Publication Source Archive: Law360

In March, Judge Polster ruled that BakerHoestetler couldn’t represent Endo in the bellwether cases brought by the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, finding that this nonpublic information “may go to the heart of plaintiffs’ damages claims” and if used “could materially prejudice Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.” “BakerHostetler and Ms. Rendon are unhappy that Judge…Read the article

Six New York counties accused Verizon, AT&T and other major phone service providers of shirking their duty to support local emergency call services in a state lawsuit Wednesday, joining the ranks of counties countrywide that are suing to make the telecoms pony up 911 funding. “New York is a home rule state, so the counties…Read the article

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster clears the way for testimony at a bellwether trial by Russell Portenoy. “The court concludes Dr. Portenoy’s testimony is too important to the [bellwether] trial, and that exclusion of his testimony is too extreme a sanction under these circumstances,” Judge Polster wrote in rejecting sanctions that…Read the article

The initial complaint argued that the companies are responsible for coal dust pollution from their power plants. The proposed class action stems from coal ash at the LaBelle Refuse Site owned by Matt Canestrale Contracting Inc. The families claim the ash came from several now-closed power plants in western Pennsylvania.Read the article

A California appeals court revived claims Tuesday that Merck & Co. and other diabetes drugmakers failed to warn about their drugs’ pancreatic cancer risks, finding a lower court erred in not considering scientific evidence the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hadn’t evaluated. “In light of the [Ninth] Circuit’s reversal of Judge Battaglia’s order, which the…Read the article

In a motion to dismiss, drugmakers accused Ohio cities and counties of disregarding an April case management order requiring the disclosure of prescriptions that the governments believe were medically unnecessary or medically inappropriate. Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a top attorney for the local governments, fired back on Friday, calling the motion “a ridiculous…Read the article

Uber Technologies Inc. will pay $1.3 million to settle Fair Labor Standards Act claims from more than 5,000 drivers who aren’t bound by arbitration agreements and alleged the ride-hailing giant misclassified them as independent contractors instead of employees, according to a North Carolina federal court filing. According to Tuesday’s filing, about $734,294 of the settlement…Read the article

Tyco Fire Products LP, 3M Co. and other companies that produced a fire suppressant foam have told a Massachusetts federal court that a suit filed by a group of Cape Cod residents claiming the product caused illnesses should be tossed, arguing the allegations couldn’t properly be connected to specific manufacturers. Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik…Read the article

According to a notice made public August 15th, the New Jersey Supreme Court Justices in July granted multicounty litigation status to about 353 cases alleging Sanofi U.S. Services Inc., Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Sandoz Inc. and Actavis LLC failed to adequately warn consumers about the risk of permanent hair loss as a result of using the…Read the article