WILMINGTON, Del. – David Gordon of California, who filed a bankruptcy plan as owner of defunct asbestos defendant Owens-Illinois in January, triggered a mighty battle among insurers the last time he filed one.
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - A Connecticut judge has dismissed lawsuits by four cities against the opioid industry, saying there is no logical way for the plaintiffs to calculate damages or distribute any money they might win in the litigation.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A Moreno Valley, California, man has filed a class action lawsuit against the maker of Tylenol alleging that the company misleads consumers about the effectiveness of its rapid-release acetaminophen.
MEDIA – Opioid litigation in Pennsylvania appears to be in chaos as a prominent law firm has withdrawn from a leadership position on the plaintiff side and unions and the county surrounding the city of Allentown fight efforts to consolidate all lawsuits in a single court.
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – A lawyer for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which was ordered by pay $40.1 million to a man who claimed he developed mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos, is asking a judge for a new trial.
When it hired outside lawyers to represent it in lawsuits against the opioid industry, Harris County agreed to pay a contingency fee of 35%, more than double the rate in Dallas County and equal to the highest in the state.
Several Pennsylvania counties are fighting to keep control of their opioid lawsuits as the national law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy, with the active support of the companies it is suing, seeks to create what a rival attorney calls a litigation "cesspool."
The fight for control of Pennsylvania’s opioid litigation is not over, as Lehigh County is not happy that its case has been grouped in with more than 30 others and that lawyers it previously rejected have been tasked with overseeing the proceedings.
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers meeting in San Francisco last week for a conference on opioid litigation acknowledged that the hundreds of lawsuits they have filed in state and federal court will be difficult to resolve without an unprecedented national settlement whose mechanics are still difficult to predict.
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors has named the teams of lawyers who will try to negotiate a settlement of hundreds of federal lawsuits - a complex task given parallel investigations and litigation by state attorneys general and potentially conflicting goals of private attorneys and their government counterparts.
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - There will be a lot of familiar faces in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s courtroom in Cleveland on Jan. 31, when lawyers gather for a hearing on multidistrict litigation against the nation’s opioid manufacturers and distributors.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A two-hour hearing on frivolous lawsuits before a U.S. Senate committee may have lacked focus on pending legislation but did produce a few noteworthy moments - including Sen. Al Franken’s assertion that there are “bad actors” filing meritless lawsuits, though he is opposed to the reforms presented.
CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – A food manufacturer faced with a class action lawsuit for allegedly selling a highly lead-tainted product filed a motion to dismiss in April.
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A San Francisco consumer has filed a class action lawsuit over allegations that a spice product contained high levels of lead.
The average number of companies targeted by some of the biggest asbestos firms in their lawsuits is in the triple-figures, according to recent statistics, leading some, especially those in claims management, to question the strategy of plaintiffs’ lawyers.
ALBANY, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Two New York customers are suing a Dollar General and Dolgencorp, alleging they deceive customers into buying potentially harmful motor oil.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – A New York woman is suing Uber after the company allegedly placed pre-recorded robo-calls to her and other New Yorkers.
