News from September 2022
Judge OKs Google Photos face scans class action settlement; Claimants get $150 each, lawyers get $35M
The $100 million settlement ends a class action lawsuit brought against Google, accusing the company of illegally scanning the faces of Illinois residents appearing in photos uploaded to Google Photos.
Affordable Housing and Community Development Attorney Angela Christy Joins Ballard Spahr as Partner
Affordable Housing and Community Development Attorney Angela Christy Joins Ballard Spahr as Partner.
Study: Competition for patients in physician-led hospitals would improve access to care
The Economic and Social Benefits of Physician-Led Hospitals report found that 55% of physician-led hospitals are in Southern states like Florida and Texas.
Trial Attorneys of New Jersey to Honor Lynne M. Kizis with the Trial Bar Award
Trial Attorneys of New Jersey to Honor Lynne M. Kizis with the Trial Bar Award.
Morrisey leads U.S. Supreme Court brief supporting stronger religious freedom at work
CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is co-leading an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a broader right to religious accommodations in the workplace.
Lawsuits: Smith & Wesson should pay for Highland Park shootings; Shooter allegedly influenced by marketing
The lawsuits build on the campaign to use such litigation to make gun manufacturers liable for the criminal actions of others using firearms the manufacturers have made
Child abuse victim can’t sue authorities for violating reporting law
SALEM, Ore. (Legal Newsline) - A victim of child abuse can sue the police for failing to protect him from his stepfather but not for violating specific duties under Oregon law, the state’s highest court ruled in an advisory opinion for a federal judge.
Court: Oakland can't sue Raiders over move to Vegas
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - The City of Oakland isn’t entitled to damages over the relocation of the Raiders football team to Las Vegas, a California appeals court ruled, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming the National Football League and its member teams violated an agreement to consider a dozen factors including the impact a team’s relocation would have on the local community.
Ancestry.com wins class action over its use of yearbook photos
CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge has thrown out a class action lawsuit against Ancestry.com before lawyers could get it to trial.
Seresto-brand flea and tick collars the subject of class action over pet deaths
MIAMI (Legal Newsline) - The makers of Seresto flea and tick collars face a class action lawsuit that says approximately 1,700 pets have died as a result of using them.
Ogletree Deakins Expands Workplace Safety Practice into Ohio, Welcomes Duo to Cleveland
Ogletree Deakins Expands Workplace Safety Practice into Ohio, Welcomes Duo to Cleveland.
Unhappy client can sue lawyers over punitive damages award, court rules
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - Clients who are ordered to pay punitive damages can sue to recover the money from their lawyers, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled, rejecting arguments state law and public policy protect lawyers from being subject to punitive damages awards.
Appeals court reverses $3.7 million fee In BMW class action
PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - Citing its “special responsibility” to scrutinize plaintiff fees in class action litigation, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a $3.7 million fee awarded to three law firms in a lawsuit over allegedly defective BMW engines because they didn’t provide detailed enough billing records.
One-year limit doesn’t apply to woman suing over stillbirth, court rules
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A hospital that argued a woman was a day late in suing over the death of her fetus lost on appeal, as a California court ruled a judge or jury might decide she didn’t suspect medical malpractice until later.
Wrongful-death plaintiffs must turn over nine years of Facebook posts
FRANKFORT, KY (Legal Newsline) - A Kentucky couple who sued the hospital that delivered their son after he died from a brain injury lost their request to block a subpoena for nine years of Facebook posts, with the state’s highest court saying they wouldn’t suffer any irreparable harm by turning it over.
'WHT CHOCO' on price tag could be false advertising, Calif. court rules
LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - Consumers could be misled into believing Target’s White Baking Morsels contain white chocolate because the price tag had the abbreviation “WHT CHOCO,” a California appeals court ruled, reviving a class action a trial judge had dismissed after finding no reasonable consumer could have been deceived.
Class action firm fights back, says it doesn't have to split $470K
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers who want half of more than $470,000 in fees and costs given out in a class action settlement failed to submit their billing records, says a firm fighting to keep it all.
Lawsuit says your apple pie has more palm oil than butter
BENTON, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - Schwan's Consumer Brands faces a class action lawsuit because its brand of apple pie that boasts it is made with real butter actually contains a higher level of palm oil.
Lawsuit: Nutrition Action subscribers subjected to piles of junk mail
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Legal Newsline) - The publisher of the Nutrition Action healthletter faces a class action lawsuit that says it unlawfully sold its subscribers' information to advertisers and political organizations.
Rick Robinson wins lifetime achievement honors from Washingtonian
Rick Robinson wins lifetime achievement honors from Washingtonian.