Daniel Fisher News
California loses claim on $1.25 million 'wrongful life' settlement
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - California’s Medicaid program was awarded too big a share of a $1.25 million “wrongful life” settlement between a severely disabled child and the doctor who allegedly failed to inform his parents of birth defects in time to abort the fetus, an appeals court ruled.
Major verdicts for hip replacement patient keep getting reversed
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - A medical device manufacturer’s expert was improperly excluded from testifying in a lawsuit over an allegedly defective hip implant because the trial judge misunderstood the difference between proving a case and casting doubt on a plaintiff’s claims, a California appeals court ruled.
Retirement home defeats lawsuit over resident who was killed when he was hit by car
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - A retirement home whose executives were convicted of felony elder abuse for allowing a resident to wander off repeatedly, until he was struck by a car and killed, is protected against lawsuits by California’s two-year statute of limitations, an appeals court ruled.
Retiring NAAG leader criticizes dissident AGs, 'Beltway publications'
In his final message to members before starting a planned retirement, National Association of Attorneys General Executive Director Chris Toth took a swipe at critics, including a number of Republican AGs and unnamed “Beltway publications,” who have questioned the organization’s management and practice of collecting tens of millions of dollars in settlements negotiated by state AGs.
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Lemon law lawyers get $170K in fees for $22K recovery as Supreme Court affirms
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Settling a split among California appellate courts, the state Supreme Court affirmed an attorney fee award of nearly eight times what the client recovered in a dispute over a car purchase, saying state law trumps a federal rule limiting how much consumers can win by suing their lenders.
Fee Fight: Opioid lawyers challenge order directing money to colleagues
CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) - Private lawyers representing hundreds of cities and counties including Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, have asked a federal appeals court to block a judge’s order steering potentially billions of dollars in fees from opioid settlements to a small group of lawyers in charge of federal multidistrict litigation.
Court gives San Diego the green light to sue Instacart over payroll taxes
SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) - A California appeals court ruled that San Diego can sue Instacart for failing to collect payroll taxes from shoppers who use its app, even though California citizens passed a proposition confirming shoppers were independent contractors.
Justice Dept. opposes appeal of decision ordering breaks for flight attendants
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Biden administration has opposed U.S. Supreme Court review of an appellate decision enforcing California wage-and-hour rules for flight attendants, even as it acknowledges it would be impossible for airlines to comply with the section of the law allowing employees to leave the premises during meal breaks.
Republican AGs leave national group in fight over management, finances
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A long-simmering fight over how the National Association of Attorneys General is managed – including how it handles nearly $300 million it has obtained from legal settlements -- has broken into the open, as at least five state AGs have withdrawn from the organization and others signed on to a harsh letter calling for greater transparency in its finances and management.
Exxon loses one defense as it fights Massachusetts AG's climate lawsuit
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - The Massachusetts Supreme Court allowed the state’s climate lawsuit to proceed, rejecting ExxonMobil’s attempt to dismiss the case under a law written to discourage litigation designed to retaliate against public speech.
Employer might be liable for worker's massive weight gain
BOISE, Idaho (Legal Newsline) - A worker who gained more than 100 pounds after he injured his back on the job might be able to obtain workers’ compensation for near-total disability, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled, reversing a state commission’s finding that the employee was responsible for becoming morbidly obese.
Third Circuit rebukes NLRB for taking 'salt mine' tweet so seriously
PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - Saying federal labor regulators had “lost the forest for the trees,” an appeals court threw out unfair-labor charges against the publisher of a conservative newsletter who joked on his personal Twitter account that he would send any employees who tried to form a union “back to the salt mine.”
Seven-figure suicide verdict reversed
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Parents who won a $1.4 million verdict against a pediatrician and physician assistant they blamed for their daughter’s suicide failed to prove poor medical care was the cause of the girl’s death, the Texas Supreme Court ruled, reversing the verdict and affirming a stringent test for liability in suicide cases.
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Surprise! Insurance actually didn't cover your surgery. Here's a bill for $229,000 and a lawsuit
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - A hospital that hit a patient with a surprise $229,000 bill for back surgery can’t collect because it didn’t spell out the potential cost in advance, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, applying basic principles of contract law to the complicated business of healthcare billing.
California governor fends off class action over COVID lockdown
SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) - California restaurants and gyms lost their effort to pursue a class action against Gov. Gavin Newsome over his stringent Covid-19 lockdown measures, as a state appeals court rejected arguments the orders violated administrative procedure law or represented an unconstitutional taking of their property.
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Iowa taxpayers could pay for fatal crash caused when drunk driver speeds down wrong side of highway
DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa taxpayers may be on the hook for a fatal crash that occurred after a drunk driver sped the wrong way down a highway at more than 100 mph and collided with a police car going the other way, the state’s highest court has ruled.
Court decides if Twitter users can be punished for retweeting slander
CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) - People who retweeted a slanderous post about a school teacher can’t be sued for libel, New Hampshire’s highest court ruled, affirming the sweeping protections for Internet services Congress established under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Cities want to charge national chains more property tax when they are successful; Kan. court to decide issue
TOPEKA, Kan. (Legal Newsline) - The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether buildings housing “big box” stores like Walmart and Target are worth more than other commercial structures simply because of who occupies them.
Lamb disqualified by Kansas Supreme Court, owner loses championship belt buckle
TOPEKA, Kan. (Legal Newsline) - The governing board of the Kansas State Fair had the power to disqualify the 2016 grand champion of the market-lamb competition after a veterinarian noticed suspicious signs it had been injected with a foreign substance, an appeals court ruled, rejecting the owner’s argument the board overstepped its authority.
Lawyer doesn't have to pay firm for clients he took when he switched jobs
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - An agreement requiring a family-practice lawyer to pay more than $1,000 for each client he took with him when he left his former firm is unenforceable, a Colorado appeals court ruled, although another type of penalty might comply with ethics rules.