Legal News Articles & Interviews

Columbus, OH Having been delayed three times now, the first C.R. Bard hernia mesh lawsuit is slated for April 19, 2021. The bellwether jury trial has been centralized before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus in the Southern District of Ohio. At issue is that Bard and its subsidiary Davol knew and when they knew about their defective hernia mesh.

Oakland, CA It doesn’t matter how many times a California business changes its name or sells to another company—a union contract stays put. Case in point: the United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) pressured two pot shops on behalf of their weed workers, despite the dispensaries changing hands a few times, and they came to a $75,000 settlement over back pay, specifically union raises.

Los Angeles, CA On November 9, two individual and two company plaintiffs, including Uber and Postmates, filed a California labor lawsuit against the State of California. Olson v. Becerra challenges the constitutionality of AB 5 and related laws. In December, California filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the Second Amended Complaint does little to remedy the flaws that led to the lawsuit’s dismissal without prejudice in September. This time California seeks to bar the lawsuit permanently.

San Francisco, CA  On December 22, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard arguments in James v. Uber Technologies Inc., a class action California labor lawsuit. Judge Edward Chen appeared to focus particularly on whether the facts of the case would support the inclusion of drivers who also have other jobs in the class seeking certification.

Los Angeles, CA On December 1, 91-year-old actor Ed Asner and nine other participants in the Screen Actors Guild-Producers Health Plan filed a class action ERISA lawsuit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund and Trustees of the Plan. The early coverage of the lawsuit focuses on what appears to be age discrimination against veteran actors, many of whom sacrificed television residuals for pre-1960 movies to fund the health plan at its outset.

Atlanta, GA On December 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral arguments in Garcia v. Wachovia Bank, one of the bank overdraft fees lawsuits, consolidated in In Re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation. The checking accountholders are appealing a September 2019 District Court decision that denied them the chance to proceed through a class action lawsuit, forcing them to arbitrate their claims individually. That would effectively end their chance to dispute excessive overdraft fees that resulted from Wells Fargo’s and Wachovia Bank’s practice of reordering checks from high to low amounts in order to maximize profits.

Los Angeles, CA A California labor lawsuit claiming wage and labor violations has finally been agreed upon for $3 million. The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), originally filed in 2015, sought to represent over 250 former and current nursing home workers employed by Five Star Quality Care Inc.

San Mateo, CA  On December 18, the California Superior Court refused to dismiss a Complaint alleging that Oracle America, Inc. systematically paid women less than men for comparable work. The California labor lawsuit, describes a pattern all-too-familiar from other gender discrimination lawsuits against Silicon Valley tech giants, including Google, Uber and HP as well as Oracle.

Santa Clara, CA Over the past several years, Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) have been linked to serious health complications. And more recent studies indicate that these acid reflux drugs do more harm than good. One such study opines that PPI exposure increases mortality in COVID-19 patients. Other studies suggest PPIs can damage major organs and regular use of PPI is linked to a higher risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and serious skin reactions such as life-threatening Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. And there is more…

San Francisco, CA On December 1, the California Supreme Court heard arguments by nurse recruiters seeking to revive a California labor lawsuit against AMN Services LLC. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2014, arose from the way the company’s time-rounding software had tracked employees’ required meal breaks.