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Product Liability
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October 24, 2024
EPA Finalizes New Standards For Lead Paint Dust
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it's finalizing standards to better protect people from lead paint dust exposure, reducing the level considered hazardous and the levels that can remain after abatement work.
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October 23, 2024
Boeing Machinists Reject Labor Deal, Prolonging Strike
A majority of roughly 33,000 Boeing employees represented by the International Association of Machinists voted Wednesday to reject a new labor contract that included a 35% wage increase over four years, prolonging a nearly six-week strike that has hampered Boeing's production and cash flow.
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October 23, 2024
Pa. County Defends Climate Change Suit Against BP, Chevron
BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other major oil companies can't argue that a federal environmental statute sinks a climate change lawsuit because the claims fall outside of the law's purview, a Pennsylvania county told a state court.
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October 23, 2024
Ingersoll-Rand Sued Over Pa. Worker's Leg Amputation
A man whose left leg was crushed when an industrial drill ran over it is suing the manufacturer in Pennsylvania federal court, claiming the company designed the drill defectively by excluding a number of safety features.
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October 23, 2024
Stop & Shop Parent Co. Sued Over Orange Soda Ingredient
The parent company of grocery stores Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and others was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in North Carolina federal court alleging that the company's orange soda contained an oil additive that allegedly can cause neurological damage.
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October 23, 2024
Late Smoker's Spouse Can Argue Survivor's Benefits At Retrial
The husband of a deceased smoker whose $157 million win against tobacco companies was erased can claim surviving spouse damages under Florida's Wrongful Death Act on retrial even though he was not married to his partner at the time he was diagnosed with lung disease, according to an opinion released Wednesday by a Florida appeals court.
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October 23, 2024
Religion Law Can't Save Sacred Worship Site, High Court Told
A law designed to protect religious freedom can't help an Apache nonprofit's bid to save a sacred worship site in Arizona from destruction, the federal government said, arguing that the tribe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify a congressional statute crafted to allow federal third-party land transfers.
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October 23, 2024
Pool Seller Gets Claims Trimmed In Child Drowning Suit
A Missouri federal judge has thrown out the bulk of a couple's claims against pool seller Bestway (USA) Inc. over the drowning death of their daughter, dismissing negligence and warranty claims while allowing strict liability claims to go forward.
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October 23, 2024
SoClean Says Philips Can't Stand In For Damaged CPAP Users
SoClean Inc. asked a Pennsylvania federal court to toss Philips RS North America's proposed class-action claims from a multidistrict litigation, arguing that after settling with customers who had to replace their CPAP and BiPAP breathing machines, Philips was really only coming after SoClean on its own behalf.
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October 23, 2024
'Alkaline Water' Co. Hit With $5B In Punitive Damages
A Nevada jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages Wednesday in a 15-plaintiff trial over liver damage linked to Real Water's "alkaline water," the largest verdict yet in ongoing litigation against the bankrupt company.
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October 23, 2024
Roundup Suit Pared As Preemption Claim Sways Mass. Judge
A Massachusetts judge has dismissed portions of a suit claiming a woman's use of the weedkiller Roundup caused her cancer, ruling a federal labeling law preempts her theory that Monsanto failed to warn consumers about the chemical's dangers.
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October 23, 2024
Feds Urge High Court To Deny Cig Cos.' Bid To Ax New Rule
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant certiorari to a group of tobacco companies aiming to vacate a rule requiring larger warnings on cigarette boxes, saying the Fifth Circuit rightly found the proposed warnings don't violate the First Amendment's protection against compelled speech.
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October 23, 2024
MVP: Williams & Connolly's Joseph G. Petrosinelli
Joseph G. Petrosinelli led Williams & Connolly LLP teams in successfully defending major U.S. corporate clients, including Pfizer, Gerber and Google, from large class claims often spilling across multiple state and federal courts, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Product Liability MVPs.
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October 22, 2024
'Alkaline Water' Co. Owes $230M In Latest Liver Trial
A Nevada state jury awarded $230 million Tuesday in the latest trial over liver damage from Real Water's "alkaline water" and sent the 15 plaintiffs, including a UFC fighter, to a punitive damages phase.
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October 22, 2024
Copper Mining Co. Asks High Court To Toss Sacred Site Suit
A copper mining company that wants to build operations in a tribally sacred part of the Tonto National Forest has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling that allows for the transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land.
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October 22, 2024
CDC Links E. Coli Outbreak To McDonald's Quarter Pounders
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert Tuesday saying E. coli has been detected in McDonald's Corp.'s Quarter Pounder hamburgers, infecting nearly 50 people and killing one so far.
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October 22, 2024
Walmart Pays $7.5M To End Hazardous Waste Disposal Suit
Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of California and district attorneys of several counties who alleged the retail giant improperly disposed of hazardous and medical wastes from its locations to municipal landfills, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Tuesday.
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October 22, 2024
Death Claims In Lyondell Leak MDL Go To Mediation
Family who lost loved ones in the 2021 gas leak at a LyondellBasell facility in La Porte, Texas, must pursue their wrongful death claims in mediation, a Houston state court judge has ruled, just a month after the first bellwether trial in the multidistrict litigation reached a settlement.
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October 22, 2024
Monsanto Fights $78M Verdict In Philadelphia Roundup Trial
Bayer AG unit Monsanto has asked a Philadelphia judge to strike down a "grossly excessive" $78 million verdict handed up in the latest Philadelphia Roundup trial, claiming that the jury's view of the company was skewed because the plaintiff's counsel said Monsanto "poisoned" butterflies and bees and "poisoned the planet."
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October 22, 2024
Ohio Pension Funds Say Boeing Puts Profits Over Safety
Two Ohio pension funds joined a Virginia federal lawsuit accusing Boeing executives and board members of putting profits over safety and regulatory compliance, causing a series of catastrophes and losing millions of dollars for investors, the Ohio Attorney General's Office said Tuesday.
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October 22, 2024
Buyers Drop Colgate-Palmolive Sunscreen False Ad Suit
Two women have agreed to drop a proposed class action that claimed Colgate-Palmolive Co. falsely claimed its sunscreen products' only active ingredient is a mineral-based component despite the products containing significant levels of chemical sunscreen ingredients.
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October 22, 2024
Appliance Co., Customers Agree To End Stove Pollutant Row
Luxury kitchen appliance maker Sub-Zero Group Inc. and the customers behind a proposed class action have agreed to drop the litigation, bringing to an end claims the company sold them gas stoves that emit "health-harming" pollutants.
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October 22, 2024
Pa. Casino Must Face Suit Over Hand Sanitizer Slip-And-Fall
A Pennsylvania appeals court on Tuesday revived a woman's slip-and-fall suit against the owners of a Mount Airy casino, saying the evidence in the case can lead a jury to find that the company was negligent in installing hand sanitizer stations meant to address the COVID-19 pandemic over a marble floor.
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October 22, 2024
Feds Partner With Osage, Navajo To Tackle Orphaned Wells
The U.S. Department of Energy said it's inked agreements with the Osage Nation and the Navajo Nation that are aimed at identifying undocumented orphaned wells on tribal lands and addressing their harmful impacts.
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October 22, 2024
NJ Justices Create Mass Tort Track For Bard Catheter Suits
The New Jersey Supreme Court has established a multicounty litigation track for cases seeking to hold C.R. Bard Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc. and Becton Dickinson and Co. liable for injuries allegedly caused by Bard implanted port catheter products, according to a notice to the bar.
Expert Analysis
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A Simple Proposal For Improving E-Discovery In MDLs
Given the importance of e-discovery in multidistrict litigation, courts, parties and counsel shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel in each newly consolidated case — and a simple process for sharing e-discovery lessons and knowledge across MDLs could benefit everyone involved, particularly clients, say Benjamin Barnett and Shauna Itri at Seeger Weiss.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Opinion
High Court Made Profound Mistake In Tossing Purdue Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to throw out Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 plan jeopardizes a multistate agreement that would provide approximately $7 billion in much-needed relief to help fight the opioid epidemic, with states now likely doomed to spend years chasing individual defendants across the globe, says Swain Wood at Morningstar.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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California Adds A Novel Twist To State Suits Against Big Oil
California’s suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., one of several state suits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms, is unique both in the magnitude of the alleged claims and its use of a consumer protection statute to seek disgorgement of industry profits, says Julia Stein at UCLA School of Law.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Series
After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling
After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Revisiting Scalia's 'What's It To You?' After Kaiser Ruling
While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser allows insurers to be considered "parties in interest" in Chapter 11 cases, they still need to show they would face an injury in fact, answering the late Justice Antonin Scalia's "what's it to you?" question, say Brent Weisenberg and Jeff Prol at Lowenstein Sandler.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.