After years of reports, government investigations, and legal actions arising from opioid manufacturers’ roles in creating the nation’s opioid crisis by misrepresenting or concealing the risks of addiction and abuse, the manufacturers of drugs used to treat opioid...
The Five Pillars of an Effective Mass Tort Call Center
For law firms with significant mass tort practices, call centers are a must. There are simply too many clients and too many phone calls to and from those many clients during a mass tort for a law firm’s intake or client care staff to handle on their own. But an...
Juul MDL Judge Notes Lack of Diversity Among Plaintiffs’ Counsel
The federal district court judge overseeing the Juul Labs Inc. multidistrict litigation recently granted approval for a class action settlement that would include up to $150 million in attorneys’ fees. However, while doing so, the judge also noted his concerns over...
Third Johnson and Johnson Talc Lawsuit Bankruptcy Filing
Following through on what its worldwide vice president of litigation said during an October 2023 quarterly call (which we covered in an earlier blog post), Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to move one of its subsidiaries to Texas in preparation for a third...
JPML Consolidates 55 Weight Loss Lawsuits
On February 2, 2024, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) consolidated 55 pending weight loss lawsuits involving the drugs Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, manufactured by Novo Nordisk A/S, and Trulicity and Mounjaro, manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co....
Roundup Lawsuit Update on Third Bellwether Trial
Our new Roundup lawsuit update highlights a decision in the third bellwether trial in the Roundup multidistrict litigation. A 12-person jury in Philadelphia unanimously awarded the plaintiff a staggering $2.25 billion, finding that John McKivison’s non-Hodgkin’s...
CA Appeals Court Issues Gilead Lawsuit Decision
On January 9, 2024, the State of California Court of Appeals ruled in part against Gilead in its motion for summary adjudication by allowing plaintiffs’ claim for ordinary negligence against the drug manufacturer to proceed. The earlier motion had been denied on all...
Fifth Consecutive Win for Roundup Litigation Plaintiffs
On December 5, Roundup litigation plaintiffs won their fifth consecutive victory against Monsanto, manufacturer of the weed killer Roundup, and its parent company, Bayer AG. In the second case to go to trial in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, the jury found...
LTL Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Update for Talc Litigation
On Friday, July 28, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed the Chapter 11 case filed by Johnson & Johnson’s talc unit, LTL Management LLC, stating that the debtor did not meet the requirements...
$224M J&J Talc Litigation Verdict Overturned
On October 4, 2023, the three-judge Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey threw out a $223.8 million talc litigation verdict against Johnson and Johnson (J&J), finding that the science relied on by the plaintiffs was not sound. The 2020 verdict...