The juries in two separate cases pending against DuPont in the U.S. District Court in Columbus, OH came to different conclusions last week. Both cases were brought by plaintiffs who alleged that their cancers were caused by drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals that leaked from DuPont’s Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, WV; […]
State and local governments in West Virginia are poised to put an end to most of the ongoing litigation stemming from the decades-long opioid crisis that has been linked to over 430,000 deaths across the country since 2000. The $1.25 billion deal was crafted in Charleston last week between 250 attorneys and companies from all […]
On February 19, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann Jones, who has been selected to preside over the consolidated California state court lawsuits against JUUL Labs, appointed a number of attorneys to lead the litigation against the San Francisco-based manufacturer. The team of lawyers will oversee the nearly 100 lawsuits that have been filed in […]
On Friday, February 7, arguments were underway in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals as drug distributors and municipalities sought to overturn a federal district judge’s certification of a ”negotiation class” tasked with achieving a global settlement between the pharmaceutical companies and the 30,000 cities and counties in the United States affected by the widespread […]
On February 4, for the first time in almost fifty years, the FDA held a hearing examining the standards used for testing talc-containing products for asbestos and other potentially harmful contaminants. In response to recent reports that asbestos had been found in several talc-containing products, including a bottle of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder, the […]
On February 6, Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a New Jersey jury to pay $750 MM in punitive damages to four plaintiffs suffering from mesothelioma as a result of their use of J&J’s asbestos-contaminated baby powder; the parties had previously been awarded $37.3 MM in compensatory damages after a two-month long trial before a […]
A recent study done by The Environmental Working Group (EWG) on the drinking water supplies of dozens of U.S. cities reveals that PFAS (as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are more commonly known) are far more prevalent than previously believed. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because of the way they can accumulate and remain inside […]
Settlement talks between the parties are ongoing as a judge in California excused 16 jurors on Friday, January 31. In an effort to avoid derailing ongoing discussions, the parties agreed to the last minute continuance in the hopes an agreement could be reached to resolve the over 42,000 pending claims that allege Monsanto’s popular weed […]
Settlement talks in the Roundup litigation have not yet yielded a resolution, prompting the judges in lawsuits pending in California and Missouri to forge ahead. In St. Louis last week, before opening statements were set to begin, jurors were told that the case involving four plaintiffs had been postponed indefinitely as Bayer AG and the […]
In a January 13 decision, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Ana C. Viscomi ruled that Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky must take the stand in the punitive damages phase of the trial, which began on January 14 and will determine whether J&J acted “maliciously or in wanton and willful disregard of the plaintiff’s rights”. […]
