The American Lawyer takes a look back at how the plaintiffs’ bar fared for better and for worse in 2016, including a report on the “blockbuster” $14.7 billion settlement in the Volkswagen diesel emissions consumer fraud case that surpassed previous automotive industry records and may well have set an all-time speed and efficiency record for a case of its size, running from inception to resolution in less than a year. [Read more…]
Bloomberg BNA spoke with Lieff Cabraser partner Rachel Geman for a Q&A on upcoming cases involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and anticipated employment law enforcement under President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
Law360 reviews a list of “Top 5 Multidistrict Litigation Matters,” covering large-scale cases “sure to make headlines in 2017,” all of which include some involvement by Lieff Cabraser. These highly visible multi-district litigation matters include: General Motors Ignition-Switch defects, DePuy Pinnacle Hip injuries, Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Emissions consumer fraud, and Pelvic Surgical Mesh injuries. [Read more…]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating a potential Fiat Chrysler auto defect, in which the vehicles roll away despite being shifted into park. U.S. auto safety regulators will be inspecting about 1 million 2013-2016 model year Ram 1500 pickup trucks and 2014-2016 Dodge Durango SUVs in the wake of numerous vehicle roll-away reports. These auto injury reports have included nine injuries and 25 crashes so far. [Read more…]
Stryker Orthopaedics has announced that it has reached a settlement with plaintiffs in both federal multidistrict litigation and New Jersey multicounty litigation over injury claims relating to Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implants. The settlement will compensate eligible U.S. patients who had surgery to replace their hip stems (known as revision surgery) prior to December 19, 2016. [Read more…]
On December 16, 2016, Chief Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued an order appointing Lexi J. Hazam of Lieff Cabraser to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the multidistrict litigation previously consolidated in October 2016 over injuries and financial losses sustained by patients as a result of their use of the prescription drug Abilify. [Read more…]
The American Lawyer (subscription) reports the latest developments in a 20-year “litigation nightmare” that still continues between State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and over four million of its policyholders. [Read more…]
A settlement has been reached in the class action digital privacy litigation against Google Inc. regarding claims that the popular Gmail service scanned some outgoing user email messages to build marketing profiles and serve targeted ads. [Read more…]
The Bar Association of San Francisco’s Paralegal Section has announced its 2016 awards, including two Lieff Cabraser staff members. [Read more…]
Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay $19.5 million to settle claims of improper advertising relating to its top-selling drug Abilify. 42 states and Washington D.C. alleged that the company improperly advertised antipsychotic drug Abilify, first approved in 2002 by the FDA to treat schizophrenic in adults. However, Bristol-Myers Squibb thereafter began promoting Abilify for off-label uses not approved by the FDA. These off-label uses had not been established as safe or effective. [Read more…]
Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin will be presenting at the Sedona Conference Institute 2017 eDiscovery Negotiation Training: Practical Cooperative Strategies on February 8-9 in Miami, Florida. [Read more…]
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy today announced the appointment of four new board members, including Lieff Cabraser Managing Partner Steven E. Fineman. [Read more…]
Legaltech News recently profiled Lieff Cabraser partner Annika K. Martin in a piece entitled, “Women of Legal Tech: From Journalism to Law.” While women remain underrepresented in most science and technology fields, Monica Bay’s “Women of Legal Tech” column serves as an inspiring platform for showcasing the many prominent women in the Legal Tech community. [Read more…]
On Saturday December 3rd, 2016, Lieff Cabraser attorneys Mark Chalos and Andrew Kaufman volunteered their legal services through the Tennessee Bar Association and Wills for Heroes to provide free will-writing work to Nashville police and firefighters. Since Wills for Heroes’ establishment 15 years ago in the wake of the September 11 attacks, attorneys in more than 10 states have provided 7,000 free estate planning documents to emergency first responders across the nation. [Read more…]
Lieff Cabraser announces that today, as co-counsel with the Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, it has filed four consumer fraud civil enforcement actions against national retailers: J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and Sears. These cases allege that to increase sales each of these companies has pervasively used “false reference pricing” schemes — whereby the companies advertise products at a purported “discount” from false “original” or “regular” prices — to mislead customers into believing they are receiving bargains. [Read more…]
The Northern District’s Women Attorneys Advocacy Project presented a program on December 6th entitled “He Said What?: Tackling Unprofessional Conduct Towards Women Attorneys.” Lieff Cabraser employment practice group chair Kelly M. Dermody was joined by other leading figures in the Bay Area legal community: District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Paul Grewal of Facebook Inc., and Annette Hurst of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for a roundtable discussion on gender bias and discrimination in the legal realm. [Read more…]
As reported by Law360, Public Justice (represented by Lieff Cabraser) has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit urging the affirmation of the district court’s decision denying a motion to compel arbitration in a consumer lawsuit against the Uber ride-sharing service. In the case, Uber seeks to impose mandatory arbitration requirements on consumers — contract terms of which they had no notice and to which they did not affirmatively agree. The brief notes that this is not only contrary to longstanding law, but also fundamentally unfair: Companies should not be permitted to force consumers making online transactions to abide by terms to which they do not agree, simply because those terms are available elsewhere online. [Read more…]
Banking giant Wells Fargo is attempting to sidestep a multitude of fraud lawsuits by forcing banking customers instead into private arbitration. Under the bank’s widely-reported false accounts scandal, some two million sham accounts were opened under customers’ names without their knowledge or consent. As noted by the New York Times, “This is not the first time Wells Fargo has been accused of trying to use arbitration to its advantage.” [Read more…]
The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser for its 2016 “Elite Trial Lawyers” list in the category of Class Action. The Elite Trial Lawyers award recognizes “law firms that achieved high-dollar recoveries for clients and that did some of the most creative and significant work on the plaintiffs side.” Lieff Cabraser was a co-winner for Class Action with the Cohen Milstein firm. [Read more…]
On December 6, 2016 at 12:30 p.m. PST, Lieff Cabraser partner Rachel Geman will present a Lawline webinar on “Investigating & Litigating Employment Class Actions From The Plaintiffs’ Perspective.” Rachel’s presentation will review these decisions and the applicable law, resistance to compulsory arbitration mandates, and an examination of anti-discrimination/equal pay claims as well as wage and hour claims. [Read more…]