Welcome to Legislation.com Class Actions: Vital Mass, a weekly briefing for sophistication motion and mass tort attorneys.
This week: Opening statements started on Tuesday in a two-week trial in Houston over whether or not to dismiss Johnson & Johnson’s talc chapter. The American Tort Reform Affiliation shortly condemned the affirmation of U.S. Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Discover out which legislation agency the Metropolis of Los Angeles employed to defend in opposition to wildfire lawsuits.
I’m Amanda Bronstad. Be happy to achieve out to me together with your enter. My e mail is [email protected]. Comply with me on LinkedIn or X: @abronstadlaw.
‘It Was Actually Laborious, and Upsetting’
Johnson & Johnson attorneys Greg Gordon (Jones Day) and Allison Brown (Kirkland & Ellis) argued on Tuesday to approve a proposed $10 chapter plan to resolve 1000’s of lawsuits alleging talcum powder triggered ovarian most cancers. U.S. Chapter Decide Christopher Lopez, of the Southern District of Texas, heard opening statements within the trial, which is predicted to final two weeks and have as many as 40 witnesses.
A number of attorneys gave opening statements on why Lopez ought to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Purple River Talc for dangerous religion, or reject the plan because of voting improprieties that helped garner the assist of 82% of talc claimants. Amongst them was Adam Silverstein (Otterbourg), who represents a coalition of talc claimants opposing the plan, and U.S. Trustee trial legal professional Linda Richenderfer.
The opening statements have been comparatively civil, in comparison with the vitriol that prompted U.S. Chapter Decide Michael Kaplan, in 2023, on the first listening to in Johnson & Johnson’s second talc chapter in New Jersey, to name on the attorneys to “present professionalism to one another, respect to one another, civility to one another, and advocate zealously.”
Chris Placitella (Cohen Placitella), who’s liaison counsel within the talc multidistrict litigation and argued in opposition to the plan on Tuesday, even acknowledged:
“It’s been actually robust throughout this case to witness attorneys going after one another. It was actually onerous, and upsetting. People who find themselves mates of mine on each side of the aisle taking photographs at one another.”
‘Bobby Was within the Trenches With Me’
The American Tort Reform Affiliation has an extended historical past of siding with Republican political leaders who blame lawsuits for stymying America’s companies. However the Feb. 13 affirmation of President Donald Trump’s choose of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the following Secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Providers? Not a lot.
“ATRA urges Sec. Kennedy to prioritize evidence-based policymaking and public well being over the monetary pursuits of trial attorneys,” ATRA wrote. Meaning extra “scientific consensus” and fewer “fringe theories or junk science,” the group stated. ATRA referred to as on Kennedy to reveal his monetary pursuits associated to litigation in opposition to healthcare and pharmaceutical corporations – then named plaintiffs’ corporations Morgan & Morgan and Wisner Baum, which sued Bayer’s Monsanto over its Roundup pesticide and Merck over the Gardasil HPV vaccine (the primary trial of which was simply postponed).
I reached out to each corporations and acquired these responses:
R. Brent Wisner (Wisner Baum): “Bobby was within the trenches with me, taking over some of the highly effective chemical corporations on the planet—a battle we have been imagined to lose. However when the jury heard the reality, discovered about Monsanto’s company malfeasance and the way corrupt the EPA had develop into beneath Monsanto’s affect, they spoke in the one language that firms like Monsanto communicate—cash. Bobby earned his share from that historic battle. As a substitute of ridiculing Bobby for that heroic work, my fellow liberals falsely paint that work as associated to vaccines. It’s merely not true. He has made no cash from a single vaccine case.”
John Morgan (Morgan & Morgan): “Our agency doesn’t have interaction in instances with out trigger. We had three million folks name us for illustration final yr and solely accepted 8% of these instances to even consider. We do not have the time or sources to waste on frivolous issues. The jury verdicts that we obtain validate this assertion. We belief that Bobby Kennedy might be truthful, neutral, and an important protector for the folks.”
Who Acquired the Work?
Munger, Tolles & Olson signed a three-year, $10 million contract with the Metropolis of Los Angeles to defend the Los Angeles Division of Water and Energy in lawsuits over final month’s Palisades wildfire. The DWP’s Board of Commissioners voted on Feb. 11 to approve the agency, whose attorneys Daniel Levin, Brad Brian and Nicholas Fram appeared this month within the first lawsuits introduced over the Palisades fireplace, which scorched almost 7,000 buildings and killed 12. The identical Munger staff represented Hawaiian Electrical in litigation over the 2023 wildfire in Maui.
Right here’s what else is going on:
Fb Settlement: The U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accepted a $725 million class motion settlement with Fb over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, overruling two objectors. The panel additionally accepted about $180 million in legal professional charges within the case, which alleged that Fb, now owned by Meta Platforms, offered details about its customers to 3rd events via the Cambridge Analytica app. The Feb. 13 ruling comes about one week after oral arguments earlier than the Ninth Circuit.
PCB Enchantment: The Washington Supreme Court docket heard oral arguments on Feb. 11 within the first PCB verdict in opposition to Monsanto involving a faculty close to Seattle. The 2021 verdict, for $185 million, was reversed final yr by the Washington Court docket of Appeals based mostly on a battle of legal guidelines with Missouri over punitive damages and Washington’s statute or repose, which bars product legal responsibility claims after 12 years of use. Monsanto, owned by Bayer, has confronted a number of subsequent trials, during which juries have awarded thousands and thousands of {dollars} to college students, dad and mom and lecturers on the college alleging the PCB publicity triggered neurological issues.
Bowl Bolster: A Jewish doctor who appealed a $4.1 million medical malpractice on grounds that the Philadelphia Court docket of Widespread Pleas violated his non secular freedom by refusing to delay his trial till after Yom Kippur claims his argument was bolstered after the identical court docket closed on Feb. 14 in honor of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Tremendous Bowl win. Peter Gross, represented by Duane Morris, argued his attraction earlier than the Pennsylvania Superior Court docket in October after a jury awarded damages to a affected person who claimed he suffered everlasting cardiac harm because of the physician’s failure to acknowledge his impending coronary heart assault.
Thanks for studying Vital Mass! I’ll be again subsequent week.
