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Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice
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October 30, 2024
COVID-19 Order Could Save Med Mal Suit, Ga. Judges Say
A mistake made by a paralegal working for former Georgia state representative Robbin Shipp may have been saved by a recent Peach State high court ruling that a pandemic-era judicial emergency order can toll the deadline to file medical malpractice suits, the state appeals court found Tuesday.
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October 30, 2024
4th Circ. Reverses NFL Fans' Win In Railing Collapse Suit
A dispute over a railing collapse that injured fans at the Washington Commanders' stadium could still end up in arbitration after a Fourth Circuit panel reversed a lower-court decision blocking the team from enforcing the arbitration clause on the fans' game tickets.
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October 30, 2024
Animal Med Distributor To Pay $1.1M For Lax Opioid Oversight
Veterinary supplier Covetrus North America will pay $1.125 million to settle allegations that it ignored warning flags on 35 suspicious orders of opioids from a Cape Cod veterinarian's practice and shipped the drugs anyway, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.
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October 30, 2024
Hanover Seeks To Avoid Covering Body Mishandling Suit
The Hanover Insurance Co. told an Illinois federal court it owes no directors & officers coverage to a medical nonprofit over a man's lawsuit alleging an employee "grossly mishandled" his late mother's remains, invoking exclusions it said each bar coverage under the nonprofit's policy.
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October 29, 2024
Monsanto PCBs 'Pervasive' At School, Scientist Tells Jury
Monsanto-made PCBs were "pervasive" at a Washington school, an industrial hygienist testified Tuesday in the latest trial over illnesses there before being grilled by defense counsel about the integrity of his material samples.
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October 29, 2024
NY Health Provider To Boost Data Security To End AG's Probe
An Albany-based healthcare provider has agreed to pay $2.75 million in penalties and data security enhancements to resolve the New York attorney general's claims it failed to protect private medical data that was exposed in a pair of 2023 cyberattacks, the regulator said Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
Sporting Goods Chain Beats Suit By Man Shot With Stolen Gun
A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a suit seeking to hold Academy Sports liable after a man was shot by a gun stolen from the store, saying a federal law shielding firearms dealers from third-party criminal acts did indeed apply.
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October 29, 2024
Texas AG Says State Rep Tried To Sway 'Shaken Baby' Case
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday called for state Rep. Jeff Leach to resign after he allegedly attempted to sway judgment in capital punishment proceedings in what would have been the nation's first execution for a conviction based on a "shaken baby syndrome" diagnosis.
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October 29, 2024
Real Estate Exec's Wife Says Prostitution Claims Defamed Her
The wife of Northstar Commercial Partners CEO Brian Watson has filed a lawsuit in Colorado federal court alleging an Illinois woman defamed her by accusing her of being a prostitute and that her husband frequently procures the services of prostitutes, estimating her damage at roughly $50 million.
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October 29, 2024
Mo. Panel Won't Trim $4.3M Interest Award From $40M Verdict
A Missouri state appeals court upheld a woman's roughly $4.3 million prejudgment interest award after she won $40 million at trial over her husband's fatal auto collision, finding Tuesday she was not required to directly send a pretrial settlement demand to the at-fault driver's insurer.
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October 29, 2024
DQ'd Zeta Atty Using MDL Info In Other Cases, Plaintiffs Say
A group of crew members aboard a Transocean drilling rig during Hurricane Zeta asked a Harris County judge Monday to sanction the company and its former law firm, writing that a former attorney has continued to use information he obtained while working on the case despite being disqualified in 2023.
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October 29, 2024
McDonald's Catches New Suits Over E. Coli Outbreak
McDonald's Corp. is facing two new lawsuits over an outbreak of E. coli linked to its Quarter Pounder hamburgers, including a proposed class action filed Tuesday in Illinois federal court accusing the fast-food giant of misrepresenting to customers that its hamburgers were safe to consume.
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October 29, 2024
Texas Judge Rejects Early Win In Water Pollution Dispute
A Texas federal judge denied on Tuesday an insurer's bid for an early win in its lawsuit against a water supply company accused of providing contaminated water to Cameron County residents, despite the insurer's argument that pollution exclusions in multiple policies bar coverage for the underlying claims.
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October 29, 2024
6th Circ. Judge Rejects Flint Comparison In Benton Harbor
A Sixth Circuit judge asked during oral arguments Tuesday if Michigan's government could have done more to monitor the response to lead contamination in a city's water supply, as another judge seemed to doubt that the allegations against the state rose to the level of constitutional violations.
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October 29, 2024
Ga. Court Says Apt. Must Face Shooting Death Suit
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court ruling holding that an apartment complex company's attempt to waive its liability for third-party crimes in a lease agreement with a tenant who was shot and killed is void and unenforceable under Peach State law.
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October 29, 2024
FBI Bungled Probe Of NC Woman's Death In Mexico, Suit Says
The estate of a Charlotte woman who was allegedly murdered while on vacation in Mexico in 2022 has accused the U.S. Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of botching the inquiry into her death and wrongly withholding relevant records.
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October 29, 2024
Purdue Creditors Can Sue Sacklers For $11.5B
Creditors of bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP will get the right to sue the company's owners — certain members of the Sackler family — and others for $11.5 billion, should they choose to do so, a New York judge said on Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
Court Closure Sought Over Taunts By Florida Gun Shop Owner
The Connecticut Attorney General's Office urged a state judge to protect the identity of its investigator in filings and to close the courtroom during their testimony at trial in a lawsuit alleging a Florida company deceptively sold do-it-yourself gun kits, saying anonymity is needed because of the owner's online taunts.
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October 29, 2024
Ga. Judge Says Merger Of BioLab Fire Cases Imminent
A Georgia federal judge said Tuesday that within the week, she would likely consolidate most if not all of the nearly 20 lawsuits filed against chemical manufacturer BioLab Inc. in the aftermath of a massive industrial fire at its Conyers, Georgia plant last month.
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October 29, 2024
NJ Judge Exits Disbarred Atty's Suits Over Ties To State Bar
A disbarred New Jersey civil rights attorney persuaded a New Jersey federal judge to recuse herself from cases he has pending before her due to the "slim, but conceivable chance" of an appearance of impropriety stemming in part from her time as president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
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October 29, 2024
5th Circ. Revives Pilots Union's Dispute With Southwest
The Fifth Circuit has revived a union's dispute with Southwest Airlines over alleged retaliation against a worker for his union activity and sent it back to Texas federal court, saying the legal fight qualifies for an exception to the Railway Labor Act's mandatory arbitration rule.
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October 29, 2024
Circuit Judge Rips Atty's 'Unearned Windfall' In Liability Case
Although the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a decision awarding roughly $353,000 to a Texas attorney in a decadelong fee dispute over his representation of a client in a product liability case, one circuit judge expressed "extreme disapproval" over the lawyer's conduct in the matter.
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October 28, 2024
Union Pacific Told To Face Injury Retrial With Reinstated Expert
Railroad giant Union Pacific must face retrial against an injured worker after a California appeals court ruled that an expert with decades of rail experience but no formal accident-analysis training was wrongly blocked from telling a jury how a freight train behaves when starting up.
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October 28, 2024
Partner Sues Over Firm Breakup After $100M Conn. Verdict
Ryan C. McKeen, the former CEO of a trial firm known for high-dollar verdicts, is wrongfully trying to arbitrate a dispute over the terms of the practice's breakup, his former law partner Andrew P. Garza alleged in a state court showdown between the two 50% owners and their families.
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October 28, 2024
Sterigenics Says Residents Can't Tie Harms To Ethylene Oxide
Medical sterilization company Sterigenics US LLC and its parent, Sotera Health LLC, are asking a Georgia state judge to exclude expert testimony put forward by Peach State residents alleging their ethylene oxide emissions harmed them, and to dismiss the residents' claims against them.
Expert Analysis
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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Perspectives
Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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Opinion
To Shrink Jury Awards, Address Preventable Medical Errors
While some health industry leaders complain about large malpractice awards — like the recent $45 million verdict in Hernandez v. Temple University Hospital — these payouts are only a symptom of the underlying problem: an epidemic of preventable medical errors, says Eric Weitz at The Weitz Firm.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.
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11th Circ. Kickback Ruling May Widen Hearsay Exception
In a $400 million fraud case, U.S. v. Holland, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a conspiracy need not have an unlawful object to introduce co-conspirator statements under federal evidence rules, potentially broadening the application of the so-called co-conspirator hearsay exception, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney
A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.
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3rd Circ. Hertz Ruling Highlights Flawed Bankruptcy Theory
The Third Circuit, in its recent Hertz bankruptcy decision, became the latest appeals court to hold that noteholders were entitled to interest before shareholders under the absolute priority rule, but risked going astray by invoking the flawed theory of code impairment, say Matthew McGill and David Casazza at Gibson Dunn.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping
As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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What 2 Key Rulings Mean For Solicitation Under TCPA
Two recent rulings from federal district courts in New York and California — each of which came to a different conclusion — bring to light courts' continued focus on and analysis of when an alleged communication constitutes a solicitation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public
The proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing — the latest outgrowth of the company's 737 Max travails — is opposed by crash victims' families, faces an uncertain fate in court, and may ultimately serve no beneficial purpose, even if approved, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.