Daniel Fisher News
Lawyers hit with $10K in sanctions over 'schoolyard bullying'
SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) - A California law firm must pay $10,000 in sanctions for behavior an appellate judge likened to “the adult equivalent of schoolyard bullying,” including refusing to respond to requests for evidence and sending sneering emails to opposing counsel.
City not liable for unqualified inspector's OK of stairs that caused slip-and-fall
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - An Iowa city can’t be sued for hiring an unqualified inspector who failed to flag stairs that didn’t meet building code requirements, the state Supreme Court ruled, shutting down an apartment building owner’s attempt to drag the city into a slip-and-fall lawsuit.
FCC's 'name and shame' racial scorecard rule faces court challenge
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A religious broadcasting group has sued to block a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring all broadcasters with five or more employees to publish information about the racial and ethnic makeup of their workforce.
Police officer loses job over Facebook posts about Milwaukee Bucks player
MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - A police officer who was fired over offensive Facebook posts after he arrested former Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown doesn’t have a constitutional right to get his old job back, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled.
Oregon hospitals now liable for drugs they 'sell' to patients; AMA warns of side effects from ruling
SALEM, Ore. (Legal Newsline) - In a decision with broad implications for the cost of healthcare in Oregon, the state Supreme Court ruled hospitals can be sued for providing drugs plaintiffs consider defective, spreading potential liability beyond drugmakers to include any entity that administers pharmaceuticals to patients.
'No highways' directive from eye doctor means no money for plaintiffs in hay wagon accident
BISMARCK, N.D. (Legal Newsline) - An eye doctor who warned his patient not to drive on the highway isn’t responsible for a fatal accident that occurred when the patient’s truck rammed a horse-drawn hay wagon on the highway, the North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled.
Mark Zuckerberg has no duty to fix the world, judge rules
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Mark Zuckerberg may be one of the world’s most powerful people by dint of his control of Facebook owner Meta, but that doesn’t expose him to liability for failing to fix the world’s problems, Delaware’s Chancery Court ruled.
California: Lawyers get $518K in fees for winning client $70K
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers who won their client $70,000 in an employment dispute can collect half a million dollars in fees, but no additional interest, a California appeals court ruled
Utah won't take in lawsuit that already lost in New Jersey
SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) - A man who claims a defective safety harness caused him to fall 37 feet to the ground can’t sue the distributor in Utah after his case was tossed out for lack of evidence in New Jersey, the Utah Supreme Court ruled.
Social worker with PTSD from murder by client can collect Workers' Comp
ST. PAUL, Minn. (Legal Newsline) - A social worker who claimed crippling post-traumatic stress disorder after hearing about the “horrific” murder committed by one of her clients can continue to collect benefits for PTSD, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled.
Google seeks to end government's 'doomed' antitrust case
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Legal Newsline) - Google has asked a federal court to end the Biden Administration’s lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing the Internet advertising market, saying the government is using “made-up markets” to build its case and ignoring robust competition throughout the online ad business.
Lebanese bank bought terrorism liability along with assets
ALBANY, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - A Lebanese bank that paid $580 million for the assets of Lebanese Canadian Bank also bought New York jurisdiction over lawsuits claiming LCB financed terrorism, the state’s highest court ruled.
Nevada 'ghost gun' ban is constitutional, court rules
CARSON CITY, Nev. (Legal Newsline) - A Nevada statute banning the sale of unfinished gun parts that can be assembled into untraceable “ghost guns” is constitutional, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled, even as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar ban at the federal level.
COVID could be occupational disease, as split Nebraska SC rules for nurse
LINCOLN, Neb. (Legal Newsline) - The Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the denial of a woman’s claim for workers compensation over a COVID-19 infection early in the pandemic, although dissenters including the court’s chief justice said the opinion misinterpreted the law and may not have any legal effect.
Law firm must defend claim it botched case over non-compete agreement
DOVER, Del. (Legal Newsline) - A law firm that was fired midway through litigation over an insurance broker’s non-compete agreement must defend itself against claims the case could have been won absent the malpractice of the attorneys, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled.
Supreme Court wrong, California right: Worker with no claim can sue on behalf of others
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Stating a U.S. Supreme Court decision “is not binding on California courts,” an appeals court restored a worker’s lawsuit under the state private attorneys general law on behalf of hundreds of fellow employees although she didn’t file an individual claim for herself.
Criticized by FDA and DoD contract still a mystery, but drug-testing lab has possibly spawned another mass tort
In what has become a familiar pattern, a testing lab called Valisure last month told the Food and Drug Administration that Clearasil and other widely used acne medications contain potentially cancer-causing benzene.
Washington hospitals could be liable for malpractice by contractor physicians
OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - Hospitals may be liable for the actions of contractor physicians working in their emergency rooms, the Washington Supreme Court ruled, reversing the dismissal of a case involving a woman who died after an ER doc allegedly failed to diagnose flesh-eating bacteria in her shoulder.
Iowa HR exec can't use harassment reports in her own lawsuit
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - The State of Iowa doesn’t have to pay a $790,000 jury award to a state employee who claimed a hostile work environment based mostly on secondhand reports she received as an administrator overseeing social workers in the Iowa Department of Human Services.
FTC's 'gerrymandered' market claims at heart of Meta lawsuit
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuits against Amazon and Facebook owner Meta share one essential – and both companies say, legally shaky – claim: That they monopolized their “relevant markets.”