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Product Liability
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May 23, 2024
Kratom Cos. Failed To Warn Man About Risks, Colo. Suit Says
The parents of a deceased Colorado man allege that four companies that sell kratom are liable for their son's death because of their failure to warn consumers about the risks associated with using the loosely regulated plant-derived substance with opioid-like effects.
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May 23, 2024
Feds Agree To Clean, Close Dump Site For Tribal Nations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to properly clean and shut down a 70-year-old solid waste dump site on tribal lands in northern Arizona, saying federal law requirements for its closure haven't been followed since 1997.
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May 23, 2024
Enbridge Says Tribe's Trespass Law Could Cost It Millions
Enbridge Energy told the Seventh Circuit that a Wisconsin tribe's recently publicized trespass ordinance could cause the company to pay millions of dollars in civil penalties if the appeals court rules that its 645-mile crude oil pipeline is trespassing on the tribe's land.
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May 23, 2024
Lockheed Urges 11th Circ. To Affirm Win In Solvent Suit
Lockheed Martin Corp. asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to uphold a Florida district court's rejection of a proposed expert's testimony purporting to link a now-deceased former employee's multiple sclerosis to her work-related exposure to industrial solvents.
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May 23, 2024
Pipe Supplier Can't Nix $2.6M 'Take Home' Asbestos Verdict
A California appeals panel won't upend a $2.6 million verdict against J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. in a case alleging a man contracted mesothelioma because of his brother's work, rejecting the company's argument that the court should apply a duty standard for negligence claims to the man's strict liability claim.
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May 23, 2024
Estate Sues Hanover For $13.4M Judgment In Death Suit
The Hanover Insurance Group has refused to pay a judgment of nearly $13.4 million to the family of a man who died in the care of a Connecticut group home, according to a lawsuit in state court.
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May 23, 2024
J&J Loses Expedited Bid For Beasley Allen Docs In Talc MDL
Johnson & Johnson has lost its bid in New Jersey federal court to have the Beasley Allen Law Firm quickly produce documents related to what J&J said seems to be an "intentional effort" by the firm to "bias the vote" against a proposed $6.5 billion reorganization plan for its talc subsidiary.
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May 23, 2024
Whirlpool Aims To Sink Fridge Wiring Defect Claims
Whirlpool Corp. is asking a Delaware federal court to throw out claims in a consolidated class action alleging it sold refrigerators with defective wiring, saying the complaint fails to show it had any knowledge of the defect.
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May 23, 2024
GSK, Boehringer Prevail In 1st Zantac Cancer Trial
A Chicago jury found Thursday that Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts sold by GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim are not responsible for an Illinois woman's colon cancer and her subsequent, debilitating symptoms, handing the drug companies a decisive victory in the first of hundreds of such cases to go to trial.
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May 23, 2024
Norfolk Southern Inks $310M Deal To Settle Feds' Spill Suit
Norfolk Southern Railway Co. on Thursday agreed to a $310 million deal to settle the federal government's legal claims that arose out of the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released large amounts of contaminants into the air, ground and water.
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May 22, 2024
Monsanto's Appellate Win Won't Nix $438M PCB Loss
A Washington state trial judge has declined to throw out a $438 million judgment against Monsanto in one of a series of PCB poisoning suits tied to a school site, rejecting the company's argument that the judgment cannot stand on the heels of a state appellate court ruling reversing another plaintiffs' win in the case group.
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May 23, 2024
Sunsetting Section 230 Gains Traction On Both Sides Of Aisle
Everyone at Wednesday's House subcommittee hearing, from left to right, seemed to agree that it's time to ditch the Communications Decency Act's hotly contested Section 230, which shields online platforms from liability for content posted by third parties.
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May 22, 2024
Robbins Geller, Motley Rice Seek To Rep Solar Co. Investors
Motley Rice LLC and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP want to represent investors of energy company Shoals Technologies Group Inc. in consolidated proposed class action claims taking aim at the company and its brass and underwriters for allegedly concealing costly issues with wires in its products.
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May 22, 2024
Cancer Patients Target J&J Talc Unit's Asset Shuffles
Cancer patients who have sued Johnson & Johnson alleging that its talcum powder caused their illness alleged Wednesday that the company has tried to intentionally prevent tort victims from getting their day in court through a scheme of fraudulent corporate transactions.
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May 22, 2024
Mich. Judge Not Satisfied By Atty's Letter Over Flint PR Stunt
The federal judge overseeing Flint, Michigan, water crisis cases isn't satisfied with a California attorney's letter denying involvement in an alleged smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children, saying Wednesday that if the attorney doesn't provide more substantive information, she will be referred to the State Bar of California.
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May 22, 2024
Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron
A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.
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May 22, 2024
FDA Must Act On Sexual Side Effects Of SSRIs, Suit Says
The Food and Drug Administration should be forced to warn the public about the serious sexual side effects of a certain class of depression medications after sitting on a petition asking it to do just that for more than six years, a new lawsuit says.
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May 22, 2024
Evidence Shaky In First Zantac Cancer Trial, Drugmakers Say
Attorneys for GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim told a Chicago jury Wednesday that no one besides a plaintiff's paid witnesses have said publicly that Zantac heartburn medication causes colon cancer, calling on the jurors to reject claims that the companies owe $640 million for a woman's cancer diagnosis.
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May 22, 2024
DuPont 'Document Dump' Rattles NC In PFAS Suit
North Carolina and DuPont on Wednesday battled over what the state called a roughly 5 million-page "document dump" ahead of a looming June 3 discovery deadline in its contamination lawsuit, irking a business court judge in the process.
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May 22, 2024
GOP State Leaders Tell Justices Mexico Can't Sue Gunmakers
Republican attorneys general of 26 states plus the Arizona Legislature have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a First Circuit decision that revived a lawsuit filed by the Mexican government seeking to hold the firearms industry responsible for drug cartel violence due to weapons trafficked across the border.
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May 22, 2024
Uvalde Families Ink $2M Deal With City Over School Shooting
The families of 19 victims of the deadly May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School announced Wednesday that they've reached a presuit settlement with the city of Uvalde, Texas, that includes $2 million in payments to the families and commitments to better train police officers in their shooting responses.
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May 22, 2024
Senate, House Dems Seek DOJ Big Oil Climate Impact Probe
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrats from Rhode Island and Maryland, respectively, called on the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday to formally investigate Big Oil companies over their decadeslong effort to conceal the impact of fossil fuels on climate change.
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May 22, 2024
WeChat Users Must Arbitrate Privacy Row, Calif. Panel Says
California appellate justices said Monday that WeChat users must arbitrate their proposed class action accusing Tencent of using politically motivated practices to censor their communications, saying plaintiffs can't argue they never agreed to terms of service with the arbitration provision while also basing their complaint on those same terms of service.
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May 22, 2024
3M Says Insurers Are Dodging Coverage Of $6B Earplug Deal
3M and its subsidiary Aearo Technologies have reported difficulties getting their insurers to pay out more than $1.5 billion in coverage after the companies reached a $6 billion deal to settle multidistrict litigation alleging their combat earplugs failed to protect the hearing of service members and veterans.
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May 22, 2024
$600M Norfolk Southern Derailment Deal Gets Early Court OK
Consolidated class litigation over last year's fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, cleared a court hurdle Tuesday after a federal judge tentatively signed off on a proposed $600 million settlement between the rail giant and thousands of impacted residents and businesses.
Expert Analysis
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Lessons From Country Singer's Personal Service Saga
Recent reports that country singer Luke Combs won a judgment against a Florida woman who didn’t receive notice of the counterfeit suit against her should serve as a reminder for attorneys on best practices for effectuating service by electronic means, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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The Section 230 Immunity Provision Debate Continues
The Fifth Circuit last month voted in Doe v. Snap Inc. not to reconsider en banc its decade-old interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally allows websites to police objectionable content as they see fit — but a growing number of judges appear motivated to further limit the scope of its immunity, say Jordan Rice and Caleb Hayes-Deats at MoloLamken.
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Opinion
Why Justices Should Protect Public From Bump Stocks
In Garland v. Cargill, the U.S. Supreme Court has the opportunity to restore the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' rule banning bump stocks — thus preserving Congress' original intent to protect the American people from particularly dangerous firearms, says Douglas Letter at Brady United Against Gun Violence.
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Series
Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer
After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.
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Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.
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Time To Step Up PFAS Due Diligence In Cross-Border M&A
Regulations in the U.S. and EU governing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances will likely evolve to become global standards out of necessity and scale, so PFAS due diligence — particularly for buyers, sellers, and lenders and investors involved in multijurisdictional mergers and acquisitions — will be essential in 2024, say attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin.
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7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.
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Landmark Product Safety Prosecution May Signal Sea Change
U.S. v. Chu, a novel prosecution and guilty verdict of corporate executives for failing to report product defects under a consumer safety law, will certainly not be the last case of its kind, and companies will need to prepare for the government’s increasingly aggressive enforcement approach, say attorneys at Cooley.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
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What To Know About FCA Cybersecurity Enforcement
Now is a good time for practitioners, government contractors and potential relators to review recent developments in cybersecurity-related False Claims Act enforcement, and consider best practices for navigating this space in the new year, say Ellen London at London & Stout, and Li Yu and Molly Knobler at DiCello Levitt.
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What One Litigator Learned Serving On A Jury
Kilpatrick attorney April Isaacson shares insights for trial lawyers from her recent experience serving on a jury for the first time, including lessons about the impact of frequent sidebars, considerations for using demonstratives, the importance of clear jury instructions, and the unconscious habits that can drive jurors mad.
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Evaluating Retroactivity Of Mich. Drugmaker Immunity Repeal
In assessing whether a new Michigan law lifting drugmakers' blanket immunity from product liability suits will apply retroactively, there are four key factors that Michigan courts will likely consider, say Sherry Knutson and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.
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4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year
As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
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Environmental Justice: A 2023 Recap And 2024 Forecast
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.
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What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like
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.