Daniel Fisher News
Veil lifted, slightly, on asbestos money flowing through South Carolina court
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - The court-appointed receiver for a long-defunct insulation company in South Carolina has paid more than $27 million to settle asbestos cases, according to a new filing that provides limited financial information about one of the secretive funds the receiver uses to hold proceeds of settlements with insurance companies.
Mass. Supreme Court blocks class action lawyers' wiretap claims against hospital
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - A pair of Massachusetts hospitals didn’t violate a wiretapping law by monitoring the browsing habits of website users although they may be liable under other statutes, the state’s highest court ruled.
Dallas asbestos firm drives defense nuts with stacks of books, microscopes and crying at trial
Before a Connecticut trial this year over whether talcum powder caused a man’s abdominal cancer, lawyers for Johnson & Johnson pleaded with a judge to prevent plaintiff lawyers at Dean Omar Branham Stanley from engaging in what they called “repeated and pervasive misconduct.”
Insurers funding shadowy S.C. asbestos accounts want secrecy to continue
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - Nothing to see here, folks. That was the position of lawyers who appeared at an unusual hearing last week called by South Carolina Judge Jean H. Toal to explain how the receivership process in her asbestos court works, and why details about it should remain secret.
Oil companies say Md. judge keeps climate suit alive for wrong reason
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Legal Newsline) - Oil companies say a Maryland judge is keeping a climate lawsuit by Annapolis and Anne Arundel County alive for the wrong reason while ignoring a fellow judge’s dismissal of a nearly identical case by the City of Baltimore.
Secrecy shrouds asbestos money in South Carolina, but insurer makes play for records
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A South Carolina personal-injury lawyer with a court-ordered commission to keep a third of whatever he recovers has placed tens of millions of dollars in Delaware partnerships that he controls, out of sight of the public and even the judge who allowed them to be established.
Climate change may be 'accident,' but CO2 is 'pollutant,' Hawaii court rules
HONOLULU (Legal Newsline) - Recklessly emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere qualifies as an “accident” but CO2 is also a “pollutant” excluded from insurance coverage, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled, answering questions central to a closely watched climate lawsuit.
'Slammed the door in my face': Key cog in South Carolina's asbestos court not at U.K. showdown
A London judge hearing a U.K. company’s challenge to receivership orders handed down by his judicial counterpart in South Carolina called the procedure “a bit sort of odd,” given the U.K. company has never done business in South Carolina and has no assets there.
Expert pushing talc-causes-cancer theory must ID patients in her disputed study
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - A New York appeals court ordered an expert to turn over the names of patients she cited in a paper that provided crucial support to disputed claims talcum powder can cause cancer.
Huge payday for lab behind Zantac cancer lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - The laboratory that claimed the heartburn drug Zantac can cause cancer could earn more than $20 million under a $2.2 billion settlement with drugmaker GSK ending 80,000 lawsuits in state courts around the country.
Let's talc about the personal-injury lawyers controlling South Carolina's legislature
South Carolina’s asbestos-litigation industry is aiming at Johnson & Johnson, adding supposedly deadly talcum powder to the long list of products plaintiffs claim made them sick. And if history is any guide, J&J is in for a rough time in the Palmetto State.
Foreign mining company caught in South Carolina's asbestos machine must go to trial in February
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - The judge in charge of South Carolina’s swelling asbestos docket agreed to delay a trial against Anglo American and its De Beers diamond unit over whether they participated in a decades-long scheme to hide assets from U.S. plaintiffs but rejected Anglo American’s central argument, which is that the U.K. mining giants shouldn’t be in her courtroom at in the first place.
After $63M loss, Johnson & Johnson preps for another trial in unfriendly South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - Johnson & Johnson is scheduled to begin trial next month in a South Carolina court where it lost a $63 million verdict last month and the presiding judge has a reputation for pro-plaintiff rulings and stiff sanctions against companies that dare to oppose her.
Ala. court tosses $3 million verdict over worker's death; Woman was sucked into machine
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - There was no evidence to support a judge’s $3 million verdict against a manufacturing executive accused of removing a safety gate from a plastics-extruding machine, leading to the death of a worker, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled.
Schools in New Hampshire can hide child's gender identity from parents
CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) - Childrearing is a fundamental right under the New Hampshire Constitution, but that doesn’t mean parents can make a constitutional case out of school regulations requiring teachers to hide a child’s gender identity from parents if the child so wishes, the state’s highest court ruled.
J&J's $9 billion talc bankruptcy: Good for plaintiffs, if not their lawyers
Johnson & Johnson has proposed, for the third time, a simple deal for plaintiffs claiming its cosmetic talcum powder gave them cancer: File a claim in bankruptcy court, and get a check for up to $200,000.
Jury of one: Asbestos judge fattens verdicts when she wants
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A South Carolina judge criticized as overly generous to plaintiffs in asbestos cases is making defendants pay whatever she feels, despite what juries and federal courts say, and was just given approval to do so by the state Supreme Court.
Winner of $63M talc verdict worked in asbestos-filled building but jurors never knew
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A man who won a $63 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson over what he claims was asbestos-contaminated talcum powder worked in a building later condemned for being “full of asbestos” and told his doctor about his suspected exposure to the deadly fibers.
Zantac lawyers bought the evidence, now they're spending big on ads for lawsuits
Plaintiff lawyers massively increased spending on ads soliciting clients to sue over Zantac after a Delaware judge ruled there was enough evidence to proceed with more than 70,000 suits claiming the once-popular heartburn medicine causes cancer.
Bucks County cut corners to file climate change lawsuit, oil industry says
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (Legal Newsline) - Picturesque Bucks County, Pa., decided to do something about climate change itself earlier this year when it hired private lawyers on a contingency-fee basis to sue 14 of the world’s largest oil companies.