Daniel Fisher News
Calif. privacy law covers one-way recordings, court rules
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Yelp can be sued under a California privacy law for making “one-way” recordings of sales calls where only the voices of its own employees were saved, an appeals court has ruled.
Jury awards $2.6 million In Zoom asbestos trial
ALAMEDA, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A California jury awarded $2.6 million to a former Navy admiral in an asbestos case that featured a trial over Zoom that the defendant tried to stop after the plaintiff engaged in an online conversation with jurors.
Google Drive subscriber can't sue under automatic-renewal law, California court finds
SANTA ANA, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A Google Drive customer with hopes of leading a class action over violations of California’s automatic-renewal law has no case, a California appeals court has ruled.
Employees win $416 for unpaid rest breaks after two trips to appeals court
SAN JOAQUIN, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Farmworkers who said they weren’t paid for rest breaks won a total of $416 after a California appeals court rejected for a second time their claims they should be paid not only the minimum wage for time they spent on rest breaks but an additional hour of pay under a separate section of the state Labor Code.
Bayer clears hurdle in settling Roundup cases
Bayer AG has agreed with three of the law firms leading Roundup litigation to settle thousands of lawsuits, making significant progress toward ending claims the widely used herbicide causes a common cancer.
Jurors on Zoom now deliberating $70M asbestos case; Honeywell says evidence lacking
ALAMEDA, Calif. (Legal Newsline)- A former car dealership maintenance worker who is seeking $70 million in damages over his asbestos-related cancer failed to prove he was ever exposed to a Honeywell product, the parent company of a brake manufacturer said in closing arguments in California’s first all-Zoom jury trial.
Opioid defendants, still fighting MDL judge's rulings, now accused of being too stingy with pills
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing federal multidistrict opioid litigation misinterpreted Ohio law and made up a requirement for pharmacy chains to monitor prescription records for signs of diversion and misuse, defendants said in their latest plea for reconsideration or appellate review.
Class action lawyers sue over PFAS without needing to prove it is hazardous
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers, having tried and failed to assemble class actions over Teflon pans and dental floss, are now targeting disposable plates and bowls with PFAS litigation.
May-cause-cancer label not appropriate on Roundup weedkiller, judge rules
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge in California won't let the state impose cancer warnings on the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller, saying “providing misleading or false labels to consumers …undermines California’s interest in accurately informing its citizens of health risks.”
Showdown at SCOTUS likely for key issue in climate change lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A federal appeals court decision allowing climate lawsuits to proceed against several major oil companies could be the trigger for U.S. Supreme Court review of using state public nuisance law to drive energy policy.
Ninth Circuit breathes new life into climate change lawsuits of San Francisco and Oakland against Big Oil
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed a federal judge’s dismissal of climate change lawsuits against oil companies including ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, setting the stage for them to be tried in a more favorable California state court.
Opioid judge approves `negotiation class’ over objections of state AGs and defendants
In a move that appeared preordained after his comments at an August hearing, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster approved an unprecedented “negotiation class” of every city and county nationwide to try and reach a global settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Oklahoma judge feeds the 'monster' with $572M opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson
Sixteen years ago in a case involving gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co., a New York appeals court refused to apply public nuisance law against the manufacturer of a legal product, saying that doing so would transform nuisance law “into a monster that would devour in one gulp the entire law of tort.”
Private lawyers stand to make $90 million as judge hits Johnson & Johnson with $572M opioid ruling
NORMAN, Okla. (Legal Newsline) - A state judge in Oklahoma has blamed Johnson & Johnson for the state's opioid crisis and ordered it to pay $572 million in damages, extending public nuisance law beyond its traditional boundaries into what may become an all-purpose tool for government lawsuits against product manufacturers.
Roundup, talc cases force question: What if juries get the science wrong?
SAN FRANCISCO – On one coast, Bayer AG is fighting to reverse eye-popping jury verdicts based on a contested theory Roundup herbicide made by its Monsanto unit causes cancer. On the other, Johnson & Johnson begins hearings this week in federal court in New Jersey over its request to exclude more than 20 expert witnesses plaintiff lawyers need to prove their case that Johnson’s Baby Powder is contaminated with deadly asbestos and can cause ovarian cancer.
Massive Roundup verdict, in wake of EPA ruling, shows how uncertainty and embarrassing emails can trump science
On April 30, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used weedkiller Roundup, to be safe. Less than two weeks later, a California jury ordered Bayer AG to pay $2 billion to a couple who blamed their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on Roundup.
Was the judge overseeing the $80M Roundup verdict swayed by a public relations campaign against her?
Monsanto has appealed a groundbreaking $80 million verdict over its Roundup herbicide, saying the judge committed several serious legal errors and reversed herself on the issue of punitive damages after she was placed on the receiving end of an “extraordinary and coordinated public relations campaign”
When it comes to Roundup and cancer, everybody's lobbying the regulators
The federal jury that this week ordered Monsanto to pay $80 million for allegedly causing a man’s cancer likely was swayed by internal documents suggesting the unit of Bayer AG had improperly influenced regulators to keep its Roundup weedkiller from being classified a carcinogen.
Multidistrict litigation swamps courts as rules struggle to catch up; Is reform on the way?
Multidistrict litigation – sprawling cases sometimes involving thousands of plaintiffs from all over the country – now represents more than half of the civil caseload in federal courts, according to a new survey, yet defendants complain the rules governing them are largely judge-made and haphazardly enforced.
Ahead of talc test, NYC judge gives good news to asbestos defendants
The January 31 decision could have especially strong implications for lawsuits over talcum powder