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Product Liability
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May 03, 2024
NY's Citi Suit Imperils Wire Transfer Market, Bank Groups Say
Major banking trade groups are backing Citibank NA in its fight against the New York attorney general's lawsuit over the bank's payment fraud protocols, warning that the state's claims seek to change how wire transfers are regulated in a way that could "upend" the marketplace for such services.
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May 03, 2024
9th Circ. Orders 2nd Look At Stay In PG&E Wildfire Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday told a lower court to reconsider its order staying claims PG&E investors brought against officers, directors and others over wildfire liability, saying more factors should have been considered before the stay was granted.
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May 03, 2024
Walmart Hit With False Ad Suit Over 'Reef Friendly' Sunscreen
A consumer hit Walmart Inc. with a proposed class action on Friday in New York federal court accusing the retail giant of falsely labeling its sunscreen as "Reef Friendly," when it actually contains ingredients that are harmful to coral reefs.
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May 03, 2024
Amazon Sued For 'Horrific' Burns, Amputation From Foot Bath
A Pennsylvania man is suing Amazon.com Inc., Intertek USA Inc. and a pair of Chinese companies in federal court, saying he suffered "horrific burns" that led to the amputation of one foot after a foot bath he ordered through the online retailer malfunctioned and overheated.
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May 03, 2024
Honolulu Asks Justices To Affirm State Court Climate Case
Honolulu on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject fossil fuel companies' bid to put an end to its lawsuit alleging they knew for decades about the negative impacts of their products on climate change but concealed the information.
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May 03, 2024
Publix Can't Send Questions To Ga. Justices In Opioid Suit
A federal judge overseeing national opioid litigation has rejected Publix's bid to ask the Georgia Supreme Court "convoluted and confusing" questions about if the state's public nuisance law applied to allegations the supermarket chain overdistributed painkillers.
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May 03, 2024
4th Circ. Preview: Hemp, Wells And A Withdrawal
The Fourth Circuit's second session of 2024 will have the court pondering the tension between Virginia's recent hemp restrictions and federal regulations, and how the Truth in Lending Act impacts a case accusing PNC Bank of an unauthorized account withdrawal.
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May 03, 2024
6 States Strike $270M Opioid Deal With Amneal
The New York state attorney general on Friday said that a $270 million multistate deal had been reached with opioid manufacturer Amneal Pharmaceuticals for its role in the addiction epidemic over allegations that the company failed to report suspicious orders of the narcotics.
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May 02, 2024
Endo Judge Hopes Criminal Sentence Warns Opioid Makers
A Michigan federal judge said Thursday she hoped Endo's criminal sentence for falsely advertising a pain medication as "abuse deterrent" would itself be a deterrent for other opioid makers, as she accepted the company's recent $200 million settlement deal with federal prosecutors.
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May 02, 2024
Chiquita Paid Militants To Save Lives, Ex-Ops Chief Testifies
Chiquita's former head of Colombia operations testified in Florida federal court Thursday on payments he approved to militant groups in the country during a period of intense warfare in the 1990s, saying his company was left with little choice but to make the payments because workers' "lives were at stake."
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May 02, 2024
Camp Lejeune Litigants Ask Court Who Can Represent Family
Family members of former residents of Camp Lejeune who died, allegedly after being exposed to contaminated drinking water, asked the North Carolina federal court overseeing the litigation on Wednesday to clarify who can qualify to act as a legal representative for out-of-state decedents.
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May 02, 2024
Pharma. Co. Wants Ex-Director To Stop Poaching Customers
A pharmaceutical company has doubled down on its bid to stop a former director from soliciting customers for a rival drugmaker, saying he's trying to twist words in his contract and make up excuses for allegedly stealing trade secrets following his termination.
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May 02, 2024
Biden Admin Must Reopen Gun Show Loophole, Texas Says
Texas and several other Republican-led states sued the Biden administration to reopen the so-called gun show loophole, asking the courts to stop the ATF from enforcing a new rule that makes many more firearm sellers register federally and perform background checks when selling a gun.
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May 02, 2024
Kind Keeps Win At 2nd Circ. In MDL Over 'All Natural' Labeling
The Second Circuit on Thursday affirmed a summary judgment for Kind LLC against a group of buyers who said the company misled consumers by labeling products as "all natural," saying the plaintiffs failed to establish through evidence how a reasonable buyer would understand the term.
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May 02, 2024
Biden Announces $3B To Fund Lead Pipe Replacement
The Biden administration is distributing $3 billion to states so they can replace lead water pipes that pose a health risk to those who rely on them for drinking water, as part of the larger goal to remove all lead service lines nationwide.
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May 02, 2024
Calif. Justices To Review Gilead's HIV Drug Negligence Fight
The California Supreme Court has granted Gilead Sciences Inc.'s request to review an appellate court's holding that the drugmaker must face claims it held back a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on an older medication.
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May 02, 2024
4th Circ. Revives Workers' Suit Over SC Plant Explosion
The Fourth Circuit on Thursday revived claims from three workers burned in an explosion at a plastic recycling plant, saying the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Law can't deprive the federal courts of diversity jurisdiction in a case where they would otherwise have it.
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May 02, 2024
Plaintiff To Share 'Horrific' Story In First Zantac Cancer Trial
The first trial in sprawling state and federal litigation over whether a chemical in Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts causes cancer began Thursday in a packed Chicago courtroom, with counsel for an 89-year-old Illinois woman telling jurors her colorectal cancer diagnosis and the suffering it's caused can be attributed to her 20-year use of the drug.
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May 01, 2024
Monsanto Gets $185 Million Wash. PCB Verdict Overturned
A Washington state appeals court sided with Monsanto on Wednesday, undoing a $185 million jury verdict for three teachers who claimed they were sickened by PCBs at a Washington school site and ruling the case could be limited by the Evergreen state's 12-year statute of repose for product liability claims.
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May 01, 2024
Senate Revs Up For FAA Funding Fight
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday inched toward advancing multiyear legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration's safety and airport improvement programs, accelerating debate on a package that would hire more air traffic controllers and enhance passenger protections amid high-profile aviation industry mishaps.
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May 01, 2024
Senate Dems Reintroduce Bill To Tax And Regulate Cannabis
Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a cannabis legalization bill that would remove the drug entirely from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act and impose a tax-and-regulate scheme akin to what is currently in place for alcohol and tobacco.
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May 01, 2024
Ex-Cybersecurity Firm CEO Settles SEC Fraud Claims
A former executive for a cybersecurity firm has agreed to settle regulators' allegations that he lied to investors about the firm's success in selling a new product and that he fabricated aspects of his background and experience, according to filings in Texas federal court.
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May 01, 2024
Mitsubishi's Trial Loss Over Defective Seat Belt Upped To $1B
A Philadelphia judge has bumped up a $980 million verdict for a Mitsubishi driver left paralyzed following a rollover crash, which was blamed on a defective seat belt, to over $1 billion on Monday, after granting the driver's motion to tack on an additional $33 million in delay damages.
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May 01, 2024
Carnival Fails To Ditch 'Far From Perfect' Hot-Soup Suit
Carnival Cruise Lines can't escape a lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for second- and third-degree burns that a passenger suffered when hot soup spilled on her legs, a Florida federal judge has ruled, saying the complaint — "while not perfect" — gets the job done and can survive at this stage of litigation.
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May 01, 2024
Activision, Microsoft Accused Of Addicting Georgia Gamer, 16
The mother of a Georgia teen has accused major gaming companies, including Activision Blizzard Inc. and Microsoft Corp., of deliberately engineering addictive experiences intended to get users to play longer and spend more on in-game purchases.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
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Opinion
New Rule 702 Helps Judges Keep Bad Science Out Of Court
A court's recent decision to exclude dubious testimony from the plaintiffs' experts in multidistrict litigation over acetaminophen highlights the responsibility that judges have to keep questionable scientific evidence out of courtrooms, particularly under recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, says Sherman Joyce at the American Tort Reform Association.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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Opinion
Proposed Rule Could Impair MDL Flexibility, Harm Plaintiffs
While proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 is intended to enhance the management of multidistrict litigation proceedings, its one-size-fits-all requirements could stifle the flexibility that judges need to address the varying circumstances of MDLs effectively, and jeopardize plaintiffs' ability to pursue justice, say Christopher Seeger and Jennifer Scullion at Seeger Weiss.
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Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand
Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards
In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.
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Opinion
Food Safety Bill Needed To Protect Kids From Heavy Metals
The recent announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that hundreds of children may have been exposed to unsafe lead levels in applesauce highlights the continuing failure by Congress to pass legislation that would require baby food manufacturers to ensure safer levels of heavy metals in their products, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Opinion
3rd-Party Financiers Have Power To Drive Mass Tort Cases
The abnormal recovery premium presented by modern mass tort cases coupled with their deemphasized role for attorneys creates an opportunity for third-party financiers to both create and control these cases, says Samir Parikh at Lewis & Clark Law School.
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Preparing For A New Wave Of Litigation Under Silicosis Rules
After the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California issued an emergency temporary standard to combat noncompliance with assessments of workers' exposure to particles of crystalline silica, companies that manufacture, distribute or sell silica-containing products will need aggressive case-specific discovery to navigate a new wave of litigation, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation
There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.
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Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Opinion
Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability
A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.
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Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury
Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.
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Ch. 11 Ruling Highlights 'Two-Step' Challenges In 4th Circ.
A North Carolina bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Bestwall’s Chapter 11 case, and the decision's interpretation of Fourth Circuit law, suggests that, compared to other circuits, it may be more difficult to dismiss so-called Texas Two-Step bankruptcy cases within the Fourth Circuit, say Brittany Falabella and Kollin Bender at Hirschler Fleischer.