Two of the plaintiffs among those who have filed at least 14 federal lawsuits accusing Syngenta and Chevron of selling the herbicide paraquat despite knowing it causes Parkinson's disease have asked the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate the cases for pretrial proceedings.
The Seventh Circuit on Monday revived a former GM worker's lawsuit accusing a United Auto Workers local of racial discrimination for dropping a grievance over his firing without telling him, saying the union's alleged unwillingness to share information might excuse the suit's lateness.
Illinois residents suing Clearview AI over alleged violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act have urged the judge overseeing their multidistrict litigation to block the facial recognition company from continuing to collect and profit from their information, saying the court can't buy Clearview's claims of self-reform.
An Illinois appellate court has vacated a contempt and sanctions order against a Travelers unit for failing to produce certain unredacted documents in an insurance dispute over coverage of a $46 million settlement in a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc.
The Biden administration and Cook County, Illinois, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to spike an appeal from Texas and other states seeking to resurrect the 2019 public charge rule, arguing that the states had missed their chance to intervene.
Restaurants suing GrubHub for false advertising in Colorado federal court have joined the food delivery giant in opposing a bid by eateries in an Illinois suit to get in on a proposed settlement, saying they can state their case later if the deal wins approval.
An Illinois federal jury awarded roughly $1.9 million to a construction company after finding United Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. breached its fiduciary duty and acted in bad faith when defending the company in an underlying lawsuit.
An Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that a nursing home accused of causing a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in the deaths of several residents can't escape twin suits because the residents' family members plausibly alleged violations of a state law governing nursing home care.
A former security officer's previous union membership prevents her from suing a data management company over its collection of fingerprint information, the company has told an Illinois federal judge, arguing that the case is preempted by federal labor law because it would involve the interpretation of a labor contract.
An Illinois federal judge on Friday appeared skeptical of an online testing company's bid for an order relieving it of an obligation to preserve video recordings and other items as it faces biometric privacy lawsuits over its remote proctoring software, saying it must preserve those materials until some discovery is taken.
A Seventh Circuit panel has declined to change its finding that a pair of truck owners are restricted by a class action settlement and can't individually pursue Ohio state court claims against Navistar over its alleged sale of defective engines.
A class action settlement between a debt collector and employees who claimed their overtime pay rate failed to include commissions can't send unused funds to an organization with ties to class counsel, an Illinois federal judge said, rejecting the $195,000 deal.
Grubhub has asked a Colorado federal judge not to let restaurant owners in an Illinois suit get in on a settlement that ends claims accusing the food delivery giant of falsely claiming competitor restaurants are closed during the coronavirus pandemic, saying their intervention would compromise settlement efforts.
Despite drugmaker warnings of "harmful and unwarranted" disruption, an Illinois magistrate judge withdrew Thursday from Chicago's bellwether case against drugmakers in multidistrict opioid litigation after the city flagged his sister's new role overseeing thousands of opioid cases for AbbVie Inc.
An Illinois state court judge refused Thursday to let two banks dodge claims a former bank CEO's trust launched to take lien priority and foreclose a mortgage it lent to a former money manager who's serving 16 years after defrauding the trust for a decade.
The Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of most states are coming out swinging against Facebook's attempt to cut down their respective antitrust suits accusing the social media behemoth of illegal monopolization.
The wife of a former Jenkens & Gilchrist PC lawyer imprisoned for tax fraud told a Manhattan federal judge Thursday that the government should be sanctioned for failing to preserve bank records that could support her bid to recoup funds claimed by the government in connection with the ex-attorney's purported crimes.
Purdue Pharma has asked a New York bankruptcy judge for another month of relief from lawsuits over its opioid sales, saying negotiations on the final form of its Chapter 11 plan are at a "critical stage."
Several state attorneys general are challenging a provision in the coronavirus aid package that bars states from using federal funds for state tax cuts, Carnival says passengers suing over its handling of COVID-19 cases on its ships aren't entitled to a jury trial, and Baylor University has dodged claims from students seeking tuition refunds after classes shifted online during the pandemic.
A group of consumers slapped Kemper Corp. and Infinity Insurance Co. with an Illinois federal proposed class action on Thursday, alleging the auto insurers are responsible for ongoing credit monitoring services following a data breach of the consumers' personal information.
Ocean Bank has reportedly loaned $32.4 million for a Miami multifamily project, Blackstone Mortgage Trust is said to have loaned $102 million for a Silicon Valley campus and General Capital Group could reportedly build as much as 500,000 square feet in Chicago.
The Seventh Circuit on Thursday refused to greenlight a suit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, saying a Black former assembly plant employee hadn't shown his firing was driven by racial animus instead of accusations of harassing female colleagues.
United Airlines on Thursday sought to wade into a D.C. Circuit challenge over claims the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey overcharged United to operate at Newark Liberty International Airport and improperly diverted the collected fees for nonairport uses.
A consumer told the Seventh Circuit on Wednesday that biometric software maker Onfido Inc. can't force arbitration of claims it broke Illinois' landmark biometric privacy law by relying on a business partner's terms of service.
Postmates Inc. has agreed to drop its attempts to appeal rulings in two cases that compelled the company to arbitrate with thousands of couriers who claimed misclassification as independent contractors, asking the Seventh Circuit and Ninth Circuit to dismiss each of the appeals.
Opinion
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, three approaches to personal jurisdiction over absent class members have emerged in the lower courts, but only one comports with due process and limitations on procedural devices imposed by the Rules Enabling Act, say David Kouba and Andreas Moffett at Arnold & Porter.
The current high demand for midlevel associates provides them a rare opportunity to potentially explore new practice areas, but associates should first ask themselves six questions to begin figuring out why a change sounds appealing, says Stephanie Biderman at Major Lindsey.
Rebuttal
While a recent Law360 guest article suggested a significant circuit split on the issue of class action ascertainability, a review of recent decisions across federal circuits indicates that any such split is rapidly vanishing, as appeals courts reach consensus on the issue, says Leslie Brueckner at Public Justice.
To truly support a client going through a complicated lawsuit or a painful experience, lawyers must think beyond interpreting legal guidelines and navigating court proceedings, says attorney Scott Corwin.
Pandemic-era temporary changes to alcohol laws aimed at helping bars and restaurants are maturing into long-term legislative reforms that are testing the extent to which states can obtain a policy balance between modern convenience and the safe, moderate consumption of alcohol, say Arielle Albert and Brian Fink at Danow McMullan.
Due to the pandemic, the gap between law school and the first day on the job has never been wider, but law firms can leverage training to bridge that intimidating gap and convey the unique value of their culture in a virtual environment, say Melissa Schwind at Ward and Smith, and William Kenney and Jaron Luttich at Element Standard.
Although the alcohol taxation system isn't perfect, it could serve as a useful template for cannabis taxation with a three-tier licensing scheme and tax rates based on potency, says Louis Terminello at Greenspoon Marder.
The virtual courtroom limits a narcissistic lawyer's ability to intimidate witnesses and opposing counsel, boast to clients or engage in grandstanding — an unexpected benefit of the global pandemic as some aspects of remote litigation are likely here to stay, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recent finding that tax relief available to a solar project under a Virginia pollution control law is not an excluded state subsidy offers the first significant guidance for developers on how state statutes can provide support for electric generation facilities, says Seth Lucia at Morrison & Foerster.
Federal courts are dismissing policyholder lawsuits seeking business insurance coverage for losses from COVID-19 lockdowns at a far higher rate than state courts, likely because they are not following the Erie doctrine, which requires them to apply state law, says Carl Salisbury at Bramnick Rodriguez.
A recent American Bar Association opinion on lawyers' ethical duties of competence and confidentiality when working remotely should be viewed as part of a larger movement by which attorneys are being exhorted to develop competence in 21st century technology, say Jennifer Goldsmith at Ironshore and Barry Temkin at Mound Cotton.
While a Texas federal court recently denied a motion to disqualify DLA Piper from representing Apple in a patent dispute after the law firm hired an attorney who formerly represented opponent Maxwell, the case is a reminder that robust conflict checks during lateral hiring can save firms the time and expense of defending disqualification motions, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
Opinion
Even if the underlying arbitration in Servotronics v. Rolls Royce concludes before the U.S. Supreme Court decides the case, the court should recognize an exception to mootness and resolve the circuit split on whether a U.S. discovery statute applies to international commercial arbitration, say attorneys at Freshfields.
Companies facing costly, and increasingly frequent, Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act class actions should follow several drafting and presentation best practices to ensure courts will uphold binding online arbitration agreements — a powerful tool for forcing these suits out of court, says David Oberly at Blank Rome.
Lawyers preparing to mediate or arbitrate a case through videoconference should take steps to ensure they and their alternative dispute resolution providers are employing reasonable security precautions to protect digital client data and conform to confidentiality obligations, say F. Keith Brown and Michael Koss at ADR Systems.