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Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice
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January 14, 2025
2nd Circ. Rules Prison Docs Can't Escape Indifference Claims
A Second Circuit panel on Monday ruled two New York prison doctors must face a former inmate's deliberate indifference claims for allegedly overlooking his cancer symptoms despite medical exam results, while also finding the inmate's claims were not time-barred, though the court said the state and facility are protected by sovereign immunity.
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January 13, 2025
San Francisco 49ers Beat Suit Over Fan's Parking Lot Death
A California appellate panel has tossed a suit seeking to hold the San Francisco 49ers liable for the death of a fan who was punched by another fan, adding to a line of cases where property owners were cleared of liability in attacks by third parties.
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January 13, 2025
Carnival Waived Arbitration By Rejecting Fee, Ex-Worker Says
A former Carnival ship worker who was injured on the job argued Sunday that Carnival has waived its right to force him into arbitration by refusing to pay the worker's share of the filing fee after he initiated arbitration.
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January 13, 2025
Flint Legionella Victim's Estate Seeks OK On $1.5M Settlement
The mother of a woman who died of Legionnaires' disease after years of drinking the city of Flint's water is asking a Michigan federal court to approve a $1.5 million to settlement that would bring to an end her wrongful death claims.
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January 13, 2025
SoCal Edison Hit With Flurry Of Suits Over Eaton Fire
Southern California Edison was hit with multiple lawsuits by Altadena fire victims in California state court Monday, accusing the investor-owned public utility of negligently managing power-line equipment that on Jan. 7 purportedly sparked the Eaton Fire, which has already damaged over 7,000 structures and killed at least 16 individuals.
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January 13, 2025
Justices Won't Review 11th Circ.'s Cancer Cluster Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't review the Eleventh Circuit's affirmation of a favorable jury verdict for defense contractor Pratt & Whitney, which was found to have failed to exercise reasonable care when disposing radioactive materials, but also freed it from liability for the cancer cases that emerged in a Florida neighborhood.
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January 13, 2025
State Farm, Insurance Association Escape Data-Sharing Suit
An Illinois federal judge dismissed a proposed class action complaint Monday accusing State Farm of improperly sharing personal health information with a consortium of other insurers that allowed them to raise premiums and deny coverage industrywide, finding the conduct wasn't prohibited under the Illinois Insurance Code.
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January 13, 2025
Black Musician Beaten By White Nationalists Awarded $2.75M
A Black musician, teacher and activist who was attacked in 2022 by white supremacists in Boston won a $2.75 million default judgment Monday against hate group Patriot Front and its founder, in a ruling hailed by lawyers for the plaintiff as sending "an unequivocal message" that such acts will not be tolerated.
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January 13, 2025
RFK Jr.'s Wash. Anti-Vax Suit Can't Get High Court Save
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid for an emergency order to temporarily block a state of Washington medical board investigation into alleged anti-vaccine statements made by retired doctors.
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January 13, 2025
Infowars Bidder Raises Offer As Attys Consider Auction
A failed bidder for conspiracy-monger Alex Jones' Infowars has more than doubled the amount it would pay to acquire the website, and the parent company of satirical news site The Onion is preparing to submit its own revised bid, counsel for the trustee in Jones' Chapter 7 case said at a hearing in Texas bankruptcy court Monday.
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January 13, 2025
Keller Postman, Jenner & Block Call A Truce In Tubi Case
Keller Postman LLC and Jenner & Block LLP have reached a deal in a bitter dispute that saw both firms lobbing misconduct accusations over Keller Postman's mass arbitration campaign against video streaming service Tubi Inc.
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January 13, 2025
Ga. Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over Media On Shooting By Cop
The city of Savannah has urged a Georgia federal court to sanction Claiborne Firm PC attorneys for "inject[ing] bias into the jury pool" by allegedly mischaracterizing facts related to the shooting death of a Black man in 2022 by a police officer who's facing murder charges.
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January 13, 2025
High Court Won't Revive Widow's Suit Against Trucking Co.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a bid from the widow of a man killed in a tractor trailer collision to review a decision that federal transportation law preempts her negligent selection claim against the company that hired the trucker and his carrier.
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January 13, 2025
Alex Jones Switches Conn. Attys In $1B Sandy Hook Appeal
A Randazza Legal Group attorney will represent Alex Jones in a Connecticut Supreme Court bid to erase the remainder of a $1.44 billion defamation judgment for Sandy Hook shooting victims after the Infowars host's now-former lawyer raised unspecified conflict concerns about a third attorney representing Jones in the Connecticut appeal.
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January 13, 2025
Ex-Sacks Weston Atty's Theft Supports Suspension, Court Told
The severity of a suspended Philadelphia attorney's actions when he defrauded his former firm, Sacks Weston LLC, of almost $320,000 supports the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board's recommendation of a five-year suspension of his law license, the state's Office of Disciplinary Counsel has argued.
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January 13, 2025
$13.4M Suit Against Insurer For Conn. Death Verdict Paused
A Connecticut state court judge has rejected Hanover Insurance Co.'s bid to dismiss a mother's lawsuit seeking to partially enforce a $13.4 million trial judgment over her son's death in a group home, but agreed to pause the matter while the group home appeals the verdict.
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January 13, 2025
Rapper's Estate To Turn Over Docs In Wrongful Death Suit
Attorneys for a Houston property owner and the mother of rapper Takeoff told a judge Monday that they had neared an agreement for the production of documents detailing the value of the rapper's estate at the time of his death.
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January 13, 2025
Smith Gambrell Faces DQ Bid In Major Lindsey Suit
A former Major Lindsey & Africa employee with a lengthy legal history with the recruiter is seeking to disqualify Smith Gambrell from representing Major Lindsey in her $75 million federal defamation suit, arguing three attorneys are key witnesses to help determine liability.
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January 13, 2025
Justices Mull Petition Over FSIA Terrorism Exception
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it wanted the U.S.'s perspective as it considers a case relating to whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's terrorism exception extends jurisdiction to claims arising from a terrorist attack that seriously injures but does not kill its intended victims.
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January 10, 2025
CACI Denied New Trial Over Abu Ghraib Torture
The defense contractor found liable for conspiring with the U.S. military to torture inmates at the Abu Ghraib military prison said it would appeal to the Fourth Circuit after a Virginia federal judge Friday ruled the company won't get a third crack at trial.
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January 10, 2025
Excess Insurers Freed From Kiwanis Sex Abuse Case
A Washington federal judge on Friday dismissed child sex abuse survivors' claims against excess insurers of a boys foster home run by Kiwanis International, calling the plaintiffs' demands for coverage of a $21 million judgment "unripe" because the home's primary policies have not been drained.
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January 10, 2025
Live Nation Dodges Dierks Bentley Concert Death Suit
A Connecticut appeals court affirmed Friday the dismissal of a suit accusing Live Nation of causing a Dierks Bentley concertgoer to drive drunk and cause a fatal car crash, saying a public nuisance claim can't apply to the concert promoter in a drunk driving scenario.
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January 10, 2025
Disbarred Atty Hit With Third Judgment For Ghosting Client
A Colorado state judge on Friday ordered a disbarred attorney to pay $650,000 in damages to a former client after he failed to appear in a legal malpractice suit, in the third default judgment against the former lawyer for missing key deadlines and failing to respond to clients.
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January 10, 2025
Social Media Apps Fail To Trim Calif. Mental Health Mass Tort
Meta Platforms, YouTube, Snap and TikTok have lost a bid to cut failure-to-warn claims from consolidated litigation over their social media platforms' alleged harm to youth mental health, with a California state judge ruling that neither the Communications Decency Act nor the First Amendment bar liability based on an app's own features.
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January 10, 2025
Insurer Says No Coverage For Unlicensed Electrician's Death
An Oklahoma grocery store's insurer shouldn't have to cover litigation brought by the family of a man who died while performing electrical work because he was unlicensed and because the store, when obtaining its policy, said it didn't hire independent contractors, the insurer told a federal court.
Expert Analysis
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Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule
Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.
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4 Steps To Repair Defense Credibility In Opening Statements
Given the continued rise of record-breaking verdicts, defense counsel need to consider fresh approaches to counteract the factors coloring juror attitudes — starting with a formula for rebuilding credibility at the very beginning of opening statements, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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Del. Bankruptcy Ruling Will Give D&O Insureds Nightmares
In Henrich v. XL Specialty Insurance, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court recently found that a never-served qui tam claim had been "brought" before a D&O policy's retroactive date, thereby eliminating coverage, and creating a nightmare scenario for directors and officers policyholders facing whistleblower claims, says David Klein at Pillsbury.
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A Crucial Step In Mediation: Preparing Your Client
Most U.S. courts have adopted standing orders that require all civil cases be mediated before being assigned to a trial calendar, so any lawyer involved in civil disputes must be knowledgeable about mediation — including the vital but often underutilized skill of preparing clients before mediation begins, says Jeffrey Lasky at Miles Mediation & Arbitration.
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Prejudicial Evidence Takeaways From Trump Hush Money Trial
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office's prosecution and conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts provides a lesson on whether evidence may cause substantial unfair prejudice, or if its prejudicial potential is perfectly fair within the bounds of the law, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Opinion
No Matter The Purdue Ruling, Mass Tort Reform Is Needed
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon issue its opinion in the bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma LP, and regardless of the outcome, it’s clear legal and policy reforms are needed to address the next mass tort, says William Organek at Baruch College.
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After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1
The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.
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Series
Glassblowing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
I never expected that glassblowing would strongly influence my work as an attorney, but it has taught me the importance of building a solid foundation for your work, learning from others and committing to a lifetime of practice, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.
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3 Surprising Deposition Dangers Attorneys Must Heed
Attorneys often do not think of discovery as a particularly risky phase of litigation, but counsel must closely heed some surprisingly strict and frequently overlooked requirements before, during and after depositions that can lead to draconian consequences, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.
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Insurers Have A Ch. 11 Voice Following High Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum — which reaffirmed a broad definition of "party in interest" — will give insurers, particularly in mass tort Chapter 11 bankruptcies, more opportunity to protect their interests and identify problems with reorganization plans, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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Justices' Bump Stock Ruling Skirted Deference, Lenity Issues
Despite presenting a seemingly classic case on agency deference, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Garland v. Cargill did not mention the Chevron doctrine, and the opinion also overlooked whether agency interpretations of federal gun laws should ever receive deference given that they carry criminal penalties, say Tess Saperstein and John Elwood at Arnold & Porter.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.