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Class Action

Mass Tort Litigation Blog

Law professors discuss mass tort and class action lawsuits.

Post Frequency: 9.9/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 17:41:19

Wyeth v. Levine Background

Posted on September 19, 2008
Adam Liptak's article in the New York Times today describes the key people involved in Wyeth v. Levine, the pre-emption case that could change the face of mass torts. Here's a short excerpt: In the spring of 2000, suffering from...

New Tort Books from Cambridge University Press

Posted on September 17, 2008
Cambridge University Press has published two tort books of interest: Toxic Torts: Science, Law and the Possibility of Justice, by Professor Carl F. Cranor (UC Riverside); and Tort Wars, by Joel Levin (Levin & Associates). BGS

Metrolink Train Crash in Los Angeles

Posted on September 15, 2008
Los Angeles suffered one of the worst train crashes in American history on Friday, leading to approximately 25 dead and more than 100 injured. A Metrolink commuter train rammed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train. Initially, Metrolink blamed the...

Klass on State Tort Law

Posted on September 12, 2008
Alexandra Klass (Minnesota) has just posted an article on SSRN titled "Tort Experiments in the Laboratories of Democracy." The abstract is below: This Article considers the broad range of tort experiments states have undertaken in recent years as well as...

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Parisi and Cenini on Punitive Damages and Class Actions

Posted on September 12, 2008
In an article aptly titled Punitive Damages and Class Actions, just posted on SSRN, Francesco Parisi (Minnesota) and Marta Cenini (Milan) take on the relationship between punitive damages and class actions. Here is the abstract: Punitive damages and class actions...

Missouri Residents Claim Manufacturing Waste Caused Tumors

Posted on September 12, 2008
Today's BNA Class Action Litigation Report (p. 710) reports that residents in Clinton and Dekalb Counties in Missouri filed a class action (with two subclasses) claiming that Rockwool Industries, Inc., a fiber insulation manufacturer, dumped lead and arsenic as well...

Health Concerns Remain 7 Years After 9/11/2001

Posted on September 11, 2008
It's been seven years since the attacks in 9/11/2001, and health concerns remain. Here's an excerpt from an article today from cnn.com -- 9/11 survivors troubled by asthma, PTSD, by Andrea Kane: A commission charged with examining the scope and...

Reynolds Cuts Jobs; Altria to Acquire UST

Posted on September 09, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Reynolds American to Cut 570 Jobs, by David Benoit. Here's an excerpt: Reynolds American Inc. will lay off 10% of its U.S. work force and refocus R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as the company...

Vaccine Act Preempts Design Defects and Failure to Warn Claims

Posted on September 09, 2008
Several plaintiffs across the country have initiated failure to warn and design defects cases against Aventis Pasteur Inc, Merck, and Wyeth. They allege that the childhood vaccines cause autism. Most recently, Judge New, of the Philidelphia Court of Common Pleas,...

Brickman Against Screening

Posted on September 09, 2008
Lester Brickman (Cardozo) has just posted an article on SSRN entitled The Use of Litigation Screenings in Mass Torts: A Formula for Fraud?" Here is the abstract: Lawyers obtain the "mass" for some mass tort litigations by conducting screenings to...

Judge Weinstein Unseals Zyprexa Documents

Posted on September 08, 2008
Noting that "Lilly's legitimate interest in confidentiality does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure," Judge Jack B. Weinstein unsealed formerly confidential documents on links between Zyprexa, obesity, and high blood sugar. Both the New York Law Journal and the...

FDA Adds Warnings on Arthritis Drugs

Posted on September 05, 2008
Article on cnn.com -- FDA warns on arthritis drugs: Government regulators order stronger warnings for four types of arthritis medication, saying they can increase risk of death by infection, by the Associated Press. BGS

"Infuse Bone Graft" Linked to Life-Threatening Complications

Posted on September 04, 2008
The FDA has received 38 reports that Medtronic Inc.'s "Infuse Bone Graft," typically used to encourage bone growth in spinal surgeries, causes neck and throat swelling--life threatening injuries. The Wall Street Journal has a lengthy article by David Armstrong and...

Laura Dooley on National Juries for National Cases

Posted on September 03, 2008
Professor Laura Dooley (Valparaiso; picture, left) has published her article, National , 83 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 411 (2008) Juries for National Cases: Preserving Citizen Participation in Large-Scale Litigation. Here's the abstract from SSRN: Procedural evolution in complex cases seems to...

Roger Williams Law Review Symposium Issue on Genuine Tort Reform

Posted on September 03, 2008
The Roger Williams University Law Review has published its symposium issue on Genuine Tort Reform. Included are the following: Carl T. Bogus, Introduction: Genuine Tort Reform, 13 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 1 (2008) Deborah Hensler, Jurors in the Material...

NEJM Says Too Early to Dismiss Cancer Concerns for Vytorin

Posted on September 03, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Medical Journal Raises Concern About Vytorin, by Alicia Mundy and Jared Favole. Here's an excerpt: The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, in a rare move, said that it is too...

UK Changes Allow Investing in Law Firms

Posted on August 30, 2008
Article in the Economist -- Legal Advice: Should you buy shares in a law firm?, which discusses recent changes in the UK allowing for non-partnership structures for law firms, and external investing by the public via, for example, initial public...

Vytorin Study Results on Potential Cancer Link to Be Released Next Week

Posted on August 28, 2008
Article in Forbes -- Another Storm Brewing For Vytorin, by Matthew Herper. Here's an excerpt: When a study linking the widely used cholesterol drug Vytorin to cancer came out in July it caused a stir--for a few hours. It should...

FDA Says Salmonella Outbreak Over -- Blaming Jalapenos, Not Tomatoes

Posted on August 28, 2008
Article in the Wall Street Journal -- Salmonella Outbreak Is Over, Federal Health Officials Say, by the Associated Press. Now I can stop worrying about what to add to my Subway sandwiches. BGS

Richard Epstein on Field Preemption of State Laws in Drug Cases

Posted on August 27, 2008
Professor Richard Epstein (Chicago) has published The Case for Field Preemption of State Laws in Drug Cases on Northwestern University Law Review's Colloquy. Here's an excerpt: This brief Comment renews my defense of strong field preemption for FDA regulation...

Another Jackpot (In)Justice: Verdict Variability and Issue Preclusion in Mass Torts

Posted on August 26, 2008
I've posted my manuscript, Another Jackpot (In)Justice: Verdict Variability and Issue Preclusion in Mass Torts, on Bepress. Here's the abstract: If there are no prior inconsistent verdicts, non-mutual offensive issue preclusion generally allows a finding by a single jury to...

Nagareda on Class Certification in the Age of Aggregate Proof

Posted on August 26, 2008
Richard Nagareda has posted his article, Class Certification in the Age of Aggregate Proof, on SSRN. It will appear this spring in New York University Law Review. Here's the abstract: Few pre-trial motions in our civil justice system elicit as...

FDA May Set Rules for Food Allergy Warnings

Posted on August 25, 2008
Article on cnn.com -- FDA to consider rules for food allergy warnings, by the Associated Press. BGS

New Scholarship on Using a Cost-Benefit Analysis in Certification

Posted on August 22, 2008
Patrick Luff, a student at Michigan, has posted his piece, "Bad Bargains: The Mistake of Allowing Cost-Benefit Analyses in Class Action Certification Decisions," on SSRN. Here's the abstract: The class action is a bete noir, attacked by corporate counsel, politicians,...

Drug and Device Law on MDL

Posted on August 19, 2008
In this post on the Drug and Device Law Blog, a guest blogger Pearson Bownas discusses a defense side point of view on when the MDL grants motions to transfer. An interesting post, and I'd be interested in hearing any...

Iraq Injuries Spur Putative Class Action

Posted on August 18, 2008
According to the Fulton County Daily Report, a wrecker driver who was employed in Iraq with Houston-based Kellogg, Brown & Root claims that the company sent him without adequate training. Here's a brief excerpt of the story: On Tuesday, his...

Plaintiffs Rejecting Settlement Offers Fare Worse at Trial

Posted on August 15, 2008
While not exclusively related to mass torts, the ABA reports on the results of a new study of civil suits from 2000-2005, which found that 61% of plaintiffs rejecting settlement offers fared worse at trial. Here's a link to the...

Gearing up for Wyeth v. Levine

Posted on August 13, 2008
This morning's Wall Street Journal has a preview of the two sides and the politics involved in Wyeth v. Levine, which will be argued before the Supreme Court on November 3. Here's an excerpt of the piece by Alicia Mundy:...

International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts

Posted on August 08, 2008
Beth Stephens, Judith Chomsky, Jennifer Green, Paul Hoffman, and Michael Ratner have published the second edition of International Human Rights Litigations in U.S. Courts (2008). Jefrrey Davis has published his book, Justice Across Borders: The Struggle for Human Rights in...

WSJ Editorial on FASB Proposed Rule Requiring Disclosure of Estimate of Lawsuit Cost

Posted on August 07, 2008
Editorial in the Wall Street Journal -- FASB's Lawyer Bonanza. Here's an excerpt: Under the proposed change, a company facing a lawsuit would have to list on its financial statement its best-guess estimate of what that litigation could end up...

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