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Product Liability
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August 12, 2024
Rising Star: Barnes & Thornburg's Erin Pauley
Erin Pauley of Barnes & Thornburg LLP has represented clients such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and national food and drug retailers against personal injury and product liability cases throughout the country, earning her a spot among the product liability practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 12, 2024
Oil Cos. Get Go-Ahead On $3.5M La. Contamination Settlement
A Louisiana federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $3.5 million settlement to resolve residents' claims against Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. over alleged contamination from creosoting facilities, over the objection of co-defendants BNSF and International Paper.
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August 12, 2024
Big Tobacco To Pay $600M In 'Historic' Mass. Deal
Philip Morris Inc. and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. will pay nine-figure sums as part of a $600 million settlement between Massachusetts and major tobacco companies that resolves yearslong disputes about how much the cigarette makers owe, the state attorney general announced Monday.
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August 09, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Complain They Can't Get Gov't Docs
Veterans and family members who claim they were injured due to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune say the government has refused to hand over "troves of discoverable documents" and are urging a federal court to force the government to comply.
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August 09, 2024
Tesla Sued Over Gigafactory Worker's Electrocution Death
The widow of an electrician who was fatally electrocuted this month while working at Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, has filed a wrongful death suit in Texas state court, claiming the company negligently allowed a dangerous condition to exist at the automaker's global headquarters.
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August 09, 2024
FDA Rejects Latest Effort To Treat PTSD With MDMA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected a new drug application to treat post-traumatic stress disorder with the psychedelic drug MDMA, an entactogen also known as ecstasy or molly, the company that backed the effort announced Friday.
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August 09, 2024
Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines Families Float April Trial Lineup
Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash victims' families told an Illinois federal judge Friday that they're prepping the next six cases for an April trial, but disagreed over whether a Canadian resident who lost five family members in the crash should be slotted in for a standalone trial in March.
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August 09, 2024
Meta Urges Justices To Ax Investors' Risk Disclosure Suit
Meta Platforms Inc. filed its opening brief Friday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that kept alive a class action stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data abuse scandal, arguing that decision would create unnecessary disclosure obligations and encourage "fraud by hindsight" lawsuits.
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August 09, 2024
Retailer Can't Pass Buck To Pool Maker In Child Drowning Suit
A Missouri federal judge trimmed the bulk of a couple's claims against the retailer that sold the pool in which their two-year-old daughter drowned, but ruled that the retailer couldn't escape strict liability claims under the state's "innocent seller" statute.
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August 09, 2024
Full 2nd Circ. Axes Producer's Bid To Revive Blacklisting Suit
The Second Circuit won't take a second whack at its ruling that a stage workers union can't be held liable under antitrust laws for discouraging members from working with a Broadway producer following complaints about unpaid wages.
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August 09, 2024
Rising Star: Seeger Weiss' Caleb Seeley
Caleb Seeley of Seeger Weiss LLP has advocated for plaintiffs facing the often life-altering effects of lapses in products used by millions of consumers, including in what is thought to be the largest mass tort in American history, earning him a spot among the product liability law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 09, 2024
Ex-Mayer Brown Product Liability Atty Joins King & Spalding
King & Spalding LLP has hired a former Mayer Brown LLP partner for its product liability and mass torts practice group in New York.
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August 08, 2024
Ga. Mom Cuts Game Maker From Video Game Addiction Suit
A Georgia mother suing various gaming companies alleging that they caused her teenager's mental disorders with their addictive designs and in-game purchases now seeks to drop claims she made against the maker of Fortnite.
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August 08, 2024
Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Judge Flags Pretrial 'Difficulties'
A federal judge presiding over injury suits stemming from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune urged the federal government and plaintiffs' lawyers Thursday to resolve "ongoing difficulties" such as fact disputes ahead of bench trials, calling the parties' stipulations since the last status conference "less than robust."
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August 08, 2024
Ford Hid High Warranty Costs From Investors, Suit Says
A Ford Motor Co. investor launched a putative securities fraud class action Thursday alleging the automaker hid quality issues dating back to 2022, only disclosing the higher-than-expected warranty costs in its recently released second quarter 2024 financial results.
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August 08, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Negligence Claims In Uber Sex Assault Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a woman's negligence claim against Uber Technologies Inc. over her sexual assault by a suspended driver, saying the company had a duty of care because it contributed to the situation that led to her being assaulted.
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August 08, 2024
J&J Settles Suit Alleging Sunscreen With Benzene Killed Boy
Johnson & Johnson has reached an agreement to end a personal injury suit by a father who claimed his 14-year-old son died from leukemia after prolonged exposure to its benzene-tainted sunscreen products, according to a settlement notice filed in North Carolina federal court Thursday.
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August 08, 2024
Delta's Boies Attys Slam CrowdStrike's 'Blame The Victim' Ploy
Delta Air Lines' attorneys at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP on Thursday blasted CrowdStrike's "blame the victim" defense over last month's catastrophic global IT outage, and pledged to haul both the cybersecurity firm and Microsoft to court to recoup what Delta estimates to be over $500 million in revenue losses.
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August 08, 2024
NHTSA Seeks Info On Tesla Cybertruck Crash
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's seeking information on a crash that involved a fatality with a Tesla Cybertruck that happened earlier this week in Texas.
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August 07, 2024
10th Circ. Won't Undo Atty Fees In $1.5B Syngenta Corn Deal
The Tenth Circuit on Wednesday backed a Kansas federal judge's allocations of attorney fees to three law firms representing individual claimants in multidistrict litigation over Syngenta's genetically modified corn that was resolved by a $1.5 billion class settlement, finding that the firms' arguments strayed from the issue at hand.
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August 07, 2024
Abbott Brass Trim But Can't Nix Investors' Formula Recall Suit
A Chicago federal judge on Wednesday substantially trimmed a derivative suit accusing Abbott Laboratories leaders of concealing known safety issues related to recalled infant formula but rejected the defendants' argument that tossing the suit in its entirety was in shareholders' "best interest."
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August 07, 2024
Monsanto, PCB Plaintiffs Want It Both Ways, Judge Says
A Washington state court judge expressed frustration on Wednesday with counsel for both sides of a toxic tort against Monsanto, remarking during a summary judgment hearing that the parties can't "pick and choose" which parts of a recent appellate ruling apply to their case.
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August 07, 2024
Kleenex Maker Wants Conn. PFAS Suit Tossed
Kimberly-Clark Corp. is urging a Connecticut federal judge to throw out a proposed class action, saying the suit relies on "speculation and conjecture" to claim its New Milford manufacturing facility and shuttered landfill polluted properties and exposed residents to toxic forever chemicals.
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August 07, 2024
OnlyFans Claims Immunity In Suit Over Alleged Rape Video
The London-based parent company of OnlyFans urged a Florida federal court to toss a lawsuit brought by a woman alleging the internet content provider profited off a video that she says shows her being raped, saying the Communications Decency Act precludes liability for material uploaded by third parties.
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August 07, 2024
Teva Finds Some Big-Pharma Friends In Inhaler Patent Fight
Two large pharmaceutical companies have weighed in to ask the Federal Circuit to overturn a ruling that found that Teva's branded drugmaking operation misused a key federal patent database in order to block the release of competing generic asthma inhalers.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Legal Issues Loom For Driverless Trucking
Companies' recent experiments with driverless trucking technology herald a transformation of the logistics sector — but stakeholders must reckon with increasing regulatory scrutiny, emerging liability issues, and concerns around ethical guidelines, insurance and standardization, say Zal Phiroz at Pier Consulting Group and Nicolas Bezada at Unishippers.
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Del. Ruling Adds Momentum For Caremark Plaintiffs
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent opinion in Lebanon County Employees' Retirement Fund v. Collis could be viewed as expanding plaintiffs' ability to viably plead a Caremark claim against directors, so Delaware companies should be on heightened alert and focus on creating a record of board oversight, say attorneys at V&E.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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Best Practices For Untangling Mass Tort Claimants' Liens
Recent litigation over faulty earplugs produced by 3M is just one example of a mass tort where settlement payouts to claimants will likely be complicated by the number of liens and lienholders involved — but claimants' attorneys can speed up the lien resolution process by keeping a few key strategies in mind, says Mark Eveland at Verus.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.