Dan Fisher News
New York's incredible shrinking lawsuit against Exxon could mean trouble for Massachusetts
New York’s surprising decision to drop half its case against ExxonMobil in the closing arguments of a closely watched trial over climate-fraud claims was unusual and probably indicates the state never had the evidence it needed, said an experienced litigator who has handled environmental lawsuits for government clients.
'Wholly inadequate': Lawyers seek more opioid money by avoiding global settlement process
A proposed “negotiation class” to settle all opioid litigation by U.S. cities and counties could be in deep trouble, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit considers an appeal of the order creating the controversial class and lawyers in two states with big claims urge their clients to opt out before a Nov. 22 deadline.
Purdue Pharma gets six-month reprieve from lawsuits as legal fees explode
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy granted the OxyContin maker and its controlling Sackler family a six-month stay of opioid litigation as they try to negotiate a $10 billion-plus settlement of all outstanding claims.
Mass Roundup settlement could test the limits of tort law
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) In a court hearing earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria announced he had hired Kenneth Feinberg to oversee mediation talks between Bayer AG and lawyers for thousands of plaintiffs claiming the popular herbicide Roundup causes cancer.
Dissent in Sandy Hook decision says Conn. SC misread federal law, victims shouldn't be allowed to sue Remington
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - The Connecticut Supreme Court has said family members of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre can sue the manufacturer of the Bushmaster rifle used in the assault under a theory the company’s advertising violated the state consumer protection statute.
Trial lawyers are paying millions to a handful of experts necessary to push their talc cases
A small group of highly paid experts, one of whom recently testified his firm has made $30 million offering mostly pro-plaintiff testimony, are the key ingredient for more than 10,000 lawsuits claiming talcum powder is laced with deadly asbestos, forming the tip of an inverted pyramid upon which the rest of the cases depend.
Cleveland, Akron will try to prove opioid cases without a single bogus prescription
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiffs in bellwether trials blaming the opioid industry for the nation's addiction crisis have allowed a Monday deadline to pass, apparently without turning over any proof of specific prescriptions that were made in error.
Texas officials were 'in over their heads' when they struck deals with opioid lawyers
When it hired outside lawyers to represent it in lawsuits against the opioid industry, Harris County agreed to pay a contingency fee of 35%, more than double the rate in Dallas County and equal to the highest in the state.
Opioid lawyer trying to avoid 'cesspool' asked for by major national firm
Several Pennsylvania counties are fighting to keep control of their opioid lawsuits as the national law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy, with the active support of the companies it is suing, seeks to create what a rival attorney calls a litigation "cesspool."