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Product Liability
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June 18, 2024
Ford Says Sanctions Violated Due Process In $1.7B Case
Attorneys for Ford Motor Co. urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday either to order a new trial or substantially reduce a record-setting $1.7 billion punitive damages verdict returned against the automaker in litigation over a fatal rollover, arguing the award resulted from "death penalty sanctions" that essentially directed a verdict against it.
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June 18, 2024
FTC Escalates Probe Into TikTok's Privacy Measures For Kids
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday took the rare step of publicly disclosing its referral to the U.S. Department of Justice of a complaint against TikTok and its parent company over their compliance with a 2019 privacy settlement, saying there's "reason to believe" that the companies are out of step with their pledge to protect children on the platform.
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June 18, 2024
J&J Fights Law Firm's Bid To Nix Subpoenas In Talc Brawl
Information about the Beasley Allen Law Firm's litigation funding and settlement communications is relevant and necessary to resolving long-running multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products and so should be turned over, the pharmaceutical giant has told a New Jersey federal court.
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June 18, 2024
Restitution Plan For Lead-Test Defects Leaves Judge Uneasy
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday questioned the legality of a plan to have a claims administrator, rather than the court, oversee victim compensation in a criminal case alleging Magellan Diagnostics hid information about inaccurate results in its lead-testing devices.
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June 18, 2024
Insurers Must Keep Defending Heating Oil Co. In Class Suit
Two Crum & Forster units must continue defending a heating oil company and several executives in a class action claiming the company provided oil with elevated levels of biodiesel that caused property damage, a Massachusetts federal court ruled, saying the policies' "failure to supply" provisions do not limit or exclude coverage.
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June 17, 2024
Excess Insurers May Need To Pay In Kaiser Asbestos Dispute
A policyholder can tap into first-layer excess policies as soon as the primary coverage for that period is exhausted, the California Supreme Court ruled, potentially implicating several first-level excess insurers to contribute to coverage for underlying asbestos exposure claims against Kaiser Cement and Gypsum Corp.
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June 17, 2024
US Surgeon General To Seek Warning Label On Social Media
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has called on lawmakers to require social media companies to put warnings on their sites that say young people who use them have more mental health issues, according to an opinion article published on Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal
Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.
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June 17, 2024
Chrysler MDL Class Can Fix 'Puzzling' State Claim Skip
A Michigan federal judge has said he will give a class of drivers alleging Chrysler minivans have a defect that causes their batteries to explode unexpectedly an opportunity to fix their "puzzling" choice not to plead state-by-state claims in the first master complaint of the sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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June 17, 2024
Zantac Suits Must Exit State Court, Conn. Judge Told
A Connecticut state court judge must relinquish jurisdiction over two lawsuits claiming that generic versions of the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer because state statutes do not subject entities with foreign business registrations to the auspices of Constitution State judges, a pharmaceutical industry attorney argued at a hearing Monday morning.
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June 17, 2024
Boeing, Virgin Can't Agree To Injunction's Scope In IP Row
Boeing and Virgin Galactic have clashed over whether Virgin can share information with outside contractors gleaned as part of a failed aircraft development contract, as Boeing's suit accusing Virgin of breaching the deal and misappropriating trade secrets moves forward in Virginia federal court.
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June 17, 2024
Ga. Panel OKs Instruction In $4.5M Spinal Device Injury Suit
The Georgia Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court's decision to tell jurors not to consider the availability of insurance benefits when considering the issues of liability and damages in a case in which a woman whose doctor incorrectly implanted a spinal cord stimulator was awarded $4.5 million.
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June 17, 2024
Talc Claimants Want Documents In Fight Over J&J Unit Venue
Cancer patients with talc damage claims against Johnson & Johnson have urged a New Jersey federal court to give them access to transcripts and exhibits from depositions of top executives at the company's talc unit, saying the information will aid their effort to bar the J&J spinoff from filing a third Chapter 11 outside the Garden State.
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June 17, 2024
Justices Won't Hear Challenge To NY Gun, Ammo Sales Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition by New York gun shop owners seeking to appeal a decision striking down their suit challenging state laws regulating firearm sellers and ammunition sales.
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June 14, 2024
Meta Halts AI Tech Debut In EU After Regulatory Backlash
Meta Platforms Inc. said Friday that it was putting on hold plans to expand its artificial intelligence offerings to the European market after the Irish privacy regulator raised concerns about the company's efforts to use public content posted on Facebook and Instagram to fuel these models.
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June 14, 2024
Blistering Dissents Belie Justices' Penchant For Consensus
Thirteen days into June, the U.S. Supreme Court had recorded one of the highest rates of unanimous decisions in the past four decades. But the era of historic consensus was tarnished a bit Friday when the court issued three split decisions and two scathing dissents highlighting how much the nine justices differ.
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June 14, 2024
Janssen Hit With $150M Verdict In HIV Drug False Claims Suit
A New Jersey federal jury hit Janssen with a $150 million False Claims Act verdict in a 12-year-old whistleblower suit, finding that the drugmaker violated the federal law as well as 27 related state FCA statutes by illegally profiting from the off-label marketing of two popular Janssen HIV medications.
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June 14, 2024
Monsanto Says Wash. Ruling Axes $275M PCB Verdict
Monsanto has asked a Washington state appeals court to reverse a $275 million verdict against it in a suit over polychlorinated biphenyls exposure at a school site, saying a recent reversal of a $185 million verdict by the court in another case greatly bolsters its argument for another reversal.
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June 14, 2024
Feds, Tribes Say Mill Owners Liable For 150 Years Of Pollution
The federal government, the state of Washington and a slew of tribes are suing the owners of a shuttered sawmill and a property group that now oversee the sawmill area's development, alleging that for more than a century, hazardous substances from the operation released into Port Gamble Bay and have harmed its natural resources.
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June 14, 2024
FAA Probes Fake Titanium Docs From Boeing Supplier
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it's investigating whether certain Boeing Co. jets were manufactured with titanium components that may have been sold to the plane maker with falsified authenticity documents.
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June 14, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Recharge Energizer Battery False Ad Suit
Energizer defeated a proposed class action accusing it of fraudulently touting its AA Max batteries are "up to 50% longer lasting," after the Ninth Circuit said Friday reasonable consumers wouldn't be misled by the statement since it doesn't promise they'll always last 50% longer than competing products in all applications.
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June 14, 2024
'Alkaline Water' Co. Owes Another $3.1B For Liver Failures
A Las Vegas jury awarded $3 billion in punitive damages and $89.75 million in compensatory damages Friday to a group of children and adults who experienced severe liver problems after drinking toxin-adulterated "alkaline water," adding to the product maker's legal woes.
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June 14, 2024
Political Speech Groups Challenge NJ Judicial Privacy Case
Two voting-integrity groups moved Friday to dismiss federal claims brought against them under New Jersey's Daniel's Law on the grounds that their business of publishing voter registration information is political speech protected by the First Amendment and federal voting rights laws.
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June 14, 2024
Justices Overturn ATF Rule Banning Bump Stocks
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does not have the authority to ban bump stocks, finding that the firearm accessory can't be considered a machine gun for purposes of the National Firearms Act.
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June 13, 2024
Thomas Targets Group Standing In Mifepristone Ruling
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined his colleagues Thursday to unanimously uphold broad access to the abortion medication mifepristone for now, but he wrote separately to challenge a standing rule that often serves as the key to the courthouse doors for litigants of all varieties.
Expert Analysis
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Retailers Must Be Mindful Of Sale Ads As Class Actions Rise
A recent uptick in class actions filed against retailers over a breadth of allegedly deceptive pricing practices — including misleading reference prices for sales and discounts offered on a perpetual basis — show no sign of slowing down, indicating that class counsel are laser-focused on challenging advertising strategies, say Louis DiLorenzo and Paavana Kumar at Davis+Gilbert.
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Legislative And Litigation Trends In Environmental Advertising
Companies that tout their products' environmental benefits can significantly reduce the risk that they will face allegations of greenwashing by staying up to date on related Federal Trade Commission guidance, state requirements and litigation trends, say Raqiyyah Pippins and Kelsie Sicinski at Arnold & Porter.
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Considering The Logical Extremes Of Your Legal Argument
Recent oral arguments in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump highlighted the age-old technique of extending an argument to its logical limit — a principle that is still important for attorneys to consider in preparing their cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions
A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.
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6th Circ. Ruling Breathes New Life Into Article III Traceability
The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Hardwick v. 3M Co. to vacate a district court's certification of one of the largest class actions in American jurisprudence for lack of Article III standing has potentially broader implications for class action practice in the product liability sphere, particularly in medical monitoring cases involving far-fetched theories of causation, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Storytelling Strategies To Defuse Courtroom Conspiracies
Misinformation continues to proliferate in all sectors of society, including in the courtroom, as jurors try to fill in the gaps of incomplete trial narratives — underscoring the need for attorneys to tell a complete, consistent and credible story before and during trial, says David Metz at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Aviation Watch: 737 Max Blowout Raises Major Safety Issues
The sudden in-flight loss of a side panel on an Alaska Air 737-9 Max last month, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane's cabin, highlighted ongoing quality issues at Boeing, the jet's manufacturer — but the failure also arose from decisions made by the airline, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict
In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.
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Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
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Opinion
New Rule 702 Helps Judges Keep Bad Science Out Of Court
A court's recent decision to exclude dubious testimony from the plaintiffs' experts in multidistrict litigation over acetaminophen highlights the responsibility that judges have to keep questionable scientific evidence out of courtrooms, particularly under recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, says Sherman Joyce at the American Tort Reform Association.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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Opinion
Proposed Rule Could Impair MDL Flexibility, Harm Plaintiffs
While proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 is intended to enhance the management of multidistrict litigation proceedings, its one-size-fits-all requirements could stifle the flexibility that judges need to address the varying circumstances of MDLs effectively, and jeopardize plaintiffs' ability to pursue justice, say Christopher Seeger and Jennifer Scullion at Seeger Weiss.
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Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand
Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards
In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.
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Opinion
Food Safety Bill Needed To Protect Kids From Heavy Metals
The recent announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that hundreds of children may have been exposed to unsafe lead levels in applesauce highlights the continuing failure by Congress to pass legislation that would require baby food manufacturers to ensure safer levels of heavy metals in their products, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.