Daniel Fisher News
Oakland, San Francisco switch lawyers as climate change lawsuits face possible reckoning
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - The cities of Oakland and San Francisco have replaced the private lawyers representing them in climate change litigation as a series of lawsuits against ExxonMobil, Shell and other oil companies head toward what could be their final challenges in appeals courts on either coast.
Money for nothing: SCOTUS could stop class action funds from being steered to non-parties
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case that could end cy pres, the practice of steering money in class action settlements to organizations with absolutely no connection to the underlying lawsuit.
Rhode Island sues over climate change, using similar claims the state Supreme Court has already rejected
R.I. AG Peter Kilmartin better hope Rhode Island courts import California’s concept of public nuisance law, since the last time a Rhode Island AG tried this tactic, over lead paint, the state Supreme Court rejected the claim entirely.
'They're always wrong': NYC's hired guns cite overturned case as authority for climate change lawsuit
It was a surprising opening move, to say the least. Arguing for the City of New York in its climate lawsuit against five major oil companies, attorney Michael Pawa cited AEP v. Connecticut, a 2009 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as “persuasive authority” in his clients’ favor.
NYC's climate change lawsuit faces scrutiny from judge during dismissal arguments
A clearly skeptical federal judge questioned the basic premise behind New York City’s lawsuit against five of the world’s biggest oil companies over climate change on Wednesday
GOP states, Trump admin and energy sector to ask for dismissal of climate change lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Lawsuits accusing some of the world’s biggest oil companies of causing climate change face a crucial test Thursday, when a federal judge in California hears arguments on whether to dismiss cases brought by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland.
Self-driving cars, thinking machines will test limits of tort law
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Self-driving cars, machines that teach themselves how to operate and home digital assistants that can enter into legally binding contracts are all either on the market now or soon will be. So the next question is: Whom do you sue when they run amok?
Oil companies again urge judge to reject Calif. global warming lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Chevron, in a renewed motion to dismiss climate change litigation against it filed by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, described the case as a futile attempt to get around numerous prior court decisions preventing similar lawsuits over the sale of legal products.
Chevron says climate change lawsuit `not viable' as it participates in judge's science seminar
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Five of the world’s largest oil and gas producers filed a motion to dismiss a climate change lawsuit against them by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco even as they prepared to deliver an unusual “tutorial” on climate science to the federal judge overseeing the case.
Plaintiff lawyers see nationwide settlement as only end for opioid lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers meeting in San Francisco last week for a conference on opioid litigation acknowledged that the hundreds of lawsuits they have filed in state and federal court will be difficult to resolve without an unprecedented national settlement whose mechanics are still difficult to predict.
Climate lawyers hope 'public nuisance' strategy reverses years of failure
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - First they tried suing the utility companies. Then they tried suing the automakers. They even tried suing oil companies on behalf of an Alaskan village in danger of being inundated by oil-fueled rising sea levels.
Fighting 'misguided' lawsuits, Chevron shows it can play the climate change blame game too
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Chevron Corp. has filed a third-party complaint against Norway’s state-owned oil company Statoil, seeking to include it in lawsuits by California cities and counties over global warming.
Usual Suspects: Lawyers used to getting their way in MDL process to lead opioid litigation
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - There will be a lot of familiar faces in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s courtroom in Cleveland on Jan. 31, when lawyers gather for a hearing on multidistrict litigation against the nation’s opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Will Jerry Brown tilt California Supreme Court against business?
SACRAMENTO - At the end of this month, California Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Werdegar is scheduled to retire, giving Gov. Jerry Brown the opportunity to appoint his fourth justice to the highest court in the nation’s most populous state, ending a Republican majority and sealing his influence over the court for decades.