Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio; April 28, 2023 - This asbestos-related action was brought by plaintiff Carolyn Keiser on behalf of herself and as the executor of her husband,...more
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Plaintiff Jeffrey Cockrum alleged exposure to asbestos from his work as a laborer and laboratory technician at Alcoa Wenatchee Works, an aluminum...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a trade secret lawsuit against a consultant that allegedly failed to prevent its client from disclosing its own proprietary information...more
The Ninth Circuit has confirmed in quadrophonic sound that plaintiffs cannot avoid preemption by relying on vague and speculative allegations to establish a parallel claim. The court affirmed the dismissal of four lawsuits...more
Covid-19 has caused trillions in business losses. Whether those losses are covered by commercial property insurance is an existential issue for both policyholders and insurers....more
The Situation: Defendants sued in state court are making use of a procedural technique known as "snap removal" to get otherwise non-removable cases into federal court. Snap removal takes advantage of the plain language of the...more
Plaintiff sued a wood chipper manufacturer alleging products liability and failure to warn claims under both strict liability and negligence. The manufacturer filed timely, strategic motions resulting in dismissal of the...more
On March 26, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the removal and dismissal of claims brought against two pharmaceutical companies. Gibbons v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Pfizer Inc.,...more
Recently, in Mallek v. Allstate Indem. Co. No. 17-CV-5949-KAM-SJB, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42171 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 12, 2018) [insert link], a federal magistrate in New York recommended that the Court deny a plaintiff’s motion to...more
In Chukly v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 2017 WL 3262541 (D.Ariz. Aug. 1, 2017) (Order), a breach of contract and insurance bad faith case arising from a homeowners claim after a microburst and “massive rain,” the Arizona...more
Diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity among plaintiffs and defendants. While it is difficult for a defendant to remove a case with a nondiverse defendant, removal can be accomplished through the doctrine of...more
Recently, the United States District Court in South Carolina closed the door on removal of insurance bad faith actions where the in-house, non-diverse, claims adjuster is a co-defendant. In Aung v. GEICO, C.A. No.:...more
Plaintiffs, Griseth DeJesus, Chanton Harris and Rita Taranto sued in Florida State Court asserting that they were injured by hip implant manufactured by Biomet Inc. and Biomet Orthopedics LLC. According to the complaints,...more
On March 9, 2017, at 7:19 p.m., by a vote of 224 to 194, with eleven members not voting, the House of Representatives passed The Innocent Party Protection Act. All 227 “ayes” were Republicans, and of the nays (or “noes,” as...more
Defendants successfully argued “fraudulent joinder” in Bahalim v. Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., winning dismissal of the case in its entirety. The case was decided on Plaintiffs’ motion to remand and Defendants’ motions to...more
Throughout the onslaught of the Texas hail litigation epidemic, policyholder lawyers and firms representing insurance carriers continue to battle over whether these cases belong in Texas state court or are more properly...more
Supreme Court Holds Defendant Cannot Moot Putative Class Action by Making Unaccepted Offer of Judgment for Complete Relief to Representative Plaintiff - In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857, 2016 U.S. LEXIS 846 (S....more
In 1998, the Texas Supreme Court recognized that an insurance claim adjuster can be held personally liable for a breach of the Texas Insurance Code. Based on this precedent, it has become commonplace for claim adjusters to be...more
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Holds Failure-to-Warn Claim Against Drug Manufacturer Not Preempted Because There Was No “Clear Evidence” FDA Would Not Have Approved Plaintiffs’ Suggested Warning; Also Holds...more
A federal district judge has ruled that Pennsylvania law may permit an insured to sue an insurer’s employee-adjusters for negligence and violations of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law...more
In Weidman v. ExxonMobil Corporation, et al., No. 13-2007 (4th Cir., January 8, 2015), the Fourth Circuit confirmed that the “fraudulent joinder” doctrine requires neither an allegation of fraud nor a situation involving a...more