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Product Liability
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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.
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June 13, 2024
Equipment Maker Looks To Chill Ice Creamery's Use Of Its IP
A company that holds a patent for making ice cream using cryogenics has accused a Florida franchisor of falsely claiming to operate under a patent, saying in Washington federal court that the dessert purveyor has even been charging franchisees an "intellectual property fee."
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June 13, 2024
NYC Sued Over Policy Targeting Unlicensed Pot Stores
More than two dozen New York City retailers have launched a proposed federal class action against the city alleging that enforcement of a new policy targeting stores for selling cannabis without a license has resulted in the unconstitutional closing of hundreds of businesses.
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June 13, 2024
Monsanto Can't Plead Ignorance On PCB Pollution, Cities Say
Chicago suburbs looking to hold Monsanto and related businesses accountable for their financial share of reducing pollutants in water that flows into Lake Michigan urged an Illinois state court to keep their case alive, arguing the companies should have known about the dangers of the chemicals in products.
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June 13, 2024
Oral Arguments Granted In $51M NOLA Airport Defect Row
A Louisiana federal judge will hear oral arguments next month over a counterclaim brought by the city of New Orleans concerning damages at a $1 billion terminal project for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
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June 13, 2024
Lockheed Should Face Toxic Exposure Suit, 11th Circ. Told
A widower who sued Lockheed Martin Corp. claiming it exposed his wife to chemicals that ultimately killed her urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reverse the dismissal of his lawsuit, saying a Florida federal court improperly excluded a key expert witness by not reviewing the evidence.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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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.