The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit yesterday vacated certification and directed the trial court to dismiss with prejudice the latest “empty suit” class action wherein class members suffered no real injury and wasted precious court resources merely to register their dissatisfaction with a product
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In a major development in the civil litigation targeting energy producers in Louisiana over their alleged damaging of the receding coastline there, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today unanimously affirmed the dismissal of the very first such lawsuit — wholly concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers — filed on behalf of the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E)
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightThough it’s still early in the new 115th Congress, a newly proposed House bill could help stop certain plaintiffs’ lawyer-driven class actions — featuring no discernible injuries — that ATRA calls “Empty Suit Litigation™”
Points of LightMissouri’s newly minted, reform-minded Governor Eric Greitens delivered his first State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature in Jefferson City yesterday, declaring his commitment to enacting critical tort reforms as a means to improving both the state’s civil justice system and its economic prospects
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightDespite President-elect Donald Trump’s history of litigiousness, the American Tort Reform Association today declared the “lawsuit industry” to be “the biggest loser in last night’s historic election”
Points of LightA federal judge Tuesday bluntly dismissed a putative nationwide class action filed on behalf of consumers pretending to be imbeciles who were oblivious to plainly labeled pill-counts on packaging of over-the-counter medication
Points of LightA federal judge presiding in Georgia over multidistrict litigation (MDL) that alleges certain pelvic mesh implants caused painful infections in women has fired a Rule 11 warning shot across the bow of plaintiffs counsel still floating “frivolous” claims in his courtroom
Points of LightA federal judge last Friday emphatically dismissed a preposterous would-be class action that alleged Starbucks deceived customers by underfilling its iced beverages with liquid and overfilling them with ice
Points of LightOn Monday, August 15, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, was convicted on nine criminal charges, including felony perjury and felony criminal conspiracy
Points of LightThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit yesterday endorsed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s January ruling that so-called “disclosure-only” settlements in shareholder class actions need to reveal a “plainly material misrepresentation or omission,” and reversed a district court’s approval of a disclosure-only settlement between Walgreen Co. and investors
Points of LightFederal courts in both California and New York — two perennial Judicial Hellholes — issued refreshingly reasonable decisions in two closely-watched cases last week
Points of LightAfter ATRA and others criticized abuse of multidistrict litigation, the federal panel overseeing such litigation denied more requests for MDL consolidation than it granted last year — the first time that’s happened in a decade
Points of Light, UncategorizedIn contrast to two recent high court decisions in the currently ranked top two Judicial Hellholes, the Georgia Supreme Court
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightJoining several state trial and appellate courts in doing so, a unanimous Florida appeals court yesterday embraced a more exacting standard for expert testimony which, believe it or not, may yet be struck down by the Sunshine State’s notoriously plaintiff-friendly Supreme Court
Judicial Hellholes, Points of LightPreviously disbarred Miami plaintiffs’ attorney Guy Bailey is off to prison for 25 months after failing to pay, as a condition of probation, restitution to clients from whom he’d stolen some $700,000
Points of LightCalifornia, the nation’s #1 Judicial Hellhole, has taken a dutiful step forward to remedy the ADA lawsuit epidemic in the state. Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation which will curb the predatory filing of ADA lawsuits by serial plaintiffs, and reduce the burden on small businesses in the state.
Points of LightEarlier this month, the Oregon Supreme Court voted 5-2 to uphold a $3 million statutory limit on tort awards in lawsuits against the state or its employees. The Court’s well-reasoned opinion overrules prior bad precedent which was not grounded in history or a proper reading of the law.
Points of LightThe American Tort Reform Association today called the sentencing of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon SilverShel Done “substantial and worthy of his crimes, and perhaps will help deter widespread corruption in Albany and the ‘double-dipping’ fraud that asbestos plaintiffs’ lawyers regularly perpetrate in the NYCAL”
Points of LightA new paper by two Philadelphia defense attorneys with extensive experience in asbestos litigation thoroughly debunks six lies regularly told by plaintiffs’ lawyers and the politicians they support with respect to state and federal legislation aimed at reducing fraud on both our courts and the asbestos bankruptcy trust funds
Points of LightIn the latest defeat for government officials using the awesome power of the state to suppress political speech with which they disagree, a federal judge yesterday permanently blocked California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s efforts to “out” the donors who support a free-market-minded nonprofit that has had the First Amendment audacity to weigh in on a variety of policy issues
Points of LightFederal trial Judge Lucy H. Koh last month continued her laudable, seemingly one-judge stand against consumer class action abuse in the Northern District of California
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