I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, [...]
Inevitable Consumer Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Nutella’s “Healthy” False Advertising
One of the great things about being a lawyer is that, like a sports fan watching a play unfold, you can foresee lawsuits before they're even filed. Nutella is delicious, creamy, and chocolaty, but one thing it is not: healthy. That didn't stop Ferrero, the makers of Nutella, from starting up a healthy-for-kids advertising campaign last year in Europe, as profiled by the nutrition researchers at Obesity Panacea: Although this may surprise some of our readers, I really like junk food. I eat far too much pizza, I love chicken wings, and Nutella, the original chocolate hazelnut spread, is one of ... Continue Reading
Federal Circuit Reinstates Fair Credit Reporting Act Suit Against The United States
Bormes v. U.S., 2009-1546 (Fed. Cir. November 16, 2010), isn't the type of suit you see every day: On August 9, 2008, Bormes, an attorney, filed a law-suit on behalf of one of his clients in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois using its online document filing system. Bormes paid the filing fee using his credit card, and the transaction was processed through the government’s pay.gov system. The govern-ment then provided Bormes with a confirmation webpage that appeared on Bormes’ computer screen. The confir-mation page contained the expiration date of Bormes’ credit card. That's a problem. ... Continue Reading
“we can price these almost anywhere we want given the product profiles.”
Those are the charming words of a vice president at Lundbeck, Inc., which claims to be "committed to providing innovative therapies that fulfill unmet medical needs of people with severe, and often rare, diseases for which few, if any, effective treatments are available." By "these," he was, by way of an email to others at the company, referring to a small group of pharmaceutical drugs the rights to which Lundbeck was in the process of acquiring from Merck, including Indocin IV. Indocin IV was, at that time, the primary pharmaceutical treatment for patent ductus arteriosus, in which the shunt that connects ... Continue Reading
Sheet Metal Workers v. GlaxoSmithKline: How To Use State Consumer Fraud Laws To Bring Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Class Actions
[UPDATE: Drug and Device Law goes Jersey Shore on me and "creates a situation," as they say. I replied in the comments there, although my comment seems to disappear at times. Perhaps their commenting/moderating software is as frustrating and difficult as mine. I've cut and pasted my comment below the fold here.] I've discussed the problems with the Illinois Brick decision before. In short, since "indirect purchasers" cannot bring federal antitrust claims — even if they were injured by antitrust violations — "indirect purchasers" like third-party payors and retailers have to resort to state law. It is not uncommon to see lawsuits ... Continue Reading
The Idiot’s Guide Whistleblowing Under The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act
If you suspect your employer has violated securities, tax, or government contract laws, you can contact our firm for a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation using this form. Corporate Counsel reported yesterday: The new federal whistleblower law is proving a hot item for many plaintiff law firms. Attorneys say that tipsters with visions of becoming millionaires are flooding their offices with calls. "In the last three weeks, I've had many, many more whistleblowing calls than I had in the last three years," said Rebecca Katz, a partner at Bernstein Liebhard in New York. Katz is a former senior counsel in ... Continue Reading
Ready, Fire, Aim: A Lesson In Bad Legal Writing From The Lowe’s Drywall Class Action Settlement Kerfuffle
The internet has not been pleased with the proposed settlement reached between Lowe's — which denies ever selling any tainted Chinese drywall — and the plaintiff's attorneys in a Georgia state court class action. There's two problems with the proposed settlement, which has not yet been approved by a judge. First, the settlement is a dreaded coupon settlement (i.e., a settlement in which the plaintiffs get only coupons or vouchers to buy more stuff from the defendant), one that will use particularly unreliable notice procedures for letting potential class members know about the settlement. For more, see ProPublica and the ... Continue Reading
Ford Takes The Lead In Assaulting Consumers And Small Businesses Via The National Chamber Litigation Center
The Blog of the Legal Times reported yesterday: David Leitch, the general counsel of Ford Motor Co., is the new chairman of the board of directors of the National Chamber Litigation Center. Leitch succeeds James Comey, who until recently was senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corp. And what is "the National Chamber Litigation Center," you ask? It's the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the most loathsome enterprises in the nation: I asked [U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom] Donohue what, exactly, the Chamber does. “Two fundamental things,” he replied. “We’re advocates. ... Continue Reading
Receipt Manufacturers Knew For Years Bisphenol-A (BPA) Was Leeching Onto Consumer’s Hands
Hindsight is 20–20, or so defense lawyers like to say when their clients are caught poisoning thousands, sometimes millions, of people. Such will almost certainly be the case once the class-action litigation over BPA finally heats up. The latest product to be found guilty of leeching the toxic pseudo-hormone into unknowing customers is ordinary point-of-sale receipts: Cash register and other receipts may expose consumers to substantial amounts of bisphenol A, a hormone-mimicking chemical that has been linked with a host of potential health risks, according to a trio of recent studies. ... On July 28, Warner and his colleagues at ... Continue Reading
Who Will Fight For Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses Yearing To Breathe Free?
The New Colossus: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, ... Continue Reading
Justice Sotomayor Exercises Judicial Restraint In Shady Grove v. Allstate
Yesterday, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Shady Grove v. Allstate. On the whole, the issue was quite simple: New York law prohibits class actions in suits seeking penalties or statutory minimum damages. We consider whether this precludes a federal district court sitting in diversity from entertaining a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The answer was no: The question in dispute is whether Shady Grove’s suit may proceed as a class action. Rule 23 provides an answer. It states that “[a] class action may be maintained” if two conditions are met: The suit must satisfy ... Continue Reading
