Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice

  • June 27, 2024

    Titanic Purdue Ruling Shifts The Balance Of Power In Ch. 11

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Sackler family's liability shield in the Chapter 11 plan of Purdue Pharma LP not only eliminates a key tool to resolve mass tort liabilities through bankruptcy, it gives claimants more leverage and fundamentally changes the insolvency landscape in future cases, experts tell Law360.

  • June 27, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Wood Treatment Injury Coverage Row

    An insurer must cover the maker of a wood treatment product in a suit over a man's cancer diagnosis following decades of exposure to the chemical, the Fourth Circuit said Thursday in a published opinion reversing a lower court's finding.

  • June 27, 2024

    Judge Slams 'Unacceptable' Misstated Case Law In PFAS Suit

    A federal magistrate judge in North Carolina chastised class counsel for Tar Heel State residents suing The Chemours Co. and DuPont De Nemours over toxic "forever chemicals" purportedly discharged in their wastewater, after the attorneys "misstated the language of various cases" they cited in a briefing.

  • June 27, 2024

    Ex-Exec Fights Sotera's Bid To Toss Del. Stock Vesting Suit

    An attorney representing a former Sotera executive said Thursday in Delaware's Court of Chancery that the lab testing and industrial sterilization firm failed to justify its request for dismissal of a lawsuit alleging the company wrongly refused to vest his purported right to 620,000 shares in the business after his departure.

  • June 27, 2024

    Widow Sues Safety Consultant, Strap Maker Over Fatal Drop

    The widow of a Pennsylvania man who was fatally injured when a nylon strap holding up a one-ton piece of equipment broke has filed a lawsuit in state court against the manufacturer of the strap, along with the safety consulting company she claims failed to properly assess and train the workers.

  • June 27, 2024

    Calif. Justices Say Patient's Choice A Factor In Product Cases

    The California Supreme Court has sided with a woman alleging that a shock therapy device made by Somatics LLC caused her permanent injuries, saying she can establish that her injuries were caused by a lack of warning as long as she shows that a prudent patient would have declined treatment upon hearing a warning. 

  • June 27, 2024

    State Farm Settles Georgia Motorcycle Death Suit For $18M

    State Farm has agreed to an $18 million midtrial settlement for the family of a man killed in a 2020 motorcycle crash after a Georgia jury found the driver he collided with at fault, the family's attorneys said Wednesday.

  • June 27, 2024

    NTSB Rips Boeing For Blabbing About Blowout Probe

    The National Transportation Safety Board sanctioned Boeing on Thursday for sharing nonpublic details of an ongoing investigation into January's 737 Max 9 midair door plug blowout, deepening the American aerospace giant's regulatory troubles amid multiple probes into its safety culture and quality control.

  • June 27, 2024

    4th Circ. Won't Revive Navy Hospital Gangrene Suit

    The Fourth Circuit declined to revive a North Carolina woman's lawsuit over a U.S. Navy hospital allegedly misdiagnosing her kidney failure and causing her to contract gangrene and require multiple amputations, standing by a lower court's ruling that her suit was filed too late under a state-level statute.

  • June 27, 2024

    Justices Nix 3rd-Party Liability Releases In Purdue Ch. 11 Plan

    The U.S. Supreme Court shot down the validity of nonconsensual third-party releases in an opinion issued Thursday in the case of bankrupt drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, potentially exposing the Sackler family members who own the company to personal liability for the company's role in the opioid crisis.

  • June 26, 2024

    Conn. Zantac Ruling To Include Sanofi As Settlement Looms

    A Connecticut state judge will include Sanofi-Aventis US LLC and a related corporate entity in a forthcoming decision on whether Zantac makers must face novel innovator liability claims in the Constitution State, the judge revealed after the pharmaceutical giant suggested a ruling would help finalize a nascent settlement.

  • June 26, 2024

    Baby Bottle Cos. Face False Ad Suits Over Microplastics

    Philips North America and Handi-Craft face a pair of proposed class actions filed Tuesday in California federal court alleging they misled customers into thinking their sippy cups and baby bottles were "BPA free" and therefore safe for use, despite that heating them could cause harmful microplastics to leak into food and drinks.

  • June 26, 2024

    Calif. Sanctioned $111M In 30-Year Prison Staffing Case

    A California federal judge has ordered state officials to hand over more than $111 million for failing to bring prison mental health staffing up to levels set by the court in 2009 in a 30-year-old case, saying Tuesday that "given defendants' contumacy, it is for the court to effect compliance."

  • June 26, 2024

    Talc Co. Barretts' Creditors Push To Dismiss Ch. 11 Case

    Unsecured creditors of Barretts Minerals have urged a Texas bankruptcy judge to dismiss its bankruptcy following the debtor's sale of its talc business, arguing that Barretts remains in bankruptcy only to get its fully solvent parent company out of its talc liability.

  • June 26, 2024

    State Farm Loses Bid To Skip Atty Fees On Expert Technicality

    A Texas appeals court found that State Farm may still have to pony up attorney fees in a case involving an underinsured motorist claim, saying Wednesday that the trial court got it wrong when it granted the insurance company's motion to strike the motorist's expert designation in a bifurcated trial on the fee issue.

  • June 26, 2024

    New Hampshire Claims TikTok Exploits Kids For Profit

    Social media titan TikTok is exploiting children by intentionally designing its platform to be addictive, so children will keep scrolling on the app for as long as possible, the state of New Hampshire argues in a heavily redacted lawsuit in state court.

  • June 26, 2024

    Disbarred Colo. Injury Atty Faces Another Malpractice Suit

    A Colorado woman is suing a disbarred attorney for malpractice after he allegedly blew the deadline to file her personal injury suit against a grocery store, the third such case against the former lawyer, who faces a $1.2 million default judgment and warrant for his arrest in another malpractice suit.

  • June 26, 2024

    Sig Sauer Can't DQ Gun Expert's Experiment In Defect Suit

    Gunmaker Sig Sauer Inc. can't dodge a police officer's lawsuit claiming its P320 pistol spontaneously discharged and injured her without the trigger being touched, after the company failed to convince a Massachusetts federal judge to disqualify an experiment by the plaintiff's gun expert comparing its gun to an analogous Glock model.

  • June 26, 2024

    FBI Beats Epstein FOIA Case Due To Ghislaine Maxwell Appeal

    A New York federal judge handed the FBI a win Tuesday in gossip site Radar Online's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the government's sex-trafficking investigation records into the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, finding that the documents could affect the ongoing appeal of Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

  • June 26, 2024

    Travelers Nabs Partial Win In Asbestos Coverage Dispute

    A Travelers unit only has a duty to indemnify but not defend a drywall and paint company that faces several underlying asbestos injury lawsuits, a Texas federal court ruled, rejecting the company's reading of "not covered" in its umbrella policy providing excess coverage.

  • June 26, 2024

    Demolition Worker's Family Sues FirstEnergy Over Fatal Fall

    The family of a Michigan man who died during the demolition of a former coal-fired power plant in Southwestern Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania state court against the plant's operators, claiming that better plans, inspections and safety measures could have prevented his fatal fall in 2022.

  • June 26, 2024

    Ex-Worker Says NC Justices Needn't Review Carcinogen Test

    A former graduate student worker for North Carolina State University has told the Tar Heel State's highest court that the school is trying to delay a potential lawsuit by continuing its fight to keep the ex-employee and cancer patient from investigating a campus building for carcinogens.

  • June 26, 2024

    NHTSA Declines Calls For 'More Robust' Truck Safety Guards

    Roadway safety advocates are chiding the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it rejected requests for stricter requirements on rear impact guards on semitruck trailers, used to protect passenger vehicles that crash into the back of trailers, calling the decision "indefensible."

  • June 26, 2024

    NJ Cos. Can't Toss Contamination Claim In Green Groups' Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge won't let NL Industries Inc. and a subsidiary escape claims by two environmental groups under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, saying it's undisputed that the companies are considered persons who handled hazardous waste.

  • June 26, 2024

    Red Roof Trafficking Case Settled In Middle Of Trial

    The corporate owners of two Red Roof Inn locations in Atlanta and 11 women who claim they were trafficked there for years without intervention have reached a midtrial settlement ending the case.

Expert Analysis

  • Environmental Justice: A 2023 Recap And 2024 Forecast

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    A 2023 executive order directing each federal agency to make environmental justice part of its mission, as well as the many lawsuits and enforcement actions last year, demonstrates that EJ will increasingly surface in all areas of law and regulation, from technically challenging to seemingly ordinary permitting and construction matters, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

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    As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • 4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

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    Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.

  • How 2023 Shaped Drug And Medical Device Legal Trends

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    2023 brought a number of positive developments for the life sciences industry, including great trial and multidistrict litigation outcomes, but also some heavy-handed regulations and other concerning developments that lay the groundwork for significant litigation, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Law Firm Strategies For Successfully Navigating 2024 Trends

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    Though law firms face the dual challenge of external and internal pressures as they enter 2024, firms willing to pivot will be able to stand out by adapting to stakeholder needs and reimagining their infrastructure, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.

  • The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2023

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    A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from associate retention strategies to ethical billing practices.

  • 5 Most Notable Class Action Standing Cases Of 2023

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    Key appellate class action decisions this past year continued the trend of a more demanding approach to the threshold issue of standing during each phase of litigation, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • NY Wrongful Death Law Revamp Retains Original's Drawbacks

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    If approved by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Grieving Families Act will transform the landscape of wrongful death law in New York by increasing the potential for damages, raising insurance premiums, burdening hospitals and courts, stifling the economy and subjecting parties to the unsettling effects of retroactive legislation, say attorneys at Shaub Ahmuty.

  • Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities

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    Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.

  • In The World Of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends To Note From 2023

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    Lucian Pera at Adams and Reese and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight identify the top legal ethics trends from 2023 — including issues related to hot documents, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — that lawyers should be aware of to put their best foot forward.

  • Opinion

    Animal Rights Are About Saving Nature, And Our Own Future

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    The climate crisis makes it clear that animal law — conceived of as an ecocentric approach to protecting the most vulnerable nonhumans who depend on the natural environment — is essential to restoring the Earth and safeguarding the future of humanity, says Carter Dillard at the Fair Start Movement.

  • How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season

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    Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    What Happens If High Court Rejects Releases In Purdue Ch. 11

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    Reading the tea leaves following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent arguments in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, it appears likely that the justices will decide that bankruptcy courts lack the power to release third-party claims against nondebtors, which would result in one of three scenarios, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • FDA's Recent Litigation Records Are Strong, But Imperfect

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notched its share of litigation wins in recent years thanks to a number of key advantages, but the FDA has been less successful in certain highly visible arenas, Jonathan Berman and Colleen Heisey at Jones Day.

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