Daniel Fisher News
$4 million malpractice verdict reversed over daughter's lifetime damages
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - A Florida appeals court reversed a $4 million wrongful death verdict after a plaintiff attorney urged jurors to consider the “long, long life” over which an alleged malpractice victim’s daughter would have to think about her father’s death.
Ninth Circuit sends climate case back to California state court
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Three California counties will be able to continue their lawsuits against the oil industry in their home courts, after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments their claims based on global warming raised issues of federal and international law that required them to remain in federal court.
Fitness studio loses appeal for compensation over Gov. Whitmer’s Covid shutdown
LANSING, Mich. (Legal Newsline) - A Michigan fitness studio isn’t entitled to compensation for the time it was shut down under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency Covid-19 regulations, an appeals court ruled, reversing a lower-court decision that kept the lawsuit alive. The fact the Michigan Supreme Court later ruled the governor exceeded her authority didn’t affect the outcome of the case.
Tobacco plaintiff allowed to argue his last cigarette should have been safer
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - A Massachusetts appeals court ordered another trial over whether RJ Reynolds should have sold safer cigarettes, ruling a judge erroneously told jurors a safer design had to have been available before the plaintiff became addicted to cigarettes.
Court again reverses $2M wrongful death verdict against bar in case of driver still drunk after nap
PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) - An Arizona appeals court reversed for a second time a $2 million verdict against a bar over a patron who was driven safely home by a friend but woke up hours later and killed two people with his vehicle.
Would-be tribal leader who wouldn't sign confidentiality agreement loses case
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Legal Newsline) - An Alaska man who was elected to the board of a tribal corporation was properly barred from taking his seat because he refused to sign a confidentiality agreement, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled, rejecting as unripe for adjudication his argument the clause was overbroad and prevented him from disclosing wrongdoing.
$50 million cap stares at AG Moody's hired guns as private lawyers reap opioid windfall
Florida began the trial in its opioid lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain yesterday, with outside attorneys representing the state in what could be an expensive, weeks-long courtroom ordeal.
Group pushing coffee-causes-cancer lawsuits makes latest plea after Ninth Circuit ruling goes against it
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Repeating allegations that led a federal judge to recuse herself from litigation over acrylamide in foods, a lawyer-driven nonprofit group has asked the judge who replaces her to reverse orders that stopped its lawsuits in their tracks.
Employer not liable for wreck caused by supposedly sleep-deprived security guard
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A security company isn’t liable for an accident that occurred when one of its employees fell asleep at the wheel driving home from work, a California appeals court ruled, rejecting arguments for a “special exception” to the general rule protecting employers against accidents caused by employees commuting to work.
Florida jury can place blame on State, not Walgreens, for opioid crisis
DADE CITY, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - A Florida jury will hear evidence that the state’s attorney general once blamed weak regulatory oversight and the lack of a centralized prescription database for the opioid crisis, which it now blames on the Walgreens pharmacy chain.
Waiver saves Calif. school district from lawsuit over brain injury
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A California school district isn’t liable for a high-school student’s brain injury, an appeals court ruled, because his parents signed a complete release before the season started and there was no evidence coaches were guilty of gross negligence for failing to notice he was in distress.
Delaware ruling is bad news for asbestos defendant
DOVER, Del. (Legal Newsline) -The Delaware Supreme Court revived a woman’s lawsuit against the company that made a grinding device her late husband said he used decades before he was diagnosed with asbestos-related cancer, saying there was enough evidence for it to proceed.
Private lawyers take $84 million from Florida opioid settlements; Some are campaign contributors to AG Moody
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced $860 million in opioid settlements with CVS and three other companies, leaving only Walgreens as a defendant in a trial scheduled to begin in state court April 4.
Calif. school district must pay $2 million over classroom shooting
FRESNO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A California school district must pay $2 million over a classroom shooting because employees failed to properly assess the threat posed by an angry student, an appeals court ruled, rejecting arguments state law grants immunity from negligence suits over mental examinations.
Addiction crisis: Florida AG tries to blame Mexico and China in public but not in court
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody lost her bid to prevent opioid defendants from telling jurors about illegal fentanyl flooding the state from conspirators in Mexico and China - a theory the Republican AG herself has loudly promoted in calls for tighter border security.
Should pharmacies have to pay billions to two Ohio counties for opioid issues?
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Walmart, Walgreens and CVS told a judge they should pay only a small fraction of the $2 billion or more that two Ohio counties are seeking for an “abatement” plan to address opioid abuse, saying they supplied less than 3% of the suspicious prescriptions plaintiff lawyers blame for the wider opioid crisis.
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Lawyers may collect $60K in fees and costs over car-loan dispute
FRESNO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers who represented a couple who sought to reverse the purchase of a used car that turned out to be a lemon may collect nearly $60,000 in fees and costs from the lender, a California appeals court ruled.
Defendant can seek legal fees in Jones Act spat over where ship was built
SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) - A dredging company turned the tables on a competitor that sued it for violating federal law, winning a ruling by a California appeals court that it can seek attorneys fees under the state’s anti-SLAPP law prohibiting retaliation against protected speech.
Lawsuit over 4-year-old losing eye blocked because parents sued wrong hospital
OKLAHOMA CITY (Legal Newsline) - A couple who sued over the loss of their 4-year-old son’s eye lost the case because they sued the wrong medical center and realized the mistake too late, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled.
Attempted payoff by class action lawyers to objector rejected by judge
OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge rejected a proposal by plaintiff lawyers to pay a man $25,000 to drop his objection to a $114 million antitrust settlement, saying she didn’t want to set a precedent for similar “objector blackmail” in other cases.