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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

What's So Weird About the Exxon Decision?

Posted on June 26, 2008
I just finished reading the decision in Exxon v. Baker and have a few preliminary thoughts. As most of our readers are aware from Byron's post, the decision reconsidered the punitive damages in the case arising out of the Exxon...

SCOTUS Reduces Exxon Oil Spill Punitive Damages to Match Compensatory Damages

Posted on June 25, 2008
Article on cnn.com -- High court reduces Exxon oil spill damages. Here's an excerpt: The Supreme Court has reduced a $2.5 billion punitive damages award against energy giant Exxon for its role in an infamous 1989 maritime oil spill. The...

Scruggs To Receive Sentence

Posted on June 23, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Sentencing Doesn't End Scruggs's Legal Woes, by Ashby Jones. Here's an excerpt: Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, the high-profile plaintiffs lawyer who pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to bribe a Mississippi judge, will likely...

Viewing the Battle Over Tort Reform

Posted on June 23, 2008
Interesting, expansive article in the New York Times -- To the Trenches: The Tort War Is Raging On, by Jonathan Glater. Thanks to Evan Anziska for emailing it to me. Here's an excerpt: In a Washington ballroom bedecked with flags...

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Neurologist Requested Additional Warnings for Neurontin

Posted on June 20, 2008
A U.S. District Court in Boston and New York state court held joint hearings on whether lawsuits against Pfizer, Inc. based on Neurontin could continue. Plaintiffs allege that the drug lead to suicides. Here's an excerpt of Jeremy Singer-Vine's Wall....

Scheuerman on the Relationship Between Punitive Damages & Class Actions

Posted on June 20, 2008
Susan Scheuerman (Charleston) just posted an article entitled "Two World Collide: How the Supreme Court's Recent Punitive Damages Jurisprudence Affects Class Actions" on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article examines the intersection between two controversial areas of the law...

Widener Law Journal's Crimtorts Symposium Issue

Posted on June 18, 2008
The Widener Law Journal has published its issues in connection with its February 2008 symposium, Crimtorts. Torts Prof Blog has links to all the articles, which include the following: Christopher J. Robinette, Introduction Kenneth W. Simons, The Crime/Tort Distinction: Legal...

Milberg Update

Posted on June 18, 2008
There are several recent articles on the Milberg fallout. The first is an article in the American Lawyer by Alison Frankel on William Taylor III, Milberg LLP's counsel on its recent deal. Here's an excerpt: In the end, says the...

Miller on Preliminary Judgments

Posted on June 17, 2008
Geoffrey Miller (NYU) just posted an article called "Preliminary Judgments" on bepress. Here is the abstract: This article proposes the preliminary judgment as a means for facilitating the settlement of legal disputes. A preliminary judgment is simply a tentative judicial...

After preemption, where do mass tort lawyers go?

Posted on June 16, 2008
For mass tort plaintiffs' lawyers, the scariest legal issue of the moment is preemption. If FDA approval of a warning or product preempts state law tort claims, lots of otherwise viable mass torts disappear. Preemption has figured prominently on this...

Taylor v. Sturgell

Posted on June 12, 2008
Today the Supreme Court decided Taylor v. Sturgell, the FOIA virtual representation case. The unanimous opinion by Justice Ginsburg unequivocally rejects virtual representation as a basis for nonparty preclusion, as Alexi Lahav noted earlier. As far as I'm concerned, the...

New Details on the Kentucky Fen-Phen Settlement

Posted on June 12, 2008
Beth Musgrave of the Kentucky Herald-Leader has the latest report on Kentucky fen-phen attorneys William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills Jr., who are accused of taking more than $65 million from their clients in the diet drug settlement...

Procedure in the Supreme Court

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Republic of the Philippines v. Pimentel (06-1204), a Rule 19 case (failure to join a necessary party) arising out of a human rights mass tort action against Marcos. The opinion can be found...

Pet Owners Seek Class Action Over Food Additives

Posted on June 10, 2008
The Daily Business Review reports that animal owners are seeking class certification over a new type of pet food class action that resembles a false-advertising claim. They claim that certain advertisements make false claims about the contents of pet food,...

Supreme Court grants cert in Williams v. Philip Morris (again)

Posted on June 09, 2008
The Supreme Court today granted certiorari to hear another appeal concerning punitive damages in Williams v. Philip Morris, this time to decide whether the Oregon courts complied with the U.S. Supreme Court's earlier ruling in the case. Here's a link...

Two Perspectives on Bill Lerach

Posted on June 09, 2008
Conde Nast's Portfolio.com's July issue features a story by Bill Lerach titled "I Am Gulity." New York Times writer Joe Nocera offers a less flattering perspective in his story, "Serving Time, but Lacking Remorse." Both are interesting reads. ECB

FDA Warning Letters Decline

Posted on June 07, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- FDA Warning Letters to Companies Decline Sharply, by Jared Favole. Here's an excerpt: The number of Food and Drug Administration warning letters sent to companies dropped by half in the past 10 years,...

New Emprical Study on Summary Judgment

Posted on June 06, 2008
An article entitled "Summary Judgment Cases Over Time, Across Case Categories, and Across Districts: An Empirical Study of Three Large Federal Districts," by Theodore Eisenberg & Charlotte Lanvers, just posted on SSRN (available here) reaches some interesting conclusions about summary...

NJ Supreme Court decides Sinclair v. Merck

Posted on June 04, 2008
The New Jersey Supreme Court issued its decision in Sinclair v. Merck, a medical monitoring class action filed against Merck on behalf of Vioxx users who had not filed personal injury claims. The opinion is available here. The court rejected...

Antiobesity Drug Linked to Deaths in U.K.

Posted on June 04, 2008
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Acompli has been linked to several deaths in the United Kingdom. The U.S. FDA rejected Acompli for sale in the United States last year. Here's an excerpt from the Journal's report: A spokesman for...

Mel Weiss Receives 30-Month Sentence

Posted on June 03, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Weiss Gets 30-Month Sentence, by Rhonda L. Rundle and Nathan Koppel. Here's an excerpt: The career of one of the nation's most entrepreneurial, controversial, philanthropic and rich lawyers came to a close Monday,...

Milberg LLP Nears Settlement Deal

Posted on June 02, 2008
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that prosecutors are close to reaching a $75 million deal with Milberg LLP, although both sides declined to comment. Here's an excerpt: If the amount under discussion in the Milberg talks holds, the government will...

Florida Asbestos Cases Revived

Posted on June 01, 2008
The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Florida revived thousands of Florida asbestos suits last week by ruling that the Florida Asbestos and Silica Compensation Fairness Act couldn't be applied retroactively. Here's an excerpt of the Daily Business Review's story:...

Judge Grants Initial Approval to Pet Food Class Settlement

Posted on June 01, 2008
Article in the Associated Press -- Recalled pet food settlement gets initial approval, by Geoff Mulvihill. Here's an excerpt: A judge granted initial approval Friday to a settlement in which companies that manufactured or sold contaminated pet food would compensate...

WSJ on Vioxx Appellate Rulings

Posted on May 31, 2008
Editorial in the Wall Street Journal -- Vindicating Vioxx. Here's an excerpt: Texas and New Jersey may have different political cultures, but appeals courts in both states this week delivered a one-two punch to the liability suits against Merck for...

Texas and New Jersey Courts Overturn Vioxx Verdicts

Posted on May 30, 2008
Article in the Houston Chronicle -- Court tosses Vioxx award: Houston panel rules plaintiff will get none of the $26 million, by Mary Flood. Here's an excerpt in which I'm quoted: A Houston appellate court Thursday overturned a $26 million...

ABA Mass Torts Litigation Committee Spring 2008 Newsletter

Posted on May 29, 2008
The ABA's Mass Torts Litigation Committee has posted its Spring 2008 Newsletter, which includes the following articles: Foreign Torts and the Commerce Clause: Territorial Limitations On State Power To Impose Punitive Damages, by William E. Thomson (Gibson Dunn) Public Nuisance...

Pfizer Begins Public Relations Campaign to Counter Chantix Concerns

Posted on May 29, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Pfizer Seeks to Counter Chantix Concerns, by Alicia Mundy and Avery Johnson. Here's an excerpt: Pfizer Inc. is preparing an advertising and public-relations campaign to counter concerns about its antismoking drug Chantix, once...

Pfizer to Hire Amy Schulman as Next General Counsel

Posted on May 29, 2008
Amy Schulman, who heads the mass tort/class action practice at DLA Piper, will be the next general counsel at Pfizer. Ms. Schulman lead the Celebrex and Bextra litigations for Pfizer (see WSJ blog and article), and was also the subject...

Mel Weiss Files Sentencing Memo

Posted on May 28, 2008
Article in AmLaw Daily -- Defending Mel Weiss, by Ben Hallman. Here's an excerpt: Mother Teresa, move aside. Melvyn Weiss, a plaintiffs lawyer who made millions of dollars by suing corporate America--and who recently pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy...

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