Articles by Jef Feeley

Buffett’s Duracell Sued by BASF Over Lithium Battery Secrets

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Duracell battery maker was accused by chemical producer BASF SE of stealing trade secrets about lithium ion battery technology. BASF, the world’s biggest chemical maker by revenue, claims in a lawsuit that Duracell, owned by Buffett’s …

J&J Plunges After Plan to Settle Baby Powder Suits Fails

Johnson & Johnson shares fell the most in five years after the company’s plan to settle thousands of talc-related lawsuits through bankruptcy was shot down in court. The ruling means J&J will have to fight roughly 60,000 claims brought by …

J&J Spars With Foes of $9 Billion Talc Cancer Plan as Trial Ends

Johnson & Johnson told a judge its $9 billion proposal to settle baby powder cancer claims in bankruptcy court is the only viable way to end more than 15 years of litigation, while opponents assailed the company’s efforts to line …

Bayer Faces Billions in Payouts for Decades-Old Toxic Mess

Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit stopped making toxic PCBs a half century ago, but the legal fallout lingers even as many of the building materials made with the chemicals are no longer used in US homes, schools and factories. On Tuesday …

Edison Utility Sued Over Role of Equipment in Los Angeles Fire

Edison International Inc.’s southern California utility was hit with a lawsuit blaming the energy provider’s equipment for igniting one of the wildfires still raging in the second-largest US metropolis. The lawsuit is on behalf of a group of homeowners, renters, …

Gunmaker Sig Sauer Must Pay $11 Million Over Pistol That Fired Accidentally

Gunmaker Sig Sauer Inc. was ordered by a Pennsylvania jury to pay $11 million to a customer who alleged defects in one of the company’s pistols led it to go off without him pulling the trigger. Jurors in state court …

Abbott, Reckitt Score First Victory in Baby Formula Trial

Abbott Laboratories and a unit of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc were cleared by a jury over claims they hid risks their premature-infant formulas can cause a bowel disease that severely sickened a baby boy. It was the companies’ first trial …

J&J’s $8.2 Billion Talc Settlement Faces January Court Test

The fate of Johnson & Johnson’s latest push to use bankruptcy courts to end thousands of cancer lawsuits tied to its iconic baby powder now hinges on a high-stakes trial in January. After months of wrangling, a federal judge in …

Becton Dickinson Hernia-Mesh Settlements Will Exceed $1 Billion

Becton Dickinson & Co. will pay more than $1 billion to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits alleging medical patients suffered damaged organs from surgical mesh improperly used to treat hernias, according to people familiar with the deal who weren’t authorized …

J&J Lifts Baby Powder Settlement Bid to More Than $8.2 Billion

Johnson & Johnson has boosted to more than $8.2 billion its offer to settle thousands of lawsuits by people who say its baby powder gave them cancer, according to people familiar with the matter. The offer, an increase from the …