On May 11, presiding Judge M. Casey Rodgers ruled against 3M by finding that one of its experts was not qualified to offer an opinion in the MDL bellwether case that was scheduled to begin trial on May 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...
Litigation Update: Allergan Motion to Dismiss Denied in Breast Implant Cases
On May 5, Judge Rachelle L. Harz of the New Jersey Superior Court denied in part Allergan’s motion to dismiss the master long-form complaint filed by the plaintiffs in the multi-county litigation (MCL) consolidated in June, 2020 to provide centralized case management...
Opioid Litigation Update
The first bellwether trial in the sprawling multidistrict opioid litigation began on May 3 in West Virginia federal court. The plaintiffs in the trial, Cabell County and the city of Huntington, West Virginia, which many consider the epicenter of the opioid drug...
Litigation Update: $7.1 Million Awarded to Former Service Members in First 3M Earplugs Bellwether Trial
On April 30, in the first bellwether trial to be held in the 3M earplugs multidistrict litigation, a Pensacola jury awarded $7.1 million to three former service members who claimed the company’s defective earplugs irreparably damaged their hearing. The plaintiffs,...
Litigation Update: Six More Suits Filed in the Paraquat Litigation
On the eve of a decision to determine whether the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) will consolidate related lawsuits, defendants Syngenta and Chevron are the targets of six more lawsuits alleging that the herbicide Paraquat causes Parkinson’s...
Litigation Update: Verdicts Against J&J and Imerys Overturned in Talc Lawsuit
On April 28, a New Jersey appeals court overturned $117 million in compensatory and punitive damages awarded to plaintiffs Stephen Lanzo and his wife, Kendra, and ordered new trials be held in the talc contamination lawsuit against defendants Johnson & Johnson and...
Litigation Update: $4.8 Million Verdict Against Talc Supplier
In the first civil jury trial in Los Angeles County since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the jury awarded a $4.8 million verdict to a 73-year old Vietnam War veteran against talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels (WCD). WCD was for decades one...
Litigation Update: Consolidation Requested for Paraquat Lawsuits
Two separate requests have been made for the JPML to consolidate at least 14 lawsuits involving the herbicide Paraquat amidst claims that the chemical manufactured and sold by Syngenta and Chevron causes Parkinson’s disease. Paul Rakoczy has requested that the MDL...
Litigation Update: Opioid MDL Developments
In response to motions opposing additional bellwether trials filed on March 26 and March 29 by the nations’ biggest pharmacy chains, Judge Aaron Dan Polster issued an order rejecting the objections and reaffirming his plan to schedule an additional five trials in the...
Litigation Update: First 3M Earplugs Bellwether Trial Starts
The first bellwether trial brought by former military service members against 3M and predecessor, Aearo LLC for allegedly defective earplugs started March 29 in Pensacola, FL. The plaintiffs include three Army veterans who claim that from 2003-2015, 3M knowingly...