Our crazy tort system
Long-Running Whistleblower Case Yields Zero Damages For Plaintiffs, But Might Earn Millions For Their Lawyers
“For a case where the plaintiffs got zero, we feel the plaintiffs’ lawyers shouldn’t get anything more.”
Our crazy tort system
Roundup deal: Big money for lawyers, an out for Bayer and a chance to see if lawsuits had any merit
In a pattern seen previously in settlements over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NFL concussion suits and other large MDLs, the lawyers representing real, living clients negotiated an additional settlement on behalf of anyone else who might sue in the future.
Our crazy tort system
Legal Funding Dispute Caps A Tangled, Colorful History
As published on Legal Newsline: NEWARK, N.J., May 8, 2020 – A litigation finance company whose colorful history includes a federal criminal investigation and a multiyear battle over millions of dollars in legal fees stemming from a Siberian plane crash has sued a prominent New Jersey personal injury lawyer for Read more…
Our crazy tort system
Roundup, Talc Cases Raise Question: What if Juries Get Science Wrong?
As published on Legal Newsline’s Northern California Record: SAN FRANCISCO, July 22, 2019 – On one coast, Bayer AG is fighting to reverse eye-popping jury verdicts based on a contested theory Roundup herbicide made by its Monsanto unit causes cancer. On the other, Johnson & Johnson begins hearings this week Read more…
Our crazy tort system
Roundup Jury Awards $2 Billion After Lawyers Shift Burden of Proof to Monsanto
As reported on Legal Newsline: San Francisco, May 14: On April 30, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used weedkiller Roundup, to be safe. Less than two weeks later, a California jury ordered Bayer AG to pay $2 billion to a couple who Read more…
Our crazy tort system
Art Imitates Life: ‘Billions’ Describes Cush Asbestos Trust Work
The third season of the wildly popular show “Billions” premiered in March with a mention of an oddly arcane subject: asbestos bankruptcy trusts. The dialogue coming out of the mouth of prosecutor Chuck Rhodes, played by Paul Giamatti, becomes a little less mysterious when you look at who wrote it, Read more…
Our crazy tort system
In New York City, Lawyers Compete On Everything But Fees
A trove of data revealing the contingency fees charged by New York City lawyers suggests that in virtually every tort case, lawyers charge the full one-third allowed under state regulations. Researchers at Claremont McKenna College and the USC Gould School of Law obtained retainer and closing statements for nearly 300,000 Read more…
Our crazy tort system
Climb A Tower Illegally, Get Shocked, Get A Shot At $20 Million
(Note: The jury ultimately tossed this case on Aug. 22, refusing to find the railroad responsible) NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Legal Newsline) – The facts in Colon v. Metro-North Commuter Railroad are as clear as a jolt from a high-tension power line: Plaintiff Omar Milton Colon trespassed on a railroad right-of-way Read more…