NEW YORK — Law firms that routinely accept leadership responsibilities in multidistrict litigations filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Keller Postman LLC and Ashley C. Keller, telling the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should reverse sanctions leveled against the firm and its senior partner, who serves as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, for failing to comply with a protective order.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Repeat litigants in asbestos litigation have not identified a sufficiently specific or anticipated claim under which a court can require asbestos bankruptcy trusts to preserve claims data under an equitable bill of discovery, the Delaware Supreme Court said in reversing and remanding for dismissal of the action.

NEW YORK — The false marketing claims asserted by consumers against manufacturers of cold medications containing oral phenylephrine (PE) that labeled the medications as "Maximum Strength" or "Max Strength" when they were no more effective than any other oral nasal decongestant are not expressly preempted by federal law, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, partially reversing a decision by the multidistrict litigation judge who had dismissed all claims with prejudice.

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Iowa federal judge’s decision to cancel a plaintiff-appellant manufacturer’s trademark covering a brightly colored garden hose because the color was purely functional; the panel also affirmed the judge’s award of more than $3.21 million in attorney fees to the defendant-appellee entity because the plaintiff-appellant’s conduct both before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and the District Court made the case exceptional.

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 31 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit filed by United Healthcare Services Inc. (UHS) accusing a drug distributor of participating in a “scheme” to repackage and sell oncology drugs to second purchasers, resulting in excessive billing to health insurers, finding that the suit was untimely under the applicable statute of limitations.

HARTFORD, Conn.— A federal judge in Connecticut on July 31 granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence and invasion of privacy lawsuit alleging that the insured misused her clinical social worker credentials to access patient healthcare information that was in a hospital’s electronic patient database, holding that the business exclusion bars coverage.

DENVER — A split 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed the denial of certification of a class of “Natural American Spirit” (NAS) cigarette smokers in 12 states who in a multidistrict litigation accused three tobacco companies of misleadingly labeling NAS cigarettes “natural” and “additive-free” and affirmed the certification of a class of smokers in eight states who were allegedly deceived by the label on NAS-brand menthol cigarettes, while a dissenting judge said the consumers did not have sufficient proof of their claims.

RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel split in a July 30 ruling as to whether sellers of e-cigarette products have standing to sue North Carolina officials over a new state directory that prohibits sales of products that are not authorized for sale by the Food and Drug Administration, with the majority concluding that vape sellers have standing to sue but affirming that they were unlikely to prevail on their preemption theory.