News from March 2021
Flashlight-maker tries to keep sales partner from claiming $6M in COVID profits
CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – Two companies that peddled flashlights, work lights and batteries during the COVID-19 pandemic now find themselves in a $6 million fight.
Massachusetts county suing Apache over failed Permian Basin effort
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) – A Massachusetts county’s pension system is suing Apache Corporation after losing part of its investment in the company.Plymouth County Retirement System, through a group of securities class action lawyers, filed their case Feb. 23 in Houston federal court.
Repressed memories halt statute of limitations for man's sex abuse lawsuit against Baptist church
HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) - A Texas man who settled an assault lawsuit against a former top official of the Baptist Convention in 2004 can sue the church over alleged sexual abuse that occurred before then despite a five-year statute of limitations in such cases, an appeals court ruled.
STEPTOE & JOHNSON PLLC: Kevin E. Hess Joins Firm's Labor and Employment Practice
Kevin E. Hess has joined the Columbus office of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC.
Maryland Judiciary advances COVID-19 reopening plan; jury trials resume April
The Maryland Judiciary is set to advance to Phase IV of its COVID-19 operations plan on March 15, 2021.
Snack Pack-maker, lawyer battle over what is 'real milk'
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – The pudding plaintiff is not being reasonable, the maker of Snack Packs says as it fights a class action lawsuit over claims they are made with real milk.
S.C. Johnson, in class action battle, says plaintiff got what she paid for
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A class action lawsuit that S.C. Johnson & Son misled customers when it said its ecover cleaning products are made “with plant-based ingredients” fails to identify a single lie, the company argues.
Lawsuit: Gateway scamming New Jersey area with promise of market-based electricity rates
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Gateway Energy Services is facing a class action lawsuit that alleges its bad faith pricing practices have burned consumers in New Jersey and other states.
N.Y. landlords fed up with eviction moratorium, file lawsuit
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – Landlords have been brought to the brink of financial and emotional disaster, a new lawsuit says, thanks to New York’s ban on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Retrial ready after first had lawyer crying and calling defendants 'filth' on way to $500K punitive damages verdict
DOVER, Del. (Legal Newsline) – The slate is wiped clean for a second Delaware trial after the first included the plaintiff’s lawyer crying and calling the defendants “filth” and a $500,000 punitive damages award – even though only $28 in compensatory damages were issued.
REED SMITH LLP: Reed Smith names 2021 Deborah J. Broyles Diverse Scholar Award winners
Global law firm Reed Smith announced today that Christopher Pineda, a second year law student at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and Marquan Robertson, a second year law student at the University of Notre Dame Law School, are recipients of the firm’s 2021 Deborah J. Broyles Diverse Scholar Award.
MORGAN LEWIS: Morgan Lewis Partner Giovanna Cinelli Named 2021 Top Advisor by Foreign Investment Watch
Morgan Lewis partner Giovanna Cinelli, leader of the firm’s international trade and national security practice, has been selected for inclusion on Foreign Investment Watch’s (FIW) list of Top Advisors for 2021.
BALLARD SPAHR LLP: Experienced Corporate Trust Attorney Robert Borhart Joins Ballard Spahr in Minneapolis
Robert Borhart—an experienced financial services attorney known for his work on corporate trust matters—has joined Ballard Spahr as Of Counsel in its Minneapolis office, firm Chair Mark Stewart announced.
HUSCH BLACKWELL LLP: U.S. Privacy Law Update: Analyzing the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act
Virginia became the second state – after California – to enact state consumer data privacy legislation – the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA).
Morrisey sends letter to U.S. Senate opposing McCabe's EPA nomination
CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has sent a letter to the leadership of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee opposing the nomination of Janet Gaven McCabe as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Lawyer kept client's death a secret, gets hit with $100K penalty
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Legal Newsline) - Alaska’s high court upheld nearly $100,000 in sanctions against a lawyer who pursued a wrongful-termination lawsuit against Alaska Airlines for nearly a year without informing the airline or the court that his client was dead.
Unneeded prostate surgery justifies punitive damages, Missouri Supreme Court rules
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - The children of a man who died after what may have been unnecessary prostate surgery were entitled to punitive damages, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled, even though a subsequent change in the law has put them out of reach in such cases.
ABCmouse sued for renewing memberships automatically
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Unhappy users are suing ABCmouse because their memberships were automatically renewed.
Election 2020 aftermath: Voting machines sue pillows for defamation
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – The voting systems company accused of manipulating last year’s Presidential election is suing MyPillow and its founder, Mike Lindell, for defamation.
Fox News fights Avenatti's defamation case, points out he was actually arrested
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) – Fox News and several of its personalities want a Delaware federal judge to throw out the defamation lawsuit of Michael Avenatti.