Product Liability

  • May 22, 2024

    Mich. Judge Gives Final OK To Engineering Co. $8M Flint Deal

    A Michigan federal judge has granted final approval of an $8 million settlement between a civil engineering company and Flint, Michigan, residents, putting to rest claims the company failed to warn them of likely lead contamination that triggered a drinking water crisis in the city.

  • May 21, 2024

    Hawaii Wins $916M From Bristol-Myers, Sanofi Over Plavix

    Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi owe more than $916 million to the state of Hawaii for not warning patients of East Asian or Pacific Island ancestry of potential health risks associated with their blood thinner Plavix, a state judge ruled Tuesday, following a trip to the state's highest court.

  • May 21, 2024

    Wawa, Sherwin-Williams Beat Paint Slip-And-Fall Suit

    Gas station chain Wawa Inc. and paint maker Sherwin-Williams Co. can't be held liable for injuries a New Jersey man sustained after slipping on a yellow parking lot line, a state appeals court ruled, calling the plaintiff's expert report "speculative and unsupported" by the facts.

  • May 21, 2024

    Molson Coors' Mimosas More Water Than Wine, Suit Says

    Two consumers hit Molson Coors Beverage Co. with a proposed class action Monday in Missouri federal court, alleging that the company's mimosa drinks are misbranded because they are not made with sparkling wine but rather made with sparkling water and sugar and contain only small amounts of orange juice.

  • May 21, 2024

    Counties Not 'Persons' In Texas Opioid MDL Appeal

    A Texas appeals panel found Tuesday that counties are not considered "persons" under the state's common law and therefore are not subject to the Texas Medical Liability Act's requirement that they serve expert reports to pharmacy defendants in the state's opioid multidistrict litigation.

  • May 21, 2024

    TotalEnergies Hit With Climate Criminal Complaint In France

    Three environmental groups, alongside eight victims of climate change, filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday in Paris against French petroleum company TotalEnergies' board of directors and main shareholders for their alleged contribution to climate change and its impact on humans and the environment.

  • May 21, 2024

    3rd Suit Alleges Panera's 'Charged' Drink Caused Heart Attack

    An 18-year-old man sued Panera Bread Co. in Pennsylvania federal court Monday alleging its highly caffeinated "Charged Lemonade" drink caused him to suffer a heart attack, at least the third such suit filed against the franchise over the now-discontinued beverage. 

  • May 21, 2024

    BASF Agrees To $316.5M Settlement In PFAS Foam MDL

    Attorneys representing public water systems in a South Carolina multidistrict litigation over so-called forever chemicals in drinking water announced Tuesday that they've reached an agreement in principle with defendant BASF Corp., which will pay $316.5 million to resolve the claims.

  • May 21, 2024

    Attys Accused Of Botching NC Suit By Missing Filing Deadline

    The parents of two children who died in a car fire are suing their former attorneys in North Carolina federal court for malpractice, alleging they dropped the ball on filing the pair's wrongful death claims against a seat belt manufacturer before the deadline passed.

  • May 21, 2024

    DOJ, VW Ask 9th Circ. To Void Jones Day Docs Release Order

    The U.S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen have told the Ninth Circuit that forcing them to release confidential Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal would have far-reaching, chilling implications for federal criminal prosecutions.

  • May 21, 2024

    Altria Unit Fights Bids To Toss Illegal Vape Sale Suit

    Altria Group Inc. subsidiary NJOY LLC is fighting a pair of bids to dismiss its suit seeking to block illegal sales of flavored vapes, saying it has shown both how it has been harmed by their sale and how preventing the sales would redress its injuries.

  • May 21, 2024

    Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023

    The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.

  • May 21, 2024

    The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms

    The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.

  • May 20, 2024

    Kraft Hit With False Ad Suit Over Citric Acid In Mac & Cheese

    The Kraft Heinz Food Co. was hit with a proposed class action by a customer who alleges that the company falsely labels its Kraft Mac & Cheese products as containing no preservatives despite citric acid being part of the ingredients list.

  • May 20, 2024

    Snap Hit With Wrongful Death Suit Over 13-Year-Old's Suicide

    The mother of a 13-year-old boy hit Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc. with a wrongful death suit in South Carolina federal court on Friday, alleging that her son died by suicide after a predator extorted him by posing under a fake name on the social media company's platform.

  • May 20, 2024

    Lab Says GSK Hid Zantac Cancer Risk From Feds For Decades

    A Connecticut laboratory claims that GlaxoSmithKline defrauded federal health insurance programs for billions by hiding for 40 years that Zantac decomposes into a carcinogen even when just sitting on the shelf, in a lawsuit filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • May 20, 2024

    McKinsey Can't Nix Pregnant Women's Claims In Opioid MDL

    A California federal judge has cut some claims from multidistrict litigation seeking to hold McKinsey & Co. Inc. liable for infant neonatal abstinence syndrome caused by pregnant women's use of opioids, trimming fraud and nuisance-based claims, but allowing conspiracy and aiding-and-abetting claims to proceed against the consulting firm.

  • May 20, 2024

    Lyft Has No Duty To Screen Passengers For Criminal History

    A California appeals court has thrown out a former Lyft Inc. driver's suit against the company alleging he was stabbed by a passenger because the company failed to perform background checks on passengers, saying the company has no such duty.

  • May 20, 2024

    10th Circ. Oral Args. Poised To Shape NM Pollution Coverage

    The Tenth Circuit said there were "good arguments on both sides" of an appeal at oral arguments Monday over whether absolute pollution exclusions doomed a New Mexico property owner's quest for defense coverage of underlying contamination litigation, in a case that could set the tone for insurance battles in the state.

  • May 20, 2024

    8th Circ. Upholds Deere's Win In Insurer's Tractor Fire Suit

    Deere & Co. has no duty to reimburse Secura Insurance Co. for coverage payments after two of its insured's tractors caught fire in separate incidents, the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday, noting the distinction between a design and manufacturing defect.

  • May 20, 2024

    Local Governments Seek Sanctions For PBMs In Opioid MDL

    Four municipalities are asking an Ohio federal court overseeing the national opioid litigation to sanction pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRX Inc., saying they've willfully defied the court's order to provide complete responses to discovery requests.

  • May 20, 2024

    Senate Report Ties Automakers To Uyghur Forced Labor

    BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen imported cars and their parts that were manufactured by a Chinese company sanctioned for using forced labor, according to a congressional report released Monday raising concerns about compliance with recent measures to crack down on labor violations.

  • May 20, 2024

    J&J Says Beasley Allen Looking To 'Bias' Vote On $6.5B Plan

    Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt talc unit accused the Beasley Allen Law Firm of attempting to intentionally "bias" the vote against its recently announced proposal to pay out $6.5 billion in a prepackaged reorganization plan to resolve claims that its talc-based baby powder causes ovarian cancer.

  • May 20, 2024

    Calif. Atty Denies Role In Flint Water PR Stunt

    A California attorney representing a public relations firm told a Michigan federal judge on Monday that she had nothing to do with the firm's campaign attacking a lawyer suing one of its clients connected to the Flint water crisis. 

  • May 20, 2024

    Ga. Judge OKs $5M Atty Fees In $41M Acella Thyroid Deal

    A Georgia federal judge has signed off on a nearly $41.5 million class action settlement with Acella Pharmaceuticals LLC over faulty thyroid medication, while awarding the class attorneys another $5 million in legal fees courtesy of the pharma company.

Expert Analysis

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Opinion

    FDA And Companies Must Move Quickly On Drug Recalls

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    When a drug doesn't work as promised — whether it causes harm, like eyedrops recalled last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or is merely useless, like a widely used decongestant ingredient recently acknowledged by the agency to be ineffective — the public must be notified in a timely manner, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Transparency And Explainability Are Critical To AI Compliance

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    Although there is not yet a comprehensive law governing artificial intelligence, regulators have tools to hold businesses accountable, and companies need to focus on ensuring that consumers and key stakeholders understand how their AI systems operate and make decisions, say Chanley Howell and Lauren Hudon at Foley & Lardner.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes

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    With social media’s ability to seize upon an issue and spin it into a specifically designed narrative, it is more critical than ever that a litigation communications strategy be part of trial planning to manage the impact of legal action on a company's reputation, say Sean Murphy and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Opinion

    Civil Litigation Against Gun Businesses Can Reduce Violence

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    With mass shootings skyrocketing, and gun control legislation blocked by powerful interest groups, civil litigation can help obtain justice for victims by targeting parties responsible beyond the immediate perpetrator — including gun manufacturers, dealers and retailers, says Tom D'Amore at D'Amore Law Group.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Opinion

    Time To Ban Deferred Prosecution For Fatal Corporate Crime

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    As illustrated by prosecutors’ deals with Boeing and other companies, deferred prosecution agreements have strayed far from their original purpose, and Congress must ban the use of this tool in cases where corporate misconduct has led to fatalities, says Peter Reilly at Texas A&M University School of Law.

  • Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs

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    State laws regulating hemp-synthesized intoxicants are a patchwork with little consistency between any given state, and without the adoption of a uniform regulatory framework, producers and consumers alike will need to be very cautious, say Dylan Anderson and Seth Goldberg at Duane Morris.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

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