Litigation A Makeover
Many provisions of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act go into effect at the end of this year — so cosmetics companies must understand how the law presents both benefits and challenges, especially with regard to litigation, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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In-Office Engagement Is Essential To Associate Development
As law firms develop return-to-office policies that allow hybrid work arrangements, they should incorporate the specific types of in-person engagement likely to help associates develop attributes common among successful firm leaders, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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SEC Focus On Perks Offers Insights On Cooperation
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent settlement with Stanley Black & Decker is the latest example of the SEC's continued focus on executive perquisites and highlights what type of cooperation may be required to avoid a civil money penalty, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Perspectives
A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial
Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.
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How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness
Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory
Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.