Nearly a year ago in Neither Reason nor Science Supports Class Actions against Diet Soda Makers, we applauded the dismissal of several copycat class-action lawsuits alleging that because the word “diet” in “diet soda” implies the beverage aids in weight loss, companies like Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were misleading consumers. Consumers were misled, the suits asserted, … Continued
Last week, the United States filed its long-awaited motion to dismiss a major False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, U.S. ex rel. Campie v. Gilead Sciences, Inc. The Government argued that dismissal was warranted “to avoid the additional expenditure of government resources on a case that it fully investigated … Continued
On November 26, 2018, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) published an extensive proposed rule that seeks to “reorganize and codify [labeling and advertising] regulations in order to simplify and clarify regulatory standards … and reduce the regulatory burden on industry members where possible.” The agency is accepting public comments on the … Continued
Featured Expert Contributor, Mass Torts—Asbestos Robert H. Wright, a Partner with Horvitz & Levy LLP in Los Angeles, CA Last month, the United States Supreme Court rejected the “bare metal” defense to products liability claims in maritime cases. Air & Liquid Systems v. DeVries, No. 17-1104, 2019 WL 1245520 (U.S. Mar. 19, 2019). Some have … Continued
Last May on the eve of Memorial Day, we wrote about a Southern District of New York decision dismissing a class action against Pepsi-Cola. On Friday, March 15, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a Summary Order (which has no precedential value) affirming the lower court’s decision. … Continued
A November 2018 commentary by our Featured Expert Contributor on environmental-law matters, Samuel Boxerman (with Ben Tannen), discussed two related petitions for certiorari pending at the U.S. Supreme Court that presented a novel Clean Water Act question: whether a discharge through groundwater is an addition of a pollutant to waters of the United States from … Continued
In a November 20 Featured Expert Contributor post, Cert Petitions May Mean Supreme Court Will Clarify Clean Water Act Jurisdiction, Sidley Austin LLP partner Sam Boxerman and his colleague Ben Tannen discussed two related certiorari petitions pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Both petitions ask the Court to review circuit court decisions that held discharges through … Continued
Guest Commentary By Robert S. Niemann, a Partner with Keller and Heckman LLP in the firm’s San Francisco, CA office, and Jill M. Mahoney, an Associate in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Editor’s note: This blog is an update to the February 2, 2018 WLF Legal Backgrounder, “Litigating over Empty Space: Public and Private Plaintiffs … Continued
Featured Expert Contributor, Judicial Gatekeeping of Expert Evidence Evan M. Tager, a Partner in the Washington, DC office of Mayer Brown LLP, with Surya Kundu, an Associate with the firm. For a printer-friendly PDF of this post, click here. Although regarded by many as a relatively plaintiff-friendly court, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently bucked … Continued
Last month at The Atlantic Festival, FTC Commissioner Slaughter and former FTC Chair Ohlhausen participated in an enlightening interview on technology regulation. When discussing how the United States approaches regulation compared to other nations, Ohlhausen said the U.S. has such an “enormous presence in the tech space” due in part to America’s “lighter touch” on … Continued