The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit tossed out a “scandalous” settlement stemming from a Pella window consumer protection class action suit that would have paid the plaintiffs’ attorneys $11 million up front, with $2 million going to the ethically-challenged lead counsel. It’s just one more example of how state Consumer Protection Acts are abused
Judicial HellholesFollowing ATRA’s lead in repeatedly exposing disability-access lawsuit abuse in California and elsewhere, NPR has finally joined in with an April 23 report during its “All Things Considered” program
Judicial HellholesIn an apparent bid to make sure California remains as the #1-ranked Judicial Hellhole for an unprecedented third year in a row, food suit shysters there have watsed no time in getting 2014 off to a familiar start, filing two meritless class actions in federal court
UncategorizedOn January 27, 2014, the California Second Appellate District Court held that a negligence claim against a medical-device manufacturer that was based on state law duties that paralleled requirements under federal law was not preempted.
Judicial HellholesGov. Jerry Brown signed into law this past weekend a reform that will serve to rein in an element of California’s infamously shameless personal injury bar that had been using a well-intentioned health and environmental initiative to extort money from small business owners
Points of LightTo its credit, a Los Angeles civil jury yesterday unanimously found for the defense in a much watched lawsuit by the mother of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson
Points of LightMore bad news this week for residents of California, America’s reigning #1 Judicial Hellhole, in the form of another troubling account of the impact that the state’s runaway litigation has on citizens’ wallets and pocketbooks
Judicial HellholesA newly released annual survey of the nation’s CEOs confirms that California, currently ranked as the #1 Judicial Hellhole, not coincidentally ranks as the worst state in which to do business, as well
Judicial HellholesIn recent years, it has become routine for plaintiffs’ law firms to announce investigations of mergers or acquisitions within hours of such an announcement. Lawsuits challenging such deals are filed, on average, within two weeks. Two recent developments may damper the plaintiffs’ bar’s enthusiasm for such lawsuits.
Points of LightCalifornia’s leading journal for legal news has published a worthwhile story about the growing wave of preposterous consumer class actions that target the packaging and marketing of various food and beverage products, and which have found a welcoming embrace in the arms of judges comprising the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Judicial HellholesThe federal District Court for the Northern District of California, known increasingly for its plaintiff-friendly embrace of preposterous food and beverage consumer class actions, is where apparently alcohol-obsessed litigants have filed a new, multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch, alleging that the actual alcohol content of various beers is marginally lower than labels indicate
Judicial HellholesVoters in perennial judicial hellhole West Virginia have finally had enough of long-serving anti-business Attorney General Darrell McGraw. Californians rejected trial lawyer-written, lawsuit-promoting Proposition 37. And Madison County, Illinois voters incredibly retained shamed pay-to-play Judge Barbara Crowder who fomrerly oversaw the small rural county’s crooked and largest-in-the-nation asbestos docket
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightIn what might best be described as a what-goes-around-comes-around lawsuit, four female former employees of an infamous California wheelchair lawyer allege that he is guilty of sexual harassment, employment discrimination and fraud
Judicial HellholesOn September 19, 2012, Governor Brown of California signed S.B. 1186 into law. This ADA reform legislation looks to better protect small businesses from frivolous ADA lawsuit abuse.
Points of LightOne of California’s most notorious “frequent filers” of ginned up disability-access lawsuits has finally been disbarred
Judicial HellholesWith the record Tobacco Settlement in the books, opportunistic plaintiffs’ attorneys are now looking for their next big payday and it seems they have their target set on food manufacturers. More than a dozen lawyers who took on the tobacco companies have filed 25 cases aginst industry players like ConAgra Foods, PepsiCo, Heinz, General Mills and Chobani.
Judicial HellholesStriking a blow for common sense and contractual arbitration clauses, the California Supreme Court has ruled that a homeowners association must take its allegations of contruction defects against the developer to an arbitrator
Points of LightTwo women who are either lying, dimwitted or both, claim in the latest preposterous consumer class action in California that they’ve been misled by the brand name and promotional labeling of a popular granola bar
UncategorizedThis week, a wave of frivolous employment wage disputes has swept across the country. In just the last year roughly 7,000 lawsuits have been filed in federal court. Lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations have risen 400 percent over the last 11 years.
Judicial HellholesCalifornia lawmakers beholden to the personal injury bar have moved a bill “through the Senate as virtually an empty shell to be filled in later with language that would completely or partially overturn a 2011 state Supreme Court decision”
Judicial HellholesCalifornia Small business owners are continuing to feel as though they have a target on their back when it comes to ADA litigation, but relief could be in sight.
Judicial Hellholes