Daniel Fisher News
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.
Nasdaq's diversity requirement, called 'identity politics,' struck down by Fifth Circuit
NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - A closely divided federal appeals court has struck down a rule requiring companies on the Nasdaq stock exchange to recruit women and minority board members, saying the regulation wasn’t authorized under federal securities law and didn’t promote the core goals of eliminating fraud and sharp trading practices.
After $80B in settlements, Ohio's top court just rejected the central premise of opioid lawsuits
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - The Ohio Supreme Court rejected the central premise of lawsuits that have produced some $80 billion in settlements -- and billions of dollars in fees for private attorneys -- ruling the state’s product-liability law bars allegations that legal products created a public nuisance.
Doctors in Nevada can be liable for suicides
LAS VEGAS (Legal Newsline) - There is no “suicide rule” in Nevada protecting doctors against malpractice suits by survivors of patients who killed themselves, the state’s highest court ruled.
Miss. court split on slander: Surgeon used the C-word to describe woman
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - A surgeon who assailed a nurse administrator out of her hearing with foul expletives didn’t commit slander even though earlier he had loudly criticized her over how she did her job, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled.
Flying mattresses aren't a 'dangerous condition,' court rules in casino case
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - A jury doesn’t need to decide whether day-bed cushions that took to the air during a squall and “popped” a casino customer in the back of the head represented a dangerous condition, a Mississippi appeals court ruled, upholding a trial court’s dismissal.
Brothel customers must appear at public hearing, in case allegedly involving powerful figures
BOSTON (Legal Newsine) - Men accused of frequenting a high-end brothel in Massachusetts must appear at a public hearing, the state’s highest court ruled, saying their right to privacy was trumped by public interest in a case that allegedly involves “government officials, corporate executives” and other powerful figures.
Overseas, judge criticizes South Carolina's asbestos litigation money-machine
The controversial plan to bring dead companies back to life in South Carolina to raid insurance policies they held decades ago doesn't fly in the United Kingdom.
Arizona's 'dark money' law doesn't threaten speech, court rules
PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) - An Arizona law requiring organizations that support political campaigns to report the ultimate source of donations over $5,000 doesn’t violate freedom of speech, an appeals court ruled, rejecting arguments the measure was unconstitutional and threatened donors with violence.
$1.7B Georgia verdict reversed; Ford can now present proper defense
ATLANTA (Legal Newslne) - Trial judges went too far when they stripped Ford Motor Co. of nearly all its defenses in a truck-rollover lawsuit that ended with a $1.7 billion jury verdict, a Georgia appeals court ruled.
Hedge-fund money complicates J&J's massive settlement for talc claims
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - Johnson & Johnson’s lawyers think they’ve identified the reason the company is having such a hard time settling thousands of lawsuits claiming its talcum powder causes cancer, even though it’s won the vast majority of the cases that have gone to trial.
'Direct defiance' leads to big penalty for big asbestos firm
RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) - A federal appeals court ordered the Napoli law firm to pay more than $1 million in sanctions, saying the prominent asbestos lawyers tried to interfere with a contract dispute by filing competing lawsuits in New York.
It's lawyer vs. lawyer in J&J's $9 billion talc bankruptcy plan
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers will face off at a January hearing in Houston to decide whether Johnson & Johnson can move ahead with a $9 billion plan to settle thousands of talc lawsuits in bankruptcy court, with each side accusing the other of manufacturing votes on the plan and possibly acting on the orders of outside investors with a stake in the outcome.