The Fox News-Roger Ailes sexual harassment scandal has created plenty of headaches for parent company 21st Century Fox. Here’s another one: potential shareholder litigation. At least three plaintiffs law firms are looking at possible suits alleging harm to investors. There …
Lawyers who defend companies in product liability cases are celebrating an unusual order by a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia. In it, he told attorneys for the other side—the ones who represent injured consumers—that he was going to crack down …
Can a debt collector accused of crossing the line avoid liability by buying a consumer’s legal claim out from under her? A federal judge in Las Vegas said yes. The case deserves attention because if the U.S. Court of Appeals …
Chevron wasn’t the only winner in Monday’s ruling by a federal appeals court over its long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation. The victory, in which the court affirmed that a lawyer for victims engaged in wrongdoing to secure a $9.5 billion verdict …
The U.S. Supreme Court fairly predictably sides with corporations in their clashes with consumers, but the business-friendly rulings often come in unpredictable packages. Consider the latest high court decision reinforcing the ability of companies to fend off class-action lawsuits and …
For all the black robes and ceremony, the American legal system often operates more like a factory assembly line than a citadel of individualized justice. Ninety- five percent of criminal prosecutions end in plea deals. Many defective-product claims settle in …
An $18 billion liability figure attached itself last Friday to Volkswagen’s diesel disaster. This morning comes news that the German car maker has set aside $7.3 billion (€6.5 billion) to cover a scandal spreading worldwide. How to make sense of …
In early March a 30,000-pound mat of oily gunk washed up on East Grand Terre, a barrier island in the mouth of Louisiana’s Barataria Bay. It was an ugly reminder of the blowout at BP’s Macondo well, a disaster that …
BP has abruptly switched legal strategies—again—in the multi-billion-dollar liability fight stemming from the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The company dropped a campaign to oust a settlement administrator it had accused of tolerating waste and fraud. The move …
The Supreme Court sometimes surprises. In oral arguments Wednesday about the latest conservative attempt to undermine President Obama’s health-reform program, Justice Anthony Kennedy introduced an unexpected potential basis for upholding the Affordable Care Act. Kennedy’s reference to the obscure doctrine …
