Trial

Google’s $5.5 Million Class Privacy Pact Improperly Reviewed

Google Inc. must again defend its $5.5 million settlement to end privacy class claims after a federal appeals court raised concerns about money designated for third parties. The trial court wrongly dismissed objections to the cy pres settlement, which distributes funds to specific interest groups, and must thoroughly address them on remand, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said …


Teva Reaches $85 Million Settlement in Oklahoma Opioid Lawsuit

Photo: Sue Ogrocki (AP/File)Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay Oklahoma $85 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general over the company’s involvement in fueling the opioid epidemic. The settlement was announced on Sunday by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, ahead of a much-anticipated trial on Tuesday against the country’s largest drug …


Michael Jackson’s Estate and Former Manager Settle Lawsuit

A years-long lawsuit between Michael Jackson’s estate and one of the superstar’s former managers has been settled, ending one of the final legal fights over the King of Pop’s assets. The confidential settlement announced Thursday with Tohme R. Tohme, Jackson’s manager in the last year of his life, was reached after a trial had been underway for five days. It comes a month short of the 10th …


VW Settles Dieselgate Lawsuit Just Days Before Trial

Today was supposed to mark the beginning of the first trial over Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal. But on Friday, the German automaker struck a settlement with the plaintiff before the proceedings got underway, reports Reuters.
The settlement follows a failed attempt by Volkswagen to delay the trial because of comments made by the plaintiff’s attorney in a Netflix series that seemed to draw a parallel between VW-funded monkey experiments and the Holocaust. …


Port Authority Lawsuit Reopened in Wake of Bridgegate

With the Bridgegate trial now over, a federal judge has ruled that Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale can have his day in court. In a ruling filed Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Wettre reopened a whistleblower lawsuit Speziale filed against the Port Authority that had been put on hold more than a year ago pending the outcome of the Bridgegate trial. Speziale originally filed …


U.S. High Court Won’t Halt Price-Fixing Class Action Against Containerboard Makers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to halt a class action lawsuit against several containerboard manufacturers, which could now face trial on claims of price fixing by tens of thousands of buyers and nearly $12 billion in potential damages. The justices left in place a federal judge’s certification of the antitrust class action against manufacturers …


Exonerated Man Files Federal Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit

A man who was released from prison in August 2016 after spending nearly three decades behind bars in a 1988 murder in Wilmington has filed a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit against the officers who investigated the case and the City of Wilmington. Johnny Small was just 15 years old when he was charged with first-degree murder in the July 13, 1988, killing of Pamela Dreher, 32. Dreher was …


Trump Tries to Tromp Youth by Undermining Landmark Climate Lawsuit

The Trump administration filed a motion on March 7 to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on a federal judge’s order in Juliana v. United States. Juliana v. United States is an historic case brought by 21 young plaintiffs who argue that their constitutional and public trust rights are being violated by the government’s creation of climate danger. The Trump administration also filed a …


Litigation Reform Moving Fast Through House of Representatives

With both Congress and White House now in Republican hands, the U.S. House of Representatives is moving with dispatch to consider a series of litigation reform measures, some stalled for years by Democratic opposition and others of relatively recent vintage. Bruce Kaufman at BNA Bloomberg has a three-part series (first, second, third) followed by an update today on the looming battle over the …