WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (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.

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.

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."