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Class Action

Mass Tort Litigation Blog

Law professors discuss mass tort and class action lawsuits.

Post Frequency: 9.9/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 17:41:19

Today's Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Oral Argument

Posted on March 29, 2011
Adam Liptak has an article in today's New York Times on the oral argument in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which is available here. And here's a link to the oral argument transcript. ECB

The Principles and Politics of Aggregate Litigation: CAFA, PSLRA, and Beyond

Posted on March 29, 2011
This coming Friday, the University of Cincinnati College of Law is holding its 2011 Corporate Law Symposium, which is about The Principles and Politics of Aggregate Litigation: CAFA, PSLRA, and Beyond. The symposium is this Friday, April 1 (no joke),...

NY Times Piece on Social Framework Evidence in Dukes v. Wal-Mart

Posted on March 28, 2011
Though Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. concerns employment discrimination as opposed to mass torts, it has the potential to change Rule 23(a)'s class certification standard across the board. So, for those of you who have been following the case, Adam....

Video for Mississippi College Law Review Symposium on BP Oil Spill

Posted on March 27, 2011
The Mississippi College Law Review has posted the video for its symposium, Beyond the Horizon: The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis -- Analyzing the Economic, Environmental, and Legal Implications of the Oil Spill. Panel One included Ms. Trudy Fisher, Executive Director,...

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The Market for Specious Claims

Posted on March 25, 2011
S. Todd Brown (Buffalo) has posted a paper entitled The Market for Specious Claims on SSRN. It promises to be an interesting application of the adverse selection problem to our favorite subject here at the Mass Tort Litigation Blog! Here...

Are Class Actions Unconstitutional?

Posted on March 10, 2011
I've just posted a book review of Martin Redish's book Wholesale Justice: Constitutional Democracy and the Problem of the Class Action Lawsuit (Stanford U. Press 2009) to SSRN. Here is a link to the review, entitled Are Class Actions Unconstitutional?...

Luff on Risk Regulation and Regulatory Litigation

Posted on March 10, 2011
Patrick Luff (Oxford) has posted Risk Regulation and Regulatory Litigation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Since at least the 1960s, when Congress enacted civil rights statutes that provided for private enforcement, courts have been hotbeds of public policy...

Campos on the Future of Mass Torts

Posted on March 08, 2011
Sergio Campos (Miami) sent me the link to the following debate on the University of Pennsylvania Law Review's internet companion Pennumbra (cute eh? the italics are in the original) The short piece is called "The Future of Mass Torts -...

A Computer Could Do That Job

Posted on March 05, 2011
The title of an article by John Markoff at the NYTimes called "Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Computers" says it all. The article is about software programs that sort through documents received in e-discovery. I often tell my students...

BP Management Failures and the Gulf Oil Spill

Posted on February 27, 2011
Article in the Harvard Gazette -- Deep water, deep trouble. BGS

BP Complains About Generous Terms From Oil Spill Fund

Posted on February 17, 2011
John Schwartz of the NYTimes reports in an article entitled "BP Says Terms in Oil Spill Settlement Are Too Generous." The basic complaint is contained in a 25 page letter to Mr. Feinberg that basically says BP is unahppy over...

Mississippi College Law Symposium on BP Gulf Oil Spill

Posted on February 16, 2011
On this Friday, February 18, Mississippi College School of Law will be hosting a law review symposium, Beyond the Horizon: The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis -- Analyzing Economic, Environmental, and Legal Implications of the Oil Spill. Here's the brochure: Download...

The Future of Arbitration: George Washington Conference

Posted on February 15, 2011
Alan Morrison and Roger Trangsrud of George Washington are hosting a conference on the future of arbitration on March 17-18. Here's a description of the program and list of the panels and times: Over the past several decades, the Federal...

Chevron's Use of U.S. Discovery to Aid Defense of Ecuadoran Environmental Litigation

Posted on February 01, 2011
AmLaw Daily has an interesting article on Chevron's use of 28 U.S.C. s. 1782, which allows U.S. discovery in aid of foreign litigation, in the ongoing litigation concerning alleged pollution in Ecuador. The article is The Global Lawyer: The Mystery...

A Small Claimant Lottery?

Posted on January 26, 2011
Shay Lavie (SJD Candidate, Harvard) has posted an article entitled Reverse Sampling: Holding Lotteries to Allocate the Proceeds of Small-Claims Class Actions on SSRN. Not exactly about mass torts but related to my long time interest in sampling and case...

5th Circuit Rejects Katrina Flood Settlement

Posted on January 25, 2011
Here is what Robin Effron at the Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog has to say about it: The Fifth Circuit rejected the $21 million settlement of a class action over damage caused by the levee breaches on the grounds...

Tobacco Medical Monitoring Decision in Eastern District of New York

Posted on January 24, 2011
Judge Amon in the Eastern District of New York last week dismissed plaintiffs' medical monitoring claim in a proposed tobacco class action. Caronia v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., No. 06-CV-224 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 13, 2011). Here's the decision. BGS

Lawsuit Loans

Posted on January 23, 2011
Interesting article from the New York Times on services that offer loans to litigants and the high interest rates typically charged: Lawsuit Loans Add New Risk for the Injured, by Binyamin Appelbaum. As a result of high interest rates, the...

Goff and Bales on Twombly, Iqbal, and Affirmative Defenses

Posted on January 21, 2011
Melanie Goff and Richard Bales (both of Northern Kentucky) have posted to SSRN their article, A 'Plausible' Defense: Applying Twombly and Iqbal to Affirmative Defenses, which is forthcoming in the American Journal of Trial Advocacy, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2011...

Eisenberg and Heise on the Judge-Jury Difference in Punitive Damages Awards

Posted on January 21, 2011
Theodore Eisenberg and Michael Heise (both of Cornell) have posted to SSRN their article, Judge-Jury Difference in Punitive Damages Awards: Who Listens to the Supreme Court? Here's the abstract: We analyze thousands of trials from a substantial fraction of the...

Actuarial Litigation: How Statistics Can Help Resolve Big Cases

Posted on January 20, 2011
I'm organizing a conference with the University of Connecticut Insurance Law Center called "Actuarial Litigation: How Statistics Can Help Resolve Big Cases" to be held on Friday, April 15, 2011 at UConn. The participants are an amazing group and there...

Brickman on Contingency Fees

Posted on January 20, 2011
Lester Brickman (Cardozo) has posted to SSRN his article, Unmasking the Powerful Force that Has Mis-Shaped the American Civil Justice System, which appears in the Global Competition Law Review, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2010. Here's the abstract: The contingency fee,...

Craig, Green, Klein, and Sanders on Toxic and Environmental Torts

Posted on January 20, 2011
West is publishing a new casebook, Toxic and Environmental Torts: Cases and Materials, by Robin K. Craig (Florida State), Michael D. Green (Wake Forest), Andrew Klein (Indiana-Indianapolis), and Joseph Sanders (Houston). BGS

Freedman on Claims Facilties as a Work Around the Ethics Rules

Posted on January 19, 2011
Monroe Freedman has a very interesting post on Legal Ethics Forum about the BP Oil Spill Claims Facility and ethics: Claims Facilities and the Nullification of Ethical Duties. ADL

Litigation Funding

Posted on January 17, 2011
I hope are readers are having a good MLK day and that your employer gave you the day off in observance! Benyamin Applebaum of the NY Times has an article on litigation funding in torts - the first story there...

Southwestern Law School Vancouver Summer Program at UBC & Global Tort Litigation Course

Posted on January 14, 2011
Southwestern Law School, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Law Faculty and the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, will host a four-week Summer Law Program in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from May...

Deborah Hensler and Global Class Actions Exchange

Posted on January 14, 2011
Stanford Law School recently launched an updated website for the Global Class Actions Exchange, which is coordinated by Professor Deborah Hensler (Stanford). BGS

Seiner on Twombly, Iqbal, and the Affirmative Defense

Posted on January 14, 2011
Professor Joseph Seiner (South Carolina) has posted to SSRN his article, Twombly, Iqbal, and the Affirmative Defense. (H/t Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog). BGS

Update on Amy Schulman and Pfizer's Approach to Law Firms

Posted on January 12, 2011
AmLaw Daily has a brief update on the Pfizer General Counsel Amy Schulman's innovative approach to retaining and evaluating a core group of law firms. BGS

Southwestern Law School Symposium on International Law Ten Years From Now

Posted on January 12, 2011
On Saturday, February, 26, 2011, the Southwestern Journal of International Law is hosting a symposium entitled, 2021: International Law Ten Years From Now, at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. The symposium is being presented in conjunction with International Law...

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