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LOS ANGELES — A California judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict on a $950 million punitive damages award against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in an asbestos-talc case, finding that while the plaintiff family members established causation, they had not demonstrated malicious conduct or that J&J had a duty to disclose, adding that the award was also likely inflated by attorney misconduct.
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on March 16 denied Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class’s claims for fraudulent concealment and other causes of action in a case alleging that its smartwatch bands contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that the plaintiffs demonstrated standing and adequately pleaded an injury. The judge granted Apple’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ fraudulent misrepresentation and implied warranty of merchantability claims, however.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company lacked constitutional standing to bring patent infringement claims against another technology company because a 2006 agreement transferred all rights associated with the patents at issue to a third party, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 16 in agreeing with a Nevada federal judge.
BOSTON — Finding that physicians’ professional groups and others are likely to prevail in their challenge to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) changes to vaccine recommendations and the reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) as violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), a Massachusetts federal judge on March 16 stayed both a January U.S. Department of Health and Human Services memorandum announcing the reduction of the recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11 and the appointment of 13 new ACIP members.
CHICAGO — Following the Illinois Supreme Court’s determination that a pollution exclusion can apply to exposure to the emissions of ethylene oxide from an insured facility, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s ruling in favor of the insureds after determining that the pollution exclusion bars coverage for the claims asserted against them.
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 13 imposed $30,000 in sanctions for “rampant misconduct,” including fake citations and representations of law, while affirming lower court sanctions and other rulings in consolidated appeals stemming from a defamation and free speech dispute that started with a protest at a fireworks show held under COVID-19 restrictions.
NEWARK, N.J. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical testing lab seeking reimbursement from health insurers for COVID-19 testing, a New Jersey federal judge on March 13 dismissed state law counterclaims by the insurers related to fraudulent overbilling with prejudice and counterclaims based on duplicative billing and billing for ancillary tests without prejudice but left in place overpayment claims sought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama on March 13 granted a cancer advocacy group’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the former president of its board of directors and the company she controls, enjoining the defendants from using trademarks related to the phrase “Women in Blue” in connection with a fundraising initiative.
ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court did not abuse its discretion when it certified a class of Atlanta-area condominium owners who allege that their condo association incorrectly imposed an assessment on them for balcony repairs without first submitting the claim to its insurer, a Georgia appellate panel ruled.
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a lawsuit seeking recovery of a $6.4 million underlying judgment arising from a rented plane that crashed into a communications tower and caused two fatalities, concluding that the aircraft insurance policy is ambiguous.
SEATTLE — A spokesman for Monsanto Co. on March 13 confirmed that the company has reached confidential settlements to resolve several long-running state court lawsuits against the company by various plaintiffs who alleged that they were injured from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the Sky Valley Education Center (SVEC) near Seattle. The spokesman said the company’s payment of $1 million in sanctions related to the case at hand was paid to resolve the suit even though Monsanto does not agree with the sanctions decision.