On January 21 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that an offer of full payment for an individual claim, prior to the deadline for filing a motion for class certification, does not end the claim or prevent class certification
UncategorizedIn litigation first reported here two years ago, defendant Goya Foods is fighting back against a serial plaintiff and her bogus, no-injury claim that seeks to exploit California’s Prop 65 labeling requirements
Judicial HellholesCalifornia continues to earn its ranking as the nation’s #1 Judicial Hellhole as Los Angele County’s litigation expenses ballooned 24% in FY 2014-2015
Judicial HellholesA three-judge appellate panel in New Jersey yesterday laudably overturned a $2 million auto accident verdict in Middlesex County that defied common sense and should raise suspicions among state insurance authorities
Judicial HellholesA Cook County Circuit Court judge has vacated a $25 million settlement hurriedly reached with the defendants’ insurer after the plaintiff’s lawyer had been tipped off about a jury note that suggested things weren’t going his way
Points of LightThe Florida Supreme Court late last week unanimously disbarred three Tampa attorneys found by a lower court to have conspired to gain an advantage in a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit by ensnaring opposing counsel in a DUI honeypot trap
Judicial HellholesThe American Tort Reform Association today criticized Missouri State Senator Eric Schmitt’s continuing opposition to reform legislation aimed at reasonably limiting civil liability and thereby reducing the volume of meritless litigation that is costly to consumers and taxpayers and otherwise contributes to the state’s growing reputation as a “judicial hellhole”
Judicial HellholesAs reported by autonews.com, a California Court of Appeal reversed its own past ruling about the validity of arbitration provisions. This course reversal follows a ruling by the California Supreme Court in a different case which found a nearly identical arbitration provision to be enforceable.
Points of LightDefendants’ hopes that a new judge installed last year to head New York City Asbestos Litigation (NYCAL) would reject the brazenly plaintiff-favoring bias of his predecessor have suddenly faded with a denial earlier this week of their motion to quash a plaintiffs’ subpoena aimed at shredding the First Amendment and distracting from inconvenient empirical data
Judicial HellholesIn an encouraging close to 2015, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann sanctioned two Pennsylvania plaintiffs’ lawyers for their stubborn pursuit of largely meritless, “see-what-sticks” litigation
Judicial HellholesWASHINGTON, D.C., December 17, 2014 – The American Tort Reform Foundation issued its annual Judicial Hellholes® report today, naming courts in California, New York City, Florida, Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas and Virginia among the nation’s “most unfair” in their handling of civil litigation.
UncategorizedAs is almost always the case with contrived consumer class actions, lawyers who served up the now infamous Subway “footlong” litigation are poised to feed on more than a half-million dollars in fees while their putative clients go hungry
UncategorizedKathleen Kane, Pennsylvania’s attorney general and a politician national Democrats had hoped might someday win a U.S. Senate seat, continued this month her embarrassing and desperate descent toward likely disbarment and a self-imposed political death sentence
Judicial HellholesHoping to inspire Congress, 2016 presidential candidates and the media to pay closer attention to the lawsuit industry’s extraordinary access to and influence with Obama administration regulators, the American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform today released “The Trial Lawyer Underground: Covertly Lobbying the Executive Branch,” a report documenting a nearly seven-year expansion of civil liability at the expense of investment, innovation and economic competitiveness
UncategorizedTort Reform Group Recommends Constructive Reforms WASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2015 – In making a rare midyear adjustment to its
Judicial HellholesAs the pool of potential claimants who’ve truly been sickened by exposure to asbestos dwindles, along with the pool of still solvent defendant companies, personal injury lawyers have filed increasingly speculative lawsuits. But many judges, to their credit, are holding the line against such claims
Points of LightWith former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver facing federal corruption charges in connection with questionable asbestos litigation, the American Tort Reform Association today urged Albany lawmakers to “promptly kill an insurance litigation bill that would open yet another lucrative line of business for personal injury lawyers at the expense of New York consumers and jobseekers.”
Judicial HellholesApparently taking cues from the Supreme Court of Missouri, currently the sixth-ranked Judicial Hellhole, a Jackson County court this month rendered what is perhaps the most absurd plaintiff’s verdict thus far in 2015
Judicial HellholesThe formerly well-regarded Indiana Supreme Court this month opted to expand significantly the “vicarious” liability of employers when employees disobey in-house policies or relevant law in pursuit of their personal interests that do not further their employers’ interests
Judicial HellholesContinuing a troubling trend toward increasingly excessive punitive damages awards in Big Sky Country, Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a $5 million punitive damages award in connection with an already absurdly inflated compensatory damages award of $1 million
Judicial HellholesAmong many others, the Wall Street Journal today heralded Alabama lawmakers’ slap-down earlier this week of recent state supreme court decisions that embraced the both ridiculous and dangerous legal theory peddled by the plaintiffs’ bar as “innovator liability”
Judicial Hellholes, Points of Light