Mass Torts vs. Class Actions: A Tale of Two Strategies
Tips and Strategies for Successful Mass Tort Management
NGE On Demand: Insurance Issues in Bankruptcy with Jason Frye
IP|Trend: Discovering Source Code
The medical device manufacturer Bard is facing hundreds of lawsuits over its Bard PowerPort device. These lawsuits allege that the device was defectively made and caused significant medical problems when it broke....more
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the Ireland-based medical device company Allergan for a unique type of blood cancer that has been linked to its textured breast implant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration...more
MAKING THE WHOLE TRUTH PUBLIC: THE FIGHT TO RELEASE BODY-WORN CAMERA FOOTAGE IN SECTION 1983 LITIGATION - Body-worn cameras were heralded as a promising innovation in the fight against crime and police misconduct. But in...more
Finally addressing costly mass arbitration concerns, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS) announced major changes to their arbitration rules. The updates aim to...more
Morrison Foerster Investigations + White Collar Defense partner Nate Mendell, former Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, hosted the fourth episode of When Your Life Sciences Are on the Line, where leading...more
It has been approximately two months since the highly anticipated Supreme Court decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., and it is already making a significant impact in bankruptcies around the country. In September...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joins a growing number of federal circuits to hold the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court, that sharply limited the use of nationwide...more
What Canadian process is available for mass torts when a class action cannot be certified? That is one question addressed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Carcillo v Canadian Hockey League (Carcillo)....more
We are all familiar with the TV ads run by members of the plaintiffs’ bar seeking plaintiffs for mass toxic tort litigation, those asking whether you or someone you know has been “exposed” to a particular substance and now...more
About a month ago, one of the myriad climate change tort lawsuits brought by state and local governments against major fossil fuel producers was dismissed by a state court judge in Baltimore, Maryland. (These lawsuits have...more
Chemical hair straighteners are popular products sold in stores and hair salons across the United States. But, they are also dangerous. Over the past few years, there have been several reports of these products being linked...more
In Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et al., the U.S. Supreme Court held that nonconsensual releases of third-party claims against nondebtors are not authorized under the Bankruptcy Code, resolving a longstanding circuit...more
On June 27, 2024, in one of its most high-profile bankruptcy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., No. 23-124, holding that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not authorize releases...more
In a landmark decision that will significantly impact future reorganization plans, the Supreme Court categorically held in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., that bankruptcy courts lack the authority to approve nonconsensual...more
Businesses operating public facing websites that employ data analytics software to track users’ website interactions must be aware of a novel use of the California Information Privacy Act (“CIPA”) that has taken the...more
Exactech has issued multiple recalls for its implantable joint replacement devices over the past few years. While Exactech has largely issued these recalls voluntarily, it has done so at the request—and with the oversight—of...more
In a landmark 5-4 decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma that will significantly reshape corporate bankruptcy practice, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split regarding the authority of a bankruptcy court to approve...more
In perhaps the most significant Supreme Court bankruptcy ruling since Stern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court today—by a 5-4 majority—overruled the Second Circuit’s approval of the Purdue Pharma Chapter 11 plan and its...more
In response to scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Exactech has recalled hundreds of thousands of defective medical implant devices sold between 2004 and 2021. Despite these recalls—which began in...more
Several companies have recently recalled their eye drops due to contamination concerns. Contaminated eye drops can present several risks—including the risk of a fatal bacterial infection in some cases. As a result, any one...more
Kaiser Gypsum Company Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc. (collectively, the “Debtors”), manufacturers of asbestos-containing cement products, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 30, 2016 (“Petition Date”) in the...more
TO SEIZE OR NOT TO SEIZE: CAMPUS PROTESTS AND POLICE USES OF FORCE - Dozens of college and university campuses experienced protests in April and May of 2024 due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Many were...more
Traditionally, toxic tort related claims are brought under product liability actions for negligence, breach of warranty, and strict liability. Asbestos has historically been the center of toxic tort litigation. The number of...more
This paper explores the mechanisms by which companies have utilized corporate restructuring through divisive mergers in conjunction with the available protections and tools of the United States Bankruptcy Code to resolve mass...more
Taking a closer look at the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines - What are mass arbitrations, and why in recent years have there been so many of them? The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear in a series of...more