Steve Korris News
Illinois appellate court reverses asbestos verdict; Justices overrule conspiracy precedents
Appleton SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Asbestos witness Barry Castleman's testimony involving eight cancerous mice can no longer support the heavy load of asbestos litigation in McLean County, Fourth District appellate judges decided on July 15.
Agency not required to release Texas gov's travel info
Perry AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Newspapers might expose Gov. Rick Perry to physical harm if they track his travels too closely, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled on July 1.
Digitek lawyers settle fees dispute
Goodwin CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers who feuded in public over fees from national litigation against drug maker Actavis and distributor Mylan settled the dispute privately.
Fatal spider bite at nursing home covered by malpractice law
Johnson AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Medical malpractice law covers a fatal bite from a brown recluse spider in a nursing home, the Supreme Court of Texas decided on July 1.
Judge waits for Ill. SC on Tillery subpoenas
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore won't open records of private groups to class action lawyer Stephen Tillery unless the Illinois Supreme Court does.
Oil spill plaintiffs committee having trouble with responses
Duffy NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers leading litigation over the Deepwater Horizon explosion can't wriggle out of answers to sharp questions, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan decided on June 24.
Transocean pushes for production of medical records
NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Seven workers claiming orthopedic and emotional injuries from the Deepwater Horizon explosion won't let their employer examine their bodies or minds.
W.Va.'s cap on damages in med mal cases upheld
Margaret Workman CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) -- West Virginia legislators didn't violate the state constitution when they reduced a cap on damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases from $1 million to $500,000, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
SC allows Mylan case barred by N.C. statute to proceed in W.Va.
Margaret Workman CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) -- A man can't sue Mylan drug companies over his wife's death in North Carolina, where he lives and she died, but he can sue them in West Virginia.
W.Va. SC: Seat belt maker must pay claimant
Margaret Workman CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) -- Seat belt maker Autoliv must pay a driver's estate $85,000 to make up for a Chrysler check that bounced, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled on June 17.
Wal-Mart escapes $500 billion class action by one vote
Scalia WASHINGTON - By a single vote, retailer Wal-Mart escaped a class action that could have cost half a trillion and would have imposed court control on pay and promotions.
Asbestos conspiracy theory laid out at Ill. appellate court
Wylder SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - Companies that conspired to hide the hazards of asbestos occupy the same legal position as those that supplied asbestos to workers, according to attorney James Wylder of Bloomington, Ill.
Deepwater Horizon captain to take the Fifth
Barbier NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers litigating the Deepwater Horizon explosion have identified hundreds of witnesses for a trial in February, but the star of the show won't perform.
Federal judge dives into Digitek lawyer fees
Thompson CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin staged a 31-day test of wills between lawyers with so much drama he could have sold tickets.
W.Va. SC affirms $2M verdict for miner
Chief Justice Robin Davis CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - West Virginia Supreme Court justices chose not to second guess Boone County jurors who awarded coal miner Stanley Stevenson almost $2 million for a wrist injury.
Asbestos verdict argued at Ill. appellate court
Wylder SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - Punishing the living for deeds of the dead might work better in McLean County Circuit Court than at the Fourth District appellate court.
Each W.Va. justice off case involving colleague
Workman CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - All five Justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals have disqualified themselves from hearing a claim that a judge awarded an excessive fee to Justice Margaret Workman prior to her election.
Feinberg, Miss. AG butt heads in oil spill MDL
Hood NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is arguing that citizens of his state are incapable of resolving their oil spill claims, according to Gulf Coast Claims Facility administrator Kenneth Feinberg.
Fees dispute in oil spill case is sealed
Barbier NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) - Former teammates in oil spill litigation are grappling for $1,166,125 in fees, and U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will handle it in secrecy.
W.Va. judges can force insurers to destroy records
Davis CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - Judges can require insurers to destroy or return medical records that crash victims provide in lawsuits, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled.