As reported by The New York Times, an appellate court in Missouri has upheld over $2 billion in damages against health-products giant Johnson & Johnson, finding that the company was aware of asbestos contamination in its talc for at least 50 years but did not warn consumers. The judge did reduce the verdict from $4.7
A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s $59 billion reorganization plan, resolving a turbulent bankruptcy that started when the nation’s largest utility sparked a series of wildfires that killed more than 100 people, leveled entire California communities, and led it to plead guilty to over 80 separate counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The New York State Legislature has approved a bill extending the Child Victims Act that gives survivors of childhood sexual abuse more time to bring lawsuits for allegations that occurred even decades ago. As reported by Law.com (subscription), on Wednesday, lawmakers in the state voted to extend the legal “look-back” window by an extra year, officially
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, health-products giant Johnson & Johnson has announced that it will discontinue the sale of its talc-containing Johnson’s Baby Powder in the U.S. and Canada, citing lowered sales in the wake of widespread litigation over alleged links between the powder and ovarian cancer in women who used the product for
As reported by The San Francisco Chronicle, facing blowback, PG&E has announced that it no longer intends to pay the criminal fines and expenses related to its negligence in the 2018 deadly Camp Fire with the funds from a trust intended to compensate victims.
Court of Appeal’s reversal of trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of two defendants in Kim v. County of Monterey will serve as new benchmark for courts wrestling with the distinction between ordinary and gross negligence The California Supreme Court has denied a petition for review of the Court of Appeal’s published opinion
Second set of criminal convictions in just five years places PG&E among the most criminally-convicted companies in US history As reported by The San Francisco Chronicle, Pacific Gas and Electricity Co. (PG&E) has agreed to plead guilty to 85 felony counts for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire
As reported by Law360 (subscription), plaintiffs in Juul e-cigarette fraud and injury cases united to file two consolidated complaints on Wednesday, unifying allegations that the vaping powerhouse caused widespread lung injuries by aggressively and fraudulently marketing its devices to underage teens and younger children.
Lieff Cabraser partner Mark P. Chalos spoke recently with Education Week for the article “School Districts Are Suing JUUL Over Youth Vaping. Do They Stand a Chance?” on the role districts will play in the huge wave of litigation against e-cigarette manufacturer, Juul. For their part, school districts seek to recover the costs of smoking
On February 5, 2020, Judge Andrew Y.S. Cheng of the Superior Court for the County of San Francisco issued an order appointing Lieff Cabraser partner Sarah R. London to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the Gilead HIV Drug Kidney & Bone Injuries Litigation. Sarah will lead the litigation on behalf of patients across California who allege they suffered kidney