Defense of Mass Tort Claims, Class Actions, and Significant Product-Based Litigation
The Ninth Circuit this week declined to revive a proposed class action in Washington federal court accusing defendant of mis-labeling a water drink containing caffeine. See Harold Maple v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, No. 13-36089, 14-35038 and 14-35059, 2016 WL 2621345 (9th Cir. 5/9/16).
This was a putative class action arising from allegedly unfair or deceptive…
The First Circuit recently affirmed the exclusion of plaintiff’s expert in a toxic tort claim, leading to summary judgment. See Milward v. Rust-Oleum Corp., No. 13-2132, 2016 WL 1622620 (1st Cir. 4/25/16).
Plaintiff Milward worked as a pipefitter and refrigerator technician for over thirty years. During the course of his employment, Milward was exposed to…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a draft report on hydraulic fracturing, concluding that there is no evidence that fracking ha…
Continue Reading EPA Draft Report on Fracking
Yesterday the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) convened a Green Ribbon Science Panel (GRSP) to continue work on the state’s Gr…
Continue Reading California Publishes New Draft of Informal Green Chemistry Regulations
Readers of MassTortDefense are accustomed to European regulatory approaches that are much stricter than in North America, under a co-called “prec…
Continue Reading European Regulators Reaffirm Stance on BPA
A quick update on the Chinese Drywall MDL. With the recent filing of an omnibus complaint, approximately 3,000 plaintiffs are now involved in the prod…
Continue Reading Update on Chinese Drywall MDL
The federal judge presiding over the MDL involving litigation claiming trailers issued after Hurricane Katrina allegedly exposed residents to formalde…
Continue Reading Ruling on Contractors’ Motion to Dismiss in FEMA Trailer MDL
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an injunction against lawsuits in the landmark bankruptcy case of asbestos manufacturer Johns-Manville does in f…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Issues Opinion in Much-Watched Manville Insurer Asbestos Case
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has consolidated a number of lawsuits brought over Chinese-made drywall installed in U.S. homes. S…
Continue Reading MDL Created for Chinese Drywall Litigation
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reportedly agreed to take a further look at its 2008 decision that bisphenol A in certain food and drink con…
Continue Reading FDA To Revisit BPA Assessment
