ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court applied the incorrect statute of limitations to deny a motion to dismiss filed by a distributor of opioids because a family’s claims under the Drug Dealer Liability Act (DDLA) stem from personal injuries, the Georgia Court of Appeals held Feb. 12 in reversing the decision.

NEW ORLEANS — Becoming the eighth circuit to apply the effective vindication doctrine to Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered remand in the putative class suit over allegations that a bank holding company and related entities violated their fiduciary duties by, among other things, putting large portions of their retirement plan’s funds into proprietary cash investments; under the ruling, the lower court could compel arbitration of representative claims if it decides that the arbitration provisions that violate the doctrine are severable.

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment for rideshare platform Lyft in a passenger’s suit alleging negligence per se after he incurred permanent injuries when a Lyft driver shot him, finding that “there was no dispute that Lyft complied with the Georgia for-hire rideshare provision” regarding background checks.

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 11 denied a motion to remand sought by former players and widows of former players for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team who allege that the makers or suppliers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are liable for wrongful death and other harm due to the presence of PFAS in the artificial turf that was used for the surface of the baseball field in Veterans Stadium, the team’s former home stadium.  The judge said that 3M Co.’s removal of the case to federal court under the federal officer removal statute was “timely and proper.”

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 11 denied a motion for an injunction of a new Mississippi vape directory law that will allegedly ban the sale of e-cigarettes containing synthetic nicotine pending an appeal by industry associations, a distributor and retailers of the dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the law, writing that the appellants lack standing because they allege a “generalized grievance” rather than a “constitutional injury.”

HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge opined in dismissing claims in a class action alleging violations of state insurance laws and breach of contract that the Texas Insurance Code does not prohibit cost-sharing between insurance companies and members for payment for diagnostic breast imaging and that an insurance company was not required to pay for the deductibles and coinsurance for the procedure for a woman and a class of other non-Employee Retirement Income Security Act policyholders.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — A federal judge in Georgia on Feb. 11 partially granted and partially denied Bayer Corp.’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims that the company caused her to develop a neurological injury called stiff person’s syndrome (SPS), which she says is the result of her exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.  The judge said the plaintiff pleaded facts sufficient to state claim for breach of a duty to warn but did not plead facts sufficient to state a claim for negligent recall.

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania granted in part and denied in part insurers’ motions for summary judgment on the bellwether issues of claims-made requirement, batching and extended reporting; notice; occurrence requirement and fortuity-based exclusions; and prior knowledge in an opioid litigation coverage dispute brought by the trustee of a general unsecured creditors’ trust formed after the pharmaceutical company insured filed for bankruptcy, holding that all personal injury (PI) and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) claims first made after the 2016-17 policy period are not covered under the 2016-17 products insurance policies.