Daniel Fisher News
'Pillsbury Doughboy' loses talc case; No one ever tested his house for asbestos
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - A California jury recently rejected claims Johnson’s Baby Powder caused a man’s cancer, despite hair-raising testimony that talc is contaminated with deadly asbestos fibers and the plaintiff’s mother covered him with so much of it that “he would look like the Pillsbury Doughboy.”
Same day, two different golf injuries, two different court rulings
ALBANY, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - A golfer who was hit in the eye by an errant ball during a tournament has no case against the course but a woman whose golf cart collided with a car in the parking lot can try her luck with a jury, New York’s highest court ruled.
Will RFK's FDA create windfalls for trial lawyers?
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Trial lawyers are poised to cash in on product-liability class actions with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the Food and Drug Administration.
Chevron: We have no gas stations in Rhode Island, so why are you suing us?
At a court hearing over Rhode Island’s climate lawsuit against oil companies, Chevron asked why it is being sued for allegedly misleading gasoline consumers over the impact of fossil fuels, since it sold its last gas stations there in 1985.
Judge raps 'astonishing example of plagiarism' in climate suit
SAN JUAN, P.R. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge in Puerto Rico sanctioned the lawyer representing the City of San Juan in a climate lawsuit for “an astonishing example of plagiarism” by copying entire passages from legal filings by other municipalities on the island in their own climate cases.
No oil wells in Rhode Island: Chevron calls climate change lawsuit frivolous
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Legal Newsline) - Rhode Island’s sloppily drafted complaint in a climate lawsuit against several major oil companies falsely claims they drilled for oil and refined it in the state, Chevron said in a filing seeking to throw out the suit as frivolous.
Carolina lawyer tasked with mining for asbestos money hit with $1.3M U.K. penalty
A U.K. court has ordered South Carolina attorney Peter Protopapas to pay 1 million British pounds – about $1.3 million at current exchange rates -- by the end of the month to compensate a foreign company that complained he tried to illegally seize control of it to collect money for U.S. asbestos plaintiffs.
Secret settlement didn't bias testimony in $20 million amputation case, court rules
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - There was no need to cross-examine a physician assistant who entered into a secret settlement agreement before testifying against a nurse in a medical malpractice case that resulted in a $20 million jury verdict, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled.
Doctor accused of using his own sperm to face suit from strangers/half-siblings
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Strangers who discovered through genetic testing they were half-siblings can sue the doctor they say substituted his sperm for that of their legal fathers, causing them mental anguish and possible medical problems.
Bonus for railroad workers to get COVID vax could be 'coercive'
HELENA, Mont. (Legal Newsline) - Federal law preempts a Montana statute barring discrimination against unvaccinated workers but BNSF employees can still pursue claims a $300 bonus for getting vaccinated was “coercive.”
'Nuclear option': Canadian companies ask Carolina Supreme Court to stop asbestos judge
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - The South Carolina Supreme Court soon will decide whether a judge’s increasingly aggressive view of her authority extends to foreign companies that never did business in the state.
Sex with staff could bite doctor sued for exploded breast
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A woman whose breast implant “blew open” in the shower gets another chance to sue her surgeon for malpractice, after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled jurors were improperly prevented from hearing about the doctor’s three-way sex relationship with his office manager.
Why wouldn't SCOTUS take up Hawaii climate change case, as others fail around it?
The oil industry won a high-profile victory in New York this week, right on the heels of a bitter defeat as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling allowing a similar climate change case to proceed.
Dead man's tale told to jury OK, Va. SC rules in $2 million case
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) - The family of a priest who died after falling in the hospital will be able to keep a $2 million jury verdict, after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled the trial judge did not err by allowing in testimony about the dead man’s supposed explanation for why he fell.
Diamond company fights being dragged into controversial Carolina asbestos court
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - The diamond-trading giant De Beers has filed a scathing motion in South Carolina court accusing a lawyer suing it in the name of another U.K. firm of acting without authority and possibly in collusion with local plaintiff lawyers.
Little, weaker Southern Comforts still create a buzz as class action moves forward
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge has allowed a class action to proceed accusing Southern Comfort of misleading New York consumers by selling a “whiskey flavor” malt beverage in bottles that resemble full-strength Southern Comfort.
Keller Postman says Tubi's lawyers should be DQ'd; Case says firm files frivolous claims
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The law firm Keller Postman, accused of filing frivolous arbitration claims against Fox Broadcasting’s Tubi unit, has fired back with a demand that Tubi’s lawyers at Jenner & Block be disqualified for contacting some its clients.
Powerful lawyer in S.C. asbestos court warned to stop, or possibly face jail time
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A U.K. court has threatened South Carolina attorney Peter Protopapas with prison if he continues to claim he is the legal representative of Cape Plc, a U.K. company whose corporate predecessor once mined asbestos in South Africa.
Split Ohio SC: Plaintiff wins nothing, lawyers should get nothing
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - A plaintiff who won a lawsuit but was awarded zero damages isn’t entitled to attorney fees under Ohio’s consumer protection statute, the state’s highest court ruled.
Alabama Workers' Comp law survives a Sonic attack
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - Alabama’s workers’ compensation regime survived a constitutional challenge by a man who wanted to sue over his daughter’s injuries while working at a Sonic Drive In, with the Alabama Supreme Court ruling legislators had the power to take away the right to sue and replace it with a scheme providing guaranteed compensation.